Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: Spooner on May 07, 2008, 12:49:30 PM
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Any info would help .....!
The posse (the wife and two kids) ;)and I have a chance to stay in a cabin next week. I'm wondering if it would be worth while to bring the boat?
Never really heard of anyone fishing or CATCHING up there . I always thought of it to be more of a ski/tubing lake.Anyway I would love to spend a couple of days trolling around and usually head to the interior this time of year.
Thanks in advance, Spooner
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I tried fishing there with my father probably 25 years ago and we never caught a thing lol
I seem to remember someone telling me that the name "Cultus" is a native word for dead !! in other words "dead lake" meaning no fish haha, don't know if there is any truth to this but it is something I have remembered since my childhood...
someone on this site talked about there being a derby that takes place there for some sort of small fish close to shore so there must be some sort of life in the lake
if you end up fishing best of luck
cheers TH
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Spooner, if you want to target typical BC sportfish, then it probably isn't worth it to bring the boat. There are trout and char in Cultus Lake but not many. On the other hand, if you are looking into getting the kids into some fish on the boat, then it certainly is worth it. There are plenty of northern pikeminnow and largescaled sucker in the lake. They can be caught with bait (dew worm, garden worm, hot dog pieces) easily.
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I was told by an old logger that I use to work with Cultus meant devils and was in reference to large Eels that are said to inhabit the deeper areas of the lake.
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There's fish in cultus, some bigger rainbows are caught off main beach every season... And many more smaller fish.
Another place you could go is at the far end, at lindell beach, and troll around there... make sure to use light leaders, as the fish are very leader shy due to crystal clear water...
Have fun! Last time I was there, I caught a garbage bag full of pike minnows:
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/218/496807502_5034f3b736.jpg)
Make sure you kill any of those things that you catch, as they eat the Cultus Sockeye that are trying to come back.
Have fun!
Nicole
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A friend of mine lost one around two pounds last night spinning from the shore.
The time to fish them is in the Spring is when the dogwoods are flowering.
The people that have fished it for years who know where to find them can do quite well at times. ;D ;D
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Not very many trout in that lake... they mostly migrate in and out....
Not many pikeminnow left either.... they have killed thousands... because they think thats wats causing the sockeye decline... well I call my smelly socks, show me evidence.. they havent even found many if any with fry in there bellies.... heres an idea, go kill the cutties and dollies in the lake because there eating more fry than the pikeminnows.
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fished up there last fall and did well. gang troll and a worm. it was around the main beach area. at one point i was bringing up my gear to check it and there was about 5 good size cutties following it up. giver a go, you never know.
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Yup its true that Cutties and Dollies will eat proportionally more sockeye smolts and fry than the pikeminnow, but its the volume of pikeminnow that is of concern. There aren't many trout and char in the lake but they are there and I've seen them in the last couple of weeks on the surface slashing as fry schools as the chum and pink fry are heading out. Quite the sight. Even larger kokanee jumping to rid themselves of parasites. I've caught Cultus pikeminnows that have regurgitated their stomachs this winter/spring and the digested remains of smolts have come up. The pikeminnow use the deeper water (+100 ft) in the winter time which is the same habitat as the sockeye use all year round. Incidently, smolt fence has just recently counted 300k juveniles migrating downstream which is well over what the estimates were originally. More to come too, so its looks like the efforts of the seine boat, plus all the derby participants is showing signs of paying off.
The pre-spawn winter conditioned pikeminnow is actually quite a beautiful fish. I've caught many that are as silver chrome as can be (as well as amazingly golden) but they do eat sockeye especially during the winter months when there is not much else available to them. Once water temps warm up, they will switch to redside shiners, bugs and sticklebacks as the pikers move closer to shore. Plenty of suitable foraging habitat in all that milfoil that is in the lake.
The program is essentially in effect to give the sockeye a better head start. Most of the factors that cant be effectively controlled are interception from the commercial fleets, recreational bycatch, disease (like parvacapsula), ocean survival and degraded spawning habitat.
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I only fish it in the summer, and there are lots of little fish that huge the shore, couple inchs big. I also drag worms along the bottom if I can get out further, and last year my dad manged a 4 pound sucker, which we stoked the camp fire with.
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last year my dad manged a 4 pound sucker, which we stoked the camp fire with.
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/articles/2002/0102_02.html
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It was ugly, but arnt we suppose to keep the cultus lake pikeminnow numbers down? Iv read that they are endangering the already fragile cultus lake sockeyes.
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Not very many trout in that lake... they mostly migrate in and out....
Not many pikeminnow left either.... they have killed thousands... because they think thats wats causing the sockeye decline... well I call ********, show me evidence.. they havent even found many if any with fry in there bellies.... heres an idea, go kill the cutties and dollies in the lake because there eating more fry than the pikeminnows.
