Elk Lake Fishing in Stikine Region, British Columbia

• Overview

  The Stikine Region entry here is Elk Lake, in British Columbia. The setting is boreal forest. This is a pocket water of some 3 hectares, and every part of it is reachable from the bank. Most waters listed here for Stikine Region are larger. The nearest town is Skagway, 101 km away. Haines is 115 km away, with Whitehorse at 149 km. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Elk Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Across Stikine Region, recorded fish include Chinook salmon, sockeye salmon and Coho salmon. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Fish Elk Lake where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 11°C, the coldest about -15°C. Little of the calendar is open water, so timing counts for everything. Ice-out usually falls in mid May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Break-up near mid May, freeze-up near early November: that is the shape of an average year. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. Time your trip to Elk Lake by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Moose Lake sits 1 km off and takes the overflow. None of that is settled for Elk Lake in what we hold.