“As always, the whole group had an excellent time and we’ll all be back again next year for our annual trip. The fishing was fantastic for everyone and we had fast action in the late morning and evening down at Leighton Lake. All of our fish were caught in water 2-6 feet deep with a silver and pink spoon tied about a foot above a pink jig head with a chunk of worm on the end. Our son Davis just turned five and was able to watch the fish take his bait, set the hook and pull them through the ice without any help from us. All of us could sight fish through the hole and watch the rainbows grab the jig, which was exciting for everyone.”
Good success through the ice for the Takama Family.
Ice fishing has started on Tunkwa and Leighton Lakes!
Ice is between 7″ and 9″ thick, with it being good clear, hard ice. Rainbow trout are showing a preference for worms on the jigs over raw shrimp. Watching the trout on the Humminbird graph, we can see them refuse to hit the shrimp, but hit the worms aggressively when they are dropped down to them.
Using a bright spoon(no hook) above the jig, draws the trout in from a distance.
Ice Fishing Anyone?
Rich took an auger out on the lake today and did a couple test drills. The ice out in front of the Tunkwa docks was 7″, plenty safe for foot travel. We have NOT drilled elsewhere on the lake, so do not know how safe other parts of the lake are.
Ice conditions are still poor, with open areas still on Tunkwa. The snow is insulating the ice and slowing it’s formation down.
Watch here for reports, once safe ice forms.
Finally 2 nights of really cold temps(12) has formed a skim of ice across Tunkwa, and we think it is here to stay now, wrapping up our open water season. Guests have been day tripping to a couple nearby lakes at lower elevations and aways from icing over, are reporting some great trout action still.
Watch here for ice fishing reports when ice conditions are safe.
Warm sunny weather has kept the rainbows shallow, and fishing has remained pretty good. The trout are feeding along the weed lines in the shallows of Tunkwa. Many presentations are working, but fishing them faster, looking for a reaction stroke has proved to be the best tactic. Ice off seems a long ways away with this weather!
The fish were more eager yesterday anchored in the shallows 5-6′ but I had to make very long casts which seemed to help not spook the fish. They were still holding on the baits before committing but I am sure that will change at the end of this month, and get more aggressive like last year.
A couple I caught carried the float quite a distance so I am guessing they were starting to compete for the bait, again, much like last fall. They were banging the floats on the surface again which was cool to see. I think I will spend more time running the Rapala’s and spinners along the weedlines and flats.
There were massive ones jumping, just a matter of time before I land the giant one!
Nice trout Janet!
Fishing has been slow this apst weekend, with the just the occasional rainbow being caught by trollers, weather made it tough with big winds, drizzle and rain. Today the weather broke, with the winds slowing a bit, with the sun out warming things up. A couple of our guests reported fishing picking up today, with a few trout in the 3 to 3.5 lb range. The Pumpkinhead fly seems to be the best producer, and active fish are right along the weed lines feeding.
Bob’s nice fish from Monday evening.
Brent landed this beauty rainbows yesterday, that pulled the scales down to just over 5 lbs, nice fish!
Fish were caught primarily by trolling or wind drifting, with the usual presentations hooking fish. The trout seemed to be short striking, all being lightly hooked, and the bigger fish becoming unbuttoned near boat side. Bigger trout appear to be working the water above the emergent weed-beds, and at times, moving very shallow into the back bays.
Our weather seemed to break this morning, and we are having some incredible conditions right now, with warm sunny days in the forecast for the rest of the week. This should see the trout get a bit cranked up.
Some cooler weather and cold nights will get the fish going on there fall binge soon!
Fishing yesterday was good for some guests using Caddis nymphs, halfbacks, k-mart’s and hot shots, Today one young guest off the dock caught a 2 1/2 lb. rainbow with worm and bobber, yesterday he caught his first fish in his life also off the dock, he’s hooked on fishing now. Weather is absolutely beautiful with a slight breeze during the day and cool at night, great for sleeping!
Weekend outlook looks great, moon is into it’s fishy stage so fishing should be good.
hatches of the larger sizes are emerging after a week of cooler weather
put them down, last few days (65 Deg) saw some hatches and the fish
moved out of the shallow areas to feed on the chironomids, but today
things took right off and the fish are feeding heavily on # 10 light
green red butts at 14 feet.
