PETER HOPE LAKE
2020 Fishing Reports
Less than an hour outside of Kamloops, Peter Hope Lake is one of my favourite lakes- and not just for fishing! Beautiful cabins and hidden arms of the lake make this a great lake to explore. Read more about Peter Hope Lake
OCTOBER 02, 2020
This may be the last day of the year on Peter Hope Lake for me. I am glad that it was a beauty. The sun was out and the water was calm.
My friend and I arrived at the lake at around 10:00 am and fished until a little after 1:00 pm.
Peter Hope Lake has a single barbless hook bait ban restriction. I used a Dog Tail Dodger with 16 inches of leader to a pink Wiggle Hoochie Bill on one rod. My friend used a Dog Tail Dodger with 16 inches of leader to a Chromes pink spinner hoochie.
Like the last time I fished Peter Hope Lake, we started to mark fish not far from the first boat launch. This time, though, the fish were not in tightly-packed schools but were in smaller schools and more spread out, mostly on the north end of the lake.
The fish were marking all the way from 20 feet to 65 feet with most of them being around the 35 to 40 foot mark. I was expecting the Wiggle Bill to outperform the spinner hoochie but the spinner hoochie was the lure of choice today. The fishing was slow, but the one fish we caught and two we lost were on the Chromes pink spinner hoochie.
THE CATCH
the Strategy
Trolling at 1.2 - 1.5 mph, at 35 feet deep.
Rod 1: Dog Tail Dodger, 16 inches of leader, and a pink wiggle hoochie
Rod 2: Dog Tail Dodger, 16 inches of leader, and a Chromes pink spinner hoochie
We caught one nice chrome kokanee and lost two others on the Chromes pink spinner hoochie.
kokanee: 1
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
August 27, 2020
It was my favourite type of day to go fishing: the sun was out but it wasn't too hot and the lake was calm.
I arrived at the lake at 10:30 am and fished until my kids were bored. That didn't take very long today- I was packing up by 12:30.
Peter Hope Lake has a single barbless hook bait ban restriction. So like last time, I used a Dog Tail Dodger with 14 inches of leader to a pink Wiggle Hoochie Bill on one rod. On the other rod I used the same setup except with a pink and purple hoochie. The all-pink hoochie was the best today, nothing on the pink and purple.
We started to mark fish not far off the first boat launch and we found a tightly packed school on the north end of the lake about 500 feet off shore and in about 95 feet of water. The fish were marking from 45 to 60 feet deep.
We did S turns at 1.2 to 1.5 MPH with our lines at 50 feet deep directly over the school of fish. With some patience we landed our first kokanee, weighing in at 1.6 pounds. This is quite substantial considering the kokanee have only been stocked in Peter Hope Lake for 3 three years. Next year's fishery is going to be fun!
I discovered that if you forget your net a home, you can substitute a large tote for net. My boy held the tote on an angle so that one edge was almost in the water and it was quite easy to flip the fish in to the tote.
I had a friend out on the lake as well who wasn't catching any. I tossed him my pink hoochie with the wiggle bill and 10 minutes later he was into his first kokanee.
THE CATCH
the Strategy
Trolling at 1.2 - 1.5 mph, between 50 feet deep.
Rod 1: Dog Tail Dodger, 14 inches of leader, and a pink wiggle hoochie
Rod 2: Dog Tail Dodger, 14 inches of leader, and a pink and purple spinner hoochie
We caught two chrome kokanee on the pink hoochie and lost another, while the pink and purple caught none.
kokanee: 2
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
July 30, 2020
What a nice calm day! The sun was shining and the temperature was on its way to 35 degrees. Every short cloud cover or breeze was welcomed.
We arrived at the lake at around 9 am and we were fishing by 9:20.
Peter Hope Lake has a single barbless hook bait ban restriction. So like last time, I used a Dog Tail Dodger with 14 inches of leader to a pink Wiggle Hoochie Bill. My friend tried a green wiggle hoochie and my other friend tried a pink and purple wiggle hoochie.
I trolled over the spot where I was marking massive schools of fish the last time I was at Peter Hope Lake. Unfortunately, this time we only marked a few fish around 25 to 50 feet deep, but we did manage to catch one kokanee and lost another on the pink wiggle hoochie. We moved around the lake and after a couple of hours of trolling we finally found the big schools of fish packed in to the south end of the lake in waters ranging from 40 - 60 feet.
We trolled in circles over the the school of fish and managed one more small kokanee and a nice rainbow. Using single barbless hooks kokanee fishing proved a little challenging- we lost 6 other fish and had some bites. The pink wiggle hoochie and the pink Chrome's spinner hoochie were working best.
By 1:00 pm it was so hot outside that we brought in all the gear and spent the next 20 minutes cooling off in the lake.
THE CATCH
the Strategy
Trolling at 1.2 - 1.5 mph, between 30 - 50 feet deep.
Rod 1: Dog Tail Dodger, 14 inches of leader, and a pink wiggle hoochie
Rod 2: Dog Tail Dodger, 14 inches of leader, and a pink spinner hoochie
It was tough to keep them on the line today. 2 kokanee caught and one rainbow. We lost 7 other fish.
kokanee: 2
rainbows: 1
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
June 23, 2020
I have to admit, I had a hard time driving by Stump Lake today, which has been hot, but I heard a rumour that Peter Hope Lake has been producing large kokanee. Since I didn't have much luck finding them last time, I figured I had to get out to Peter Hope to give it another shot.
