Ice fishing continues to be quiet good. Trout are being caught at all depths, even a foot under the ice! Some good sized trout are being hooked but are proving to be a challenge to get up through the ice hole! Best bet continues to be cooked and cured shrimp, but worms have had there moments as well.
A couple of cold nights have helped build the ice, but Leighton continues to be very slushy and wet on top of the ice.
Daytime temps have been remaining above seasonable, it’s quite nice out there! Ice thickness has remains about the same, at 6 – 7″ of solid ice, with just a light skim of snow on it.
Fishing has been good once you find active fish, and figure out what they want. A quick afternoon fish this afternoon showed lots of fish in slightly deeper water, often coming up to look at various baits, but just would not commit and bite. Without the Humminbird graph, one would have no idea so many fish were there!! A bit of experimenting with presentations, and a change to a smaller spoon, fished aggressively above a piece of pink cured shrimp on a flourescent jig made all the difference in the world, the trout were all over it!
Fresh trout for dinner!
The cold snap last night froze up the last bits of open water on Tunkwa. The ice in the bay in front of the resort is just over 2″ thick. If the weather keeps up like this, it won’t be long until safe ice and the ‘hard-water’ season to begin!
Still no skim ice on Tunkwa, and fish can been seen feeding in the shallows along the weed lines. Sunny calm days see the most movement. No one has been fishing the lake the past week and half, so no reports to post.
Next fishing reports will be as safe ice starts to form, and our hard water season gets underway.
Beautiful fall weather continues at Tunkwa Lake, fish are feeding and moving but picky in what is being offered to them, worm and bobber is the most effective method. Fishing in shallow water is key over the fresh weed groth, weed bed edges. Flies to use are the Pumkinhead, leech patterns in brown, olive green, burgundy and black, scuds, micro leech under an indicator 3 to 5 inches off the bottom and using the small ripples that the light breeze creates during the day to provide the best presentation, some large fish porpoising making for encouraging possibilities at Tunkwa. Daytime temps are in the mid teens but feels like in the 20’s in the sunshine were having and expecting the next few days while the coast is in a rainy drizzle which hopefully will rtaise the rivers for returning salmon. Night time temps are at 0 Deg and just before sunrise drop to -2. What a wonderful fall!!!!!
Fall fishing patterns are prevailing, and the active trout are in the weedbeds and shallow weed flats. The greener the weed the better, throw in a few big rocks and you’ll find the trout! Some of the better fishing has been coming out of 2′ of water, behind the weed beds, closer to the main shorelines,…… the trout are in there feeding heavy. Stomach samples, and fish on the cleaning table, are gorging on scuds. Best presentation has been a Blue Fox spinner(#2 or 3), either in silver or gold, fished around the weed clumps or opening in the weeds, packs of trout can be seen chasing the spinners, which is pretty cool. Wooly Buggers, Marroon, Olive or Black Leaches, Pumpkinheads or smaller scud patterns have been producing. We had a bit of cold front go through on Monday eve, so we’ll have to see how this shallow pattern has been effected. Trollers are still into fish, with wedding bands tipped with worm the best best, we had a large group in this weekend, who were all trolling, and everyone caught fish, with a 3lb-12oz the biggest in their derby. Worms under a float is working to, just make sure the worm is 2′ or less under the float!
Tunkwa area has been basking in some beautiful weather as of late. Sunny warm days, well into the mid 20’s and nice clear, cool nights(great for star gazing!).
Fishing pressure has been light.
Water has dropped and cleared right up.
Mixed fishing reports coming in, with the trollers picking up some trout, up to 4 lbs. The trout really seem to want the baits moving quick! The flashier the lure, the better! Gang trolls, wedding bands tipped with worms have been the favourites. The anglers who are doing the best right now, are going right into the weed beds where the majority of the trout are feeding, and fishing in the small openings, and doing very well, hooking into some bigger than average fish! Blue Fox spinners, Rapala plugs or worm under a slip float fished in these areas are working. Fly anglers fishing the same areas with dragon-nymph imitators, damsels, maroon leaches and Pumpkinheads are having success, but going into the weeds is a must!!!! There have been some good evening flurries of activity, with trout coming up for dries, or nymphs fished in the surface film.
The ladies showing how it’s done!!!
Fishing on Tunkwa was good the latter part of the week, warm sunny weather had the larger chironomids hatching quite steadily.
