Fishing the trout Hiway in BC

[rmatei]

Going to fish the area between clearwater and 100 mile house in the next 3 weeks, Thinking about the sheridan/ bridge lakes area. Anyone care to share a decent lake in this area for fly fishing big rainbows?

[greylynx]

Before heading up there talk to these guys.

http://www.littlefort.com/

[fishman]

they open sometime in may and shut down sometime in october, they have a store in kamloops u can phone them

[Bhflyfisher]

Nope Kamfly is closed. Littlefort opens may 1.

[fish gunner]

If your not fishing the kootaney's your on the side roads of trout.

[greylynx]

Originally Posted by Bhflyfisher

Nope Kamfly is closed. Littlefort opens may 1.

Is Yosh still open in Kamloops?

[Bhflyfisher]

Originally Posted by greylynx

Is Yosh still open in Kamloops?

Im not sure, but the kamloops fly shop is out of business. The WSS sports there is a gongshow atm.

[Kingfisher]

R Matei, I have fished that area many times over the years. In fact I have fished it since approximately 1966 or 67. Can't remember exactally.

There are some fantastic lakes up there. I will also be heading up that way at the end of May. You may be a wee bit early. But you won't know if you don't go. Here is a link to a Sheridan Lake webcam. http://www.beddowtree.com/sheridan/lake.htm

As for lakes in the region there are too many to list. Some of the most popular are Fawn, Bridge, Drewry, Taweel, Preacher, West King, and the list goes on. Preacher may be still iced over in a few weeks. It is up there pretty high. Some of the lower elevation lakes should be open. But make sure you check your regs.

This time of year you will do best to fish the shoals. Start with a goomphus or a damsel. Another good pattern up there is either a black or maroon leech pattern. Anchor and cast using a fan pattern and the count down method to find the fish.

Keep an eye out in the smaller lakes on the water clairty. If it seems like the lake is full of rotting vegitation then it could be in spring turn over and you will do better to move on to another lake.

Have a great trip.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by greylynx

Is Yosh still open in Kamloops?

Bought a fly rod from Yosh in I believe it was 83. Still have it, was great customer service, his son packed up a bunch of rods and we headed to a park. Come to think of it he pretty much had to teach me how to cast as well, one of my best holiday's, those two weeks in Kamloops.

Still remember, nobody had seen a belly boat there, was weird, mecca of trout fishing in lakes and nobody knew about belly boats. Oh and his son hated "gang trollers". LOL

[rmatei]

Thanks for the detail Kingfisher. Looks like were heading west on May 10 for a couple of weeks. Plan on starting west of Little Fort and continue west until I find the honey holes. Never heard of a goomphus, any idea where I can find the pattern. Will checkout the webcam. Thanks again for the input.

[AdamJ]

Originally Posted by rmatei

Thanks for the detail Kingfisher. Looks like were heading west on May 10 for a couple of weeks. Plan on starting west of Little Fort and continue west until I find the honey holes. Never heard of a goomphus, any idea where I can find the pattern. Will checkout the webcam. Thanks again for the input.

See his blog entry of April 17th for the pattern you requested.
http://thewesternflyfisher.blogspot.ca/

[greylynx]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

Bought a fly rod from Yosh in I believe it was 83. Still have it, was great customer service, his son packed up a bunch of rods and we headed to a park. Come to think of it he pretty much had to teach me how to cast as well, one of my best holiday's, those two weeks in Kamloops.

Still remember, nobody had seen a belly boat there, was weird, mecca of trout fishing in lakes and nobody knew about belly boats. Oh and his son hated "gang trollers". LOL

My buddy was down from Prince Rupert and saw the gang trollers out in the little fly fishing lakes. He could not believe his eyes.

We sort of figured that it was the Vancouver crowd that were into gang trollers. A lot of it ocean going.

[Kingfisher]

Rmatei send me a PM and I will get you a couple of them before you go.

Rob

[Kingfisher]

The gomphus is a much smaller dragon. Usually 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a regular dragon fly nymph.

Here is an actual picture of a gomphus.



Gomphus tied with white deer hair

Gomphus tied with olive deer hair

Tying Instructions:

Hook Daiichi 1550 from size 10 to 6

Tie in a clump of deer hair, about the diameter of a pencil at the bend of hook.
Push hair back and tie in another clump right against the first clump.
Tie in a few more clumps until you reach 3/4 the way up the hook shank.
Clip deer hair to shape of Gomphus body. Make sure to leave enough hook gap on the bottom of the fly.
Tie in speckled pheasant out each side, extending back as legs.
Tie in a few more clumps of deer hair for head.
Whip finish and head cement.
Trim deer hair head, to shape.

I tie mine in 3 colors. natural deer hair, brown or olive deer hair.
attached is a picture of my gomphus and damsel box. You can clearly see I don't want to be short on my supply.

