New, looking for help for where.

[stapler]

Dryflyguy

Have got permission from the wife to head up to the merritt area for the may long....should i be putting tunkwa on the list...

i'm looking for some big rainbow...i'm totally pumped and would call myself a novice, however, can't wait to keep learning and trying out new lakes and areas.

[phearless]

Hi Stapler.
Your choices are many.
Are you looking for easy access?
Fewer people?
We all want big fish

Do a few searches through the site.
We have a bunch of info in there.

You couldn't go wrong with any of the lakes mentioned in

http://www.flyfishbc.com/forums/show...2044#post10273


Keep us posted.

Tight lines

Fred

[behemoth]

There's no fish in the Merritt area, head up to 100 mile

[24_7Fisherman]

if you hit Tunkwa & Leighton lakes dont forget to take some pumpkinhead flies with you. and loads of chironies !!! I myself like fishing Leighton better when im there because the big wind can be a pain. There is some other really good lakes close by those ones also (Morgan comes to mind)

[Fish Finder]

Please be sure to check your regs before heading out. Some lakes ( such as Morgan ) have a 0 retention limit on them. Strictly catch and release.

Finder

[stapler]

Hey Fred.

Thx for the input...
we'll be rollin in a big dodge with a cartopper in the bed and towing a tent trailer....so i guess we are somewhat restricted on where we can get into..
ideally, fewer the people the better, however, we'll go where the opportunity is...
I don't think i have ever bonked a rainbow for dinner...so retention is not issue for me...

thanks for all the input guys....i will keep searching the site and bug you guys when it gets closer to May...

One thing that would help is any advice on what flies i should start tying...

Todd

[johnk]

After all the years I spent at Tunkwa, one thing is for certain. Due to the pressure on May Long Tunkwa and Leighton do not fish well at this time. One particularly nice May Long I counted 80 boats on Tunkwa on a beautiful Saturday evening.

If it were me going that direction on a long weekend I would go to Chataway Lakes Resort and not for the base lake but for the satellite lakes on that mountain. I can always find lakes there that go unfished on long weekends due to the clientele at the resort being predominantly families.

And despite public opinion there are some large fish in those lakes. Dot Lake, for example, has fish to 12 lbs.(that I've seen) but can be challenging. With the new logging access cut through it is less than an hour to Island Lake from there. If you don't want to pay for camping there are forestry sites at most of the satellite lakes. I would suggest fishing Billy, Gump, Le Roi #2 and #3, Gypsum and Gordon. Antler is a lake with a small hike in requirement of about 5 minutes from the forestry sites and I have had some memorable days on that lake but in all fairness haven't fished it in a few years as other lakes have become favourites there.

I'll be spending a couple days on that mountain right after the long weekend as I tend to avoid long weekends now. Definitely worth a look if you're trying to avoid the large crowds.

[flyslinger]

If it's may long weekend,then chataway would probably be pretty cold.I would check for lower elevation.

[Sawmill]

may long....would Island be free of ice yet or the road snow free? dag dabbit I love that lake, the fish just fight so hard. I was there last september the 2nd week and hit a cold front the last night and froze my butt off, woke up to 1/2 inch frost on everything with my waiters cock stiff and reels frozen solid. The year before the same week I got sun stroke

[Sawmill]

oh ya I forgot to mention that the Kane valley might be an option....lots of puddles to choose from but may be a fair number of people there. There's always Osprey, chain and link inbetween princton and summerland, fish upwards of 7lbs in there if you're lucky enough to get em to strike