Is there any Ice on Red Lake yet?

Year round, Red Lake is a fabulous place to test your angling skills. This productive interior fishery supports thriving populations of brook trout and rainbow trout, and can test your angling skills. Angler’s Atlas member FishntheLoops says that Red Lake “can be one of the pickiest lakes in the region. It’s the good days of fishing that keep everyone coming back for more.” He adds that the trout seem to grow larger than in most other lakes in the region, so that when you do catch something, it’s really exciting. One of the reasons Red Lake is so productive is because of the underwater structure. There are plenty of shoals, creating ample opportunity for underwater growth. This in turn attracts the insects, which are prime feed for the fish. FishntheLoops says that shore access is poor, and a boat is necessary. Anchor along the weedbeds in the spring, he suggests, and fish chironomids under an indicator from sizes 16 to 8. This can be “a recipe for the best day of fishing one could ask for,” he says. Summer months are tough at Red Lake, he notes. Get in while the water is still cool, and before the algae blooms. Even fall fishing “tends to be a bit slower,” and you’ll need to use a wide variety of patterns and lures to find something that works. FishntheLoops adds that a Marabou Leech is a must-have. FishntheLoops suggests anglers start in “Brookie Bay,” at the far south end for brook trout, or the north end for rainbows. The island is surrounded by great structure and is another good place to start. “Dragging flies or hardware will surely get you fish, but matching the hatch will get best results for both numbers and size,” FishntheLoops advises. “This lake will stump even the best of anglers, sometimes regularly. A good fish finder is ideal as you could have a really good day in one spot and the next day you may end up having a hard time even finding them,” he notes. LAKE ACCESS From Kamloops, travel to Tranquille Road by the airport near the north side of the town. This leads you to a gravel road through the Tranquille Ecological Reserve. After 30 minutes of driving on this gravel road, you will reach the community of Tranquille, where a number of ranches can be found. Eventually you will reach a T junction where the road intersects with Copper Creek Road. Turn left and travel for ten more minutes and you will reach the lake. A public boat launch can be found near the south end of the lake.

There are no Kokanee or Sturgeon in Red Lake.

There are no Kokanee or Sturgeon in Red Lake near Kamloops.

First Brookie of the season can't wait for next trip!

New Map and Article!

We've just posted a new shaded map and article for Red Lake, featuring fishing tips from Angler's Atlas member FishntheLoops! (Hint: you can "follow" him to see the terrific fishing reports he's posted, too!)

Going after brookies

From an October 2013 report by Len Zilkowsky at www.thefishwhisperer.ca, a website specializing in kayak fishing: "I recently had to head up to my head office in Vernon for some training, so I figured that I might as well take an extra day to fish somewhere. After doing a bit of research I decided that it was about time that I tried my luck fishing for Brook Trout. Brook trout were introduced to BC many years ago, and GoFish BC continues to release Brook Trout into many lakes in the province on an annual basis. I was quite surprised to find out that there were over 145,000 brook trout released in the Thompson-Nicola region this year alone. "After taking a closer look at the stocking numbers I decided that I would make the trip up to Red Lake out of Savona on my way home. It really wasn’t on my way home, but it was one of the lakes that seemed to get good reviews online when I did my research. I came across a blog post on flyguys.net about Red Lake, and the size of the fish got my attention immediately. "I liked their Facebook page and quickly sent out a message to the guys asking for any pointers on how to fish the lake. After a day of training in Kelowna I made the trek over to Kamloops for a quick stop. I picked up a few things to eat, filled up the car with gas, and grabbed a Starbucks for the drive. Red Lake is about an hour or so out of Kamloops, and about half of that distance is on a well-maintained dirt road. I was originally hoping to be able to catch the evening fish, but a continual stream of phone calls and emails put me behind schedule. I took my time on the drive up to enjoy the views of Kamloops Lake and the forest around me. I am sometimes in such a hurry to get up to a lake that I often forget to just enjoy the beauty that we are surrounded by in British Columbia. "... I headed out paddling up the north shoreline. I was getting a little frustrated with the wind, but I kept paddling on. I had come too far to give up because of a bit of cold and wind! After paddling for about 30 minutes without a bite I started thinking that there might be a reason that I was the only person on the lake that morning. I decided to head over to a little bay on the downwind side of an island to drop anchor and attempt to warm up a bit. I was close to the new aeration system that the Kamloops and District Fish and Game Association put in last fall to help with winter kill. At the same time they also put in an outhouse and another boat launch close to the aeration system. It’s great to see local groups funding big projects like that. "After the sun came up, and I warmed up a bit, I decided to head back down the lake to fish some areas where I had seen weed beds close to shore. The wind was not giving up so I dropped anchor and started to cast. The anchor trolley that I had installed was extremely helpful in keeping me positioned in ideal casting lanes. It didn’t take long for me to start getting some action. I finally hooked into my first fish after a couple missed bites . It wasn’t a big scrapper, but it felt good to have a fish on. I was pretty happy to land that first fish because it was my first brookie. Man, they are beautiful fish. I snapped a few photos and then gently released the fish to live another day. There were a number of boats on the water by this time and I noticed that nobody was really getting anything. I considered myself lucky and cast back out. The fishing wasn’t spectacular, but I found it to be consistent. I did switch up my fly from time to time, but I kept going back to my leech pattern since that was the only fly that got any action. When the wind died down a bit I decided to try an indicator and chironomid setup to see if I could entice a bigger fish to bite, but after what seemed like an eternity without a bite, I went back to the leech one last time. I had planned on fishing until noon and my time was starting to run out. I really wanted to catch a decent sized fish, but I was starting to think that I might have to wait for another day. I decided to pull up anchor and start making my way back to the boat launch to pack it in for the morning. I sent one cast back out towards shore and put my rod down while I pulled up anchor. I must have placed the cast in the perfect spot because as I picked up the rod and started to strip some line in I noticed that I had not snagged bottom or weeds. I was probably only three or four strips in when I had a nice hit that felt like a decent fish. I set the hook and immediately dropped the anchor back down to avoid having the wind push me into shore. After a nice fight with a few runs I was able to net my best fish of the morning. My persistence had paid off with a nice healthy 18-inch pig of a brookie. After snapping a few photos and posing for my GoPro I admired my catch one last time before I let it go.