I wasn't disappointed.
Peter Hope Lake has a single barbless hook bait ban restriction, so I had to say goodbye to my shoepeg corn and try something else. On my first line, I used a Dog Tail Dodger with 14 inches of leader to a pink Apex and on the second, another dodger leading to a Wiggle Hoochie Bill with a pink hoochie.
As I was cruising the lake, I saw on the fish finder that the fish were schooled up tightly. The exact location of the massive school is circled on the depth chart in the photo gallery below. I aimed to drop my line right at them, trolling overhead at about 1.1 to 1.4 mph and line about 30 - 50 feet deep. After the third bite on the Wiggle Hoochie Bill I decided to pull the pink Apex and set up both lines with the Wiggle Hoochie Bill.
With both lines sporting the Wiggle Hoochie Bill, the action came in pretty quickly. Between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., I caught my limit of five kokanee and released four rainbow, and lost another five fish.
The fish were all between 1.3 and 1.7 pounds. The lake was first stocked with kokanee in 2017 so I'm betting these are 2 or 3 year old fish. I'm excited to come back next year and see how much they've grown!
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
THE CATCH
the Strategy
Trolling at 1.1 - 1.4 mph, between 30 - 50 feet deep.
Rod 1: Dog Tail Dodger, 14 inches of leader, and a pink Apex
Rod 2 (the winner!): Dog Tail Dodger, 14 inches of leader, and a Wiggle Hoochie Bill
A busy day on the water- 5 kokanee in the boat, not including the ones that were lost, and 4 rainbow trout released.
kokanee: 5
rainbows: 4
May 15, 2020
It's been a while since I stopped by Peter Hope Lake. Since Hwy 5A just reopened, I figured today was the day to go check it out and see how the fish are biting.
The day ended up being a bit of an adventure. First, I learned that although the road is open, it's only open to alternating traffic. I was stopped near the north end of Stump Lake for about 45 minutes until they waved me through. Something to keep in mind if you plan to head out to Stump or Peter Hope Lake.
When I got to Peter Hope Lake, I found that the first boat launch was closed and inaccessible. However, another boat launch was open just down the road, less than a minute away.
It was a relief to get out on the open water. Not long after I arrived, I heard an odd buzzing noise. I looked around in time to see a float plane approaching not far from my boat. The pilot-fishers landed on the water and set up their fishing gear on the wings of the plane. Makes my boat feel disappointingly single-purposed!
However, it turns out that having a boat comes in handy when trolling, and I got my hook into two healthy rainbows on the north end of the lake. I marked fish both at the north and south ends, through the entire water column between 10 and 50 feet of water. No bites or markings on the fish finder in the middle of the lake.
When fishing Peter Hope, be sure to watch out for those sunken islands and shallows, on both the west and east sides of the lake. Turns out your downrigger balls act as anchors when they hit ground!
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
THE CATCH
the Strategy
I used the downrigger but turns out it wasn't needed today- I caught both my fish when not using the downrigger
Rod 1: FST Flasher with 16 inches of leader to a pink and orange chromes spinner hoochie
Rod 2: Two leaf Ford Fender 16 inches of leader to a pink chromes spinner hoochie
I caught two healthy rainbows, but the kokanee evaded me again today.
It was still a great day on the water.
kokanee: 0
rainbows: 2
November 14, 2019
A foggy day on the water, and perhaps the last day of the year for the boat! Today was a gamble- I didn't know if dragging my boat to the lake was a good idea. Would there be ice?
Luckily, the lake was still open water, and my efforts were rewarded with a few small rainbows- admittedly, the skinniest ones I've ever seen!
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
THE CATCH
the Strategy
Trolling using a downrigger at several depths. Success at 55 feet.
Rod 1: Moon Jelly Dodger and 12 inches of leader to a Chrome's Kokanee Hoochie
Rod 2: Classic Ford Fender, 12 inches of leader and a Chrome's Kokanee Hoochie
Look at these skinny rainbows! Two of these were all I managed to catch.
The kokanee evaded me today but it was still a great day on the water.
kokanee: 0
rainbows: 2
July 7, 2019
This week was an awesome week with family at a cabin right on the lake! I found some time to get out in the boat and try for some of those kokanee that were supposedly in the lake. I quickly found out that it isn't just a rumour: there ARE kokanee in the lake, and some beauties at that!
It was a little different fishing for kokanee in a lake with a bait ban. I replaced the original wedding band hook with a pink sparkly fly I had in my fly box. On my other rod I tried a Dick Nite and replaced the original hook with a glow hook. Both setups worked! I caught 3 kokanee on the pink fly and 2 kokanee and a rainbow on the Dick Nite.
the Strategy
Trolling using a downrigger at several depths. Success at 39 feet.
Rod 1: Moon Jelly Dodger and 16 inches of leader to a small pink and silver Dick Nite
Rod 2: Classic Ford Fender, 16 inches of leader and a Orange and yellow wedding band with a pink sparkle fly
THE CATCH
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
I caught 5 very healthy kokanee. The biggest was 1.5 pounds and I lost one that looked bigger!
I also caught one nice rainbow at just over 2.5 pounds while aiming for kokanee.
kokanee: 5
rainbows: 1
