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!
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As of yesterday 14″ still at Edit lake
How was the water clarity at Edith, Jordan? I was there last week and the water had turned murky for some reason. I could barely see my hook a few feet down the hole.
The clarity was very poor maybe 1-2′ of visability at the most
Almost two feet of ice at Red Lake as of yesterday.
Fish were there and being caught, but not by us.
Thank you Denise, good to hear fish are being caught. Any idea if any rainbows were being caught? Red is my favorite fishing lake, both for Brookies and big Fraser Valley Rainbows. With low oxygen it is usually the rainbows that die off first. That is why I was asking if there had been any rainbows caught lately. My source told me the oxygen levels were dangerous low. Hopefully Red survives this winter. It was producing very well in the Fall and there have been some reports of big Brookies and Rainbows caught over the winter, so if it survives it should be a good year.
Cheers,
Darryl
Hi Darryl,
I haven’t been able to catch any rainbow at Red Lake yet. And I don’t think any of the guys I talked to on Sunday had caught any, or they’d have probably said so since it’s a little unusual and, frankly, kind of a big deal 🙂
I’ll echo your hope that the lake survives the winter.
Denise
Took a drive up to 6 mile this morning. Lots of open water along the shore line. The ice that is still there is only about 1″ thick at the most! The sun was shining and the birds were chirping and it felt like spring! Starting to get very anxious!
Thanks for the update Jordan.
Cheers,
Darryl
*insert being very excited here* 😀
I spoke to a fly shop in Kelowna. They said that they heard Sawmill (Burnell) Lake was already ice-off, which doesn’t look good for my April 5 to 9 trip (likely turnover). Can anyone confirm or deny this?
Stillwaters: I am surprised that it is ice-off already, but if it is the turn over should be finished and fishing back to prime for your trip.
Cheers,
Darryl
Thanks Darryl. I was also surprised when they said it was ice-off already. I still have my doubts. Maybe they got some bogus info.
stillwaters’
I’ve fished Sawmil Lake(burnell) april 1st since the early eighties.the past 2 yrs it has been frozen or partly frozen.but that was due to aerators shuting down or last years cold feb.the rest of the years it’s been ice free mid march or earlier,So i believe troutwaters report your april 5th-9th trip should be just after turnover,lot;s of wind down in oliver lately should speed up turnover
I just got some further info that Sawmill is in fact still frozen. There are pictures posted on the flybc.ca forum – there is an open patch around the aerator, but that’s it. The fly shop must have been wrong. Apparently the ice is still pretty solid. Now I’m worried that I’m going to be there before ice-off.
Any body now if morgan and six mile will be open for the weekend
FISHTOMUCH: Yesterday (Thursday) morning, both Morgan and 6 Mile were frozen. Some open water around the edges, but at most 5 feet out, with most areas under a foot of open water from shore. The ice was melting and I could hear it cracking and making popping sounds, but the ice that was on the lake looked like it needed at bit of time. I through a large rock onto the ice at Morgan and it did not go through…it just bounced 🙁 The cold morning this morning and the forecast of -4 for tomorrow suggests that they will not be ready for this weekend. Nice temperatures forecast for next week so I would imagine Morgan and 6 Mile being ice-free sometime between Tuesday and Friday of next week so they should be good-to-go next weekend. I was also planning on going to 6 Mile this weekend, but it looks like we will have to wait just a little longer. Hope to see you (and everyone on this site) up there or on the other great fishing lakes around Kamloops one day. I drive a white ford ranger with a canopy and I am either in a green Jon boat or a grey and blue (Sea Eagle) single-person pontoon.
Cheers,
Darryl
Hi Daryl,
Can you clear up the confusion regarding fishing Six Mile? On the Go Fish BC website they have info on various lakes around Kamloops and on the page about Six Mile it says “Six Mile Lake is closed to fishing from December 1 to March 31.” (this was copied and pasted from the site. I believe the sign by the road side, on the way up from Tobiano says you can fish when the ice is off which on many years would be after March 31st anyway. Wholesale sports told me that guys were fishing from the bank into some clear water last weekend. So is the Go Fish site wrong?
PAT LAKE (also Six Mile) i? 3-19: No ice fishing; rainbow trout daily quota = 2; bait ban, single barbless hook
Hefleyjack: Grant’s reply is correct. It is just no ice fishing. There is a sign in between 6 Mile and Morgan that says that to avoid confusion with the regulations the Ministry is simplifying the rules so that it is no ice fishing and the dates for lake closures are no longer valid. So if ice comes off from 6 Mile before April 1 you can fish. There is a sign up near Morgan Lake that still says that it is closed until April 1st, however in the fishing regulations book there is no mention of this, so I would go by the regulations for Morgan and fish it before April 1 if the ice is off as well. For Morgan Lake the regulations state: No ice fishing; rainbow trout release; bait ban, single barbless hook, and the regulations for 6 Mile have been posted by Grant above.
Cheers,
Darryl
Hi Darryl,
Thanks for clarifying that. My understanding was as you stated but when I saw the statement on the Go Fish BC site I was questioning whether I had it right.
Thanks also for running this great site.
Note: The -4 degree temperature I state in my post above is the morning low, not the average or high for the day for tomorrow. Just to clarify.
Cheers,
Darryl
Does anyone know how Forest Lake is doing with regards to ice-off. It is a little lower in elevation than 6 Mile and Morgan and those two lakes are close, so I thought maybe, just maybe that Forest Lake (the one on Agate Bay Road) might be fishable.
Cheers,
Darryl
Picture of 6 Mile from this afternoon! Lots of chironomids where the ice is off. Very small and brown / green in color.
