The arrival!
Have you ever just wanted to get in your car and drive? Drive far away with one goal in mind, fishing for something you have never caught before. Casting your lure into the unknown water wondering what will come out of the depths of that lake. Just a tank of gas, some fishing gear and a camera; ready to take on a brand new world. Summer holidays this year left me pondering, what to do and where to go? With so many species of fish on my bucket list, and a blown out Bow River; I decided it was time to make memories in a new and promising landscape. On a thought and a phone call, the stage was set, Sandpoint, Idaho for both Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass. The internet has opened up many doors for me, doors that would otherwise have been closed tightly if it was not for a computer, an internet connection and this Blog.
I logged into my computer last week and signed into my Email account, typed in the numbers to my good friend Dwayne Parsons’s cell phone and impatiently waited him to answer. I got plans, dreams and goals of Largemouth Bass baby. He picked up the phone after five rings with a “hey Canuck, how are you”. I just wanted to say Bass, Bass, that’s what I want! I informed him about the happenings in Calgary and the state of the Bow River. He was saddened by what I had told him, Dwayne knows about my deep passion for both fishing and guiding the river. My presentation was simple, “the river here is blown out. I want to get away and do something I have never done before, fish for those BIG Bass you tell me about in Idaho”. I think Dwayne was both shocked and happy. “Mike, I am so pleased you thought of me for a visit. I would be honored to have you down to fish with me in a few weeks”. Bam the stage is set! The past few years has been guiding the Bow River steady, I have gradually made a name for myself and my passion for guiding! Now it’s time to hire a guide and be the client for a change.
The week before my planned trip dragged on, it was like time was standing still but the weekend finally came. I had my bags packed on Saturday, I also strung new line on my reels and put a few pieces of tackle I thought the Bass might want to munch on. A weeks’ worth of clothing went in along with the usual toiletries and of course the passport. My plan was to get all my gear in the car and ready for a 5:00am departure, less traffic and cooler traveling weather made for a smart plan. I was off like a rocket at 5:15; destination Bass. I made great time in the morning with hardly any traffic on the road at that hour and a cloudless blue sky. I planned to stop to fish the falls at Lundbreck, a tourist attraction with tons of great trout fishing both below and above the fifty foot drop. Upon arrival, the weather was still kind of chilly which ruled out fishing just below the falls. Too much mist spray from the falls would make you wet and cold in a real hurry. I opted to fish above the falls in some nice deeper pools with a lure called the Bang Tail; it’s white in color and sports flasher tape on the spinner blade. I managed to land two fish on my short stay along the shoreline but had Bass on the brain. It was time to get back into my car and roll along the highway east into British Columbia!
I was making great time on the road due to light traffic and arrived in British Columbia ahead of schedule. I stopped briefly in Cranbrook, B.C. for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich. This would be my last Tim Horton’s for ten days so I purchased an extra-large coffee. I was set and off on the road again, I wanted to cross the border south of Creston, British Columbia; a co-worker let me know this border crossing was much less busy than the crossing south of Cranbrook. I saw many great rivers just before I arrived at the Idaho border crossing. There was fish swimming all over this deep pool in what I believe was the Moyie River, looked good but I had to take a pass. I was then at the border in ten minutes after stopping to take a look at this river. There were only three cars ahead of me so I was through the border in less than ten minutes. I just wanted to be on the lake, if I could have time warped there I would have. I arrived and got a little lost at first, thank goodness for good ol Google. I was back on track and pulling into Dwayne’s driveway, a long gravel road lined with large pine into a beautiful lake front property. Dwayne greeted me at the front door and took me on a tour of his property; we sat down on the two chairs that looked out in both directions of the Pond Oreille Lake, a massive body of water that stretched for miles in three directions from my vantage point and caught up on life. After chatting awhile I asked Dwayne what species of fish besides Bass live in the lake, “well other than Bass there are Walleye, big Gerard Rainbow Trout as well as the odd big brown. Mostly we have smallmouth bass in the lake but you will also catch large mouths near the Pond Oreille River”. My reply was simple and straight forward, “when can we go fishing, I would love to hook and land a Bass. Dwayne let me know his local fishing friend Robert was on his way over to fish with me; Dwayne was unable to break away from his responsibilities as a real estate agent. “Robert has a deep passion for bass here in Idaho and I wanted him to show you the ropes and be your personal guide while you are here, he is a fishing fanatic like you”.
A short time later and Rob was walking down the driveway towards the seats we were occupying beside the lake. We shook hands and had a short introductory conversation before making our way out to the local Big R’s tackle shop to get me a fishing license and the necessary hardware to rip some lips. Upon entering the Big R’s, Rob ran into a friend who worked in the store and was a local bass fisherman himself. We chatted with Mike and gathered some great information about where the local smallmouth bite was happening; the islands were apparently producing some decent sized smallies and Rob happened to know the exact location of these said landmarks. I paid for my Idaho fishing license, 98.00 for the year and then we proceed to make our way over to the shelves that contained the bass baits. I asked Rob what types of baits he had success using, Gary Yamamoto was his go to plastic. He also stated there were a few colors that worked the best, so I purchased both colors based on his experience. Finally we were back in the car and off to the lake with boat in tow, Dwayne was kind enough to lend us his boat. We launched out and made waves for the islands; it was about a five minute ride up the north east shore. Rob decided to stop the boat at some great structure, the kinds of structure you see on the Sunday morning bass fishing shows. Docks, submerged tires, rock walls and so on. With a few very small fish caught we decided to burn over to the islands, rumor had it there were some large fish there. As we glided in we kicked the gas motor off and switched to the trolling motor. We made our way around the larger of the two islands in a counter clock wise direction; nothing was biting here so we moved on. As we made our way in between the two islands we got action, decent sized 2lb small mouths. We saw a school of fish in between these islands so we decided to make a few drifts past where we spotted the fish schooling up. On the second pass I dropped the sinko right into the school and whammy; I got a large small mouth hooked up. The fight was short but sweet as the fish spit the plastic Gary Yamamoto. As the day progressed it got really hot which slowed the fishing up, +36 degree weather will do that. We continued to fish for a while in the heat and even landed a few smaller fish before calling it quits for the evening. An amazing first day on the Pond Oreille Lake! Day one was a success and there was still six more to go.
