… Official flyguys.net Northern British Columbia, BC Interior, Kamloops Area Lakes & Rivers Ice Off 2013 Fishing Reports post!
… and hopefully we don’t have to add a winter kill section this year! 😯
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That’s it folks! 2012 was great but 2013 is going to be spectacular! Tight lines & good times to all! 😀
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I Fished Monte lake for the last three mornings. on Friday being my first day on the lake, me and a friend each caught a 17” kokanee before sunrise, neither of us have ever caught kokanee so it was a good morning and there were close to 70 people on the lake since it was such a nice day. yesterday only caught one small one but didn’t stay very long and today I caught a limit of average koks and my dad caught one. caught all of the fish with a flasher and small tear drop bellow it, with either cured corn or cured shrimp. all before 830 am. the fishing for other people have been pretty steady from what ive seen just thought id share my last few days of reports
Congrats on your first Kok’s! Good to hear you did well, What part of the lake? Mill Rd? I wanna try a second go out there to catch some myself.
park on the side of 97 where lots of people park about mid lake, and I fish on the other side of the lake from 97 but pretty far from shore.
can anyone tell me why there is always a very tight cluster of people around the two wood huts near the north end of the lake? are they fishing for koks too or are they fishing for rainbows. I’ve only been to monte a few times now and haven’t had a chance to fish that end yet.
Fished Edith again these last couple days, this time at the south end by the creek…
From my own personal experience at Edith, this time of the year, I recommend bringing worms along(just my opinion). I’ve tried many multiple things (and they do all work)…but recently, I’ve only been catching there when I’m using worms. And they are working to draw the attention of both rainbow and brook (with or without a jig). And out of all the people I spoke with in that area today, the only other person that was catching fish was also using worms…the solunar calendar says it should pick up towards next weekend…hopefully so, because it’s still been very slow. I may change lakes next time out, so I will be sure to give a report how that turns out as well.
Was at Monte today. Slow going did manage to catch 5 Kokanee. Started at 7 a.m. caught the last 2 one after the other at 2:30. Not many people out today.
A question for the pros.. Does the solunar table really work for best fish times?
Hey FN can you please do me a favour … I would like to keep this post clean for the fishing reports, but do want to offer a place where people can ask/answer questions like this, so have brought the forums back to life and was hoping you could post the question in a new topic there. If it starts to get used more (fingers crossed) I may even move the 2013 reports to a topic there as it gives people more options to start there own topics … we’ll see. Thanks!
Thanks 😀
Here’s the link to the thread for those that are interested:
https://flyguys.net/blog/forum/flyguys-net-discussion-board-group1/everything-fishing-forum9/solunar-fish-tables-thread28.0#postid-86
Where is everyone fishing this weekend? Any tips on big fish?
Monte Lake on Monday. They may not be big, but they are great tasting.
I dont know a think about kokanee, how to fish how to find.. anything really.. I am thinking its gonna be edith lake again this weekend for me, I have a huge feeling thats its gonna be good.. 😀
Koke’s are easy- Go to the middle of the lake, drop a flasher (5″ silver spoon that is going to give you lots of action, williams or canoe spoon for example) with a 6″ dropper line and bare size 12 hook with maggots, shrimp or powerbait. Make sure you use a swivel above the spoon to avoid line twists and tangles. The dropper line can be longer though the risk of tangling increases with length. Measure out 25 feet of line and continuously jig. If you haven’t had a bite within 20-30mins move 100 yards and try again. I’ve tried other depths but always have best luck 20-30 feet down in 90-120fow.
Does anyone have any info on accessing Mcglashan lake? I have a snowmobile and was considering going in from Campbell Range Road. Drop me a line at [email protected] if you have a sled and are up for an adventure.
Fished Kamloops lake again tonight and those burbot just hate me I tried at the mouth of the creek on the other side of the bay across from the train tunnel I’ve tried by the train tunnel I’ve tried liver squid roe chicken gizzard all come back untouched does anyone know if they’ll hit a buzz bomb or jig of some sort in the day time off a boat ? I’m pretty determined to get one of these fish but I’m not having any luck
they do take jigs and liver at night, but how do you get a boat there, I used to fish there when the bay frezzes up but not this year buy the looks of it. (cod jigs 4 oz silver)
I got a 12 foot aluminum car topper and small gas engine so I can drag it on the snow to the mouth of the lake below tranquille farms. I haven’t tried it yet so I don’t know how easy it’ll be. I’ll get out there with my fish finder and find them and all the water depths around that area. I’ve also tried the liver and still nothing
Ok John You do know there into the spaw mode. Have you considered stinky chicken fat/skin. oh you may hook a baby sturgen ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,just release it.
And yes I mean stinky. cut into strips (immitating the bait and a shot of wd) .Coony bay is the spot. on to now where end of the bay in about 40′-50′ up to the leadge but centered. They are on a mission into the shallow water during the dark. Its said there in the creak but ive watched many nights an seen notting. if its windy an ancor works but is a pain. 50 foot rope in the way. find about ceter of the bay from the end. as to a better spot. Im thinking savona then going up, but thats a long cold night for me. And a aluminium Boat.
i see someone else knows they are there. Burbot should get more attention. they are a better cooking fish. They are cod.
to the best ………………….to you and your fish
they are bigger
Ollie
I’d be careful with the boat. I was out there a few days ago and you could hear the chunks of ice coming down from the river smashing into the ice that was pooling at the mouth of the lake in the still water. Scope it out during the day and then if it looks OK head out at night.
If you can find uncured trout roe and use small bags on the end of various jigs/spoons, I’ve had good luck on that in Nicola (back when you could fish it for burbot) and Lac des Roches. I’ve actually seen people do OK jigging spoons with no bait at all on a few occasions too.
