Surprise Lake Fishing Guide, Stikine Region, British Columbia

• Overview

  You will find Surprise Lake in Stikine Region, British Columbia. The bank is 915 metres above sea level. Surface area runs to some 30.92 sq km, so a boat and a plan are both worth having. At about 55 km of edge, most people fish a single area and learn it well. Size puts it in the front rank of our Stikine Region list. Skagway sits 120 km from the bank. For a city, Anchorage is 927 km off. No boundary runs near, so the local rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Surprise Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Species logged across Stikine Region include Chinook salmon, sockeye salmon, Coho salmon and mountain whitefish. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. Surprise Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 11°C, with January the cold end at about -16°C. The year here is short and sharp: a long lid, then a burst of open water. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near mid May. Ice usually gives way near mid May, and forms again about early November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. The season on Surprise Lake follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Failing this one, try Lincoln Lake, 17 km away. None of that is settled for Surprise Lake in what we hold.