Looking back over the year, we saw a record late, ice off( May 5) and we witnessed some unreal fishing right at ice off. Hatches seemed to be sporatic all year, but we witnessed some intense chironie hatches in May, old timers here, have said they’ve never seen them that thick. Fish remained somewhat predictable though. Water temps stayed low, reaching mid 60’s as a high. Blooms were very light this year and water levels stayed quite high. We saw some bigger fish caught, with a incredible 31″ fish being the biggest we know of, but lots of 3-4lb class fish came to the net. August fished very well, even though the bomber hatches were light, I am surprised how light fishing pressure is here then, with Leighton taking the brunt of the anglers pressure,(if you can handle the heat, the fishing is great in Aug). Very hot flies this year, again, was the Pumpkinhead, which just plain out works all the time, and static bag chironomids were hot all season as well, just changing sizes being the big variable. All in all the fishing was good in 08.
Look for some changes in the new Provincial Fishing Reg’s when they come out, effecting both Leighton and Tunkwa, should make for a great season next year.
Augered a hole through the ice this afternoon, and the bay in front of the lodge has 3.85″ of clear, solid ice. Fishing season closes Dec.1, ice fishing anyone?
Cold temps(-15C) last night and calm conditons finally froze Tunkwa over last night. Good reports back from a guest who did a day trip over to a nearby lower elevation lake, some good shore fishing opp’s still out there.
Fishing pressure has been very light as of late. We had some skim ice in the back bays earlier this week, but this has long melted. Guests fishing yesterday reporting cacthing quite a few smaller fish, but could not convince the bigger fish to go. Weather is staying quite mild up here, and the Tunkwa is remaining fishable. Nearby Leighton Lake and Morgan lake are good late season options to try as well.
Many of our guests, over the last couple of seasons, have got to know Joedy, one of our helpful staff up here. Joedy is a fishing-nut himself, and always eager to help guest hook up, and goes out of his way to do so. We promised him a trip of lifetime, to fish the Skeena area, and to break his personal best for steelhead trout. Many steelhead were caught and Joedy has a new personal best trout of 40.5″x 20″, and will be going back to Ontario this winter with even more appreciation of the great fisheries here in beautiful BC!
Not much to report on fishing, pressure has been light, and guest are workin hard to catch there fish. The cold nights have slowed things down, at least until the sun comes out and warms things up. Fishing this time of year can be really feast or famine, when they are ‘on’ they are really on, and when there off, well there really off. Stable weather and sunny days will push the fish up into the shallows feeding, areas with darker bottoms will warm up a touch and seem to be key. Micro leaches are your best bets, but fishing bloodworms patterns close to the bottom are a good option to try as wll.
Incredible weather up here as of late, with daytime temps hitting the mid 20’s, but very cool nights. Lake levels have risen a touch, from rains and some snow melt up in the hills last week. Water is getting very clear, and weeds are staying crisp and vibrant. We saw several trout in excess of 4lbs brought in this past weekend. Fishing pressure is relatively light right now, but anglers are doing pretty good. Same mico-leach patterns are producing, but shrimp patterns fished down in the weeds are producing very well. More and more fish activity is being observed in the shallow bays, close to the resort. Guest trolling Kwikfish and Hotshots are reporting some good success, darker colours are best, but some good catches have come on pink and red colours. the old ‘garden-hackle’ is continuing to work very well.
Weather has been unseasonably warm, but we awoke today, the first day of autumn, to the hillsides surrounding the lake covered in snow.
Weather up here at Tunkwa has been unreal the last week, and all good! Sunny, calm and mid day temps have been int eh mid 20’s, and nights have been staying above freezing. Fishing continues to be good, with most fish being caught in 14′ of water or shallow, primarily above the weedbeds. Same patterns as previous reports are continuing to catch fish.