Reports from neighbouring Leighton Lake, indicated it was fishing pretty good as well. Stomach contents from Tunkwa fish on the cleaning table, showed they were still gorging on giant sized dark green/red butt chironies. The usual patterns in size 10 were working for the anglers set up on actively feeding fish. The weekend saw a sudden change in the weather with a falling barometer, much cooler temps, wind and a noticeable slow down in fish activity. Anglers fishing more traditional “fall” patterns, such micro leaches in Maroon, Pumpkinheads, K-Marts, boatmen and dragon patterns, off the weed edges continued to hook up on trout. Chironomid fishing slowed right down, for big trout anyways, still lots of smaller ones being hooked. We also saw guests trolling start to hook up, with wedding bands tipped with worms, or Kwikfish in Blue/Silver, or Black patterns produce fish.
Monday morning we awoke to almost 2″ of wet snow! What a change in weather, and kept guests off the lake. Weather forecast for the rest of the week is looking good with temps making there way back into the mid 20’s. Some great fall fishing opportunities are here!
Mixed fishing reports coming in from guests, but most are hooking up, and some have been doing very well. Lots of nicer sized trout are being caught, in the 3 – 5 lb range. Good hatches of larger chironomids have been occurring, and the folks getting onto the active feeders, are doing well. Larger chironomids(#10) fished about 1′ off the bottom have been best. Dark green “Terminators”, Black/Red Butts, have been consistent, but Dick’s “Brown-Halo/Red Butts” have been the hot ticket! Guests are reporting action on Boatmen and dragon nymph patterns, fished off or along the weed edges. Worms under a float fished deeper have been producing for guests as well. A few fish coming on Maroon leaches trolled shallow, but not many trolling reports this weekend.
Warm sunny calm days, with nice cool nights, have helped with chironomid hatches. Guests are reporting good action on the Rainbow trout, with everything from worms under floats, to various chironomid patterns. Chironomid anglers set up in the right areas are into steady action, with some nice sized trout being caught. We had guest land a couple fish in the 6lb range today. Chironmids in size 12 and 14’s in Black/Red, Black Electra’s or Dark Green patterns have been the better producers.
Last nights windy weather may of sparked a good hatch of the larger chironomids as guests reported porpoising fish, jumping fish and swirling wakes of fish taking emerging chironomids. This is good news as the fish feed on these insects. Damsel are also still coming out as juveniles along the weedy shore lines. Worm and bobber this morning fished 7 feet below the surface did very well.
A size #10 A.S.B.(Anti Static Bag) with red rib fooled this one, and many other that day for Bob Wade.
Weekend outlook looks sunny, warm and calm, with incredibly COOL evenings, as our summer weather continues to be beautiful.
Chironomids are still the best presentation, with the usual patterns working, Dark green/red butts, ASB red rib, and Irritators, have been best. Most days larger sizes, 10’s, have been best, but times when there are no bigger chironies hatching, dropping down to 12’s or 14’s have been working. Guest fishing worms under slip floats have been doing very good, even off the resort docks. Mixed reports from guests trolling, most are into some fish, but not the numbers the other methods are producing. Lots of smaller trout, but still some big fish being hooked. It seems if the fishing is slow in the mid day, it picks right back up in the evening. Stomach samples are still showing lots of blood worms, just a few chironomids.
Day time temps have been very nice and warm, but the evenings and nights have been cooling off nicely, great time to be fishing Tunkwa. It is great seeing our younger guests catching some great Tunkwa trout.
Stomach samples on the cleaning table and by taking throat samples on the water, is showing lots of bigger bloodworms, and just a few chironies, indicating the blood worms are getting set to hatch.
We are seeing lots of spent shucks on the surface in the morning, leading many to speculate there have been some big hatches at night during the full moon.
Fishing slowed the past few days with the lack of chironomid hatches we had earlier last week which got the larger fish on the move feeding on the large chironomids. Worm and bobber worked well today and a few guests picked up fish on the large #10 chironomids in anticipation of the annual bomber hatch Tunkwa recieves at this time of year. Throat samples the past few days revealed brightgreen/red bloodworms, a sign of pupation has started. Bottom water temperatures are hovering at 61 mDeg. with surface temperature ranging from 68 to 72 depending on sunshione and wind conditions mixing ther lake’s water. Cinnamon caddis have been coming off the past few weeks. Late evening and early morning surface fish activity has been very active as reported by guests, the fish are probably taking emerging caddis or small chironomids, imitations of Tom Thumbs, Lady McConnell or the Klinkhammer should entice a surface feeding trout. `
We had a beautiful 27″ – 7.5 lber brought in by a guest this afternoon, fishing a large chironomid under a slip float, on spinning gear.
