Washington Fly Fishing Forum banner

BC lakes 2018

Tags
bc lakes
8K views 55 replies 16 participants last post by  Squamishpoacher 
#1 ·
Planning out the spring fishing season for BC lakes.

It has been cold here and it looks like the fishing season is going to be later than usual.

A fellow on one of the websites has a formula based on Jan/Feb temp as to when the ice is going to come of for a specific lake here (6 Mile). The lake is located between the Nicola (Merritt/Kamloops) and Cariboo regions.

The calculation puts ice-off for this lake at April 11th - normal ice-off is around March 25th.

Now I don't fish 6 Mile, but those calculations imply that all the other lakes will be equally late.
Roche normally ices-off around early- to mid-April - this delay puts it into early-May.
25 days after ice-off is when things get hot at Roche.

I have time off booked for May 21 to 27 for Roche - hope ice-off is early.

Here's my list of lakes for this spring:

Courtney – 3300 feet
Roche – 3700 feet
Tunkwa – 3750 feet
Hathume – 4600 feet

I had Batstone on the list but it is a private lake and has limited opportunities (4 boats only).

Courtney in late April or early May
Roche May 21 to 27
Tunkwa - may fit in it in the spring but there is also great fishing in August for bombers
Hathume probably mid- to late-June

Also doing Hihum from June 6 to 10 but it is with a larger group that tends to turn into a party instead of serious fishing.
 
See less See more
#33 ·
Hit Courtney on the weekend and it was tough fishing - got skunked and so did pretty much everyone else.
Only saw about 10 chronie husks the whole time I was there - Friday & part of Saturday.

One guy figured it out - he and his buddy had about 7 between them.
I talked to him while pulling the boat out - "balanced pumpkinhead leeches" was what he was using - 5 to 10 feet of water.

I did end up camping there but I wouldn't recommend it.
You are about 80 feet from a busy freeway and there is traffic all night long.

Couldn't figure out what the problem with the chronies was.
The water temp was perfect - 59 degrees.

The lake it full of shiners - about 5 of them hit my chronies.
There is a Blackwater strain of rainbows that were put into the lake to combat the shiners.
I don't think there are a lot of fish in the lake but the Blackwaters get pretty big from the shiners.

Saw a guy catch a nice fish around 6 lbs on Friday night as I was coming back in.
I have a nice pic of the fish - I'll ask him if I can post it.

Weather was good - cloudy on Friday but hot on Saturday.
Getting ready for Roche on May 21 for the week.
 
#36 ·
Went to Peterhope 5/17 - 5/20. The fishing was spotty, but had one decent day with 20 fish between my friend and I. Caught fish in the 12-18" range with the largest at 20". Wish I could go up again this upcoming weekend as the weather looks good and I think the fishing will get better.
 
#37 ·
Just finishing up 2 weeks at Dragon. 8th year. Been tough fishing pretty much every day. Only a few over 4 lbs and even a couple of skunks. No major chironomid hatches, just mayflies. Ice was off last week of April, and is now above 65° at depth. Hot weather, too. Too hot.
 
#38 ·
Change of plans, originally was planning on spending 3 days at Kentucky Alleyne Park and fishing Courtney and some other nearby lakes but decided to just overnight at KA, hit Courtney the next morning and head up to Roche for six days. Thinking Roche maybe more consistent and a little higher elevation, other nearby lakes.
Any lakes above 4000’ near Roche; in case it stays warm? We’re not going to be at Roche till June 22-27th as have to wait till school gets out.
 
#42 ·
Spent May 21 to 27 at Roche - conditions were perfect.
Nice weather each day up to around 24C - got cooler later in the week.

Very different fishing conditions this year - unusual combinations were the ticket.

May 21 - Got to the lake mid-afternoon - too late for the hatch - checked the usual spots - no fish.

May 22 - heard a rumour at the camp site that a couple of boats were nailing fish in Carls Flats.
Went there in the morning and sure enough 2 boats were hammering them in 7 feet.
The action spot only had room for 2 boats so only got 5 or 6 fish (out of the zone).
Buddy spent the day near the island and got 20+ fish for the day.

May 23 - spend the day around the island fishing in about 22 feet of water.
10 fish or so for the day - smallest was around 18".

May 24 - back to the island and got into about a dozen fish.
bite went off very early - around 2:00pm so scouted around after that.
found a decent spot across from the campground and got another 6 or so.

May 25 - conditions changed a bit with the weather and we had whitecaps in the afternoon.
ended up with another 10 fish day around the island before being blown off.

May 26 - another buddy showed up and fished with one of us.
I started around the island but fishing was slow so I moved around - about 8 fish for the day.
the 2 man boat stayed around the island and landed about 20 fish between the two of them.

May 27 - went home in the morning.