Beautiful weather has engulfed Tunkwa the past number of days, and fishing has been staedy, with everyone catching fish. The cool mornings have been slow, but action pciks up as things warm up. Maroon and root beer coloured chironomids have been producing. Anglers trolling or drifting Spratleys, Carey’s, micro leach and wooly-bugger patterns have been catching fish. Black glitter hot shots, and yellow/red/black dot Kwikfish have been working as well. Some anglkers fishing wedding bands, tipped with worms have been experiencing success. Lake levels are dropping and surface water temps, mid day are 56 F.
the high pressure moves in the lake is a bit breezy today but now is
calming down and the sun making it a beautiful late afternoon. Fishing
is good, yesterday a nice 4lb fish was brought in by hand as their
lines got tangled in the comotion. The lake being stired up by the wind
today will stir up the bloodworms and bring them up to close to the
surface(3 feet) they can’t get back down so fishing should be
excellent.Worm fishers drifting and still fishing are doing well with
10 to 15 fish to the boat a day. Leeches trolled on the surface are
doing very good right now (black with crystal flash and marron with
crystal flash) flyfishers using a medium sink are doing well. Mayfly’s
are still coming off and the pupae imitations are doing well just under
the surface in the late afternoons until dark.
Tight Lines
Tight Lines
Fishing pressure has been very light on Tunkwa, but reports coming in are indicating, some big fish are being caught by chironomid anglers. Dark coloured Kwikfish and HotShots plugs are accounting for fish by guests rtolling, as well. More stable weather has brought the hatches back on, and the short term weather forecast is looking very favorable to keep the hatches improving. Many of our guests have been fishing neighbouring Leighton and doing very well, mostly on mid sized chironmids, in bright greens, browns, chromies and Static bag, but reports of good catches drifting olive coloured damsel nymphs have come in as well. Pssst, 
don’t right these Interior lakes off in August, you’ll be missing some of the best fishing of the year!
Tunkwa has been fishing very good as of late. The mid-day bite has been going strong producing some great catches. Fishing larger sized chironomids(bombers), about 1 ft. above the bottom in 14-16ft. of water is the ticket. Chironies in rootber, brown, green/red butt, anti-static bag or chromie are working. Lots of rainbows in the 3 lb range are being caught, with some 4’s and 5’s in the mix as well.
We have had some good surface action in the eve’s with many hatches going strong. Surface feeding fish seemed to be really dialed in on the small termites migration that were occuring as the adults dropped onto the lake surgace, fish were being very selective. Trollers are still cathing fish, but right now the chironomid hatch is the ticket for the bigger fish as well as numbers of fish. Next door Leighton lake has been fishing well, with more of a morning bite. If you can handle the sun, it is a great time of the year to be fishing up here!
Some unseasonable weather as of late, but fishing has continued to be very good. Fish have been keying in on the larger bloodworms during mid-days, and feeding aggressively on the surface during morning and evenings. Large sized chironomids have just started to hatch. Sporatic caddis hatches are still occuring. Good numbers of fish up to 4.5 lbs have been caught the last couple days. It is a good time to be fishing Tunkwa!
After a day of showers and cooler weather yesterday summer came back today along with the fish. Fish to four pounds were caught today mainly on medium size bombers #12 and a few #10’s. Last night the big fellows came out see the world at around 9:30 P.M. #8 in brown in Farmers bay. Should be safe to say “their here”.
Fish were also caught on blood worms in deeper water. Worm fishermen were also doing good the past few days. Trollers were catching fish using frog and black/silver hot shots fisher with spinning rods without gang trolls, gang trollers with worms or flatfish/hotshots also got into fish on this beautiful day on the Highland Valley Plateau.
A string of beautiful, sunny, stable weather has settled on us up at Tunkwa. Lake levels are remaining up, and the algea bloom is still light. Guests are doing OK fishing as of late, with the most consistent producer being the worm fished on a slip-float set deep, just off the bottom. Trollers fishing the usual HotShots or Kwikfish are catching fish, as are wedding bands tipped with worms. Guests fly fishing are having succes with larger chironies in rootbeer/red, chromie, gunmetal and black/red. Slow drifitng various wet patterns in olives are producing fish. Some better sized trout have been caught fishing dragon patterns down deep, ripping them off the weeds when they hang up.
