PAUL LAKE
fishing reports
Paul Lake is best known for its hiking trails its huge rock bluff and scenic viewpoints. Now stocked with kokanee, Paul Lake's kokanee fishing is quickly growing in popularity. Learn more about Paul Lake here.
March 17, 2023
Another late season fishing day, and what a day it was. The west end of Paul Lake was absolutely on fire!
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I parked at the west end and pulled my gear out to where the water was 65 feet deep (see the picture for my location). There was already an angler near this spot and he said the fishing was ridiculous! That couldn't have been more true!
I began setting up my gear and the second I powered on the fish finder I was marking fish at 60 feet. I stopped setting up and quickly sent down a 2" pink buzz bomb. I got the buzz bomb down to the fish and two jigs later I caught my first healthy-looking chromer. I sent the buzz bomb back down and two more jigs put fish number two on the ice!
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I always bring four rods with different lure set ups so I grabbed a rod equipped with a new flasher I had made and a pink and chartreuse tungsten fly and gave it a try.
As I approached the fish that were marking at 60 feet one of them hammered the fly while I was still lowering it. I hadn't even set up my underwater camera yet and I had three kokanee on the ice in three minutes! UNREAL! I decided to take a couple minutes to get my camera down so I could watch the action. This time I grabbed a rod that with a copper and brass flasher with a size 10 pink and white glow jig. I didn't even bother baiting the hook. I sent the gear down as a much larger school of fish showed up on the finder spanning from 30 feet down to 60 feet. When the jig came into view on my camera there were four kokanee following it down. I paused to slowly pull the jig up and bam! Fish number four on the ice. Next I sent down a 1.5" swim jig that I had used at Stump Lake a few days earlier with a small piece of meal worm. You guessed it: the limit fish took the bait!
My limit of fish was on the ice in only 8 minutes! And that includes the time it took to set up my underwater camera. I have had plenty of good days out ice fishing, but today topped them all in terms of quick limits.
I wasn't ready to pack up so soon so I spent some time jigging a hook-less spoon in front of the camera. It was so fun!!! They hit the spoon over and over and over! I am quite sure that most types of kokanee jigs would have caught fish today! The water clarity was next to perfect, I could easily see my lures on the camera at 60 feet almost as if they were right in front of me. There was still about 12 inches of good ice!
the Strategy
The set up: a chrome and brass 4 inch wobbler with 12 inches of leader to a pink tungsten jig
Second: A pink two inch buzz bomb.
I believe the kokanee would have taken any jig today!
THE CATCH
Five kokanee in 8 minutes!!! UNREAL!!!
kokanee: 5
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
Fishing report from readers
February 28, 2023
I went to the bluffs on Paul Lake on Tuesday and ended up catching my 5 Kokanee. I’ll have to admit that day tested my patience. I first set up at 8:00am and no fish for an hour. Nothing on the screen. Was getting ready to pack up to move to another hole then a few fish came around. They swiped at my hook but no takers and swam away. Shortly after I got two and let one spawner go. Again it went dead for another hour. There were a few small schools that went by but they were down deep around 50ft. By the time I got down there, they were gone. Around 11:00am I caught a small single. Then around 11:30am a school came by and they were high and I was able to get one and it was the largest of the day at 15 inches. Shortly after I caught another one and I was finished at 12:00pm. It did test my patience looking down the hole and checking the screen and seeing nothing for an hour. So all in all, I got lucky and was happy.
Fred
February 24, 2023
I have been fortunate lately to find myself with lots of fishing days! Maybe I should have stayed home today to get some things done, but the sun was shining and the lake was calling. Only one thing to do- get my ice gear together and head up to Paul Lake. Paul Lake has been on and off lately and for me it has been a little slow my last couple of times out, but my luck was about to change!
I headed out to one of my favourite spots a little east of the bluff, not so much for how it fishes but more for the view. The water was 185 deep. I began marking fish from 140 feet down to the bottom, just one or two fish at a time.
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I wasn't really set up yet with the proper gear to try to chase the fish that deep, so I continued to get my camera ready. As I lowered the camera in there was a kokanee on the screen immediately just beneath the ice. After seeing this, I set my camera up at about 8 feet and started jigging.
I was able to get a few to come in and check out my lure. It was quickly apparent that they were very inquisitive today but also timid. Any big flash from my flasher when the fish were close would spook at least one of the fish and when one takes off the school often follows. I was seeing fish near the surface every 6 or 7 minutes for the first half hour followed by a lull for the next half hour. Finally a large school came in so I slowed my jigging down to where the flasher was no longer flashing but the jig was still dancing. This worked! I caught one and got the line back down as quick as I could. I didn't even re-bait the jig as the kokanee had plucked off the meal worm. It didn't matter- another fish grabbed the pink tungsten fly as soon as it was back in the water. After that school left, the fish were coming in every 6 to 7 minutes again, and I was able to catch another a few minutes later.
Next I wanted to try something I don't use often: a two-inch pink buzz bomb that I rigged up with wire. These lures are made to slide up and down the line. I find that they cause lots of damage to your line so you have to re-tie them frequently. I was very impressed at how aggressive the kokanee were with the buzz bomb dancing around. I caught two more quite quickly, one of which was a big spawner that I released, and I lost three others. In between kokanee surface action I chased some of the fish that were marking past 120 feet with the buzz bomb but they were not interested. After another 30 minute lull another small school came in and I lost another with the buzz bomb and then caught my limit fish moments later. I found that I was losing more fish with the treble hooked buzz bomb than with the small tungsten jig. By noon I had hooked into 10 kokanee, five on the ice, one spawner released and four kokanee lost. It was another great day!
the Strategy
The set up: a chrome and brass 4 inch wobbler with 12 inches of leader to a pink tungsten jig
Second: A pink two inch buzz bomb.
The bait: Meal worms
THE CATCH
I caught five chrome kokanee and released a big spawner. I also lost four other chromers.
kokanee: 6
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge