It’s still winter up here at Tunkwa! We have seen some warmer days, and lots of snow melt, but the nights are still dipping below freezing, really slowing down the icing off process. Last night was our first night to stay above freezing, and the upcoming weather forecast, is looking promising, with warmer weather, sun, wind and even some rain, all key items to getting Tunkwa iced off.
We have had guests in, all month, and they are still out ice fishing. The ice is still plenty safe, with a good 18″ of solid strong ice. Some days the fishing has been fantastic, while other times, the trout just seem to be off and not biting. Guests report seeing the trout under the ice, swimming around there baits, but just not biting.
The biologists from Fisheries were out here, at the beginning of March, checking on the dissolved oxygen content, in the waters below the ice. The readings give them an idea on how the lake and fish are doing or have done through the winter. Both Tunkwa and neighbouring Leighton Lake, had good readings right down to 16′, which is fantastic news, they have wintered well! Some of the other lakes in the area have not done so well but are still hanging in there, with Logan Lake being the only one succumbing to winter kill(due to a faulty compressor on the aerator on that lake). It will be stocked with ‘catchable’ sized triploid rainbow trout that grow incredibly fast, and will have it fishing well in no time at all.
The two lakes located just down the road from us (at a much lower elevation), are doing fine this winter as well, and will be starting to ice off. They typically will ice off the first week of April, and are the first to open up in the region. They are a popular destination for guests looking to get there first shot of ‘StillWater’ fishing.
As ice-off starts to progress, watch here for updates. Also check out our web cam (http://www.tunkwalakeresort.com/webcam/) for lives shots of the lake, to see the lake as it starts to open up. Tunkwa typically ices off Mid April, but in the past 12 winters we’ve been up here, we’ve seen it come off record early of March 24, and a record late of May 5. It’s just a best guess right now, but we think we should see ice off by the third week of April…no bets on it yet!
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