We’ve had some crazy weather pass through here last week, that saw temps drop instantly into the low single digits, with hail and snow in the mountain tops surrounding Tunkwa. Some gale force winds knocked the power out for a huge area for over half a day. Once that system blew through the weather turned incredibly nice, lots of sun, light winds, and cool nights for sleeping.
Fishing has been OK, guests are working hard, but are being rewaredd with some fine catches. Fish on the cleaning table are full of small caddis pupa, scuds, and the odd chironomid. The caddis hatches continue, as well as many damsels, and large dragonflies are making appearances. Some large bomber sized chironimids are starting to apear, but are sporadic. Guest are having success slow drifting olive leaches, green bodied spratleys, dark coloured wooly buggers, K-Mart Specials, and chromie or red but-root beer chironomids in larger sizes. Live worms or Berkley GULP worms fished deeper off a slip float are working well. Guests, slow trolling/drfiting, HotShots or Kwikfish plugs, are scoring as well. We aave seen several fish in the 3 lb class brought in and hearing stories of the bigger ones that keep getting away.
Well the short heat wave is gone and we have some much more comfortable weather today and for the next week. Fishing is picking up with three pound fish coming in and one guest with a four and a half pound rainbow fooled with a Werner scud, other fish were caught on K-mart’s, large root beer copper rib chironomids, pregnant scuds, bloodworms. Trollers are getting fish on gang trolls with a frog flatfish with three feet of leader. Dry flyfishing in the evening is picking up also.
Fishing remains a bit slow, anglers are catching fish, but are working for there catches. Still, some nice fish are being caught. Looking at stomach contents on the cleaning table, there seems to be a good percentage of blood worms in the samples, red/green in sizes 12 and 14 are most prominent, with some small leaches and larger chironmids are in the mix as well. Fly anglers are hooking up on the K-Mart patterns, Bird-of-Prey, Damsels and fullbacks. Size 12, even 10’s chironomid patterns in the usual colours are producing at times as well. Reports form nearby lakes are having success fishing pregnant shrimp patterns.
Trollers fishing kwikfish and hotshots, or wedding bands are having some success. Weather is now stable, with moderate winds and lots of sun.
Fishing has been fair to good for anglers today, trollers were getting fish on small willow leafs and worm. Flyfisher’s were hooking into fish on bloodworms, gumphus, damsel nymphs, chromies,Tunkwa pale green chironomids and static bags. Weather is cloudy and 21 Deg with a sunny weekend ahead of us with highs to 25 Deg. Sunday should be a good day on the water after the high pressure moves in creates stable weather pattern not seen yet this year for more than two days, when we did have them the fishing really got hot. For the ones who are on holidays next week the fishing will be excellent.
Look out for the mid week cabin/boat special we have here.
Todays report courtesy of Richard.
Fishing ended up being good over the weekend, rain was very intermintent and we had lots of sun. All methods were catching fish, and we’ve had reports of some big trout coming to the boats as well. See previous report on productive fly patterns and lures selection. Fishing did slow down a touch Sunday afternoon, but looks like it should be going again this morning. Cool temps last night have dropped surface water temps, but todays sun will bring it back up in a hurry.
Fishing was slower yesterday with the off weather, but has really picked back up today. Passing rain, the odd sleet shower to, didn’t seem the slow the fishing. Today lots of fish are being caught, including some big fish. Seems like most presentations are working, but the bigger fish are being caught fishing deeper, using damsel or dragon presentations. Dark pumpkinheads or Spratley’s fished slow are working well as well. Chironomids in all the usual colours are producing, but not as well as the other presentations right now. Trollers fishing Kwikfish in Frog, black-silver or orange-black dot, are doing well. Wedding bands, or gang trolls tipped with worms are producing OK as well. Surface water temps are still 55F.
