Pendleton Lakes Fishing in Cariboo Regional District, British Columbia

• Overview

  Set in Cariboo Regional District, Pendleton Lakes is a British Columbia water. The water sits 1,043 metres up. At 3.08 sq km this is proper open water rather than a pond. You are looking at roughly 17 km of shoreline, with plenty of water between access points. On our Cariboo Regional District list it sits near the top for size. Nearest place of any size is Clearwater, 44 km away. For a city, Kamloops is 143 km off. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Pendleton Lakes

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Across Cariboo Regional District, recorded fish include sockeye salmon, Chinook salmon, bull trout, Coho salmon and longnose sucker. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. On Pendleton Lakes the quiet end is the one worth the extra effort.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 14°C in July and bottom out at -8°C in January. Spring and autumn carry the fishing; summer and winter test it. Ice is part of the season here, ending near mid April. Average temperatures cross freezing around mid April in spring and again near mid November in autumn. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. Anyone fishing Pendleton Lakes regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Access is unmapped, which usually means a farm track and a walk. Light line and small metal for the trout; a fly rod earns its place on calm evenings. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Tommy Archie Lake at 5.6 km is the sensible second choice. Signs at Pendleton Lakes carry more weight than any list.