The beginning of summer marks another beginning—the annual sedge hatch in lakes of the Cariboo. Owen Lake is a great place to try sedge patterns. From mid-June to mid-July, this hatch provides fly fishers with some great fishing on a wet or a dry fly. Paul Burgoyne, a former fishing guide, offers some tips for anglers wanting to try fly fishing this hatch. For dry flies, he suggests using the Mikulak Sedge pattern. “Cast it down and let it sit for a couple of seconds, then skim it along the surface by pulling it towards you,” says Burgoyne. He says the key to hooking these fish is not setting the hook until you feel the fish pull on the line. “When they’ve got it in their mouth and they are starting to head down, that’s when you set the hook. If you set it before that you’ll pull it right out of their mouth.” A popular wet fly pattern is Chan’s Freshwater Sedge Pupa. When fishing a pupa pattern, go to the shoal/drop-off area. Use a sinking line. Cast and let your line sink to near the bottom. Then pull the line (retrieve) in a manner that imitates the swimming motion. Make several, quick, 10 to 20 cm pulls in a row. Then pause. Repeat this pattern of pulls and pauses until the fly is near your boat. Reports are that Owen Lake is best suited for boats with motors and not canoes or pontoons. LAKE ACCESS From Williams Lake, follow Highway 20 to Alexis Creek and turn right (north) onto Stum Lake Road. Owen Lake is roughly 40 km from the highway turnoff. Access to Owen Lake is from a side road (Rosita-Fir FSR) on the right (south) side. A few kilometres from the turnoff, there is a small side road leading to the lake, where a small boat can be launched.

waiting for the lunker in Owen Lake

Owen and Fir Lake remain jewels for campers and fishers, just an hours drive west of Williams Lake on well maintained roads. Owen has rougher camping with only one pit toilet well Fir lake boasts many pit toilets and well maintained campsites, this year most supplied with firewood at the start of the season. Owen lake yields an ocassional lunker at bays located central and at the far end. Outboards are mandatory to fish this lake but often the boats have been known to help out the pontooners by towing them to the far end. Fir can be rowed the entire length but the boat launch there is capable of handling 15 footers easy.