Fishing has been very good the last couple days, everyone is catching lots of rainbows, and some decent sized fish as well. Lots of talk about the big ones that got away! Best success has been slow drifting or very slow trolling a darker olive Pumpkinhead fly, on a sink line, over 14-17′ of water. Anglers are reporting many double headers with this approach. This afternoon the fish moved up higher in the water column and were taking hatching mayfly, chironomids and caddis just under the surface, anglers keying in on this had some incredible action. Anglers fishing chironies under the indicators were still catching fish, with black/red, olive/red and static-bag being key colours. Guests trolling red wedding bands, gangtrolls or Kwikfish(frog, orange-black dot) plugs were having good success as well. Despite the over cast and drizzle this aft, the fish kept on hitting!
Incredible weather up here now, lots of sun, very light breezes, and the fish are starting to co-operate. Chironomid fishermen are still catching, again small chironies are the fly of choice, static bag, chromies, dark olive are working. I’ve had some reports of success on scud patterns producing today as well. Anglers drifting Pumkinhead and Flashbacks, on ‘full sink’ line were doing well today. Chironie hatches have returned to more normal levels, and today we saw the first of the Mayflies coming off, only in small numbers. Water temps are still in the mid 50’s, and water level is holding, still up. Leighton has slowed down the past couple days, with the bite quickly dieing off mid morning, water temps there were 54F yesterday.
Fishing has picked up a bit last couple days, but is still slow. The winds have finally diminished, the rain has stopped, the temps are increasing and the sun has come out. The chironie hatches have diminished to a more normal level, the hatches coming off on the weekend were unbelievable! We are seeing more and more bigger chironies coming off now as well. The surface of the lake is littered with the shucks from these massive hatches. Lake level is still quite high, and surface water temps seem to be holding at 54F. Anglers are still working hard to hook up, but are still seeing lots and lot of fish activity, including many big fish showing themselves, just not on the end of the line. Many fish are still in the spawning channels, providing some great viewing opp’s. Talking with some of our seasoned anglers, who are still reporting good catches, both in size and numbers, they are telling me takes are very light, with many missed fish, and the ones landed are just lightly hooked. I’m told the fish are being very, very selective on chironomid colour and size, with size 16 static-bag, still being the best producer. They are also reporting marking huge numbers of fish, holding at mid depths, totally inactive and not being catchable right now. Guests are having good success from neighboring Leighton lake, as it is fishing pretty good right now, with dark olive chironomids in a slightly larger size being a good bet, but rootbeers, green-red butts, chromies are catching as well. Fish are still being caught by guest plying Tunkwa waters with the old reliable ‘garden hackle’ and trolling Hotshots or Kwikfish.
Fishing has still been tough. Uncooperative weather patterns with strong winds have made fishing a challenge. This afternoon we have calmer conditions and slightly more stable weather. Anglers are still on the water and not coming in, which usually means they are catching.
Chironomid hatches have been massive, absolutely filling the air, and the shorelines on the down wind side. I am hearing reports that the fish are being very selective, keying in on very small, narrow tied chironomids, in size 16 with green, or static bag(brown rib) being the best producers. Guest trolling HotShots, and Kwikfish on long flatlines, even in the off weather, have been doing well with some good catches. Everyone is commenting on all the fish activity and fish jumping all over the lake.
A very busy long weekend on Tunkwa. Weather was very warm, but windy. For the most part fishing was very tough. Anglers reported continous fish jumping all around them, but tougher trying to figure out what they wanted. Some anglers did figure them out and did OK, small chironomids in static bags(#16) or lime green in size 16 worked. Anglers fishing attractor patterns(leeches, pumpkin heads, spratleys) on a sink tip over emerging weed beds reported some good action.
