Well that was an awesome year but it’s time close off 2012 and move on to 2013! Thanks to everyone that contributed reports, stories & pictures last year and we’re really hoping to see even more of you on our … 2013 Fishing Reports post!
Tight lines & good times in 2013!
Like our stuff? Subscribe by 
Feed or 
Email .jpg)
HELLO!
I’m curious and troubled by all the winterkill happening lately. Take Pass Lake for example. I grew up on that lake and never remember it killing and now every other year?? I went up there for a drive on Mother’s Day and there were a number of boats on the lake and everyone coming off said it was winterkilled. A few said they saw fish on the finder but nobody caught anything. Could it be that FVs are more susceptible than Pennask?
Pass was only stocked once with FV’s after the winterkill of 2009. Very few of those fish were left in the lake last season so the kill would have been primarily of Pennask strain trout. I believe that Fraser Valleys are more tolerant of high pH and other water chemistry related factors than Pennasks, but I don’t believe that any given strain of trout is better equipped to survive low oxygen conditions than another. Rainbow trout in general require an oxygen concentration of approximately 2.0 parts per million to survive.
Pass Lake is particularly puzzling as you mentioned because it never used to winterkill. I believe there was a couple of partial kills in the early 2000’s and more notably in 2008; then came the near total kill of 2009, and now another near total or total kill in 2012. Lakes in the Kamloops area are inherently very productive and minute changes in water chemistry may have tipped the balance in the wrong direction.
Great name by the way…
Perhaps Uncle Leo may be on to something…
Why are the brook trout surviving at Red Lake and the Rainbow aren’t…
I love the Red Lake brookies… but those big rainbow that come once in a while are what you wait for… I hope some of those guys survived up there…
As for Pass Lake… that is sad…
I was up with a buddy last year and there was a fish swimming around that managed to take his 18ft of leader, 100ft. of floating line, and his 200ft. of backing… 🙂 and we were looking forward to Pass this year…
I hope this trend stops of winterkill…it is too bad
So far this spring it seems the largest rainbows from Red have been in the 4 – 4 1/2 lb range, nothing like the 6 – 10 lb range from last year’s reports. It is sad to hear of the potential winter-kill of the larger ones, but if anyone catches a 6 lb + fish please let us know that they are still there…give us some hope.
Cheers,
Darryl
i was there still fishing on Sunday with my brother and his buddy at Red lake. it was very slow with no bites on a micro leech. so i added about 7 foot of leader to my dry line and put out a chronie and bam! 5 lber took it just as i was about to pack up and leave. was a very meager fight at best. (gentleman lost a decent fish while trolling at his boat right in this area that i set up in) which i believe was probably the same fish due to how fast it came in and how long it was taking to revive him. i actually ended up having to take it home. so where are five lb’ers in there, as for anything larger i have yet to see it there.
good luck and tight lines!
First, some hogs (rainbows) have been taken this year (not publishing how many I have seen/heard or size) but lets say some nice ones. 2nd, a BC/possible W.Canada record in Brook was caught and released, swimming near the island 🙂 (Not publishing size on net).
I hope the Aerators get installed this summer 🙂
I own the rental cabins at Red lake. Check out my facebook too.
Cade:
Yes!! Thank you for this information. I have been hoping people were catching them, but that I just didn’t hear anything. Great to hear about the Brook Trout as well. I have heard of a 7 lb Brook trout caught in BC and I saw somewhere that this was the BC record, although official records are not kept. I Know Fortress Lake in the Rockies holds fish in this size category, as does a little known lake not too far from Kamloops :). Good to hear Red is up there as well.
Cheers,
Darryl
2012 Red Lake Report 🙂
Brook trout are not native to BC but have been introduced here for about 100 years as they are hardier in withstanding temperature ranges and lower oxygen levels than Kamloops trout. I think they all come from Aylmer Lake now. That’s why you find them at lakes that may winterkill rainbows.
My buddy and i were at Frisken the other day and the lake seems winterkilled for second year in a row, it used to be one of my favourites, didn’t even see a fish…. We fished Red a couple times over the last two weeks with only a few bites and 1 brookie to show for it, we saw a lot of dead big rainbow on the bottom in the shallower areas, around the big island and the little island in the far back section. Went up to Scuitto Saturday, caught 4 in 2 hours, including a 20+ incher, going to try Rossmoore tomorrow!