The odd conditions were:
1) very small chironomids - chromies & ASBs in the 20 range
2) not on the bottom - the action was about 10 feet off the bottom in 23 feet

Action changed to size 14 later in the day.

I am not the most dedicated indicator watcher so most of my fish let me know they were on by jumping or peeling line from the reel.
(I use rod holders)
Hooked one on my outside rod and the fish swam about 30 feet between me and my buddy's boat before jumping.

I say "the island" when new people say the "2 islands".
The water level has risen significantly in the last few years to break the "island" into two.

Biggest was about 22" - I'll post some pics later tonight.
Looked back and the indicator was gone - no jumping or pulling - he didn't even know he was hooked.

Two of the other guys got fish in the 24" range.
 
#43 ·
Here's the pics.

A chunky Fraser Valley fish (spots under the lateral line) - unfortunately they don't fight much.

Vertebrate Fish Fish products Ray-finned fish Fin


A nice Pennask rainbow:

Water Fish Fin Fluid Marine biology


Interesting colour on this fish - didn't really turn out but a nice fish anyways:

Water Salmon-like fish Fluid Fish Trout


Another of mine:

Fish Fisherman Fin Fishing Tail


Buddy's fish:

Top one is the killer fly - lower ones are potential matches from my fly box:

Automotive parking light Automotive tire Grille Automotive lighting Circuit component


I think this was the big one:

Vertebrate Fishing net Fish Fisherman Fin
 

Attachments

#46 ·
Here's the pics.

A chunky Fraser Valley fish (spots under the lateral line) - unfortunately they don't fight much.

View attachment 169695

A nice Pennask rainbow:

View attachment 169696

Interesting colour on this fish - didn't really turn out but a nice fish anyways:

View attachment 169697

Another of mine:

View attachment 169698

Buddy's fish:

Top one is the killer fly - lower ones are potential matches from my fly box:

View attachment 169700

I think this was the big one:

View attachment 169701
Thanks for sharing the pictures of your fish (and the hot fly). Nice getting the updates!
 
#44 ·
Fished Peterhope for 2 days starting May 25 which was slow to OK. Double header and then nothing for hours. Some guys in 37ft with chironomids were doing about a fish or two per hour. Hard to crack the code when you have to wait two hours before you can change flies / depths. Saw a fish on finder every 15mins at 20ft so set indicator for that. Next time a fish showed at 20ft I hooked and landed a fish. Never marked another fish at 20ft in 3hrs. Maybe I caught the only fish at that depth? :)
Fished Courtney which was pretty but less fishy. Steady fish on bottom in 35ft. One guy who was recognized as very good was getting a fish per hour. The other 15 boats were skunked except one of our guys got 2 on a flatfish while trolling. Hatches were weak. I'm thinking almost full moon and strange spring has things really tough..
 
#51 ·
Fished Peterhope for 2 days starting May 25 which was slow to OK. Double header and then nothing for hours. Some guys in 37ft with chironomids were doing about a fish or two per hour. Hard to crack the code when you have to wait two hours before you can change flies / depths. Saw a fish on finder every 15mins at 20ft so set indicator for that. Next time a fish showed at 20ft I hooked and landed a fish. Never marked another fish at 20ft in 3hrs. Maybe I caught the only fish at that depth? :)
Fished Courtney which was pretty but less fishy. Steady fish on bottom in 35ft. One guy who was recognized as very good was getting a fish per hour. The other 15 boats were skunked except one of our guys got 2 on a flatfish while trolling. Hatches were weak. I'm thinking almost full moon and strange spring has things really tough..
I fished Courtney (and others) over the memorial day weekend for my annual "I can't believe I drove all the way up there for this again" trip. I even tried chironomids on a full-sink, which is my go-to "I have no idea what I'm doing" move. I didn't find any in 35 feet of water, though...
 
#47 ·
WOW!!! What a monster, tell us about the take, the fight (not the lake). I leave for BC a week from today.
I have hooked into 3 of these Fraser Valley Hatchery triploid and landed 2. The fight was not that hair raising on any of them but when they come into sight and you realize what you've got, a certain area of your anatomy puckers up. I hooked one about the same size the next day but she through the hook after I got a good look at her.
 
#52 ·
I drove for seven hours and got home this afternoon after ten days fishing "the high country" -
Sky Snow Plant Window Slope

Thursday night it snowed, at least the mosquitoes disappeared for a few hours
Water Salmon-like fish Coastal cutthroat trout Fin Marine biology

We lost elevation from Mile High Resort where the snow turned to rain and found willing trout in about 20 feet of water. A 22-foot leader worked on the floating line. Mid afternoon, the wind laid down, it quit raining, nighthawks and swallows appeared as did callibaetis. Dry fly fishing was superb for about an hour.
Water Vertebrate Salmon-like fish Lake Oncorhynchus

Closer to Kamloops, when I could keep my pram anchored without the wind pulling it free, rainbow and brook trout were willing.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top