… Official flyguys.net Northern British Columbia, BC Interior, Kamloops Area Lakes & Rivers Ice Off 2018 Fishing Reports post!
As before, please use the comments/reply section at the bottom of this post to share and discuss your 2018 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 (just include image link in your comment 😉 )!
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For those that would like to share a little more than just 2018 fishing reports we encourage you to submit your story (along with images/video links/etc) & we’ll write it up in a stand alone post for ya!
And continuing from last years debut …….
Historic (& Live for 2018) BC Interior Ice Off Chart
Keep providing ice off info in the comments below and we will update the 2018 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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Hey guys. If anyone is going to Tunkwa Lake make sure you take some Albino chironomid with you. I fished there in early June, early July and last Sunday and had good success with the albino. Sunday I used a size 11 Alex Jackson covert nymph hook and had good success. You can get the tie from Phillip Rowley’s utube channel. Otherwise it is a fairly simple tie. A white bead, wine thread underbody, dark claret buzzer wrap over body, black wire rib and a rust brown collar. Try it. I hope it works as well for you as it has for me.
PS. On Sunday I had two fish jump in my boat while I was fighting them and an hour later a fish that wasn’t hooked jumped into my boat. Maybe I don’t need a net.
Gunderj,
Thanks for the post. In my efforts to replicate every chironomid in the universe, I missed this one. 😉 Interesting how subtle the rib is on this one. Had a look at the video, and I will certainly tie some of these up in bomber size before heading to Tunkwa in a few days. Any idea why it is called the “albino”? Seems an odd name for such a dark pattern. Cheers, DC
Gunderj ain’t kidding! I watched those fish jump into his boat! Hahaha it was something I’ve never seen! I was using a fly with a similar, the coppertop with decent success they obviously wanted the dark red/maroon colour that day! Cheers and maybe I’ll see you on the water another time!
I was back up to Tunkwa on Saturday and Sunday. I caught ten on Saturday and eight on Sunday. All were caught using the albino chironomid so it’s still working. Not a huge number of fish but if you read the lodge fishing report it sounds like I was one of the few people catching fish.
A word of caution, the buzzer wrap over body is not very durable even with a uv resin coating so take lots. I sure hope they are still working next weekend. I’ll be up there from Friday to Monday. Hope to see you guys there. I’ll be the guy in the 14 foot Marlon Jon boat.
Gunderj, what kind of resin were you using? I have many Bloodworm and chronie patterns that use buzzer wrap and haven’t had a problem with durability using either good ole krazy glue or uv resin. The coppertop I used out that way wel hen I was there was wrapped with buzzerwrap and coated in resin and it looks brand new after 12-15 fish.
I am using Loon uv resin. What type of resin do you use?
Gunderj, I could have guessed that’s what you were using. I have tied 1000’s of chronies and didn’t have much luck with the loon resin. It doesn’t cure tack free and takes forever to cure and doesn’t have the durability others do. I have been using deer creek and solarez for quite sometime now and will stand by them 100% Kent at canaidian llama sells the deer creek and solarez can be found online. both are excellent and cure tack free and are very durable. The deer creek is thin but a little thicker then the solarez so, depending on what I’m tying I will choose one or the other. Also you can’t forget about good ole krazy glue. I typically use krazy glue on a lot of patterns and use the uv resin for the more translucent patterns or patterns with holo underbodies over wrapped in things like buzzer wrap as it really enhances the underbody, magnifies it really well. Be sure to have a high power torch for curing and when time allows don’t be afraid to leave them in the sunshine outside as this only helps to fully cure everything. Hope this helps! Hoping the past weeks wind up at tunkwa has stirred the water and got the bombers hatching! May head up tomorrow. Cheers and tightlines!
I haven’t tried deer creek, but I do use Solarez in three available thickness’s and I agree with Brandyn, it is great stuff! It cures fast, crystal clear and rock solid! Been using for probably about a year or so now and love it! Not sure where to order it online but you can call most bc local fly shops and they usually are more than happy to mail it out to you.