All the usual patterns are working, size 10 Long is best.
Trout to 8.5 lbs were landed yesterday!
Large sized(10’s longs) chironomids in ASB/red rib, OliveASB/red butt/ KD’s, Terminators or large red bloodworms, are the hot patterns.
Trollers fishing Black/silver, or StoneFly patterned Kwikfish have been hooking up as well.
Fishing is good and we are seeing some giant trout being caught!
Strong Fish……………
Lots of smiles coming from guests fishing Tunkwa yesterday!
The storms threatening and passing through the area, surprisingly did not effect the action.
Bomber sized chironomids are hatching pretty good now in certain areas of the lake, and the guys that were on them, had a stellar day fishing. Good, and in some cases, big numbers of trout, and some real heavy slabs in the mix as well. One of our regulars, reported having a double header with a pair of 6+ lb Tunkwa bruisers! Larger chironomid pattersn, in ASB red rib, Chironomid Candy, Terminators, and large red bloodworms, were the ticket. Guys are fishing a couple feet off the bottom, out of the weed edges. Worms under a float continues to be working as well, for other guests not fly fishing. Trollers are picking up the odd trout, but for better action, it’s best to set up on the actively feeding trout.
It is time to be up here fishing Tunkwa, it’s happening!!!
Chironomid hatches were not as intense today, but guys that found them, got into action, with trout close to the 8lb mark landed!!! Larger sized chironomids in static/red, “Terminators”, and large red bloodworms, produced. Worms under the float produced today, but not as fast paced as yesterday.
Big Ken with a Tunkwa beauty!
Justin and Wendy with a nice one from this morning.
End of the day update……………
Despite a soggy start, we had a pretty good Bomber hatch today, and anglers dialed into it, did very well, larger ASB(anti static bag) patterns were producing.
Also guests fishing along the weed edges, just off the resort, have been steady into fish, even better to see, the kids are into them, with lots of good sized rainbows coming to net this afternoon!
Fishing pressure was light on Tunkwa this past while, with many of our regulars day tripping out to a local lake, that has been experiencing a great Damsel fly migration. We saw rainbows pulled out of Tunkwa this past week to 6 lbs, with smaller chironomids being the most consistent producer. yesterday, one of our guest set up in the shallows and fished balanced leaches, and caddis emergers under an indicator, and did pretty good. Despite last nights intense rain, we are noticing the birds working hard in the small bay in front of the resort, indicating a good chironomid hatch is occurring. Fish are still being caught along the shore lines, with worms fished under a float best.
Little wind along with the hot sunny weather made for some tougher fishing this week, a few small chironomid hatches, light fish activity made it hard to locate feeding fish. A 27 inch fish was c & r along with a number of 3-4 lb fish later in the afternoon after a significant hatch appeared and the fish were right on it for an hour while the hatch lasted, fishing at that time was excellent and things are shaping up for the upcoming bomber hatch expected to start any day and increase at the end of July and should peak the first week of August. Damsels are everywhere along the bullrushes but the fish are inactive. Trollers with gang trolls did catch fish in the morning hours.
A few chironomid anglers reported fishing picked up then as well, with some better size fish being hooked up, with fish to 4.5 lbs landed. ASB and Black/Red patterns were the best.
Guests fishing area lakes are reporting the same, with fishing being spotty. This season reminds many of us of last year’s, where we saw the fishing action literally explode around July 20th, and the fishing was fantastic making up for the slow start. Those big fish we saw last summer, are still out there, and have packed on the weight..there are giants in Tunkwa this year!!
Very warm weather has increased surface temps to 70 Deg but without the wind circulating the lake that warm water doesn’t get down to the bottom of the lake, when we have a bit of a breeze the bottom end of the lake starts to get active with chironomid hatches. The fly fishermen who key in on the hatches and moving fish did very well with fish to 4 lbs, one fellow had a double header with 2 4lb Pennasks jumping all over making for some exciting fishing.
