… Official flyguys.net Northern British Columbia, BC Interior, Kamloops Area Lakes & Rivers Ice Off 2017 Fishing Reports post!
As before, please use the comments/reply section at the bottom of this post to share and discuss your 2017 fishing reports, ice off reports, and even (but hopefully not) winter kill reports. Where did you go (not mandatory)? What worked? What didn’t work? General or specific questions about a fly, a technique, or whatever … feel free to ask it here and we’ll try our best to get you an answer! Oh, and a picture is worth a thousand words so please feel free to include one if you can!
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And new for this year our …….
Historic (& Live for 2017) BC Interior Ice Off Chart
Keep providing ice off info in the comments below and we will update the 2017 column! Big thanks to Lando, Tom & Darryl! 😀
-=> PLEASE REFER TO OUR CURRENT YEAR ICE OFF POST <=-
That’s it folks … tight lines & good times to all! 😀
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Re: Monte Lake Frozen form the 2016 thread …
Thanks Rob!
I might get a chance to try it out tomorrow AM; if I do, I will get back to you!
Good luck if you go … looking forward to the report! 😉
Thanks and Happy New Year!
Rob,
Sorry, I didn’t have time to try out Monte! Then when we came back it was quite late; only 1 lone tent out close to the middle, out from the small, southernmost highway launch. Sorry I couldn’t be more help!
Happy New year all. Only 3 months (maybe) to ice off!!!
Happy new year Don! I sure hope it’s only 3 months away but something tells me we’re asking a little too much for a 3 year run of early ice off … but I’m asking anyway! 😀
Paul, have you found that your winter success for Stump Lk kokanee, although limited, has mainly been over the deep water in front of the middle launch, or has it also been over the shallower water at either end?
Appreciate any advice you can provide!
Cheers!
I’ve tried both ends never caught any Kokanee in either end until I was out in at least 30 feet of water. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t their . I’ve found that unlike Monte February in stump is the best month for Kokanee anywhere out on the main lake on the highway side from 30 feet out to 70 feet . Other than that I doubt I’ll ever figure out that lake the way I’d like to.
Thanks, Paul. Interesting that even the 30′ water holds them, since it does not seem to be productive water on other local kokanee lakes like Bridge, Monte, etc., at least from my limited experience in fishing that kind of water at those lakes. But, all these lakes have their own ecology that is driven by the specific characteristics of the lakes themselves, which probably explains why some tend to be better at times when others may not be.
In any case, I’ve decided that whatever local ice-fishing I’m going to be doing for the next few months is primarily going to be on Stump for kokanee, since everything else will pretty much suck for the next couple of months anyway. Hopefully I can learn something worth sharing!
Paul, Benny, or Anyone Else,
The idea of ice fishing for kokanee appeals to me, but I know little about it. I have caught some (when I was a kid) in some larger lakes during open water season (generally out over deeper water, but generally at fairly shallow depths) using a wedding ring and a worm. The fact that they seemed to be in shallower depths but out in the middle of these lakes got me wondering: When you say you need to be out in 30-70 feet of water while ice fishing for kokanee, do you mean you need to have your bait / lure in this depth range, or could you catch them at any depth (as long as there is 30-70 feet of water underneath you)? In other words, would you expect success at Stump fishing say 10 feet down, as long as you are fishing above 30 -70 feet of water, or would your lure need to be at a depth of 30-70 feet? Any advice you could offer would be most appreciated.
PS – What type of bait / lures seem to work well for kokanee? Are there any flies that may work?
Cheers,
Deesee
Hi Deesee,
I’m living up in the 100 Mile House area now and have therefore done a fair bit of ice fishing for the Kokanee up here in various lakes. I have found pretty much what Benny S. has said, that generally the Kokanee seem to be located over the deeper sections of the lakes. That always seems to be a good place to start; try to find the depth maps on the FFSBC website or the Anglers Atlas website. Once you know the spots, I have found the Kokanee are anywhere from scraping their backs on the ice, to about 50 feet down or so. However, in my own experience, I have found down from about 15-25 feet below the ice seems to be the most productive zone for me. I would suggest starting at that 15 foot level down, then playing around with your depths if you are not successful at that level. I set up with Tuf-Line Micro Coated Ice Line that changes colours every 10 feet for my main line; this makes it fairly easy to quickly estimate how deep you are fishing at any time and be able to get back to that level quickly after landing a fish! Kokanee fishing can be super fast and furious; you want to get your line down again right away after landing one so as not to miss the school! I usually attach some sort of UV glow spoon for a flasher then attach about 12-15 inches of leader to a UV glow jig baited with fire corn, krill, maggots, mealworms, etc. Hope this helps! Good luck! Also, are you the teacher from Logan Lake that was looking for extra fly fishing gear for your class? If you are still looking/needing stuff I might be able to help you out in the spring. You can e-mail me back if you want.