Also anglers trolling hot shots, and Kwikfish in the mid lake did very well, with some nice fish on the cleaning table. I’ve heard of a huge trout taken in the fish traps the other day, I was told it weighed 4.9kilo’s(almost 11 lbs)!! Water levels are rising again with the warm weather quickly melting the snow in the mountains around us.
Temps approached 30C up here today, with light breezes. Anglers are catching fish, smaller chironomids still are working well, dark colours, static-bag and light greens seem best, but we’re noticing more and more fish on the cleaning table are gorged with dark(marron) coloured leaches. Trollers fishing the 10′ depths are catching as well, with worm tipped wedding bands, the best presentation. Kwikfish and HotShots are working. Surface water temps were 48F.
It’s shaping up to be a stellar weekend.
Weather was less then favorable this past weekend, making fishing very slow for all, and really, just not fun to be out on the water.
Monday saw an improvement in weather, with calmer conditions, sun and warmer temps. Mixed reports coming in, with some anglers doing very well, others working hard for there fish. Fish still seem to be very concentrated in particular areas, and are giving there location away with much surface activity. The standard fair in smaller chironies were producing, as where dark micro leaches suspended under a strike indicator, but fished very, very slowly. We’ve had some reports of damsel hatches, and have had customers waiting for the store to open to purchase tan coloured damsel nymphs. Lake surface temp on average is 46F, with some warmer spots up in the shallows. Lake level is receding now as well.
We had the fisheries truck pull in and stock approx. 13,000 small rainbows in front of the resort yesterday, providing a great site for young and old alike. Fisheries personal were commenting on some beautiful bright triploid fish in the 7lb class showing up in there collection stations.
Today it is raining, with light winds, but weather forecast is promising above normal temps with much sunshine, starting tomorrow, with an incredible weekend shaping up.
An overcast day on the lake, with cooler temps and moderate winds. Fishing reports indicate the bite was slower today. Anglers fishing very small chironmids, size 16, in rootbeet, olive-redbutt, lime green, and black, were having success. Fishing against the bank, up shallow, was best. Worms under a float were producing again. Creeks feeding into Tunkwa are still high, and lake levels are way up. Also, lots of fish showing up in the traps, for egg collection.
The lake level is still rising, surface water temps are 45F. Nights have been cool, but staying above freezing, and daytime weather keeps changing by the hour, everything from sleet to sunshine, winds have been light to moderate.
A real mix of weather today, short bursts of rain, even some ‘snow pellets’, mixed in with warm sunshine to, winds were light again, with the odd gust, then aaying down to nothing.
Guests are still reporting some great fishing. rainbows are still in the shallower depths, and seem to be in concentrated spots. Small(#14) chironies are the ticket, with dark green, black/silver, static bags, and even ‘Tunkwanomids’producing very well. Creeks feeding into Tunkwa are very high and the lake is rising quickly. Water temps were reported today as 44F on surface, and 36F at the bottom in 16+feet of water. Some beautiful fish in the 24-25″ range are being caught, some long time regulars, are commenting that they are seeing more bigger fish being caught so far, then they can remember. Fishing off the shore along our camping area is producing some steady action and acrobatic, bright fish.
We had a spectacular sunset last evening, reflecting off what was left of the ice. Today was absolutely beautiful, warm sunny with light winds…enough to shrink our ice cover to, maybe 10% covered, tops, not likely to be any left in the a.m. !! It’s about time!
Anglers did well this afternoon, both in numbers and size….from reports, chironimids in size 14 were producing best, dark green, red/black and static-bag all produced. Sounded like the 6′ depths were the place to be concentrating in. Some fish reported by anglers drifting/trolling with wedding bands/worms as well. Surface water temps to 45F were reported today.
Sunny breaks today, LIGHT north east breeze. The ice mass continued to shrink today, and started to pile up along the day use area. Ice coverage would be about 60%? Early this eve, the water started to cover and sink part of the ice. Anglers reported fishing slow, but some being caught in the areas that could be accessed. Surface temp readings vraied greatly depending on area of lake and influence from feeder creeks. Today, for the first time this season, the creeks were noticeably higher, starting pumping more water into the lake.