I’m expecting bomber size chironomids ( #8-#10’s) to come off today and into the next number of nice, calm and sunny days in the forecast including this weekend and into next week.
Large schools of fish are just off the resorts shoreline and boats are grouped together anchored chironomiding. Worm fishers are also getting into some of these rainbow trout along with a few of the trollers out there.
We have a special on the rustic cabins this weekend only so it’s a last chance before school starts to get the kids or yourself out for some fishing.
Tunkwa water temps have cooled slightly and are holding in the mid to lower 60’s F, and lake levels are dropping as water is being pulled for irrigation downstream. Mixed fishing reports coming in since our last report, with some anglers still doing well, while others are struggling. Chironomid hatches and fishing these patterns have slowed down, but some anglers that are staying dialed in are doing OK. Larger chironmid patterns in olive hues seem to be the best bet, but dark green or brwons are good bets. More trout seem to be feeding up shallow, on top of the weed beds, and these areas are providing the most consistent action. Attractor patterns, like PumkinHeads, K- Mart Specilas, or Vampire leaches are providing hook ups. Worms fished under a float, fished over actively feeding trout, is working well, probably better then anything else. Guest trolling, are starting to pick up more fish, key seems to be fishing up higher, then the past while. Guest are continually commenting on the large size of the trout they are observing on the surface all around them, and we are still waiting for someone to break the 10lb mark this year, but we all think we will see it! Soem guests have been day tripping over to the nearby Thompson River, were some good catches are being reported fishing hopper patterns, to the fiesty resident rainbow trout. Salmon fishing for Jack salmon in the river, is picking up, esp. as the Thompson River level drops, with lots of hooks ups with bigger springers being a fairly common occurrence, jigs or cured eggs, being the best presentations.
Manfred with a Tunkwa beauty that fell to a chromie on Saturday.
Ladies showing how it’s done!
We are back into some steady weather again, and should see the fishing pick back up with the stability in the weather, some of the best fishing of the year should be happening the next couple weeks up here, as the bomber hatch gets going stronger.
Lake level is still up nicely and water temps are staying down. Chironomids have been hatching pretty strongly as of late, with some incredible late evening hatches. Big bombers sized chironies are coming off steadily now. We have seen some nice rainbow trout in the 4 to 5 pound class come in he past few days, with many comments from guests on there surprise on how hard the fish are fighting. Chironomid anglers are hooking up most consistently, with some remarking the best set up being a foot of the bottom out in 19 feet of water, with others doing well in 19 feet, but at only 12 feet down. Light green chronies with red rib, brown or green bombers and anti-static bag patterns are producing best, with size 10 being the best, right now. Trollers seem to be doing best earlier in the morning, trolling an assortment of gang trolls, tipped with red/silver wedding bands or trolling slow wobbling plugs like the Kwikfish, but action is slower throughout the day. Worms fished under a slip float, in he same areas, as the good chironomid fishing is occuring, are hooking up as well. Best bit of advise seems to be, get out and away from weeds, and find the active fish over the deeper parts of Tunkwa. Similar reports are coming from neighbouring Leighton Lake as well.
Nevada with his first rainbow!
The hot chironomid bite from the past week or so, slowed down today. We had a powerful storm blast through the area yesterday, and it seemed to really effect the bite. Everyone is seeing lots of big rainbows moving and jumping, but struggling to get bit. Trout have been slurping cinnamon caddis off the surface of the lake. Fish on the cleaning table today, were either full of small chironies(size16!) or smaller red blood worms. In the aftermath of the storm, we saw the trolling action pick up, with some good catches coming in on red coloured gang trolls, tipped with just a plain worm.
We are still seeing some good chironomid fishing, and the guest that are really dialed in are doing well. We are hearing reports of good numbers of fish, and many better than average size, with another 7lb class fish coming to net. Many strong fish in the 3.5 lb class are being caught. Fish are over the deeper parts of the lake, and anglers are hooking them close to the bottom early, then up about 3′ off the bottom a bit later. The best bite has been in the morning, with a slow down late morning. Chironomids tied in 12 long or size 10’s are best, with variations of the ‘static bag’ patterns working best. Worms fished under a slip float continue to produce as well. Not much feed back from anyone trolling right now, as most boats out there are anchored up. We have started to see more caddis coming off, as well as quite a few travelling-sedge pupa casings on the water.