Is there any big fish in Pinantan lake?
Not in my experience … but there’s a lot of them 🙂
A 3 lb fish would be big (and rare) in this lake. Most are 12-15 inches. Tons of fish, but not many very big.
Thanks guys. I have some Solarez so I will give it a try.
On to fishing reports. I fished Tunkwa over the long weekend and the bomber hatch did not arrive. In addition, my beloved albino was not working. I caught a few fish but I couldn’t find a fly that they were keying on. I did hear that someone was having success fishing a copper top in 12 feet of water with the fly at 8 feet. Hopefully the bombers will be around next weekend.
Finally, I am thinking about buying a new kicker motor for my boat. Does anyone have any recommendations or stories about makes I should avoid?
Was just speaking with a fellow that fished it yesterday with his son and did well on bloodworms. He said throat samples confirmed that they were in fact searching out the larvae in both red and green 😉
A smokey August Roche lake fishing report …….
Fished Tunkwa Lake on Friday and Saturday. The bombers finally arrived. Friday I caught most of my fish on a brown chironomid in 16 feet of water one foot off the bottom. Saturday dark olive fished at the same depth worked. Hook sizes were 12 and 10 scud hooks.
We are planning to camp in the next couple weeks at Badger. Can someone please tell us about the road going in as we will be pulling a 24 foot trailer. Are there campsites for parking a 24 foot trailer? What way would you recommend heading in? Via Knouff? Or via Hwy 5 and up the hill? Thanks!
never been up that way….I had to reply something as I have read this post about 20 times in the past 1.5 months….so I better post something….went into one of Roche’s satellite lakes and caught about 8 fish….biggest was about 17 inches…..was sunny/windy/cool and warm ….but it was a great day as I caught one fish sight casting..one or two more trips left….hope your camping went well at Badger
Armadillo, I am also tired of seeing that last entry, so I have a question for everyone; how has your fishing success for the last two years been, compared to the previous two years? With the heavy snow accumulations and the higher lake levels, my own experiences have been that both the sizes and numbers have gone down. Winter kill, water chemistry changes??? What has been your experience?
Ya , as it gets close to ice off it really lights up but then slowly tapers off shortly after the spring rush. Oh well it serves its purpose. I know it’s not for everyone but the FB page is a bit more consistent year round.It can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/flyguys.net/
Timing has been different the last two years with later ice offs but as far as size and numbers it’s been about the same. And this fall has been spectacular! Brandyn was hammering them at Morgan all day yesterday with no one else on the water!
2 years plus 2 years equals 4 years equals 2014 …I used to keep a log book about 30 years ago but it only lasted about 4 years….I have noticed fewer fish in general and smaller size in general in the last year or two….I have been fishing the same spots so I think it may be time to try newer spots that are a bit further away from the population centers….I still have a few lakes I have not fished that are popular and I want to fish those also…just have to keep on keepin on
Any higher elevation lakes safe for ice fishing. Can’t wait to get out on the ice!!!
Nothing that we’re comfortable claiming as safe yet but it shouldn’t be too much longer. Let’s use this post to share updates as things firm up 🙂
Hey all;
Need some advice. Planning this summer. Hihium is at 4,700. Don’t want to miss all the hatches. And worried about some of our recent “hot streaks” of early summer weather. Two questions:
How do you think it would fish the last week of June?
Has Hihium been producing fish of size?
Thanks mates.
On a typical weather (ice off) year I’d say mid May for the cronies. But last week in June might put you into caddis hatches. Hopefully someone else replies as I have not fished Hihium in years but if I remember correctly they seemed to top out at 3ish pounds. Sorry that I could not provide very much info … another place you mat want to ask is on our facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/flyguys.net/ 🙂
And that’s 2018 folks! 🙂
A big thank you to all that contributed to this years ice off/fishing reports page! Time now to shut down comments here and start building next years page (stay tuned for the link 😉 )
All the best to everyone, and wishing everyone a fishfull 2019!