Redemption – Finally getting in to fish

© By Othmar Vohringer

Last night on a hunch I said to my wife, “Lets go fishing tomorrow.” I still wanted for my wife to catch her first fish and today seemed to be a very good day. The lake was calm and the weather mild. So at around 9:00 am we loaded up the boat and drove to Nicola Lake. The lake was devoid of other fishers and we saw a lot fish jumping, a promising sign.

While I paddled the boat toward the middle of the lake, where it is deeper and the bigger fish hang out, Heidi trolled a wedding band lure. Once on the spot we wanted to be, I began trolling with a small silver spoon. Ten minutes into fishing and we both still had no action. It was time to change lures and try something different.

I changed Heidi’s lure to a Rapala Fat Rap and mine to a Rapala Original Floater. After the second cast I had a bite but since I was paddling the boat I was to late to set the hook. After another cast the line had not been two minutes in the water and I got another hit. This time I was ready for it. The 14” rainbow jumped high and fought hard but to no avail; it was a keeper.

Not long after the first bite Heidi announced excitedly that something was tugging on her line too. “Yank on the rod to set the hook,” I shouted equally exited. That is what I wanted for Heidi- to catch her first fish. I wanted this more than anything else. It even kept occupying my mind when I went hunting. Now it finally happened, my wife finally had her first fish on the line. What more could possibly happen to make me happier at this moment? Nothing! At the end of Heidi’s line a small but feisty rainbow trout was quickly landed in the boat. Unfortunately, it was too small to keep, a few pictures of the memorable moment and the fish was released to live another day.

Still Heidi got hooked on fishing and I think I found myself a new fishing partner. On the way back to shore Heidi had another bite and judging by how high the fish jumped out of the water it was bigger than the one I got, a lot bigger actually. Heidi’s line got tangled up with my line and the fish came loose before it could be landed in the boat. Still it was a fish on the line.

After that it was time to head to the boat ramp; all that fishing made us hungry and in the hurry to get to the lake this morning we forgot to pack a lunch. At the boat ramp I met a duck hunter coming to the ramp from the other end of the lake where it is overgrown with cattails, reeds and water grass. It’s the perfect waterfowl habitat. He had a limit of ducks in his boat and after a brief chat and exchanging congratulations for a good days hunting and fishing success he gave me a few tips on where on the lake to hunt ducks and geese.

I have been looking for a place to hunt waterfowl around Merritt (I have seen plenty of ducks on the Nicola Lake but did not realize it is legal at that location to hunt them) and would I have gone deer hunting as I first planned to do I still would be looking for a waterfowl place. Sometimes it pays big dividends in more than one way to go fishing on a hunch. Today it paid triple. My wife caught her first fish ever. I caught one for dinner tonight and I got a place to hunt waterfowl next week.

Picture of Othmar Vohringer courtesy of Heidi Koehler of Artemis Graphics and Design.

To learn more on Rapala fishing lures and how to fish them visit The Fishing Notebook

Tags: Nicola Lake, Rainbow Trout Fishing, Rapala Fishing Lures