Jordan with a plump 4 lber!
We are seeing the odd traveling Sedge come off, as well as some smaller caddis as well.
It is a great time to be up here fishing Tunkwa, give us a call about availability and help planning your trip.
Fishing picked up dramatically as the barometer stabalized since Monday in sunny skies and warm temperatures. Water temps made it back to 62 Deg. Monday after hitting 62 Deg.early June then the cool weather dropped the lake temperateres along with a bouncing barometer during June threw off insect hatches. Fish to 4 1/2 lbs. were caught the past two days during great chioronomid hatches of various sizes and colors. KD’s, anti-static bag, rootbeer #8’s were working well along with an assortment of #14 to #10’s of varous colors. Some anglers were into 20+ fish on a absolutely beautiful water conditions of a slight breeze down to dead calm. Anglers have been waiting for these conditions after a tough spring. Trollers using flat fish, kwik fish were doing well. Worm and bobber fishing at the bottom has also has produced fish.
The arrival of sunny, warm summer like weather to the Tunkwa area, was welcomed by all, including the trout! Fishing success has picked up considerably and we are seeing lots of trout being caught. Kids are regularly hooking up off our docks, and having a blast. The windy weather on the weekend made it a bit tougher, but the anglers who used the wind to there advantage did well. Drifting in the wind, with attractor fly patterns, getting them down to about 6′ off the weed beds, were into the trout. The Pumkinhead, olive Leach and olive K-Mart Specials patterns, all were working. Darker coloured plugs like the Kwikfish were working as well. Key was to keep the wind on your back, and not troll into the wind. The wind died down early this week, and we noticed much more fish activity, and catch rates went way up, lots of fish. We’ve noticed good hatches of lime green caberus start up, getting quite heavy at times. Guests out day tripping to area lakes at lower elevations, noted some great mayfly hatches occurring, and stellar fishing if you matched the hatch. Fishing conditions are looking great!
Alek with a couple of the nice rainbows he tied into this afternoon fishing off the shore in front of there cabin.
Water levels at Tunkwa are slowly dropping, and water temps are warming slowly, with upper temps hitting around 58F. A bit of an algae blown has started. We are seeing more adult damsels and mayflies around each day. using the bug nets and taking scoops off the dock, collecting specimens for our tank, we are seeing lots of cased caddis, damsel nymphs as well as daphia, water mites and of course the ever plentiful scuds. Chironomid hatches are still sporadic, but today they seemd to be coming of steady, and in bigger sizes. We are fianlly seeing good numbers of fish moving, and today we saw the return of the nighthawks, feeding on this hatch. Fish on the cleaning table are absolutely loaded with scuds still, and this seems to be the rainbows preferred food in Tunkwa, but that might be changing as I type, based on the fish activity seen. The trout keying in on scuds is making fly fishing tough, but plays well into the hands of trollers, who are having success covering water finding active trout. Gang trolls followed by wedding band/worms or Kwikfish plugs, are hooking up, with some nice trout. Guests who have found concentrations of trout are hooking up on worms fished under a slip float. Many of our guests who are fly fishers, are day tripping out to one of the many close by lakes, and are having good success, where on some, massive mayfly hatches are being reported.
Tunkwa water levels are stable but still very high, we have noticed a slight algae bloom start. Fishing finally picked up for anglers trolling hardware, as the rainbows really seem to be suspended over the deeper areas of the lake. From stomach samples of fish being cleaned on our cleaning table, they appear to be feeding almost exclusively on the scuds that are suspended out there. Best success is coming by slow trolling gang trolls, with silver/red or the old reliable half & half’s best. Behind the these rigs, a wedding band tipped with a worm, or a #70 Hot Shot plug, is the best bet. Working back and forth over the area you hit fish, or are missing strikes, is the ticket to stay on the trout. Fly anglers are really struggling, with some reports of success fishing darker leach patterns or PumpkinHeads flies on full sink lines over the suspended trout. Many guests are day-tripping out to nearby lakes, and having much better success using there fly gear, with small green chironomid patterns starting to come into play. We have noticed the first May fly hatches, and have been seeing damsels nymphs starting to migrate into the shallows.The flooded shallows are absolutely loaded with scuds, they sure seem to be loving all this high water.
