Depending on who you talked to,  fishing was fair to good on Tunkwa, with rainbow trout up to 2lb's caught in shallow(2-5ft) water, inside the more protected bays. Leeches and micro leeches patterns in burgundy, black or black/red were successful when trolled slowly in deeper water. The birds were working small chironomids coming off the 46F water.
#12 olive 'Bird of Prey's' were doing well casting into the trees...er...treed shoreline edges, as the rainbows were in very shallow water. Bruce's StaticBag scud patterns were successful around structure. One group of guests did very well last Friday catching more fish then they could count, while others got skunked or others into 5-8 fish, location was a key factor, you ahve to find the actice trout, as these fish hit every fly cast at them.....
Pumpkinheads and immature damsel patterns also fished fair. A low is moving in late this afternoon with showers/rain tonight, then clearing with a possibility of thunderstorms tomorrow with cooler temps until later in the week, when temperatures are supposed to rise, and should continue warming up water temps.
Tunkwa's lake level has risen rapidly the past week with oxygen and nutrient loaded runoff being carried into the lake from the many creeks that run into the lake from the surrounding mountain sides.

Water temps are staying about the same, and lake level continues to rise. Night time temps the past couple nights have stayed way above freezing, in the 6 -8C range, and unstable weather has made fishing a bit challenging, but the trout are out there, and feeding as well. The trout are moving into the shallows to aggressively feed, and when they come in, they make there presence known with much surface activity. Best tactic is to keep moving, stopping to fish only where you see the fish activity. Today we encountered a lot of mid day activity in 7-9 feet of water, on a last step into a shallow bay, fish were all over the place on this small drop off, besides being on the surface, the graph was constantly lit up with fish on the screen. Quite a few fish in excess of 3 lbs where seen clearing the water. Heavy hatches of greenish micro sized chironomids were noted coming out of the shallow bay, but some a bit bigger and darker, #16/14, were mixed in with them. Action was had with smaller(14's) dark chironomids, and black micro leaches/BMW's, fished under strike indicators or stripped back on a slow sink tip line. Fish were also taken today fishing along submerged deadfall trees on some protected shorelines, attractor patterns like Pumpkinhead and Spratleys worked. Plan on loosing some tackle fishing this way, but fish are actively feeding in the old dead branches. As soon as we get some steady weather, and a warming trend, fishing should go like gang busters!

Yesterdays sunny/calmer conditions helped warm the Tunkwa's water a bit. A temperature reading off the resort dock this morning showed 42F, with water out front still being very clear. Small chironomid husks/shells could be seen on the surface, and some smaller copper, with a reddish-butt, adults were observed in the surface film.

Fishing the past couple days could best be described as only being fair. Tunkwa Lake level is rising quickly, as the frost is coming out of the ground, and feeder creeks are swollen to the top of there banks. Lake water temps are around the 39F/4C mark, so still is very cold. Weather was mixed, with night time temps dipping below freezing. Seemed the best fishing came in the middle of the day, when the sun came out, causing a bit of a feeding flurry if you were in the right spot at the right time. The shallow end of bays, in 3' to 4' of water were best, and productive presentations were red micro leaches, red bloodworm patterns, BMW's or PumpkinHead flies. Trollers out over the deeper parts of the lake reported very little action. Fish can be seen moving and jumping in the shallow areas, throughout the day. Today, I saw the first bunch of swallows swooping over the lake picking up small chironomids that were hatching. Fishing will improve as we get some stable sunny weather. Last of the ice came off neighboring Leighton Lake, later Friday afternoon.

The last of the ice left yesterday afternoon and the fishing season has started with a bang. Many of you know our Joedy, our resident 'fishin nut', who was the first to fish ice-free Tunkwa this spring. Fishing from the shore of the resort last night and early this morning, he was able to land 8 beautiful rainbow trout up to 1.5 pounds. The fish are aggressive and are jumping everywhere on the lake. Joedy's fish were caught on a flashy green micro leech.