Kitwancool Lake, British Columbia: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine entry here is Kitwancool Lake, in British Columbia. The land about it is mixed forest. Roughly 7.74 sq km of surface: treat each bay as a water in its own right. Few waters listed in Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine are bigger. Nearest town is Smithers, 88 km off. Kamloops sits 737 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Kitwancool Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Fish documented in Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine include pink salmon, Chum salmon, Coho salmon, sockeye salmon and Chinook salmon. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. On Kitwancool Lake the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs -7°C to 14°C. The year runs cold to warm and back, with clear transitions. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about mid April. The season between ice runs from about mid April to mid November. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. The season on Kitwancool Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  There is no clear statement anywhere on who can fish it. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. For a change of water, Helen Lake is 21 km distant. Check the position on Kitwancool Lake before loading the car.