PETER HOPE LAKE
Fishing Reports
Less than an hour outside of Kamloops, Peter Hope Lake is one of my favourite lakes- and not just for fishing! Beautiful cabins and hidden arms of the lake make this a great lake to explore. Read more about Peter Hope Lake
September 8, 2022
It has been far too long since I've been out kokanee fishing and finally today was the day to get back at it!
I was greeted with heavy gusts of wind and white caps, but I was determined to go fishing. I bounced my way out onto the water and began scanning around to find the fish. The fish were marking everywhere with the majority schooling just east of the sunken island.
I started with a Chrome's dodger and a pink wiggle hoochie on my first rod, and a dog tail dodger with a hand-painted watermelon kokanee wobbler on my second rod.
Today proved to be very difficult. I trolled at several different depths, different speeds, and changed my gear several times. I had my gear right in front of their noses several times but two hours passed without a bite. I reeled up all the gear and set the bow mount to anchor mode. I tried jigging everything from chironomids to buzz bombs and several lures in between. Another two hours passed with only one bite on a chironomid. While I was jigging I noticed that the bigger the flasher, the longer I was able to get the fish to follow the gear. This is information I never would have known without my fish finder.
I was pretty close to packing up but I was on some big schools so I decided to troll back to the boat launch- and this time I would give them plenty of flash.
Out came the three-leaf Ford Fender. I normally prefer to use Chrome's dodgers or other smaller dodgers because they have much less drag than a Ford Fender, but it was time for some old school methods! I paired the Ford Fender with the pink wiggle hoochie and the watermelon wobbler I was using originally. I set the lines down to 40 feet and soon after I was into a double header. I caught one of the fish but lost the other before I could attend to the second rod. I ended up with a pretty quick limit thanks to the big heavy gang trolls. All the fish were caught near the sunken island at around 40 feet deep. Old school techniques for the win!
the Strategy
Rod one: A three leaf Ford fender with 14 inches of leader to a pink wiggle hoochie
Rod two: A three leaf Ford fender with 14 inches of leader to a watermelon kokanee wobbler
THE CATCH
It took a while to start catching them, but once I did the limit was filled quickly.
kokanee: 5
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
August 3, 2022
I was undecided early in the morning whether or not to venture out on a day that was supposed to bring 26 km winds in the afternoon. I reasoned with myself that I only have so many days off so I better go. I am usually able to logic my way into a reason that I should be out fishing :)
When I arrived at the lake there were no boats on the water and the south end of the lake was reasonably calm, considering the wind.
I went right to the south end to get out of the wind and waves and landed right on top of a big school of fish schooling between 40 to 60 feet. I set the bow mount to anchor mode and began jigging. I tried a flasher with a pink #12 weighted marabou jig, then switched to a pink spoon, then a chartreuse spoon, and then a pink non-scented grub tail. Not even a sniff.
I then set up both my trolling rods with Chrome's bendable dodgers and 14 inches of leader, one rod with a pink kokanee wobbler and the other with a pink wiggle hoochie.
I began trolling at about 50 feet deep where the biggest concentration of fish were. It seemed as though the fish were stacked on the south end. I don't think there was ever a time that there wasn't at least one mark on the fish finder. Unfortunately, it seemed to be one of those days when you are staring at the rod tips in anticipation due to the mass amounts of marks on the finder, but with no action. Finally after about an hour I had one on the kokanee wobbler- a big one! Unfortunately it slipped off the barbless hook right by the boat. I think I had been trolling too deep.
I began changing up lures. I tried Chrome's single spinners tipped with non-scented pink grub tails, Chrome's smile hoochies, trolling spoons, and finally the lure that seemed to work best: a small pink and glow micro hoochie on a pink wiggle bill. I ended up catching another two nice kokanee (both smaller than the one I lost but still decent) on the micro wiggler hoochie and losing two more. I lost another two on the kokanee wobbler. All my bites came at 35 to 40 feet. When I trolled deeper I got no bites even though there were higher concentrations of fish.
the Strategy
Rod one: A Chrome's pink UV flasher with 14 inches of leader to a pink wiggle hoochie
Rod two: A Chrome's pink UV flasher with 14 inches of leader to a pink kokanee wobbler
I tried many other lures today as well, check the report for more info
THE CATCH
It has been a while since I haven't been able to fill my limit, but still a great day! Two caught and five lost!
kokanee: 2
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
july 13, 2022
It was a much nicer day at Peter Hope Lake than the last time I was here, when it poured on me relentlessly the entire time I was on the water. Today is was sunny with a few clouds and 24 degrees C.
Even better, my kids came along and they brought a friend. I was very excited to get them into some nice kokanee!
I decided to only use two rods today even though I could have run four rods. I figured it would be much easier to manage and the kids could take turns reeling in fish. I geared the rods with Chrome's dodgers and kokanee wobblers.
I headed to the south end of the lake where I had success last time and there were several fish marking around 40 feet. We put the gear down to 40 feet and caught our first kokanee in about 10 minutes on an orange, yellow and pink kokanee wobbler. The kids were stoked and so was I! We continued fishing for about another hour and we lost two on the pink kokanee wobbler. I switched the orange, yellow, and pink wobbler to a pink wiggle hoochie and it proved to be a good move. We caught two kokanee quite quickly on the pink wiggle hoochie.
We took a bit of a break from fishing so the kids could cool off in the lake and have some lunch. I tried a little jigging while we were stopped but had no luck. I also used the down time to change out the wobbler so that we were running pink wiggle hoochies on both rods.
We fished for a short while longer and caught two more kokanee at 40 feet deep. At the end of the day while packing up I met a couple of anglers who were inspired to go kokanee fishing after reading some of my reports. They hadn't had any success at Peter Hope and were heading out to Stump Lake. I hooked them up with a couple of wiggle hoochies because they had never tried them before. I was happy to get a message from them the following day showing me the beauty kokanee they caught on the wiggle hoochies.
the Strategy
Rod one: A Chrome's pink UV flasher with 14 inches of leader to a pink wiggle hoochie
Rod two: A Chrome's pink UV flasher with 14 inches of leader to a pink kokanee wobbler
THE CATCH
Last time the pink kokanee wobbler was best, but this time it was the pink wiggle hoochie
kokanee: 5
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge