Good flies to use around Carpenter Lake (Lillooet area)??

[allofthisforyou]

Hi, I'm an aspiring fly fisher (just bought a kickboat, but am yet to buy a rod, reel, etc. :P) and am headed up to the Carpenter Lake area (northwest of Lilooet) in a couple of weeks. I'm wondering if anyone could let me know what some good fly patterns to use would be (i.e. what the entymology/hatches are around that area), or point me in the direction of a resource that covers this.

Thanks,
Rob

[chauchey]

http://www.flyfishbc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1554

That right there is exactly what you need. After you've read that, you're good to go. Check out some of the other books in the book review section, 'The Gilly' comes to mind, as well as Jack Shaws 'Fly Fish the trout lakes'.

If you want to just get in the water and start going around with little cost and bother

Buy a Redington Crosswater rod/reel/line/backing combo $85
Buy Black Doc Spratleys in sizes 12, 10, 8. Say 3 of each. $12
Buy 2 Bead Head Wooley Buggers, colors Black, and also Olive. $4
1 Throat pump. $10

Troll a black Doc until you catch something, pump its throat, get a good look at what its eating, and then go back into your fly shop and buy some of those. Once you've read the book found in the link I gave you, you'll have an excellent idea of the types of flies and what sizes you'll need. It also has a 'Bare Basics' section with the equipment, and flies that you'll need. Its different then the advice I've given you but my advice is also cheaper in both cost of the advice, and cost of the product.

[Trout Tramp]

Hello, it's been a few year's since I fished the area, but if your hitting the Goldbridge area all of the standard hatches apply.I used to fish Mowson pond,Pearson pond(brookies) & Gwynneth every year.In the early spring your regular chronies will do the trick ,particularly black&red,as well as damsels in a muddy green.If the fishing gets slow throw on a dear hair gomphus touched up with an olive & brown marker, fish it slow on a sinking line and hold on.Have fun!

[allofthisforyou]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for the late response (I've been pretty bogged down with work and what not lately)...

Anyways, I got back from my trip about 3 weeks ago but the fishing was pretty shabby overall (hooked maybe 4 fish between the two of us over three days, and only managed to land one). I managed to read your guys' posts a couple of days before I left, and bought some of the flies you guys recommended (a few more "olive" flies than I probably would have otherwise bought), but I only managed to hook one trout using flies -- a fair-sized one that took a dry, #12 Adams (using a spinning casting rod and one of those "Adjust-a-Bubble"s) -- and had maybe two bites on them (only dries) tops.

There was a full moon when we went, and the lake was probably just finishing turnover, so that might partly explain the poor fishing. The one other guy fishing the lake when I was there wasn't having much better luck: he was probably spending twice as much time on the lake as I was but was only catching about one or two fish a day (in contrast to the other times he's fished that lake, according to him). He was using a '52 Buick hybrid, or something like that (a (bright) green fly with a red tail), and a sinking line, so green/olive definitely seemed to be the way to go. I didn't have anything that matched the exact description of the fly he was using in my assortment but tried fishing (trolling, as well as stopping and using various retrieves) a floating black gnat on a sinking line, as well as some of the olive coloured flies I bought (in a addition to Doc Spratleys, Wooley Buggers, Knouff Lake Specials, etc.) a couple of times each day...

As far as the rod/book suggestions, thanks for those as well. I actually ended up buying a pretty nice (9ft., 5/6 wt.) "Kufa" rod/reel (+ spare spool) combo from A&N for $79.99... The spare spool was the clincher for me, since I like the idea of being able to change from a floating to a sinking line quickly. It seems like a really good rod/reel combo, considering the price, with the only downside being that the reel doesn't have a silent retrieve (something I'm a big fan of). I managed to disengage the thing in the reel that makes the clicking noise when retrieving, once I got home, but it only silenced the "right hand retrieve" -- which sucks for me since I reel with my left .

Wal-Mart had a really nice 9ft, 6wt. fly rod (it felt super light, and had a pretty sweet handle), made by a company in Burnaby, on for $49.99 but I had a hard time finding relatively cheap, silent retrieve reels (part of combos, or on their own) that you can buy spare spools for (I didn't have time to check out M&Y before I left but, judging from their website, I wouldn't have found a reel + spare spool for $30 - $50 ). Of course, I didn't figure out that you can silence (at least some) reels fairly easily until I got home, so maybe I could have put together the ultimate beginners set up ($29.99 Royal Coachman reel from Canadian Tire (which is LOUD AS HELL), $9.99 spare spool, and that Wal-Mart rod) but it's all good: I'm fairly happy with the combo I ended up finding (esp. w/ the price I paid). In the end I probably managed to put a whole "outfit" (float tube, rod, reel, 2 sets of lines, ~30 flies, etc.) together for $300, thanks in part to the guy at A&N that backed my two spools at no cost (cheers brotha)...

I'll definitely look into those books if I get the chance. I picked up "The Essential Guide to Fly Fishing," by Clive Schaupmeyer from the library, and read the parts applicable to lake fishing, before I left. It gave me a good idea as to how to cast, etc. I should probably take lessons, like he suggests, but I was getting about 50 yards of line or so out there pretty regularly so I figure I'm doin' alright for now... I also bought "Rainbow Trout Fly Fishing: A Guide for Stillwaters," by Ron Newman from Chapters/Indigo (I was buying some book online and needed another $10 or so to qualify for free shipping so I added it to my cart (figuring I could always return it if it didn't look good when it arrived))... It's tailored towards intermediate to advanced anglers (it doesn't have any casting instructions, etc. in it) and covers topics ranging from trout vision & hearing, to how fishing success varies during the lunar cycle... It's been a pretty interesting read so far, and I'll try to post up a review when I'm done reading it. Since I'm new to fly-fishing, it's probably a lot more in-depth of a book than I need at this point but, nonetheless, it's fairly interesting.

I'll probably end up buying a couple more books on fly fishing, and maybe take some casting lessons, over the next year or so but I figure my knowledge base is good enough for the time being. I'll probably make use of what I have right now (as well as resources like sharphooks.com, etc. to guide me in terms fly selection for specific lakes) and, once I'm comfortable on the water and regularly catching (preferably decent sized) fish, maybe consider buying better equipment, etc.

Thanks again, and I look forward to participating in this message board, as well as receiving more insightful responses (hopefully), over the years to come.

Cheers,
Rob