I know its early,maybe the cabin fever is getting to me,but lets keep our eyes open to interior lakes as they should start to thaw(pics to post etal):cheers:
Ya, just a tad early! In my years at Tunkwa the average ice-off date was April 20th. Six Mile and Morgan are traditionally iced off around April 1st. Steve Maricle does 02 testing on those lakes at the end of February and then we'll know the thickness of the ice and then you can predict more accurately when the ice will go.
John K - If Morgan is ice free April 1st when would be a good time to hit it? right away or wait a couple weeks to let it turn over first ? I wanna hit that lake this year early before others ice off
The way things are going, Marquart should be open mid April. As far as Morgan goes, I've been there every year for the April 1st opening strictly for tradition. Have never had great fishing then and it could have something to do with 30 trucks parked there. The best day I ever had there was about three years ago on April 30th during a monster callibaetis hatch. Had adults in my ears, in my nose, around my eyes and all over my arms. Back to the question, I think you would be safe by April 15th for some decent action. I'll phone Steve Maricle at the end of February and find out how much ice there is and that can be a good predictor of ice-off. As far as turnover goes, I like to slap some leeches on the water before turnover but the problem with Morgan is there are almost no shoals.
I hope we get a long season this year. This year was a really strange fall which cramped any style I had(which wasn't much). I'm looking forward to this year! It's getting closer with every fly I tie!
Tunkwa still has ice, but there is open water and I saw someone on the web cam fishing yesterday (still lots of ice in the centre tho'). Sheridan is showing open water as well.
there was a report on the news about lake levels in the okanagan or something and they showed pictures of oyama lake, and it had open water at the edges but still looked pretty solid in the middle. Pinaus and square lake above falkland look to be ice free since they where stocked on the 26th.
Lakes at that elevation (Oyama, Swalwell, Postill) could be ice free, I plan on checking out James Lake today which is a little south east of Postill. The snow level is fluctuating quite dramatically right now, forecast says it's at 1100m right now, with it rising to 1700m later today. I would imagine with all the rain we've had over the past little while that they're ice free.
Edit:
Plans were changed and I decided to try Browne Lake out instead of James, seeing as how it was opening day and being an artificial fly only lake It seemed like the logical thing to do. While I am nearly 100% certain the lake was ice-free I was turned back by 3-4 inches of fresh wet snow covering a sporadically icy and muddy FSR after getting to within a few km of it. After a brief stop at Idabel (where the fishing was not worth mentioning) headed to James Lake, but again turned back by hairy roads. Again I am nearly certain that James Lake would be ice free.
where abouts is james lake? i was up swalwell area today and checked out a bunch of lakes. fly fish 2 was ice free but the road into it was all snow. fly fish 1 was 80% ice free. lost was ice free. dee was ice free i think. island had water around the edge and is probaly a couple days away, same with doreen.
James Lake is just south of Postill Lake, and is accessed from Goudie Road. If you look on Angler's Atlas you'll see it.
When Junkie and I went up that way the other day, the FSR was totally socked in with snow. No doubt it's better now, but it was pretty bad at the time.
o ya i see it now lol. i have wanted to check out the lakes around postil but have never gotten around to it. it might not be ice free yet since some of the lakes i checked out today at the same elevation where iced up, but they looked to be a week away at most. the wind today looked like it was realy helping the lakes out.
anyone know how campbell lake (kamloops) faired this winter? low water levels last year was wondering if winter kill occured.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
BC Fly Fishing Forums
65.3K posts
4.8K members
Since 2003
A forum community dedicated to British Columbia fishers and sporting enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about safety, licenses, tips, tricks, rivers, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!