is there lake trout in carp just wondering

Carp Lake Provincal Park covers more than 48,000 hectares, tying Carp Lake to the McLeod River. The endless bays and islands offer a new experience each time out. Angler’s Atlas member Kenny Donaldson wrote an excellent report for Carp Lake. “Carp Lake supports a productive rainbow fishery for trout up to 6-plus lbs. Fly fishing, trolling and spinning all do well on this beautiful, island-studded lake. “The trolling method which has served me well is with a small to medium, silver and red Willowleaf with a small lead weight at the front, six-foot leader and a medium-sized red and white Triple Teaser, trolled 75 to 100 feet behind the boat at around 3-4 mph (vary the weight to find the depth that the fish are feeding). “Be sure to try trolling round the sheltered sides of the islands. There is a deep bay (120 feet) at the northwest side of the lake, which the locals will never tell you about, that has yielded some impressive catches of limits and a minimum of 2 lbs. per fish, although downrigging to the fish depth is recommended.” Read his full post on the Carp Lake page at anglersatlas.com. LAKE ACCESS From Prince George, head north along Highway 97 roughly 140 km to the community of McLeod Lake. The turnoff to the park is Carp Lake Road on the left (west) side of the highway. This gravel road runs for 32 km to the park and is narrow in places. Please use caution along this road as it is also used by industrial traffic. The park has two fully maintained campgrounds and a concrete boat launch. Other campsites are located on three islands. They are user-maintained and provide an exceptional wilderness experience.

Spent last weekend at carp lake. Bad weather but not too choppy on the water. Caught 5-6 rainbows with a white and red apex for trawling. Fairly new to fishing looking for tips and ideas in any local lakes or river thanks.

Great fishing.

Tons of rainbows got limit each day for 2 people plus 4 ling. Was a great May long.

Ben Wolitski holds up a 10 lb...

Ben Wolitski holds up a 10 lb Burbot he caught on a beautiful sunny day in Northern BC at Carp lake.

Boat Launch at the provincial camp site

Another good day at Carp

Last weekend, my fishing buddy Ken and I went to Carp Lake in the Numpty Tub. The weather was surprisingly good and although not flat, it was very calm and sunny. Armed with willow leafs and copper spoons, trolled 100' back and down about 10' deep, we thought we'd get at least a few 'bows. As soon as we put the lines out we started hitting fish. Some were about a pound in weight and were silver bars of good fighting fish. We decided to let these go, so we could keep fishing. Down at the bay I described in my last report, we hit rainbows that were very dark in colour and surmised that the fish were in breeding condition. It's funny how one part of a lake can be breeding and another area isn't in season yet! Again, trolling round the lee side of the islands produced the best sport and by 4pm, we had our limits in the boat (some were around the 2lb mark)and had returned just as many well conditioned fish. We were lucky with the weather and a storm came in just as we were loading the boat to go home. All in all, a good day for us both!

Match the water!

Weather was beautiful, lake was a sheet of glass on the way out. Water was at its highest point that I’ve ever seen Carp Lake. Absolutely no banks were visible. This got me thinking that perhaps the pass at the West of the lake might be passable. We were right, it was 10 feet deep and we managed to get through with no issues. The water there was very “peaty” and almost the colour of a good cup of tea. My Dad always told me to match the colour of the water, so I broke out a copper Dick Nite spoon that I had just purchased and we were soon into some gorgeous dark colourful rainbows. Limited out in the afternoon.

Give Carp Lake a try

Kenny Donaldson, volunteer with the Angler's Atlas field staff program, sends along this overview of Carp Lake, based on an outing from August 2013: Carp Lake is situated in Carp Lake Provincial Park, two hours north of Prince George. The park has two popular campgrounds, offering a total of 102 fully maintained campsites. The first campsite you will encounter on the drive in via the well maintained forestry road is on the shores of War Lake. This site is often used by visitors wanting to fish the smaller War Lake or to view War Falls, a beautiful cascade of water comprised of two waterfalls separated by about 100 m of cascading white water. The second site is the main Carp Lake Provincial Campground, which sits up from the lake, offering a spectacular vista of the bay. There are a few long and steep sets of stairs meandering their way from the campsite, down to a couple of docks in the bay. The campsite has water, a picnic shelter, horseshoe pits and even a small adventure playground. The sites themselves are quite spacious with a fire pit for most sites (firewood can be purchased onsite) and there are pit toilets dotted around the site. The site is reportedly “rarely full, except on long weekends”, but from my experience, if the weather is good, it’s anyone’s guess. There are also three island campsites on the lake accessible only by boat, but these fill up very quickly, so reserving one of these 16 sites beforehand would be advisable. The weather on Carp can be a little unpredictable and the winds can pick up at short notice, so take life jackets, emergency kit, some weather gear, and stay dry and safe. The northern shoreline of Carp Lake has extensive sandy beaches with broad belts of sand extending up to 300 metres offshore. The sandy character of the north shore contrasts with the smooth-bouldered beaches broken by sand deltas on the spruce-forested south shore. Carp Lake supports a productive rainbow fishery for trout up to 6-plus lbs. Fly fishing, trolling and spinning all do well on this beautiful, island-studded lake. The trolling method which has served me well is a small to medium, silver and red Willowleaf with a small lead weight at the front, six-foot leader and a medium-sized red and white Triple Teaser, trolled 75 to 100 feet behind the boat at around 3-4 mph (vary the weight to find the depth that the fish are feeding). On this day, there were three of us in the boat and each caught the limit of rainbows, five fish per person, 1 lb. minimum, with one 2.5 lb. A medium-sized red Triple teaser with a Willowleaf caught the majority (10) and the rest were on a small black apex. Be sure to try trolling round the sheltered sides of the islands. There is a deep bay (120 feet) at the northwest side of the lake, which the locals will never tell you about, that has yielded some impressive catches of limits and a minimum of 2 lbs. per fish, although downrigging to the fish depth is recommended. (Latitude 54° 46.427N, Longitude 123° 24.496W)

Good to go!

From Northern BC Parks: "Carp Lake road is in good shape, Campground has full services The lake water is high, fishing great"

Still Snowed In

Northern BC Parks has stated that Carp Lake Provincial Park is still snowed in and may not be open for May Long Weekend. Stay tuned for updates.

Boat Launch