We never made it too Rossmoore today, my buddy is still fixated on getting a brookie so we went to Edith and caught a few little rainbow instead lol. We have the Rossmoore trip planned for June 8th now and are really looking forward to because it seems to produce big fat 2-5 pound rainbows every year that are a really nice fight and great eating! We are going to try Red again in a few weeks, I’m thinking the brookies will be more active around then.
[/img]
[img]
i’ve added in the picture of me and my 20+ inch scuitto fish from Saturday
Thanks for sharing. Nice fish. Nothing worse than paranoid anglers afraid to “publish” the size of the fish they catch.
Is that a snake or a fish?;)
LOL thanks guys and yes they are very long and skinny fish at scuitto, i’m glad to hear others have had more success at red recently. i just got back from rossmoore, my buddy and i had no problem catching quota of 2 each in 2 hours, nothing over two pounds though, but really hard fighting fish!
[/img]
[img]
I’ve heard a lot of fish lakes in that area were winter killed this year. Ernest lake being one of them, we didn’t even try fishing Frisken because of the info we got from the Roche Lake lodge. They basically said they hadn’t heard whether or not it winter killed, but they also hadn’t heard of anyone catching any fish there either. I think next year there almost needs to be a “winter kill 2013 report” on this site.
“I think next year there almost needs to be a “winter kill 2013 report” on this site.”
… man I hope not!
It’s a good idea to keep track of winter killed lakes. You may want to avoid them this year but sometimes the restocked fish end up growing very quickly and look like footballs.
[/img]
[img]
Has anyone been to rossmoore this year? Or to black?
Was at Black on Saturday. Reports from fisherman there was it was not fishing very well, not much hatching. I only went there for the drive, as Roche was too windy to fish and we were camped there. Same at Horseshoe, not a whole lot of action…perhaps just a weather issue?
Dragon lake may 25 , 8.4lbs
[img]
[/img]
Nice!
That is a fantastic fish.
I’m 13 and caught it on a chronomid I tied myself
May 31, 2012 Roche Lake Area Report: WINDY!!! 😡
But the fish were on these:
[/img]
[img]
So we did manage a few of these …
[/img]
[img]
… fishing deep with a #12 Chromie Red Rib.
June 1, 2012 Roche lake area report: WINDY (Again)!!! 😡
And to add to the frustration the fish were full of these little guys!
[/img]
[img]
Which meant we had to go to this:
[/img]
[img]
To hook a few of these:
[/img]
[img]
Come on weather give us a break for the weekend!
Fished Campbell Lake yesterday. There were 3-4 other boats out. Very windy with sunny breaks. Both cought limit in about 2 hrs of fishing.
June 2, 2012: (Sorry for the crap video … working on acquiring some new equipment) 🙂
Slow day but this guy made it worth it. Not going to mention the name of the lake but will say that the lakes over 4000 are starting to fish well. Size 12 chronies were hatching in moderation so that’s what we used where we found them. The pupa were dark so we used our “zucchini” patter … basically a tricked out black with red rib. Surprisingly, to me anyway, the fish were suspended in deep water so it took a while to dial in on the correct depth … had we clued in sooner it may have been a stellar day!
I was fishing around that elevation too this weekend. fishing was slow with all the fish very deep. Managed to pull in a few nice pennasks. They were feeding on really small chronies. Another two weeks and it should be awesome!
Just spent three weeks at red lake and the fishing was great. The weed bed in front of the rental cabins was very heavily fished and we had no problem catching 20 brook trout and the odd bow up to six pounds per day and releasing most if not all, the average being 2 to 3/12 lbs in 17 to 20 ft of water with a long leader just off the bottom.bob from Kamloops was staying next to us and caught and released a 10 1/2 lb bow at the north end.cromies. And black and red seemed to be the best flys,we tried leeches with no luck. We are at tunkwa now , does anyone have any info on where to go and what to use. Thanks
Spoke this morning to a guy that’s been camped at Tunkwa for a month and says he hasn’t even put his boat in the water yet … SLOW! He’s been venturing out to other lakes in the area. I’d cross the highway and try some of the lakes around the mine.