Worm and bobber fisherman did well close to the shoreline, one fellow was attaching his bobber to his line after checking the depth he was anchored line the chironie fly guys do and a fish took his wormed hook to the depths.
Yesterday evening just reported to our store was a huge chironomid hatch in most of farmers bay and the north weed bed area, fishing should get good.
Water temps have warmed, and have reached into the low 60’s later in the day, but cooler nights help keep the water temps down.
We have started to see damsel and dragonflies starting to hatch, finally! Caddis have started to hatch, mostly smaller cinnamons, but a few traveller sedges have been popping up as well. Guests keyed into this hatch, have been hitting some nice rainbows on sedge pupae patterns and ‘Mini-Marts’. Chironomid hatches have been light, but anglers have had some good days fishing chironomid patterns, mostly smaller sizes(14’s) in darker patterns, or ASB(anti-static bag)/red rib, but the chironie bite slowed down the past couple days, mainly due to weekend boat traffic. The majority of the Tunkwa trout really seam to be feeding and holding in the weed beds and weed flats, making presentation and extraction a challenge, there have been lots of really big rainbows getting broken off. Fly anglers that are having the best success are fishing wet attractor type patterns slowly, and patiently through the more scattered weeds, or along the edges of the bigger weed beds. Dark Olive Pumkinheads, K-Marts, Sedge Emergers and various leach patterns, have been working. Guests trolling, have been into trout as well, with action a bit more sporatic and early morning best. Larger sized gang trolls, tipped with wedding bands, or just a plain old worm, have been best, but the usual frog, or black sparkle coloured HotShots and Kwikfish are catching fish as well. Worms or krill shrimp, fished under a slip float are starting to produce. Guests landed fish into the 4 lb range this past weekend, with more than one story of much larger rainbows, getting off, by wrapping in the weeds.
Weather forecast is looking incredible, and we should see the fishing continue to improve, and more bigger fish landed as the fish move out of the weeds and set up over the open water.
Fishing wasn’t bad either! Trollers seemed to be into the trout best, with most of the usual presentations working. Reports indicated the best rig was a larger gang troll, with just a worm on hook trailing behind it. Wet or attractor pattern flies trolled, or wind drifted, on sink tip or intermediate sink lines, accounted for hook ups as well. K-Marts, Pumpkinheads, and Maroon micro-leaches were good bets. These same flies, cast into the sparse weeds and worked slowly back, accounted for some good hook ups as well, with many a tale of big rainbows, hooked but being lost when they ran back into the weeds. Lots of fish on the cleaning table, and the majority of them were gorged on scuds. Monday afternoon, the chironomid bite really picked up, with anglers set up in the right spots, just off the weed flats, into plenty of action, with fish in excess of five pounds being hooked! Again, stories of the big fish running back into the weeds when hooked accounted for quite a few break offs. From all accounts, there are some really big trout in the lake this year! Leighton Lake fished a bit slow, based on some feedback from guests fishing there over the weekend.
Weather forecast for the rest of this week is looking to be incredible, and we expect to see the fishing really get going strong when it arrives!
Karl and Phoenix with a good sized rainbow they were able to extract from the weed beds, fishing a PumpkinHead fly.
Karl said you should have seen the size of the one that wrapped up in his anchor ropes!
Deanna Grant landed this beauty Tunkwa Rainbow this weekend, on a perch coloured Kwikfish.
Report:
A weekend of unsettled weather with lots of rain! What a wet season so far!
The majority of our guest were out fishing a “Loche” style tournament over at HVC. Other Guests who took advantage of the breaks in the weather at Tunkwa got into fish. Again, trolling seemed to be the best presentation, with hardware doing the trick. Gang Trolls ahead of wedding bands, Perch coloured HotShots or Kwikfsih, or Watermelon coloured Apex’s, all accounted for fish. Wet fly patterns, like Caddis Emergers, K-Marts, and Pumpkinheads, provided hook ups as well. Some guests hit fish on chironomids, but they had to find actively feeding fish, copper or yellowish brown(carrot) colours seemed to be the best bet.
Mixed reports from guests day tripping to area lakes….Leighton has been kinda hit and miss the past few days. Logan Lake has had a couple flurries of action, but shutting down as quick as it started. Mayfly hatches at a couple of the lakes, just down the road, has petered off a bit.