[airborne fisherman]

what's a "gang troller" ?

[Sweetjimmy]

I was at crooked lake last sept. we caught quite a few with some nice ones but nothing huge. Most of the time we were the only ones on the lake. The lodge there was cheap and the food was good and they have camping spots as well.

[Kingfisher]

Just heard from a friend who has a cabin up at Sheridan Lake. The ice just came off Sheridan on the weekend 27/28 april 2013. So at the very least you will be able to get out on Sheridan.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by airborne fisherman

what's a "gang troller" ?

Boats that drag these around, it's a slight from fly fisherman against trollers.
No harm meant, just a joke.

http://www.rapala.com/Ford-Fender-La...efault,pd.html

[airborne fisherman]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

Boats that drag these around, it's a slight from fly fisherman against trollers.
No harm meant, just a joke.

http://www.rapala.com/Ford-Fender-La...efault,pd.html

lol, thx my fishing knowledge keeps growing more and more with this forum !!

[ranchobendecido]

do you have cny contact details.

[fishman]

[QUOTE=Kingfisher;1948246]The gomphus is a much smaller dragon. Usually 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a regular dragon fly nymph.

Here is an actual picture of a gomphus.



Gomphus tied with white deer hair

Gomphus tied with olive deer hair


The Gombus or otherwise known as the mud dweller as he live on the bottom of the lake and alot harder to fish with then a darner

[32-40win]

The bulk of the lakes up there usually break this week. Been up there many times where they were froze on the way in, broke on the way out.
Black and Red chronomids, Red Butts, Pheasant tail nymphs. Don't be scared to try big chronomids, 12's and 10's. Hanging leeches in a hole in the reeds.
Talk to the shop in Little Fort for reports before going up the hill.
Can have a look at Rowley's patterns also, most of them were developed for that area.
http://www.flycraftangling.com/

[Kingfisher]

There are a couple of methods to fish a gomphus. If your going to troll it then use a full sink line. Troll slowly with an electric motor and have the whole fly line all the way out dropping the fly down about 10 to 15 feet depending on your speed.

Or anchor and use the same full sink line or a clear intermediate line. Cast out and let the line sink using the count down method, then retrieve slowly. The line will drop the fly line down to the bottom and the fly being boyant will lift itself and at bit of tippet up from the bottom a foot or two. as you retrieve the fly will go down, then when you stop it will rise again. So be sure to strip a few times then pause for 10 to 15 seconds.

Do not use too light of tippet when fishing a gomphus and do not leave your rod unattended when the fly is in the water. The takes can be pretty violent and usually heart stopping.

[gilbertslake]

Originally Posted by greylynx

Before heading up there talk to these guys.

http://www.littlefort.com/

The guys at Little Fort Fly Shop know their stuff, it is a must to stop by. They also have fishing maps of the area.
We were in the area in early June at Thuya Lakes and mayfly hatches were sparse, but some good evening showing of caddis that took well on elk hair caddis size 16-18 my son did well on Adams 14-16's. Daytime, we trolled nymphs with success. I did get some action on PMD's aroound mid-day and sulphurs in the evening 16-20's. Nymphs - GRHE's in 16-22's also brought a few fish to he net.
The Doc Spratley caught a lot of smaller fish and some larger too, in red and green bodies, but the black body didn't do as well, sizes 10- 6's
Best though were chironomids, especially with a light chop on the water, enough to move the striker indicator ever so slowly. These fish struck hard and with a 5-6X tipped I broke more than once on good sized fish. Red bodies with white bead heads worked best in size 8 - 12.

[Shawnlh]

Wow, I'm I glad I found this thread, and thanks for posting it. I had no idea there was such a place as trout highway. Tons of lakes within reach of each other, truly awesome.
I really enjoy fly fishing from my tube on trout ponds if weather permits. This area looks like a little slice of heaven to me. Thinking I know where the next fishing vacation is going to be.

Thanks

[32-40win]

You can spend a lot of years in that country and never fish most of the lakes up there. It was really nice before they built Hwy24. Want a nice drive going up there, go up the west side of Adams lake and cut over to Barriere, it takes about 40-50 miles off.

[Mikediz]

Fawn lake used to be good, have not fished it for 3-4years

[Jayhad]

Dragon Lake... Chromies

[rmatei]

Thanks guys for the input on this thread. Lots of good info and I have tied a bunch of Gomphus. Pretty easy fly to tie. Will stop at the fly shop in Little Fort for sure. Looks like a fellow could spend the whole year fishing the line from Little Fort to 100 mile house and never fish the same lake twice.
Looking forward to my week up there anyway. Any other suggestions for a good place to park the trailer as a home base?

[greylynx]

And then there is the other side of Highway 5.

Any good?