… Official flyguys.net Northern British Columbia, BC Interior, Kamloops Area Lakes & Rivers Ice Off 2014 Fishing Reports post!
… and hopefully we don’t have to add a winter kill section this year! 😯
As before, please use the comments/reply section at the bottom of this post to share and discuss your 2014 fishing & ice off reports.
Please try to include:
- the name of the lake or the general area 😉 (NOT Mandatory)
- what worked, what didn’t work, & as many other details as you care to share.
- a picture is worth a thousand words so please feel free to include one or two as well!
If you have a question regarding a particular lake, fly pattern or whatever, feel free to ask it here and we’ll try our best to get you an answer!
Use the subscribe options below the comments section to be notified of any followup comments & posts via e-mail … you don’t even have to comment to subscribe & your email will be kept private! 🙂
For those that would like to share a little more than just a fishing report we encourage you to submit your story (along with images/video links/etc) & we’ll post it up for ya!
And last, but definitely not least … a BIG thank you to Surplus Herby’s for stepping up yet again to sponsor our 2014 fishing reports post! Be sure to stop in for all your fishing & outdoor gear needs before hitting the water this year!
That’s it folks … tight lines & good times to all! 😀
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Hey guys, starting to be that time of the year where the salmon itch comes around. Saw a few socks in the T tonight (no fishing just touring) but imagine it will be a while yet before it opens up. Thinking about making a trip down to the Hope area as would love to hook into a nice spring. I know this isn’t really the right forum for it but you guys (evan…?) always have good info. Is the confluence of the Fraser / Coquihalla a decent place to start, or perhaps pipeline bar? Any feedback would be appreciated, proximity to Kamloops is a factor, though I’ll put more miles on if need be. If you don’t want to advertise feel free to shoot me a email (lukeh_007 at hotmaildotcom). thanks.
Hey Force…Check your email
Heading up to Little Fort area for some fall fishing for a week or so at the end of September. Coming from Vancouver Island. Any thoughts on which lakes we should try? Fly fishing only. Going to start at Rock Island lake and move around that area. Hopefully, fish 9 lakes in 10 days!
Thanks, Norminator
Hello norminator,
One of my favorite lakes is Hammer Lake – it is about 40 minutes or so from Little Fort and south of Bridge Lake. Good lake, some large bows. This time of year I would fish the drop off near the south-east corner of the lake. Good luck and let us know how you did.
Cheers,
Darryl
Thanks D! I will let you know how we did.
Cheers, N
Wait, before you thank me you should know I am an idiot. Hammer is actually closer to an hour and a half from Little Fort. For some reason I thought it was much closer, but in fact it is much further than I thought. I drive to it from Kamloops and, in the fall at least, I always think it is worth it.
Cheers,
Darryl
Thanks Darryl, I’ve driven farther for a good trout lake!
Cheers, N
I’m trying to find out if there is a road into Fred Lake that is suitable for a 2 wheel drive SUV (Ford Escape). If anyone has some info/directions I would appreciate it.
Thanks
Dragon Fly
Hey Dragonfly, on a dry day I think you could make it in with a two wheel drive with good clearance but I would not recommend it. The main mud holes always seem to have some water in them which cover boulders and stumps that, for reasons beyond me, people have chosen to throw in over the years. There is no other way that I know of to drive to the lake but there is about a 15 min walking trail that you could easily get a 2WD to the head of.
Thanks for the info. Want to take in an inflatable so the walk sounds like it might kill the deal. Thought that maybe since they stock it the road would be decent for the hatchery truck.
They use helicopters to stock over 200 tough access BC lakes … pretty sure Fred is one of them.
Makes sense. Thanks again.
Hi Guys,
The open water season is wrapping up soon here in the interior, and I’m already planning for next spring. I have been using a 3.5 hp Merc four stroke outboard on my 11 ft. jon boat and have liked it’s performance, but want to get around a little quicker on large lakes. My dilemma is that I really like my 3.5 hp’s internal tank, and the largest motor I can find with the internal tank is a 6 hp. I’m leaning towards the Yamaha because of their technology that has sealed the four stroke from leaking oil while in transit. Every manufacturer identifies how to transport their outboards to avoid oil leaks, but I have found they to occur almost every time I head out. It’s messy, and once I anchor to fish I always get residual oil leaving “rings” around my leg….Any input on the Yamaha system and their ability to reduce / eliminate this problem? Apparently a lot of outfitters / guides are using the Yamaha because they have greater confidence while flying them into camps without leakage…Thx for any response and experience you may have.
Are there any “ice on” reports yet? I want to give Jacko or Edith another try before I pack things away. Any recent info would be great. Thanks
FYI – Paska Lake – El. 1450 m. iced over fully as of 12 Nov. 2014.
Edith – El. 1019 m.
Jacko – El. 891 m.
Hi everyone,
Curious if anyone has been out to Morgan / Six Mile recently and if they could repot on the ice-on situation. I was out there on the 11th and Morgan’s surface temp was 43 F (6 C). My guess is it is fozen, but one can have hope, right? Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Darryl
Hey all,
Spent the weekend at Ross Moore. I know it’s restricted for ice fishing, but just to give everyone an idea, lake is solid, about 4 inches around the shore.
Ice fishing in no time!
Anyone know if Red is frozen. Should be close, I iced fished last year on the 27th of Nov.
Yes, it’s frozen…
The International Fly Fishing Film Festival (IF4) is coming to Kamloops. The tentative date is Saturday Feb 28th at the Clock Tower Theatre at TRU. Time TBA, but it is in the evening (pobably 7 – 9 ish). I will post again once the date and time are fixed
Right on Darryl, its always good event…I sat next to you last year.
