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

• Overview

  British Columbia holds Hilary Lake, in Stikine Region. Everything around it is rolling bush. With some 46 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The whole outline is near 3.5 km, and most of it is walkable. Compared with other British Columbia water on our list, it sits high. Smithers is the closest place, 118 km off. Then Telkwa, 127 km, and Houston, 163 km. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Hilary Lake

  Nothing we hold settles how deep this runs. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Across Stikine Region, recorded fish include Chinook salmon, sockeye salmon, Coho salmon, mountain whitefish and Arctic grayling. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. Hilary Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give August about 8°C and January about -13°C. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around early June. The open-water window runs from around early June to about late October in an average year. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. That shapes the year on Hilary Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Gunanoot Lake, 14 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Rules at Hilary Lake are worth checking on the day.