Breaking Ice in BC's Interior
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Breaking ice with our oars was not how we expected to begin the first morning of stillwater fishing. These are the elements you face while chasing that magical moment right as the ice starts receding from our BC interior lakes.
Our adventure started on a rough backroad outside of Kamloops. Driving through snow, mud, washouts, and navigating downed trees and over grown trails, it was essential we had a capable 4×4. It all comes with the territory accessing backcountry lakes in the early spring.
My brother Jess and I assembled our lakeside basecamp, aka ‘Camp Scud’ and were ready for 3 days of fishing, camping, and off-roading.
The trout are welcoming the spring as much as us anglers. After a winter under the ice, they eagerly roam the shoals and shallows anticipating their first big feeds.
After breaking ice for part of the morning, we anchored in about 8 feet of water, casting along the receding ice line, where the trout regularly moved from deep water cover into the shallows.
Attractor patterns were our first signs of success.
Taking a throat sample, the trout were not feeding heavily, with only some small scuds and daphnia on the menu. Jess switched to a scud pattern finding success by matching their meal.
Sight fishing for the crushing fish was exciting but frustrating at times. Casting out to the moving fish, they followed our flies nearly to the boat before denying a strike at the last moment. It was great to see these healthy fish moving about but was tough to see our presentations denied. With persistence and varying our fly choice and retrieve speeds we had some hook ups.
Although the fish may be slow moving and hesitant to strike, once on the line they came to life. Jumping, huge runs, diving deep, the fights were exactly what we’d been waiting all year for. We didn’t catch tons of fish but the fish we did catch were of incredible quality.
Checking out some other lakes in the area, the narrow rocky roads are where my Tacoma shines. One lake on our list was still completely frozen but we are of the mind that it’s best to go check for yourself.
Fishing two lakes on our drive back to camp we were pummelled by every type of weather – snow, rain, hail, wind, and sun. A reminder that this time of year you best be prepared for anything. We shook hands with a couple fish each and finished our drive back to Camp Scud.
Story by Riley Leboe | Photos by Joel Clifton