CB, way to get us fired up for the year! I’ll be out as soon as I can get a little more red meat in the freezer.
Thanks for the reminder Darryl! This is a great event … highly recommend it!
Hey guys, I haven’t seen any reports from the hardwater yet but I’ve been out fishing since the 19th of november, fishing has been great and I thought I’d share a video from today. I mounted my gopro under the ice and took about an hour of video today, tons happened that I would have never know about, like the big hoss rainbow that swam by early….I never knew it was there till I watched the video…… but heres a few highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvjfptOGPYw&feature=youtu.be
Great footage, Thanks for sharing CB!
Nice footage, CB!! Which Gopro are you using? Where are you fishing? What are you using????
I enjoy checking this site regularly but find it disappointing when people don’t share the details. This could have been in Lake Superior or Timbuktu for all we know. Bragging goes with the territory but SHARING is what a forum is about. I appreciate all of you who do share the details,…Thanks 🙂
sharing is a two way street there JoJo…. unless I missed your earlier posts
I have learned lots from this forum and love to share but as of recently I’ve been amazed at how rude some people have been on the ice. Ive had multiple people almost walk into my hut asking all kinds of questions, which I answered happily, only to ask the same questions in return and get NOT a single word in response, and im not kidding, only to watch them turn their backs and walk away silently. Yes sharing is a two way street and I am happy to share, but all Ill say is I was Quite close to Kamloops. Its a Gopro hero 3+ mounted on a piece of 1×4 which I put in a hole 4 feet from mine, the wood floats the gopro up under the ice and keeps it there then I switch the settings to record upside down. it lasts over an hour before the cold kills the battery. As for bait, the video shows brookies like it shiny and moving, and the whale of a rainbow that swims by ran from the exact same bait. so take from it what you will. after three years of ice fishing here and 60+ days a year on the same hardwater I have tailored my techniques to the fish I seek. Ive learned so much from the 1 hour of video I took and will continue to post the interesting things I see so others can learn, but the little details will probably stay with me till after that hardwater disappears.
Thanks, CB. I hear you about the on-ice experience, hence my frustration. Have been trying ice fishing for a few years with little success..so far its been more of a spectator sport, watching fish swim by 🙂 Information about what works is a big help. If I have anything useful to share I am always happy to do so. Have not been out yet but will try your suggestions, except I think I will hold off on running out to my nearest dealer to by a $gopro. Hope to meet you out there some time.
Very Kewl … thanks for sharing!
If you guys are serious about underwater footage check out the underwater cameras (marcuum is my preference). They range from about $300 and up. Having that live feed is awesome, you can assess the fish while they are looking at your bait and adjust techniques accordingly, or at the very minimum at least see if there are fish in the vicinity (if too deep or bright to sight fish).
I have an aqua view portable camera as well but have stopped using it, I only really fish the same lake and pretty much the same spots every time and never have trouble catching fish, now I just want to get it on film, the gopro does the job quite nicely. But I absolutely agree, when I was finding new areas I would punch a small hole with my spud bar and drop down my aqua view, see whats there and if it was good, make the hole bigger, if not, move on and not waste time fishing there.
Now for a report from this morning. The weather in kamloops is grey and rainy, the barometric pressure is pretty low at 101, and the fish were somewhat lethargic, were not reacting to the bait as they have in recent days, the bite didnt really start till after 8. still caught a few good ones and had a good morning but not as fast paced as usual. the fish were all very shallow and close to the shoreline moving in schools. in comparison the day of the video the pressure was High at 103 ish it was blue sky and sunny and the fish were aggressive from before the sunrise and were generally out deeper searching for food.
Fishing has been excellent at Edith, ice is more than safe for those still in question…on average approx 8 inches, Brookies are on a feeding frenzy the past couple days. Bows are somewhere, but I can’t seem to find them! Location is key, change it up if your not seeing them or getting takes. Moving spots frequently until you find the right spot can make all the difference from a one fish day or a fifteen fish day. Placed was mobbed as usual but no surprise there. (much moreso on fri than it was saturday go figure?) was just slammin’ brooks with all my “ice-on-omids” on the first day(will maybe share some later on once they’ve really proven themselves into the hardwater season). But then on day two, they want nothing to do with them!?! Luckily, I had some dew worms as an if-all-else-fails back up and a fellow fishermen was kind enough to give me some shrimp and it was on! Nabbed a pile of fish probably between 12-18 each day nothing huge, all averaging about pound maybe a little over, some nice chunky little footballs and some quite small as well and kept some of the bigger ones both days. Get out there while the gettin’s good, it always starts to slow down the further into the season it gets. Perfect lake to take the kids, hard to get bored when there’s lot’s of action. Lost the biggest brook I ever seen there today, due to some horrible footwork and back she went, in the blink of an eye…gone! Oh, well all in good fun, will bring someone else some excitement one of these days. Trying to use bait as little as possible this year and do some experimenting with un-orthodox fly patterns designed strictly for hardwater, just make things a little more interesting/challenging. Would leave you all some fish pics but it seems the uploader is missing again, maybe next time. Tightlines everyone good luck!
just thought to make a correction…”lost the biggest brook I ever seen***AT EDITH***, Edith has the odd lunker brooks but definitely does not hold any record breakers like some other lakes in the surrounding area
anyone out there have an idea of what kind of ice we are looking at up at red lake this week. it wasn’t overly thick 2 weeks ago and after this warmer weather just wondering if it would be ok still for this weekend?