Yuen Lake Fishing Guide, Stikine Region, British Columbia

• Overview

  The Stikine Region entry here is Yuen Lake, in British Columbia. The land about it is lake country bush. With some 66 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The perimeter runs near 5.3 km, so plan the walk before you start. Smithers is the closest town at 157 km. Kamloops sits 731 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Yuen Lake

  Depth is not on record here, so the bank has to tell you. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Survey and observation records for Stikine Region include Chinook salmon, sockeye salmon, Coho salmon, mountain whitefish and Arctic grayling. At least one recorded species is protected in parts of its range; read the local rules before targeting anything. Read Yuen Lake for ten minutes before the first cast goes out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between -14°C in January and 11°C in July. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around mid May. The open-water window runs from around mid May to about early November in an average year. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. Yuen Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  The access position is unclear from public sources. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No built facilities appear in mapping around this water. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. Keep proof of licence with you rather than in the car. Nanitsch Lake at 9 km is the sensible second choice. Where Yuen Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.