The "Mallard Back Minnow"

The Shuswap is still on fire and producing some great fish. I wrote last week about the "Tequila Sunrise" and this week it's all about the "Mallard Back Minnow" by local fly tying expert Les Robinson. This pattern is smaller in stature than the Bucktail patterns which should accurately represent this years junior class of fry that will be entering the lake. The fry will enter the lake from their birth river at about 1-1.5" in length and spend the next year trying to stay away from any fish that is larger than it is. Stay in large schools with other fish who look like you and hope that someone else is on the menu! That's the name of the game out there for all of the smaller fish in Shuswap Lake. This is not somewhere that you'd want to spend the first year of your life. I have seen 8" rainbow hit my 4" Apex while I was letting it out and I have taken Lakers out there with 12" Kokanee in their stomachs.

The Mallard Back Minnow, which Les has worked to perfect for many years now, has proven time and again to be a very popular pattern out on the Shuswap. The pattern is most effective along the shoals when fished at a slow troll on your type 6 wet line. Look for the small minnows to be shining and sprinkling across the surface of the water. The larger fish will key in on this schooling activity and look to make easy meals out of the minnows. I make a loop around this minnow school and drag my lines right through the middle of them and it usually pays off. I have had a report of a pair of friends having a 30 fish day last weekend by Marble point while using the Mallard Back so I recommend grabbing one or two and giving them a try on your next outing. Now this lake is producing average fish around 5-6 pounds with 8-10 pound fish becoming quite common. I would also recommend using 10-12lb fluorocarbon tippet so that when it is your turn to tie into one of those big scrappers you're well prepared and are not going to simply snap him off which often happens on the lighter lines.

March 15th saw several areas of the lake and tributary rivers close to fishing. This is a fully wild population of fish and there is no stocking program. Shuswap lake has a daily catch limit along with a yearly quota that must be recorded on your license if you harvest a fish, and you must purchase a specific species retention tag for your license.The Rainbow limit is 1 per day and only 5 per year and they must be 50cm from nose to the "V" in the tail. Lakers have the same daily and yearly limits on them with the exception of a 60cm minimum size limit for retention. There is also a bait ban and we are restricted to single barbless hooks on the lake as well. Please read the regulations carefully so that you don't find yourself getting a very expensive blue piece of paper and ruining a great day out on the water. We hear complaints all the time about the cost and the low quotas but as a guy who grew up here and can remember how bad the fishing got on the "Big Lake", I embrace these rules and enjoy some amazing world class fishing today because of them. As I mentioned earlier, these fish are all wild and natural, we need to protect this resource for tomorrow so that we can come back and spoil ourselves again.