Carnation Lake Fishing in Cariboo Regional District, British Columbia

• Overview

  You will find Carnation Lake in Cariboo Regional District, British Columbia. The bank is 1,092 metres above sea level. It runs to roughly 17 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. The edge runs 1.9 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Some 72 km away sits Hanceville, the nearest settlement. Quesnel is 103 km and Anahim Lake 108 km. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Carnation Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. County-wide records name sockeye salmon, Chinook salmon, bull trout, Coho salmon and longnose sucker. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. Read Carnation Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give July about 13°C and January about -11°C. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Look for the thaw near late April; the fishing lifts straight after. Ice clears near late April and comes back about mid November in a typical year. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. The season on Carnation Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. Access points are not mapped for this water, which suits people who like quiet. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Ask in the nearest town if you are unsure. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Should this one be busy, Halfbent Lake is 0.5 km off. Treat access at Carnation Lake as something to verify.