Trolling for trophy rainbow trout

Okanagan Lake is one of the best places in Canada to troll for trophy-sized rainbow trout, and the most effective way to catch them is with a bucktail.

Bucktail fishing for giant rainbows

Bucktails are my go-to for landing big rainbows. These flies imitate the baitfish that predatory trout are actually hunting, mainly young kokanee and rainbow fry, and when they are pulled through the water the deer hair breathes in a way no hard lure manages.

The single most common mistake I see is fishing them too close to the boat. A big rainbow up near the surface is wary. Get the fly well back, 150 to 250 feet, and the same water that produced nothing suddenly produces.

Speed and depth

Around 2.5 to 3 miles an hour is the working range. Slower than that and the hair stops moving. Faster and the fly skips out. Through the cold months the fish are often high in the water column, so flat lines do a lot of the work and the downriggers stay up.

Rotate until something happens

There is no single fly that works all winter here. Run several patterns at once, pay attention to which one gets touched, and put more of that colour in the water. Dark high-contrast patterns for low light and coloured water, pale translucent ones for bright flat days, and a Grey Ghost somewhere in the spread at all times.

When to come

October through April. The big fish come up out of the depths to feed, the lake empties of other boats, and everything lines up. It is cold, which is why the boat is heated.

If you want to see it done rather than read about it, that is what the charters are for.

Full day charter, $800 More on bucktails