Last night stayed above feezing, today temps were quite warm, with only moderate winds. Open areas have increased slightly, but most of the lake still remains ice covered. Lots of insect and bird activity today over the open water portions, and a handlful of anglers plying the open edges.
Unfortunately the winds did not stay last night, but temps remained above freezing. Today, winds were lighter and temps lower then hoped for. A hail storm moved in, covering the ice in white again, as I was taking picts this aft. The open water areas have continued to grow, but still have a ways to go.
Strong south winds, warm temps and intense sunshine are working there magic today. Ice is retreating quickly with lots of open water patches. Ice can be seen piling up along the north shore as well, signaling that the ice is moving and being smashed by the wind. If the huge winds continue tonight, the ice won’t be around much longer.
Saturday was another beautiful day up at Tunkwa, very warm and sunny. Temps were well into the double digits and stayed up to +7C last night. The ice was very loud, from lots of moaning and cracking. Water is really pooling on the ice as well, all helping towards ice off.
Beautiful day at the Lake today, sunny with temps up to double digits ABOVE freezing The heat in the sun is making the ice soft, the difference a day makes! Picture doesn’t show it, but it really is getting soft, and on it’s way out soon.
On a trip to Kelowna today, I noticed ice on Courtney Lake was almost off, Corbett still frozen, with just a small portion open on the west edge, and Mamette Lake, mostly open with one large ice chunk in the centre.
Not much of a change. The last couple of nights have been very cold. Today, temps climbed above freezing, and snow is melting quickly, but no noticeable difference to the ice as of yet.
The last couple days have been something else, not just here but throughout the Pacific Northwest. Night temps have been dipping as low as -10C! and daytime temps just below freezing. We have had some snow accumulation as well. The open water along the edge of the lake has frozen again, but just in a skim layer. The snow on the aake is hopefully insulating it from the cold. Already today, the sun has started turning the snow into wet ‘packing snow’, and the melting has started. Weather forecast is looking favorable, and hopefully we will have much better news on the next report.
We woke to a blanket of white this morning, with approx.5″ of snow falling. Calm and serene, a picture pefect winter day..but in mid April! Not at all what we want to see!
Yesterday temps got up to +10C, with bright sunshine, last night down to -4C. This cold system is supposed to pass quickly and temps are forecasted to be above normal early next week. We figure 2 days of warm weather and some strong winds, the ice will be gone. We will keep you posted.
Also to note, anglers fishing a local open lake, reported water temps there in the 47F range, and fishing was just OK.
Not much in the way of changes, the last couple nights have seen lows of -3 and -2C. We have had some snow showers pass through the area, but intense sun is burning it off quickly.
Last night temps stayed up to +7C, and today temps were +20C with very strong winds. ice along the edges is deteriorating fast! Also surface ice is continuing to gett very slushy…again all good and conditons are moving along quickly.
Difference a day makes! Daytime temps today reaching over +20 C, bright sunshine, and moderate southerly winds, are working at eroding the ice edges along the lake shore, the top layers of the ice have turned slushy as well, all good!
Last night our temps went down to only-2C, and the sun/warm winds today should really help. Weekend forecast is calling for temps to be +20C.
Staff fished a local lake the other day, located at lower elevations. Ice had just come off, and water temps were up to 41-42F , fish were extremely lethargic, and takes were light. Some nice fish were caught, with the “pumkinhead” fly, fished dead slow under a strike indicator, being the best producer.
Coming very soon, we will be providing ice off reports and picts as it progresses, with post daily updates. I will try and get a ice measurement tomorrow and post and up to date overview.
Some area lakes opened up Apr.1 and staff managed to fish them yesterday, I’ve heard that they were rewarded with some good catches… I will get all the details from them tomorrow when I’m back in and update here.
We are all getting anxious for the May 1 opener on Tunkwa!!!!
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