Cold Fish Lake in Stikine Region: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Cold Fish Lake sits in Stikine Region, out in British Columbia. The water sits 1,222 metres up. At 8.23 sq km this is proper open water rather than a pond. Around 26 km of margin, so directions matter more than a general plan. Size puts it in the front rank of our Stikine Region list. Head to Wrangell, 254 km away, for anything you forgot. Watson Lake is 267 km and Petersburg 268 km. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Cold Fish Lake

  Depth is not on record here, so the bank has to tell you. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Public occurrence data for Stikine Region names Chinook salmon, sockeye salmon, Coho salmon, mountain whitefish and Arctic grayling. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Cold Fish Lake fishes better once you know its edges.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give July about 10°C and January about -14°C. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near late May. Ice clears near late May and comes back about late October in a typical year. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. The season on Cold Fish Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  The access position is unclear from public sources. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. Light line and small metal for the trout; a fly rod earns its place on calm evenings. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. Gladys Lake at 7.4 km is the sensible second choice. Check the current arrangement for Cold Fish Lake.