The fish
Trophy rainbow trout on Okanagan Lake
This lake grows rainbow trout past twenty pounds. Here is honestly what it takes to catch one, and when to come.
Why the fish here get so big
Most people picture a rainbow trout as a pan-sized fish from a stocked pond. Okanagan Lake rainbows are a different animal. The lake is 135 kilometres long, extremely deep and cold, and it holds a huge population of kokanee. A trout with an unlimited supply of oily baitfish and cold water to grow slowly in gets very large indeed. Fish over twenty pounds have come out of here.
Why they are hard to catch
Size is only half the story. The difficulty is the sheer amount of water. There is an enormous volume of empty lake in the Okanagan and the trout are not distributed evenly through it, they move with the bait. You can troll for eight hours in beautiful scenery and never put a fly past a fish.
They are also wary. A big rainbow feeding near the surface will not come up underneath a boat, which is why the whole technique here revolves around getting the fly a long way behind or beside you.
The season that matters
From October through April the big fish move up out of the depths to chase kokanee near the surface. That is when they become catchable on a trolled bucktail, and it is when we do our serious fishing. It is cold, it is quiet, and the lake is almost empty of other boats. Our boat is heated and covered for exactly this reason.
If you are in the Okanagan in July and want to fish, absolutely come out, we will catch fish. But if the goal is a wall-hanger, plan your trip for the cold months.
What a realistic trophy day looks like
We will not promise you a twenty pounder. Nobody honest will. What a full day in the right season buys you is time in the right water with the right flies, run by someone who has been reading this lake for forty years and who gets daily reports from a network of local anglers.
Some days that means several good fish. Some days it means one, and that one is the reason you came. That is trophy fishing, and if a guide tells you otherwise they are selling you something.
Fish from the boat
Common questions
How big do rainbow trout get in Okanagan Lake?
Okanagan Lake is known to produce rainbow trout well over twenty pounds. Fish in the double digits are the realistic trophy target on a guided day in the cold months, and a twenty is the fish of a season, not a fish of a day.
What month is best for trophy rainbows?
October through April, with the deep winter months often the very best. That is when the big fish come up to feed near the surface and become catchable on a trolled bucktail.
Is a trophy rainbow guaranteed?
No, and be suspicious of anyone who tells you otherwise. These are wild fish in an enormous lake. What we can promise is that you will be fishing the right water with the right flies at the right time of year, which is the only thing anyone can actually control.
Do you keep the fish or release them?
That is your call within BC regulations, and we will happily clean anything you keep. Geoff is a strong believer in releasing the big breeding fish, and most guests chasing a trophy want the photo rather than the fillet.
Ready to get on the water?
No booking forms and no waiting. Call or text Geoff and you will know within the hour whether your dates work. Half day $500, full day $800, per boat.