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Took a hike up to Deep Lake this morning. There is a strip of thin ice around the sunny side shoreline that will likely be open water in the afternoon. I’ve never heard a lake make as much noise. The ice was cracking, gurgling, popping, groaning and booming repeatedly while I was there. I would guess that the dark, muddy shoreline and shallows were absorbing heat rapidly as the sun rose overhead and the effect was something like a pressure cooker. It won’t be long before the ice comes off on the sunny side although I would recommend gum boots if you intend to fish from shore.
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Looks like it was a beautiful day for a hike! Thanks for the update Ron!
Hi everyone, Is there any updates about ice-off condition at Pat / 6 Mile or Morgan from over the weekend? I was also wondering how Stump Lake was progressing. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Darryl
How bout you check it out yourself instead of relying on other people for your information.
Jordan. On March 20th I thanked you for the update you posted. On my post today I was just curious if there was any news about Pat, Morgan and Stump. Sorry, I am just anxious to get out there. I went up last Thursday to check out Pat and Morgan myself, but have not been able to go since because of work. This is an ice-off report page and see nothing wrong with my question. So thank you Blain and Lance, I appreciate the update. It is nice when people are nice.
hey jordan, your a _ _ _ _!
Stump was only open on the Kamloops end this weekend, but was so covered in birds fighting for the open water couldnt get near it, going out again wednesday for work, will repost if anything changes.
Sounds promising. Looking forward to your Wednesday report 🙂
where is the open water area on stump, Blaine? I was there on the north end 2 weeks, didnt see any open water and birds…
North end just off the marsh, not the highway side, off long lake rd. will update wednesday evening when home.
I got another video about the ice level there, pretty much the same as last time i took it couple weeks ago. Quite thin near shore, but when u go out about 50ft, it’s thick.
ill try to upload it tmr morning 🙂
Hey Lance if you upload it to youtube you can easily embed it here … thanks for the update!
a video about the ice off progress for 6 miles lake (pat) on the weekends.
with hand measures. here is the youtube link 🙂
Thnks for the reports on ice off conditions
Many of us live in the lower mainland and it would be a great waste of time and gas to go check on ice conditions “for ourself”
much appreciated.
X2
No worries guys that’s what we’re here for and that’s what this post is all about so don’t be discouraged by the odd $hit disturber … ask away and we’ll do our best to answer 🙂
How far away is Jacko looking
At this rate I’d say you’re about 2 – 3 weeks away for Jacko.
x 3, Mark. Dunno where i’d be without this site. If Jordan is fortunate enough to live where we can’t, he should appreciate it and not be so grumpy to those of us that are stuck down in the LM! Keep up the good work guys, and c’mon ice off!!!
well still fishin , just not ice fishin. Did good on the north tompson , 3 nice dollys/bull trout. And yes the were legal size 39″and two 38″ another great day fishing.. Oh drift fishing rules a few bigger ones were seen as I went by. top section pretty shallow.
outlawdot
catch and release today and up past the Mcclure ferry
outlaw
Lance: Well if a picture is a thousands words, then a video is a million. Thank you for the post. I am hoping that 6 Mile or Morgan will be ready for the weekend, but will have to see. Mark, my guess with Jacko is in line with what Rob stated, although I would guess closer to 3 weeks away…but that could change with the weather. Outlaw…those are some impressive fish you got. Good on you. Ok, thanks for all the posts and if I hear anything about any ofthe lakes I will let you know.
Cheers,
Darryl
Stump still the same, couple hundred feet of shoreline open for about thirty feet then the ice still strong beyond that. Talked to a local and he figures two – three more weeks before the ice is off, however he is catching them there as it is his land where the ice is off. On a good note he invited me to fish it with him after I finished his roof.
Thanks for the update on Stump. I think the local with the open water is about two weeks pessimistic with his estimate of ice off. Of course he probably likes having the lake to himself. I drove by Shumway today and the ice was breaking up in the strong winds. There were a lot of eagles standing on the remaining ice pieces. I’m not sure if there are coarse fish in Shumway or something else that the eagles were scavenging as the ice came off. Stump usually comes off a few days after Shumway and Six Mile and I heard folks are fishing Six Mile.
Ron W: Thanks for you input / insight on Stump. I think you are right, it probably should not be as far out as 2 or 3 weeks. Just curious if you heard people were fishing from shore at Six Mile on some open water from the edge or if the lake is clear of ice and people are out in boats on the water?
Cheers,
Darryl
Darryl to answer your question above ,fishing from boats on the totally ice free water in Six Mile. To reply to one of your other questions concerning big rainbows in Red lake, I came across an ice fisherman who saw one recently. Unfortunately, it was lying on the bottom dead. I’ll post a few pictures of Stump later. There are more open spots and cracks. Nicola was totally ice free with whitecaps this morning.
Gardom Lake in Salmon Arm is completely frozen with no signs of open water. Probably at least two weeks before ice off.
Did a bit of exploring today ……..
Six Mile Lake:
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… all open and about 5 boats on the water! 🙂
Morgan Lake:
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… almost all open with boats on the west end and one guy fishing off shore. Should be wide open by tomorrow. 🙂
Beaton Lake:
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… a little ways behind Morgan but should still be all open by the end of the weekend. Quite a bit of Eagle activity. Nobody fishing while we were there. 🙁
I predict a huge aluminum hatch west of town tomorrow 😉
Rob: Thank you for sharing the pics. I will probably be out this weekend.
Cheers,
Darryl
No problem Darryl. Good luck if you get out … looking forward to a report. 🙂