Decided to do something a bit different for my flyfishing adventure this year. Instead of Montana, Idaho, or Wyoming streams it was South central British Columbia lakes. Lots of advantages to Canada right now. The area visited, Kamloops BC, is only a 5 ½ hour drive from Seattle as opposed to 9+ for Montana, the CAD vs USD exchange rate is very good, border crossings are back to normal after all the COVID crap. All my experience in the flyfishing game is on streams or Puget Sound. Lakes are new. Booked three days fishing with Interior Fly Fishing Company (https://interiorflyfishingco.com/). Fished two lakes, Stump and Edith, over those three days. I will preface this report with a note that the bad & early winter left some lakes, particularly one called Roche which was home water for Interior Fly Fishing Co., unfishable because of winterkill. Likely some other lakes suffered the same fate.
Weather was unusual for central BC early June. Mid 90’s and calm to low winds, almost no clouds in the sky. Lots of sunscreen and water. Not the best fishing weather by any stretch but absolutely gorgeous IMHO. No fires in the area…so far but on the drive from Seattle we saw the remains of big burns that caused so many headaches in Seattle last year.
Day one was Stump Lake. Big lake noted for big fish and moody (!?) fishing. Bad mood when I was there. Pulled a few leech streamers, lots and lots of Chironimids for almost 8 hours and got one bump. Saw one boat stick a couple but everyone else…..nada. There were a ton of Chiromimids, PMD’s, caddis…a total candy box of bugs hatching but no one was catching. At the last spot of the day, in the last 10 minuets of the day on a deep dangle, finally hooked up with what felt like a very large something that lasted till the first headshake and gone.
Day 2 and three were at Edith Lake. Edith is a 61 acre horseshoe shaped lake at around 3300 ft elevation. Pretty lake. We fished nothing but chironimids both days and had really good fishing. When……..you were in the right spot, with the right pattern, at the right time. This was very surprising. My guides were able to spot the one small area where a hatch was occurring. After he got a throat sample of the bugs and fine-tuned the pattern it was bobber down catching time. Lots of people noticed because on day three that spot was packed with people NOT catching anything. After the crowd dispersed we resumed the spot and again and had a great time. I have no idea what separated our patterns that worked from those that didn’t. My guides carried boxes with 100’s of flies, maybe 100 different patterns that looked to me very similar. The size of the fish was also surprising. Edith is Pennask rainbow trout country with fish averaging 18 to 25 inches. I used a 5 wt for all my fishing. Don’t think I would do less and IMHO and if I was on Stump again with the potential to be fishing deep for bigger fish, wouldn’t do less than a 6 wt. All photos are from Edith.
My guides, Brett and Casey were terrific. Learned a lot about lakes, chironomids, fishing techniques (The Dangle! LOL!) etc. Watching them look at the throat pump sample, then go to a fly box with 200 flies, pick ONE that to me looks like all the others and then Game ON! Well, that’s magic……..
Weather was unusual for central BC early June. Mid 90’s and calm to low winds, almost no clouds in the sky. Lots of sunscreen and water. Not the best fishing weather by any stretch but absolutely gorgeous IMHO. No fires in the area…so far but on the drive from Seattle we saw the remains of big burns that caused so many headaches in Seattle last year.
Day one was Stump Lake. Big lake noted for big fish and moody (!?) fishing. Bad mood when I was there. Pulled a few leech streamers, lots and lots of Chironimids for almost 8 hours and got one bump. Saw one boat stick a couple but everyone else…..nada. There were a ton of Chiromimids, PMD’s, caddis…a total candy box of bugs hatching but no one was catching. At the last spot of the day, in the last 10 minuets of the day on a deep dangle, finally hooked up with what felt like a very large something that lasted till the first headshake and gone.
Day 2 and three were at Edith Lake. Edith is a 61 acre horseshoe shaped lake at around 3300 ft elevation. Pretty lake. We fished nothing but chironimids both days and had really good fishing. When……..you were in the right spot, with the right pattern, at the right time. This was very surprising. My guides were able to spot the one small area where a hatch was occurring. After he got a throat sample of the bugs and fine-tuned the pattern it was bobber down catching time. Lots of people noticed because on day three that spot was packed with people NOT catching anything. After the crowd dispersed we resumed the spot and again and had a great time. I have no idea what separated our patterns that worked from those that didn’t. My guides carried boxes with 100’s of flies, maybe 100 different patterns that looked to me very similar. The size of the fish was also surprising. Edith is Pennask rainbow trout country with fish averaging 18 to 25 inches. I used a 5 wt for all my fishing. Don’t think I would do less and IMHO and if I was on Stump again with the potential to be fishing deep for bigger fish, wouldn’t do less than a 6 wt. All photos are from Edith.
My guides, Brett and Casey were terrific. Learned a lot about lakes, chironomids, fishing techniques (The Dangle! LOL!) etc. Watching them look at the throat pump sample, then go to a fly box with 200 flies, pick ONE that to me looks like all the others and then Game ON! Well, that’s magic……..
