Gardom Lake

Sheena and I got the chance to fish Gardom for a few hours after we closed the shop on Monday and we had a great time. I admittedly don't fish Gardom as often as I should considering the proximity to my house and the great quality of fish that it has grown over the past few years. Gardom is harbouring fish that will tip the scale over 6lbs now with a lot of fish in the 2lb range.

We launched the boat and headed out across the lake to a little bay that I had some luck in last year, anchored up and began fishing Chironomids under an indicator as per the normal method for this time of year. We could see a few fish working the shoals and the odd fish rising but nothing that we put over the boat seamed to tempt them into a strike. We pulled anchor and moved into another bay where there seamed to be more activity and tried the same techniques with no success. I moved to a small green Damsel pattern under my indicator thinking that surly they would take a green nymph pattern but still, I wasn't having any luck. I decided to get off the dry line and move to my Aqualux line, sticking with the same Damsel pattern and BINGO! First cast had a 1lb Fraser Valley Rainbow to the boat with subsequent casts either producing hits or fish. I hooked a mixture of Fraser Valleys and Pennask fish which you could see the difference in right after you set the hook. The Frasers dive deep and pull hard while the Pennask fish hit the surface and go aerial with leaps and cartwheels. I really enjoyed casting the Aqualux line again, I hadn't had it on my rod since last summer and it was nice not having the indicator on along with the extra line weight to slice through any breeze that may come up. The evening was getting on so we decided to get Sheena into a type 3 wet line and slowly troll around the shoals for a little while. Sheena put a little black leach pattern on and we didn't make it 100' before she hit her first Pennask fish on her Sage Grace rod. All smiles and that's what I love to see! To me fishing is all about the excitement, the anticipation of the strike and the smiles on the faces of those who get to battle these great fighting trout. We ended the night with a fish count around 12 and all of them were around the 1lb range which I was very happy with.

The green Damsel and black Leach patterns were working very well for us that evening. I did pump my first fish to find it full of light green Chironomids with little red butts on them but by then I had changed lines and found a Damsel pattern that was clearly going to produce. I recommend using a fish pump to figure out the size and colour of the insects that your fish are feeding on but please use caution with these tools, respect the fish and do not harm them while you are pumping their stomachs. If you have any questions about the pumps, What are they? How do you use them safely? or anything like that, please don't hesitate to ask us here at the shop and we will gladly help you out with them.

Give Gardom Lake a try on your next outing and you will be very happy that you did.

Enjoy Your Outdoors!