Hi Jeffc…thank you for the great report. It is excellent news about the good sized ‘bows being caught. My largest this year was a 4 1/2 lb bow out of Red, but now I know that at least a few of the really big ones are still in there and not lost to winter kill.
Cheers,
Darryl
Hey Jeff, you must know Red Lake pretty Dam good now. Wish I could have enjoyed a beer with you this trip. Thanks for staying at my place and its good to know that some of them big lunkers are swimming around. Ill have to send Bob a 10lb club member TSHIRT. Did you hook any over 5?
Heading to Kidd lake area this weekend. Anyone got info about that area?
All I have heard is the north end typically produces larger fish than the south. Let us know how you did.
Cheers,
Darryl
Was up a Roche on the weekend, was ok, caught lots of little ones, and two 2 pounder bows.. Was fun but windy..
Anyone heard how any of the lakes on the Lac Le Juene hwy are doing?
I was wondering about the lac de juene road lakes also. I have heard that Stake was stocked with catchables last year. also heard that McConnell produced last year. Any info on those???
I was at McConnell 2 weeks ago, got a few but nothing to big. fun but windy
Also, does anyone know of the best salt water fishing charter on the west coast? I am interested in some large scale fish to slay, hopefully this year.. 😉
Try fishmyster.com his name is Ken Meyers awesome guide and nice equipment
JFM says it was a good day today …
[img]
[/img]
… looks like it was! Will try to get a full report soon.
Heading to Badger Lake area. Anyone been up there? How has the fishing been?
Just got back from a week at Roche, our first trip there. Weather was nice, sprinkled a couple of days, but not much. Quite windy every day, got blown right off the lake Saturday. Did quite well with leeches, mostly black and red combos. Got my biggest ever, a 5 lb.er, and lost a monster due to old leader line. Won’t make that mistake again. Got a few on chronies, Bob got a nice fat 2.5lb. on a brown with gold rib.
[/img]
[/img]
[img]
And here’s my 5lb. on a black and claret micro leech.
[img]
All in all a very good trip. Was sure nice to finally meet every one…Rob and Adam, Steve and Gord, and JFM. And a big thanks for all the tips, guys. Very helpful. I would also like to thank our neighbours in camp, who’ve been going to Roche for 30 years straight. No more losing hemostats for us!! lol
Can’t wait to go on our trip June 26/27. Thanks so much to flyguys and Roche Lake Resort!!!
Nice meeting you guys as well Dawn! Glad the tips helped .. I think I was more stoked than you when you got that one long lining chronies! That 5er is a real beaut too! Hopefully the weather & fishing will be even better on your next trip at the end of June … keep your eyes open cause the caddis might even be popping by then! 😉
We’re going up two days early…I have Sunday/Monday off, so we’re going to get a couple of days in before we go to the chalet. Going to have to do some caddis research and figure out what we need before then. Suggestions, anyone?
The winds were crazy was all about not dragging anchor’s!
[/img]
Heading back up as soon as the weather changes.
[img]
This Big Boy had to have a good look at what he was dealing with!
Kewl pic X-Hare! I’m going to put it in the 2012 photo gallery if that’s OK with you? Ya I’d get back ASAP cause the bombers are getting antsy! PS … were you the neighbour?
That’s an awesome pic! Great timing with the camera!! And no, our neighbour was from Tsawassen (sp?). He made me a rock wrapped in red tape!!! Good idea! Bob and I both lost our hemostats within minutes of each other. 👿 lol Not sure if he visits here or not, but we made sure to mention the website to everyone we met. The more the merrier, right? This is the best site EVER!!! 😛
No problem was very fortunate to get this shot.
That fish was 27.5 inches!!!
Well i had a lot of neighbours I was there 3 weeks.
[/img]
Met some very excellent people!
[img]
Does anyone know if Pass lake has been stocked with catchables yet this year?
Thanks, love the site!
May 30: 500 Fraser Valley spring catchables & 3000 AF3N Pennask.
Thank you Rob!
going out tomorrow afternoon :)))