good fishing? going to barkerville BC

[bossmann]

Hey guys, gong to Barkerville BC for a few days. I don’t think I will be pulling the boat. I will be traveling the whole loop form Williams Lake to Prince George and back. So does anyone have any suggestions on where to start looking for good places to fish? I am not one of those guys that have to fly fish but I am sure that there has got to be some great fly fishing opportunities. The idea is that we will travel the whole loop and stop to fish at several different areas along the way and stop at Barkerville ( the wife likes to stop at all shiny things. like a crow or something. Guess there is gold there!). Any pointers would be great

Thanks

[bulliver]

There are quite afew places around Barkerville and Wells. There is a lake right when you get into Wells, which is about 3 or 4 miles from Barkerville. There is a boat launch just off the highway (on Jack of Clubs lake) when you come into Wells that is not too bad of a spot,try it in the evening, you can fish it from shore. There are a number of small pot hole lakes in the area,just ask some of the locals. Then there is Bowron Lake, you can rent boats with motor or canoes and there is a chain of lakes off Bowron that is supposed to be awsome.

[thundergrey]

there is even 10 mile lake just outside of quesnel which is pretty good. Dragon lake in quesnel is good for mud sharks, but not much for eating.

[bossmann]

Thanks guys. Any suggestions on river location and access to good spots? Any advice on lure and fly choice would be great!! I imagine rainbows generally are the target species?

[bruce44]

the best place to go is the bowron lake chains about 24 kms from barkerville. There is a turnoff to your left before you arrive at barkerville. I used to live in wells 18 kms from barkerville. Anyways bowron lake has a great assortment of spots you have the lake to fish from and a river runs off of it that provide a large group of rainbows whitefish and dollys be careful of sqauw though the waters are full of them. But there are places in the river where you can stand right over the fish and just plop the bait in. and some advice for the jack o clubs lake DO NOT EAT FISH OVER 30 CM LONG they contain large amounts of mercury. That lake has tons of rusting mining equipment in the waters. Not a good fishing place unless you have a downrigger its a very deep lake over 100 feet deep. also the typical worm and sinker works in the river. The trout are harder to catch in the lake in the summer because they go deeper but if you try spring the kokanee run is friggin awesome. The damn fish are so hungry they jump at your fly before you even cast it. Same with the trout in the spring they are just as active

[QBC]

Originally Posted by bossmann

Hey guys, gong to Barkerville BC for a few days. I don’t think I will be pulling the boat. I will be traveling the whole loop form Williams Lake to Prince George and back. So does anyone have any suggestions on where to start looking for good places to fish? I am not one of those guys that have to fly fish but I am sure that there has got to be some great fly fishing opportunities. The idea is that we will travel the whole loop and stop to fish at several different areas along the way and stop at Barkerville ( the wife likes to stop at all shiny things. like a crow or something. Guess there is gold there!). Any pointers would be great

Thanks

I just moved from there and my playground was out that way. The Bowron river can be a blast for Bows and Bulls. For the Bows I'd suggest stonefly patterns and for Bulls use some wilder streamer patterns if you're fly fishing. Otherwise use small spoons or spinners if you're spin casting. Panther Martins on my ultralight spinning rig was always fun. Any of the rivers and creeks out that way hold fish especially if they're a tributary of the Bowron or Cottonwood river system. The Cottonwood holds some surprisingly large Whitefish, again I took those on mainly Stonefly nymphs.

Running along side the highway out to Wells, after you pass Cottonwood House, is Lightning creek. Nice Bulls and small rainbows in there. It a rough little creek and you will loose a pile of gear in there with all the logs and such in the water, but it's worth it if you tie into one of those 5-6 lbs Bulls.... If you can, turn off the Wells Highway onto the Peters Creek road there are places to park and access Lightning. Best to do a little river walking and hit the pools that are a little way away from the access points, less people hit those. Buy a "Backroads Mapbook" for the Cariboo and like I said, any creek or river that drains into the Bowron or Cottonwood hold fish and some good one if you happen to stumble onto the right ones.

Anywhere out that way, keep an eye open for critters, you be in Griz country out there. I sure do miss that area though, it's beautiful out there.

[QBC]

Here is a Whitefish I took on the Cottonwood River. Notice the sling I'm wearing....sawed off pump for those critters I was telling you about...

[winged1]

Last time fishing through that area I discovered that a stonefly nymph with a small wieght to bottom bounce worked wonderfully in running waters.

[bruce44]

yes be careful for bears and other hunters when you are fishing. One time i was fishing off the dock in bowron lake and down comes a grizzly from the trail. It was only 13 feet away. But it just turned around and left us alone. I was 9 at the time so i didnt know how much danger we were actually in but when i think about it now i was one wrong move away from becoming bear food. Wow! but yes bears are all over that area be very careful and watch for signs. other than that have fun fishing

[QBC]

Yep, sounds about right....I've never had a real issue with a bear, did have to been a Black in the head with a rock once, but other then that, no worries. Keep eyes and ears open...make lotsa noise...all is good.

I had a huge Griz walk out of the bush and start fishing at the top of a run once on the Bowron River. The Salmon were running and he was feasting, I guess he though the fish would taste better then me...

[bruce44]

Originally Posted by QBC

Yep, sounds about right....I've never had a real issue with a bear, did have to been a Black in the head with a rock once, but other then that, no worries. Keep eyes and ears open...make lotsa noise...all is good.

I had a huge Griz walk out of the bush and start fishing at the top of a run once on the Bowron River. The Salmon were running and he was feasting, I guess he though the fish would taste better then me...

yeah i have noticed that bears dont seem to care if you are around during salmon spawning unless you are less than 30 meters away. I was fishing off the main bridge by the river there and not too far away was this grizzly down the river eating this salmon. he looked up at me then went back to eating the salmon i spent 1 hour casting then looking up to make sure it didnt charge lol. He did the same thing bit a chunk off the fish then looked at me standing at the bridge staring at him. I think we were both kinda uneasy at that time. Lol finally i got to freaked out and left the bear alone. Remember though i was on a bridge he about 50 feet above the river and he was 40 meters down the river and on the other side so there was alot of room and obstacles between us so dont think im condoning you to go and stare at a grizzly

[saskfly]

If you dont visit Dragon Lake near Quesnel then you might be a few peas shrt of a casserole. Without question one of the finest lakes to flyfish. Big trout, tonnes of bugs...Heaven. Just dont eat them because they taste like S@#T!

[QBC]

Dragon might not be worth fishing right now. Depends on the weather, if it's been hot there for awhile, it will be very slow fishing. Check at Caribou Fly & Tackle as to how it's fishing. Bouchie, 10 Mile or Milburn Lakes would be a better bet. Bouchie has some nice fish......