STUMP LAKE
fishing reports
Stump Lake is producing kokanee in the one to two pound range as well as some big rainbow trout. Read more about Stump Lake
Ice update
December 31, 2021
There was 4 inches of solid ice a few meters out from the boat launch. I wandered out further, testing along the way and it tapered to 3.5 inches about 100 meters out. I didn't push it past that. I set up a line but did not mark any fish. I think I needed to be out farther for kokanee or much closer to shore for rainbows. A beautiful bright day though!
Novemeber 29, 2021
What a treat to find some sunshine at Stump Lake today. When I left Kamloops it was heavily fogged in.
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I got to the lake at around 9:30 and started scanning different spots with the Garmin Striker 4 until I found the fish. It took 30 minutes of searching before landing on some big schools on the north east side of the lake.
I was marking fish from the surface down to 30 feet with the odd mark at 40 feet. I put my gear down to 25 feet with a 75 foot setback and I was quickly into a double header, both rainbows. While resetting, I caught another rainbow at the surface before I could lower the downrigger.
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When I reset I went to 40 feet with both rods. This proved to be slower, but I did land two more rainbows and two kokanee over the course of a couple of hours
My next strategy was to set a top line out at 2 feet deep with the second line at 40 feet. I quickly found myself in my second double header of the day! The deeper line caught a rainbow and to my surprise the top line caught a kokanee. I caught two more rainbows on the surface line and another two while jigging. I found that the fish were quite concentrated to one spot on the north east end of the lake, about 50 meters square. Any time spent outside that area yielded no results.
the Strategy
Rod one: A Chrome's dodger with 16 inches of leader and a pink and purple Chrome's single spinner tipped with shoepeg corn scented with anise oil
Rod two: A Chrome's dodger to a Chrome's pink and yellow spinner tipped with shoepeg corn scented with anise oil
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THE CATCH
Lots of action today with two double headers!
kokanee: 3
rainbows: 9
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
July 5, 2021
It has been a few weeks since I have been able to put a line in the water. Air conditioner breakdowns and nearby scary fires have taken precedence over fishing.
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I was thinking that with the drastic heat we have been having in Kamloops that the fishing would have slowed down, but that is not at all the case for Stump Lake.
Today is the first day ever that I have wished for rain while I was fishing, but we need it!
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I launched at the paved boat launch at 9 a.m. and fished right out front in 70 to 80 feet of water. I put on a Chrome's dodger and a pink and purple Chrome's smile spinner. On my second rod I used a Chrome's dodger and a pink wiggle hoochie. I used a 40 foot set-back and trolled between 40 to 50 feet deep. I caught two very quickly on the smile spinner trolling at 1.4mph.
I changed up my second rod to an orange and yellow smile spinner and quickly caught two nice chromers on it. The last fish took the pink and purple smile spinner. My limit was filled in 90 minutes! It was a good day.
While cleaning these fish the three smallest had a pale orange colour meat, while the two biggest had a much healthier looking deep orange meat.
the Strategy
Rod one: A Chrome's dodger with 16 inches of leader and a pink and purple Chrome's smile spinner tipped with shoepeg corn scented with garlic and anise oil
Rod two: A pink Chrome's dodger with 16 inches of leader to a pink wiggle hoochie.
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THE CATCH
The kokanee were hanging out between 35 to 60 feet deep. It didn't take long to fill my limit.
kokanee: 5
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
june 17, 2021
I haven't been to Stump Lake for a while so I wasn't 100% sure where the kokanee were hanging out. I had some ideas of where they might be, but I still planned to take some time to explore to find them.
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As I was pulling by the north end of the lake I noticed about six boats on the other side of the lake from the highway. This seemed to be the logical place to start looking for kokanee.
Usually if there are a few boats in one area it is for good reason and today was no exception.
I put one of my new Chrome's pink and chrome dodgers and a Chrome's single pink spinner and tipped them with my favourite shoepeg recipe. On my other rod I put on a Gibbs dog tail dodger with a Chrome's pink wiggle hoochie also tipped with shoepeg. I used a 50 foot set back and put the rods down to 25 feet. The first kokanee of the day came at 25 feet on the pink Chrome's single spinner. This beauty was my personal best out of Stump Lake, measuring in at 19 inches and weighing 3.28lbs.
As the weather got warmer the marks on the fish finder began to get deeper. The rest of my kokanee were caught between 30 and 40 feet deep. Between 10:30 and 12:30 I was able to fill my limit. I landed four on the spinner and landed one on the hoochie. I lost as many as I caught: three lost on the spinner and two lost on the wiggle hoochie.
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All the boats around me were catching kokanee as well. June fishing at its best once again!
the Strategy
Rod one: A Chrome's pink and chrome dodger with 16 inches of leader and a pink Chrome's single spinner tipped with shoepeg corn scented with garlic and anise oil
Rod two: A Gibbs dog tail dodger with 16 inches of leader to a pink wiggle hoochie tipped with shoepeg corn scented with garlic and anise oil
THE CATCH
Five caught and five lost today. Most of the action was at about 35 feet.
kokanee: 5
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge