Southern BC Stillwater

[NCL]

A friend is traveling up to Washington to pick up a pram in mid September so since we will be so close to the border we thought we would try some stillwater flyfishing in BC. Our time is limited to about four or five days so we don't want to travel to far into Canada. Does anyone have any suggestions that are near the border? Thanks

[3riversBob]

Might help to know where in Washington you are going, to determine what part of BC you might want to access. Are you going to be in the Seattle area? Wanting to fish the Vancouver area? I'm sure somebody here can help you.

Bob

[NCL]

Bob,

We are going to Tonasket, Wa. to pick up a Spring Creek pram. The guy I am going up with was looking at a place in Quesnel, BC but I think that is to far to do in a week. We are open to most any suggestions within 3 to 5 hours of the border.

[Subtlety]

My wife is from Quesnel and I admit that they have far far better fishing than we do here in Washington.

There is a lake right downtown Quesnel called Dragon Lake and it consistently produces 20-25 inch fish. Just take your float tube with you. Usually you can catch 3-10 of them in an evening using a beadheaded, maroon or black maribou micro leech on a full sink line. Strip slow like 1-2 inches at a time.

It is really nice when one of the 10+lb fish in the lake grab your fly. If you stop in at the fly shop you can see the 28lb rainbow on the wall.

As far as Quesnel being too 'far it' takes me about 8 hrs to get there from Arlington WA. I can cut that time way down if we leave in the evening and I can miss the majority of the long haul trucks.

Bishop Brown lake which is about an 1.5 hrs from Quesnel is amazing. Horsefly has a million lakes around it that are all good because there isnt much fishing pressure.

[NCL]

Thank you for the info. We were actually looking at Dragon Lake as a possible destination. I am not to worried about the trip up but the trip back because it is almost 1150 miles to home.

[Subtlety]

Yep, Dragon Lake is my bread and butter up there (and its only 10 minute drive from the in-laws). I catch more and bigger fish there than anywhere else up there. My wifes family is from there and with the 5 boys they had I got a lot of inside info for those local lakes.

DO NOT LET THE FLYSHOP TALK YOU INTO PAYING EXTRA TO GO FLYFISH THE BLACKWATER RIVER. Lots of fish but every other one is a ********* (yes they still call it that up there in the US's attic) and the trout rarely get past 12 inches.

That was a huge letdown to pay 20 extra bucks and catch 30 or 40 tiny trout.

So I dont know if you tie your own flies but I would highly recommend tying up size 14 beadhead micro leeches for a dropper behind a size 8-10. I tie silver beadhead black maribou leeches with red wire and maroon leeches with black wire. I wrap my flies all the way with maribou and pick some of the maribou out from under the wire so they are really 'wiggly' looking in the water. I wrap the hooks with like 6-10 wraps of lead. I also put a couple strands of crystal flash in the tail that hang past like 1/2 inch in the opposite color of the leech (green for the red and white for the black).

An olive scud with the oj color stripe mid abdomen works ok too but nothing is as consistent of a producer as the leeches which is weird because it is straight across the color chart from what naturally lives there (freshwater shrimp). Due to eating these all day every day the fish are shaped like footballs with a really dark red stripe down their side. They are awful to eat though and I would highly recommend avoiding any urge to do so.

Dragon lake is pretty shallow so I wouldnt go with a full sink there I would just use a fast sink tip.

Have fun man! The biggest non steelhead rainbow (14 lb rainbow on my 4 wt) I have ever caught was out of dragon lake. I would not be surprised at all if you fish a couple days and end up catching several fish pushing 10lbs.

[BAp]

I would highly recommend fishing just north of Merritt, BC. Merritt is about 150 miles north and 3 hours away. I especially like Island and Calling Lake west of Little Fort. Island is a quality lake with fish exceeding 24". They just love mini-leeches in the fall. Tunkwa and Leighton just north of Little Fort also fish well. Immature damsels are the trick.

When coming back home cut over on 1 and come on down I-5. It saves 4 hours to Portland.

[Subtlety]

I drive north on I-5 then I head east at Bellingham and take the Sumas crossing and then head 2 miles north until you hit the freeway and head east til Hope (which will look pretty familiar if you have seen Stallone in "Cobra")and then take the canyon up through Cache Creek on the way up to Quesnel.

[NCL]

Thanks to both, this information is much appreciated.