Double header for Don and Brad!
Weather was still off a bit today, but improved as the day went on, and the evening was terrific, looks like the nice weather as promised has arrived!
Chironie hatches really intensified today, and fishing turned really hot for a bit today, again a matter of being in the right spot at the right time. Fishing copper or root-beer chironies in size 14 was deadly, and tricked many a trout. Today, we had one of our guests, fishing a countdown Rapala, in a bright Fire-tiger colour, do extremely well, the trout tore the casted lure up!
We expect the fishing to continue to improve with each day of nicer weather.
See you on the water!
Water temps on Tunkwa are remaining lower than normal. Water level is rising steadily. Warmer daytime temperatures and sunshine are helping it warm, but the cooler nights, and run-off from the mountains, seem to be cooling it back down. Surface temps have been creeping up to the magical 50°F mark later in the day, and is triggering haches. We have seen some good chironomid hatches already, but the majority of them are very,very small. Lucky anglers who happen to be in the right spot, when bigger chironomids start to hatch, are getting into the rainbows. Last week the fishing could best be described as tough and sporatic, but we are seeing improvemnets every day, and expect it to really pick up and turn on with a few days of stable weather, thankfully the upcoming forecast for the Interior/Tunkwa area is calling for some great weather. Mixed reports are coming in from anglers, they are seeing incredible numbers of trout moving, and some giants, with many working hard for there fish, but some have reported some good success. The biggest fish landed by our guests this week was a beautiful bright rainbow, of just over 6 lbs landed on the 15th, mid afternoon. Fly anglers are hooking up on small chironmids in size 16 or 14, with black/silver rib, static bag/red rib or dark green best. Leaches in black/red or olive green are working as well. The old reliable Pumkinhead Fly has been responsible for hooks up as well. Guests trolling Kwikfish plugs in darker natural tones are working for some, as are wedding-bands tipped with worms. Worms fished near the bottom, under floats, have been working pretty good as well, but not many guest have been utilizing this effective presentation. Reports from nearby lakes are coming in the same, with spotty results, but some flurries in the action, when your in the right place at the right time. We predict fishing in the Interior lakes to be great with the return of stable weather.
We expect the fishing to keep on picking up, as the awesome weather warms things up.
Water temperature off the end of the dock is 40.5F and lots of small black chironies hatching!
5:20pm – ice off! She’s done. The ice is now all piled up on the NE corner of the lake, and the open water season can begin.
In our time up here, and according to the previous owners as well, this date ties for the ‘latest-ever’ ice off, icing off on the same date two years ago. Tunkwa typically ices off mid April, so we are way behind this spring.
The ice cover is going quick, what’s left is now soft, and easily cut by a boat passing though…just one good wind from being gone!
We saw a couple boats out fishing the open patches on Tunkwa today, but no reports on how they did.
We are guessing ice-off shouldn’t be long, and will happen very quick with a good wind. Stay tuned…….
Ice off is progressing quite quickly now, with night-time temps staying above freezing. Much more open water has formed along the edges, and the ice has started to honeycomb(rot), and has lost all of it’s strength. This weekends weather forecast, with it’s very warm temps and bright sun, should help considerably and we should see ice off quickly. We noted quite a few small chironomids(size 16) hatching in the open water along the edges yesterday, mother-nature is ready to start!
A cooler than normal spring has slowed the ice off process on both Tunkwa and Leighton lakes. The open water along the edges of the lakes has been freezing over, with thin skim ice due to cold night time temps, but the open areas on the lakes are staying open wherever fresh water is coming in. Yesterday we noticed the first large ice crack open up on Tunkwa, going from our dock area, all the way across our bay to the far point, this is an encouraging sign, and a good indicator that the ice is moving and starting to ‘erode’. There is a lot of heat in the sun now, working away on the ice surface as well. The short term weather forecast is calling for much warmer temps, and we should see the ice-off progressing quickly.