If I take my boat to the road below tranquille farms I can only go in the day time there’s a gate at the beginning that’s only open 8-5 but I still wanna try it so I can hopefully get something on the fish finder and maybe get one on a jig or bait cuz from shore I can’t seem to figure it out but thanks for the info about the ice ill check it out before I go
They only close the gate I’ve never seen it locked. However this may have changed.
Fished edith again today, only the bows were biting and biting hard.. Picked two decent fish.. Only saw 3 brookies in the 9 hours i was there.. Not sure where all the brookies went, but was an awesome day overall..
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Has anyone heard how the heffleys are doing at all?
Don’t know personally, but I have heard not very good as of lately (or at all this winter). One person was telling me from someone who lives on the lake that it was hit really hard this last year and the numbers are down… I’m willing to go try it out again though?
I have had a good season at Big Heffley, so have my fishing buddies. Olive jig with meal work along hook shank, then a bit of shrimp to cover the rest of the hook. They can be selective and you need to be at the right depth.
Forgot to mention, my buddy makes his own ice jigs. He has the hook bender and lead mold and only uses stainless steel hooks. No losing big fish from straightened hooks. The commercial products are crap. Now I just lose the big fellas due to my mistakes, not faulty gear. Plus, I was going to release them anyways!
Thanks for the tips! I myself have only been once this year, and caught a nice one (Dec.29th 2013 report w/pics), but it took all day and was my only bite, others there were pretty disapointed…friends of mine who ice fish there regularly every year and usually do really well, have reported to me, their worst year at Heffley, but fishing is always unpredictable…I plan on going back again before ice off, I will be sure to give a report…Is there a particular area you might recommend for me to try for best results?
Hi Evan,
I don’t ever get specific on locations but you were fishing way too deep for any real steady action at Heffley. Lots of fish in the lake and lots of areas where they frequent/patrol. All the fish I have caught have been in less than 10 feet of water, with fish at various depths. Sometimes they are so dialled in to a specific depth that if you are 6 inches above or below you won’t get any action. A tent can help, but my buddies do just fine not staring down the hole. I like to see what is happening or how they are feeding.
Be sure to fish the entire water column. You should be fishing by first light. Lots of times it is over by 9:30 or 10.
…as far as depth goes…I don’t hardly ever fish that deep, I too fish the shallows, but that wasn’t working at all that day, It was a last resort and It worked! I have a tent and prefer to watch myself. Thanks again for the info!
well looks like Edith is slowing down, 10 hrs for a keepable limit today So next lake, maybey LacLeJune , or Jackpine or the STR. Tight Lines Everyone
Friday (Morning): Fished Mconnell for over 4 hours and cut a bunch of holes all over the lake searching for Fish, not a single one in sight anywhere!…for a smaller overstocked lake they sure can be hard to find! Bring a fish finder if you got one! On a more positive note; It’s got to be the clearest lake that I’ve ever looked into ice fishing before!…
Friday (Afternoon): Decided to move just down the road and try Stake lake,Lot’s of fish hitting hard, but not very big at all, Alot of real small ones in there (less than a pound), and the only one half decent worth keeping, (maybe pushing 2 pounds?), managed to rip the shrimp right off my hook and take off in a flash, if i blinked I would’ve missed it! Didn’t keep anything…I was trying more NOT to catch the fish at that lake!! Never had that problem before!
Sunday: Tried Monte for some Kokanee, me and buddy had a couple real good pulls around 8-8:30 and around noon but never managed to get one. Their were alot of people all over the ice all out in the open, and over the 6-7 hours that we were there, we didn’t even see one fish come out of the lake!!! We definately had the right set-up and baits, just slow slow fishing. Beautiful Day though (didn’t even bother with the tent), at least we got that much! Glad we brought a little BBQ!
Dont think I’ll be going back to any one of those lakes anytime soon or ever… Perhaps (maybe) Monte another time when the ice is off.
Did manage to catch 5 kokanee at Monte Lk. today. Caught the first 3 between 7:20 and 7:40. The next 2 were much later 10 and the fifth not till after 1 in the afternoon. Was minus 9 there this morning however the sun came out and it climbed to plus 2. Great day on the ice.
Has anyone ice fished North Barriere Lake? Any good spots you would recommend?
What species should we target?
Large Dollies in there! I hear now is the best time for Burbot and Lake trout…
It also produces everything from Kok/bull/brook/rainbow/whitefish, and even the odd Salmon…
I have heard good things, It’s definatley on my to do list.
If you go up to north barriere lake, please update us to how the road into the lake is.. Much appreciated..
I just drove up to North Barriere last weekend and the road was plowed all the way up to where it narrows and winds around the lake. From there on there was only about 5″ of snow compacted. Easily accessible by SUV if you’re smart about it!
Well sittin up at Edith, well on my way to getting skunked… Think edith is dont for the season… 🙁 lol
Just remember a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work!!!8)
you got that right.. lol, now next to find a producing lake.. I wanna limit out in 2 hours.. lol
Has anyone fished red lake lately? ive been fishing monte lake alot lately, but only caught one fish this morning. i was thinking about going to red but i havent heard a red report in a long time.
It’s been good for the most part. We have been averaging 4to8 fish per trip and sometimes a little better. Lately it’s been location and depth. Lots of fish cruising at mid water depths. Fish a plain jig hook no (lead head ) just the hook and thread a meal worm on to it make certain that your presentation of this is perfectly horizontal . Fish four lb test only. Remember these fish have had everything thrown at them this year. So success is in the details. Use the same set up for the rainbows onl fish deeper. Don’t use any weight at all. Let it fall slowly. Good luck