When some stable weather hits the region, we should see fishing get more consistent all over, and Tunkwa will be producing more of the giant rainbows that are in there waiting.
Lake levels are still up, but holding steady, water temp is still in the 50’s. We’ve started to see a few mayflies hatches start up, but still no damsels. Chironomid hatches have been light and infrequent. Flying ants have been hatching/migrating this past week.
Fishing reports from guests, are mixed, but overall good, biggest trout to just over 5 lbs. Trollers are doing the best, and a few nice trout are being taken by guests fishing off the shore at the resort. Chironomid fishing has been very slow. Various wet, or attractor patterns in greens or dark browns have been the ticket. Mayfly Nymphs (size 16 or 14), MiniMarts, Pumpkinheads, Micro leaches and Caddis Puppea have all been working, when trolled about 3′ under the surface. Worms fished under a slip float, set about 2′ off the bottom, has been producing some good action as well. Trolling kwikfish in perch pattern have resulted in hook ups as well.
Guests day tripping to a couple of the area lakes (at lower elevations) have seen some incredible mayfly hatches, and have gotten into some great surface action. Darker Tom Thumbs and CDC’s fished just under the surface film have been good presentations. Chironomid fishing on these lakes, and a few others in the area, has been slow as well.
Fishing has been good this week for guests trolling wet fly patterns. K Mart Specials, PumpkinHeads, Doc Spratleys, or 52 Buicks, trolled a few feet under the surface have been producing fish into the mid 4 lb range. Trolling hardware hasn’t been producing like the flies. Some chironomid action has been reported, with the trick being to set up on actively feeding trout, and right on top of the hatching chironies. Size 12 in dark green or black have been working.
Leighton Lake has been fishing OK as well, mainly chironomid fishing, trolling has been slow there.
Guest day tripping to nearby lakes are commenting on some incredible mayfly hatches, with action on emerging nymph patterns, and then on dries (Tom Thumbs) when the trout switch over to the surface.
Couple of the better ones that Janet caught fishing an “original JohnKent PumkinHead” fly.
Justin nailed this one on a small hotshot, it was one of several he landed that morning,
Guests out on Tunkwa today are reporting seeing lots of trout moving over the tops of the weedbeds. One of our guests just came in with this beauty of a trout, at just over 25 inches, that fell for a size 16 chromie/brass chironomid.
9yr. old Corbin Timothy with a nice Tunkwa rainbow tricked fishing a chironomid, while fishing with Dad and Grandad.
Jocelyn and Julia each pose with their first fish ever! Fishing with Dad and Grandad, trolling Kwikfish produced some great catches.
Water levels on Tunkwa have been dropping fast, as one of our main feeders creek channels, blew out it’s bank, and water is being diverted during repairs. We should see water levels go back up once the repair is complete.
Leighton has been fishing a bit slower as well, but has had it’s moments, with lots of smaller trout being caught. Guests day tripping out to a couple of smaller lakes nearby, have reported some incredible action, with a few commenting on having their best day of fishing, ever! Stable weather should see the fishing pick up.
Our feeders creeks are now, absolutely chock full of spawning rainbows, making it an incredible walk to watch them doing their thing. Good things the creeks are all closed to angling, so the trout will not be bothered.
Neighbouriong Leighton Lake has been fishing pretty good as well, with good numbers, but mainly smaller fish coming to boat. Again, bigger chironomid patterns have been key. Trolling has been slow, as the trout really seemed to be keyed in to the chironomids during the big hatches.
One of many into the boat on Wednesday, that fell for a big chironomid fished under an indicator, fish really wanted it moving slowly.
Size 10 ‘KD’ chironomid strikes again!
One of our guests, George, day tripped to a lake close by, and landed this incredibly fat fish! It weighed 5.5lbs, but was only 19″ long! A piggy gorged on scuds!
Some big variations in weather greeted Tunkwa guests this weekend. From snow showers, to summer-like sun with warm temps, we saw it all. Real mixed fishing reports coming in, with many guests struggling to hook up, while other got dialed into the chironomid hatches and did pretty good. The past few days has seen some incredible chironomid hatches coming off, with some bugs being a really good size. Larger chironomids in darker patterns seemed to be key to hooking up. The trolling bite has been slow the past couple of days, but prior to then, all the usual lures were providing hook ups.
This nice Tunkwa rainbow fell for Christa’s chironomid, it was one of many that her and Keith tied into.
Pict of a typical 2 year old Pennask AFN3
With the rising water temps, fishing on Tunkwa has picked up as predicted. We are seeing some good hatches of larger sized(12’s) chironomids coming off in the mid morning.Finding active fish keying on these hatches, is putting anglers into action. Some better sized fish are being landed with more reports of 3 and 4lb fish coming to hand. Chironomids in various patterns, fished under an indicator, are working for the fly anglers. Trolling action has picked up the past couple of days as well, with HotShot plugs fished behind gang trolls, or KwikFish weighted down with a split shot, providing hook ups for guests. Even our staff have been out enjoying the fishing on Tunkwa, before the rush of the Long Weekend.
Richard and his dad, kept a couple of the bright rainbows they caught yesterday for a fresh lunch. They were fishing chironomids in only 4′ of water, and had success among some good chironie hatches.
The weather up here at Tunkwa has just been incredible the past few days. Sunny calm days, with nights staying above or just barely dipping below freezing. Lake ;level has been slowly rising. Surface water temps are into the low 50’s during the heat of the day, and we are noticing more bug hatches coming off. Mainly smaller chironomids, but we are seeing some bigger ones(size12) in the mix. Stomach samples from trout on the cleaning table, show they are switching from a diet of scuds over to smaller green chironomids. We noticed a few small mayflies hatching this afternoon as well. Still lots of scuds along the shoreline, and a few in the open water. Fishing has been relatively slow, with the action picking up later in the day, a few 18″ fish have been landed but no giants landed since later last week. We are seeing more trout activity on the surface, especially in the morning.
A nice Tunkwa hawg caught by Austin Gilfillan, that fell for a small grey chironomid.
Another guest trolling just in front of the resort, landed 4 nice bright rainbows in a short span, that all fell for a red willowleaf, tipped with a worm.
Other guests are into fish as well, but today’s strong winds are keeping everyone off the lake. Water temps are still just below 50F, but the warm, sunny weather in the upcoming weekends forecast, should see it get to where it should be in a hurry!
With the weather forecast calling for more, warmer weather, we should see the lake continue to heat up, and action keep getting better!
Good hatches of tiny black chironomids can be seen starting to come off in good numbers, plus good numbers of mating shrimp can be seen along the shoreline.
Trolling a red/silver worm harness behind a half & half gang troll, put these guest into fish, landing a couple and loosing a couple others, this morning.
Water temp is holding around the 40°F mark, and levels are slowly rising as the creeks feeding Tunkwa are swollen with run off. We have not seen any trout in the creeks spawning yet, but will see them as soon as the water temps rise. Guests day tripping to a couple lakes at lower elevations have had some good success, but have commented the bight has been short and intense, then suddenly stopping all together for everyone. Small chironomids in size 16, have been the ticket when the bight is on.
The flies in our shop are tied by John Kent, and as well as our resident Tunkwa ‘hot stick’, Dick Bartlett. We will be posting some pictures on the Fishing Photo Gallery of some of these fly patterns, to give you an idea of there looks, when we mention them in our future fishing reports.
John Kent’s – Original Pumkinhead
We had lots of inquiries about Leigthon Lake. As of this morning there still was a large chunk of ice going about 300′ out from the south shore of the lake, but there is lots of fishable water available and access from the launch is clear.
Logan lake is still about 50% ice covered, a good wind will pile it up, but right now it is stuck in the east end of the lake, blocking the launch.
See you on the water!
Incredible how much the ice-off progress has changed overnight, we can see the last of the ice moving and piling up along the north shore, won’t be much longer now!!!!
Watch here, or on our web cam, for updates!
Some of the larger openings in the Tunkwa ice, are just full of small chironomids hatching. At times we can see trout swirling below the surface, taking advantage of the hatch. Some opportunistic anglers are getting there first chance since ice fishing season.
Guests traveling to local lakes at lower elevation, are reporting some success, with better action on the nice weather days.
Not much new to report on the ice off for Tunkwa and Leighton Lakes.
Warm weather in the next weeks forecast should help hurry things along.
A couple of lakes, just down the road from Tunkwa and at much lower elevation, have recently iced offed, and are providing the areas first chance at an open stillwater fishery.
Ice fishing pressure has been very light the past while, and from all reports coming in, fishing has been very slow. There is still plenty of safe ice, it’s just a bit sloppy on the surface as warmer day time temps start some surface pooling.