A couple of the lakes, just down the Tunkwa Lake Road, at a lower elevation, iced off a couple weeks ago, and they have been a fishing option for guests.
Not much happening in the way of ice-off yet, nights are still dipping below freezing, and day times temps are remaining unseasonably low, slowing the melt. There is open water on Tunkwa and Leighton Lakes wherever melt water is flowing in, and off of all the feeder creeks as well.
A couple of nearby popular lakes, at lower elevation, are now iced off, and the still water season has started there.
Stay for more reports, as ice off continues. Also be sure to check in often on our web cam, to see our conditions. Please note, if the camera image does not come up right away, just hit refresh to see the current image.
Remarkably, Tunkwa ice conditions remain good with lots of safe ice. Only areas where water is entering the lake, will have open water and unsafe ice. Ice fishing pressure is very light, and reports of rainbows still being caught, are coming in, but mostly from Leighton though. This will be the last ice fishing report, and watch as we report on the ice coming off and the start of our open water ‘stillwater’ season.
Tunkwa still has lots of ice cover, and we foresee safe ice for the rest of the month, still some great ice fishing opportunities to be had. Fishing pressure was light this past weekend, but we did see rainbows caught in both Tunkwa and Leighton. Our fisheries biologist was out yesterday(yes, a Sunday on his own time!) doing O2 reading on the waters under the ice, and we were pleased to hear O2 levels are good in both lakes and doing well this winter, and bodes well for a great spring fishery.
Angling pressure this past weekend was fairly light. Mixed reports from guests, some doing pretty good and some having little luck. Surprisingly, we had one guest doing very well using egg skeins fished below a spoon. Lots of ice still, and looks like it will be a good long ice fishing season still to come.
We had warmer weather at Tunkwa this past weekend, but the winds on Saturday were incredibly strong. Only the hardiest of anglers could stay on the ice and deal with the wind. Fishing was slower on Tunkwa, with some fish being caught, but lots of short bites. Guests commented that they can see the fish but they aren’t biting, perhaps due to all the scuds just under the surface of the ice. Driving down to Leighton is a bit of gamble with more than one truck getting stuck, best to quad or sled the short distance if you want to fish there. Trout were a bit more co-operative on Leighton, with small pieces of worms being the best presentation.
Despite a busy weekend up at the resort, we had no ice fishing reports come in, with most guests content to just be out in the sunshine enjoying winter, skating, sledding etc. Snowmobile conditions are just unreal right now, the best I have seen in the past 4 winters!
We have had some good snowfalls, blanketing everything with powder. Fishing should be the same as previous reports, and still good during times of stable weather.
Ice fishing remained steady this past weekend, with the best bite being first light. Winter weather has returned to the area, and any surface slush has hardened providing lots of safe ice. Cooked shrimp remain the best bait.
The resort was closed to the public this past weekend, as a private function booked the entire place to have an ice fishing derby. Lots of rainbows were caught with a fat, 19.25″ trout being the longest and the ultimate winner.
Night time temps have been dropping well below freezing, but sunny clear days have warmed up to just above freezing, weather has been just incredible. Road into Leighton has improved slightly and is accessible by 4×4 truck. Our road into the resort is in excellent condition, and 2wd vehicles have no problems gettign in or out. Many sections of Leighton Lake have lots of slush under a thin crust of ice, but there is solid ice under that, but this makes quading and sledding there hard, and stressful dropping through the crust into the water or slush. Also there is open water where Tunkwa feeds into Leighton. Leighton is coughing out lots of numbers of rainbows most 12-15″, but the anglers have to move around, and don’t be afraid to fish as shallow as 3′. Cooked shrimp or small pieces of dew worms tipping a small jig is best, rigging a flasher spoon above helps call the trout in. Bites are very light, in fact barely detectable, using a braided ice line helps, but using a quality fish finder/graph is indespensible. Tunkwa lake is really on and off, day to day, and one has to really move around to find active fish, best action is found by fishing along the weed lines, and best bite is at first light and the next half hour after that. No slush on Tunkwa and about 14″ of ice. One can easily access through the resort, but no trucks allowed on the ice.
.