You are a newcomer to this area and do not know all the hot spots..... yet. ;D ;D
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Largescaled sucker (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/fish_profile/largescale_sucker.html), northern pikeminnow (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/fish_profile/northern_pikeminnow.html), two different species with completely different ecological niches (one predates, the other scavenge).
This is why fish culling should only be operated, organized, monitored by the authority, otherwise fish are misidentified and killed. When you are fishing outside an official cull, the regulations apply. Fish that are intended to be consumed are required to be released.
Greater respect and better treatment should be emphasized on species that have less commercial and recreational importance in this province.
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Were no better than a seal when we indiscriminately kill bottom feeders......and were bottom feeders when we want to kill a seal. :-\
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thanks for all the incite into the foodchain guys ;D Don't really want to show the kids that it's OK to head to a new lake and start killing any by-catch.
I'm sure we'll have a blast however it turns out and we always have some good chats on the water.
Spooner
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Spooner I can understand how you would not want to show your kids that kind of experience...
Don't worry about it though, it's been shown that anglers don't take nearly enough of them out of the population, and that the seining projects have been far more effective to bring the numbers down.
:)
Nicole
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They actually seine there.! It must be a huge problem.
I take it it's a beach seine.
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Yes it's quite bad, here's a link with a backgrounder from DFO:
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/sci/mehsd/projects/pikeminnow/intro_e.htm
The project has four components:
a) Northern pikeminnow
Removal - Pikeminnow prey on juvenile Cultus sockeye, contributing to a "predator pit" that may prevent their recovery from current low abundances. We estimate that there are approximately 60,000 to 70,000 adult pikeminnow (>20 cm) in Cultus Lake. We have developed fishing techniques that resulted in the removal of 4,000 to 5,000 pikeminnow in the late spring and early summer of 2005 when the fish were onshore. Due to the presence of non-target species (game fish such as trout and char and other native species such as suckers and shiners) we will only use techniques that will have a low bycatch and allow the live release of non-target fish. We intend to increase our catch of northern pikeminnow by expanding current techniques and investigating different approaches. These include:
1) Stationary Traps - Four trapnets (1 more than last year) will be fished from early May until mid-July. These were one of the most effective methods used in previous years. As well hoop-nets, modified black cod traps, and modified prawn traps will be fished in the spring and summer and at other times of the year on an exploratory basis.
2) Angling - Angling has been a very successful technique for capturing northern pikeminnow - 40% of the fish caught last year were by rod and reel. As well as the annual pikeminnow derby on the lake, we will conduct 2 additional pikeminnow outings. These are sponsored by the Fraser Valley Salmon Society and supported by the local guides as well as DFO. We will also cover expenses (boat gas and tackle) for five FVSS experienced volunteer anglers. The DFO netting crew will also angle for northern pikeminnow as part of their duties.
3) Purse seining - Purse seining was used in the 1990's with reasonable success. This method appears most successful when spawning and feeding aggregations located in shallower waters are targeted, generally at night. Commercial fishers will be engaged in June to purse seine in the lake. The presence of our regular trapnet and angling crew will be able to inform the seine crew on aggregations as they appear in the lake to target fishing effort. An observer will be placed on the seiner to collect biological information and tags from the catch.
4) Other methods - We are investigating other techniques that have proven effective elsewhere. One method, long-lining, has proven effective on pikeminnow in some areas on the Columbia River, but has never been used on Cultus Lake pikeminnow. We will investigate its utility for our circumstances and, if warranted, we will conduct pilot programs with the aid of commercial fisherman and others. Past reports and data have a wealth of distribution and behavioral data that will be examined for potential harvest opportunities that are not currently utilized.
Cheers,
Nicole
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Good posts Nicole and Gold Hammered Croc. The pikeminnow removal program has always been a thorny issue for me but I certainly supported it. This years sockeye smolt survival rates do suggest the program has been successful but what happens now to the shiner and stickleback populations? same with char and trout.... Time will tell.
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Time to attach a dollar amount to each fish like our cousins to the South.
Some guys make tens of thousands.
Money is a good incentive and no one can argue with that
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The Fraser valley Salmon Society will be holding the annual pike minnow derby on June 14 at Cultus Lake, more prizes and activities than ever I am told.
It is now going to be called the Greg Clark Memorial Pike Minnow Derby in memory of Greg who passed away suddenly a few weeks ago. Greg had worked on this derby for some time and was the organizer of the derby last year.
More details shortly
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The Derby is a great way of enjoying lovely Cultus Lake. I thought I had a winner last year, but was tailed between the leg. Not this year though :)