Watch here for reports as the ice starts to come off.
Here’s hoping for an early ice off, and jump start to the “still water” season!
Tunkwa and Leighton lakes still have plenty of ice for ice fishing, the last few days have been sunny and beautiful up here and today temps are 6 Deg and feels spring like. Fishing has been light and slow, with the snow melting on the lake ice more light will penetrate the ice, this appears to make the fish more active and feed more. There is no water on the ice so conditions are great and with the upcomming weekend of sunny and warmer weather would make for a nice ice fishing expierience for those who never tried it before.
Ice is 20 inches thick so there’s lots of ice for ice fishing.
Fish were biting on cured shrimp with a small flasher jigged above it.
Ice is 20 inches thick so there are many more days to fish before ice off sometime in April. Fishing pressure continues to be light.
We still have plenty of safe ice, it’s on average over 20″ thick on Tunkwa and Leighton lakes. We’ve had some beautiful sunny days with temps just above freezing during the daytime. It’s just so nice to be on the ice enjoying the sun! Ice fishing has been slow, for most anglers, but some are getting into rainbows, and the serious ‘ice-fishers’ are doing well. The key seams to be too keep moving around on the lakes to find actively feeding trout. This time of the year, the trout are typically in the top layers of the water, usually in 7′ or less. A slow jigging motion(snap-flutter), allowing your flasher/attractor to slowly fall, then just letting it, and your bait, sit there motionless for about 10 seconds, before your next snap-flutter, seems to be the best presentation. Anglers just still fishing with a float and bait are not having much luck, as the bites are light and usually missed. Cooked and cured shrimp pieces seem to be the best bait to tip your jig or lure with.
An absolutely beautiful weekend up at Tunkwa, clear and calm, with lots of sunshine. Daytime temps rose to just above freezing each day, with cold, calm nights.
Many guests out there ice fishing, taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Fishing was slow on both Tunkwa & Leighton, with most guests getting into a fish or two, and several lost at the ice-hole, but no reports of any real hot bites.
Mixed reports coming in from guests ice fishing, some really struggled, while others who moved around on the lakes did pretty good, with some nice sized rainbows coming through the ice. Constant strong winds last week made staying on the ice a challenge for all who ventured out.
Tunkwa produced bigger fish this weekend, and steadier action then Leighton, but that changes almost daily. Krill or shrimp chunks were the best bait, whether fished static below the hole or jigged under an attractor spoon. Tunkwa had a pretty good morning bite today, but slowed down by 10am.
Weather is quite mild again, with daytime temps above freezing, and nights just dipping below the freezing mark.
There is approx. 20″ of ice on Tunkwa.
Reports from guests, this past weekend, indicates fishing was fair to very good, depending on where you were…… Had to be on the fish when they got active! One group of guests did very well fishing Tunkwa, landing rainbows to over 5 lbs, using krill as bait. Leighton continued to produce trout in spots, but not as big as some of the ones showing up in Tunkwa.
I got on Leighton for a couple hours yesterday and experienced a really hot bite in the morning, fishing in about 14′ of water, about 5′ off the bottom. Trout reacted to an aggressive jigged spoon, and seemed to prefer a small chunk of worm, over the shrimp, just tipping my small jig. The bite shut down quick, even though we could see the fish on our graphs coming up to look, but just could not be enticed to bite. Drilled a few quick holes in Tunkwa on the way back up, and quickly fished a large Williams Whitefish spoon briefly, and watched rainbows on the graph streak up to look but not hit the giant spoon. Lots of ice up here, and the big snowfalls missed us, weather conditions are back milder again, making it a great time to get out there and try some ice fishing!
Winter has finally made it’s way to the Tunkwa area. A bit of snow down around the resort, but lots more once you head a bit higher in elevation(good sledding finally!). Temps are cold right now, but it has been calm and sunny, actually very nice to be out, when your dreesed properly. Mixed fishing reports from guests this past weekend, with some doing OK and other having a bit of a harder time. From the sounds of it, you had to be on top of the fish, as they weren’t moving around too much. Best baits were cooked shrimp, and the use of a “glow in the dark” jig head, seemed to be key for action. Rainbow trout to 19″ were landed, and a few tales of bigger ones lost coming up the holes were heard.
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