Derek
In my limited experience here’s what I found will work…not so much traditional flies but the attractors did for me last year. I try to keep them simple, small, SPARSE, and incorporate some kind flash, holographic materials, uv materials, silly legs, and BRIGHT colors, hot pink, chartreuse and of course red is a good color as well. When I started tying them I was basically thinking kind of like we do on the ocean sparse hoochies w/ some flash. I haven’t got it all figured (yet) but have had moderate success using flys such as this landing them is another ballgame. This one pictured is just a bigger version I would use for salmon but basically one of the exact same styles I tie for kok’s. I have no experience using anything like this under the ice, but it sure was satisfying to hook some kok’s on your own flies opposed to using lures and bait. I have more pics just can’t find them right now. Materials: Mirage Opal/Pink Wire, Hot Pink UV polar chenille, Pink/Purple silli legs, holograhic+ice blue UV flashabou, fluorescent green thread. My own personal of criticism of his fly is the legs could be laying flatter and the head should be smaller. However I don’t think the Kokanee would mind as much as I do. ; ) I am set on figuring this whole fly fishing for Kokanee thing out. When I learn more I will be sure to share. Good luck everyone!
Has any one been doing really well up at Red the last little bit lately? going to take a buddy out ice fishing for the first time and would like to get into some fish but dont want to make the trek to Red if its really slow still… Edith , Bleeker or Philips? Any thoughts?
Work mate went last weekend and said it was sloooowwww. Heard Edith was just “OK”. It’s getting to be that time of the year …….
Thanks Rob
Was out last weekend and had a nice group of 7 brookies between the two of us. Also, on Monday there was a 6 lb Brookie taken!
Thank you BC Ranger I appreciate the info
Monte live … hopefully that means the fishing good 🙂
Had a great Kokanee fish on stump this morning fish were on the move big time; however we only managed to land one 4 pound fish almost every fish that came in were only interested in our flashers very frustrating. Oh well it was fun while it lasted.
Was at Monte this morning. Wind was howling. Did manage to bring home 3 kok’s for supper. Heading out again tomorrow morning will bring my shelter to stay out of the wind.
Good thing I brought the shelter, it was snowing and the wind was still blowing pretty good. Managed my limit but was there from 7 till 11:30.
What size were the fish
All around 18 inches.
I know there’s a few teachers out there that may be interested …
Hi Folks, Has anyone been to Edith the last couple of days? just wondering about ice conditions. Want to go out Tuesday with grandson. Thanks.
Don I’ll try to take a cruise by tomorrow and let you know. I did hear that Heffley was slushy but fished OK today.
Got an Edith report on the FB page yesterday … tons of people fishing it so ice is fine but apparently fishing was slloooooooooooow 🙁
hey thanks folks. This really helps. Will report how it went on Wednesday
Edith was nice yesterday but fish were not. LOTS of fish, but not biting very well. 2 big ones to hole and came off. most of the ones swimming by were about 18 to 20 inch’s or so. one I saw was really big. was in 10 feet of water near weeds and I couldn’t see the whole fish even tho he was near the bottom. Still a good day with grandson
Ice great, fishin not so much!!!
Hey everyone! That time of year again to check out the best site for those ice off reports. Looks like it might be a while yet i guess. Just keep tying and dreaming I guess.
Ya I don’t think we’re going to be as lucky as the last two years but your right in the meantime we can dream (and tie)! You can be sure if that ice even gets close to coming off you’ll hear about it here first 😉
Any word on white lake?
Got to think positive,,,,we gunna get luckier then the past two years. Heard March gunna be the new May. ?
Fingers crossed!!!
Looking for some info on a lake west of 70 mile by the name of “Dog Lake” , cant find nothing and was wondering if its an alias for another lake… Beaverdam, Big Bar, or Little Bar Lake?
Thanks guys
NVM i found some info
haha that was fast. What can you tell us about it 😉
As you have probably found out, Dog Lake is Dog Lake, and is none of Big Bar, Beaverdam, etc. The Dog Cr drainage is well north of the Big Bar Cr drainage. Haven’t fished it, but it sure looks like a gem.
51°34’32.379″N 122°3’28.730″W
Plug that into Google Earth.
Found it on Angler’s atlas.
someone asked about White Lake…don’t know….. but I went for a walk at Mabel Lake and it was frozen over solid….it was a surprise to me as it is such a big lake ….unless we get real warm real quick ice off may be delayed this year
Yep, -9 when I went to work yesterday morning, snowing today..looks like we’re not gonna get any early ice off this year. I can only guess something like another month before we can get out on some low elevation lakes? I’ve had enough cabin fever for one year : (
I know I’m going pretty crazy myself. Looking like warmer weather is finally on its way but its gonna take a bit. Drove by Barnes on my way home from work today its not showing any signs yet. Its looking like April might be the first date in my fishing journal this year 🙁