Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: colin6101 on March 10, 2021, 06:01:36 PM
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I saw that they started stocking trout last week on the island. Any news on the Lower Mainland? I have a cousin that is just getting into fishing and wanted to give him some ideas on places to start.
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gofishbc.ca
I was just looking at that. Based on past years, it looks like this month for the LML as well. I did not find any stocking information for this month on the website, maybe they update after the stocking has been done?
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Yeah I looked and didn't see anything there yet either. When I looked yesterday the Island stockings didn't show up yet though so I was wondering if there was a delay between the stockings and it populating on the website.
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Stockings in the Lower Mainland begin tomorrow and Friday. Tomorrow Lafarge and Como will receive their fish, Friday Rice, Green Timbers and Sanctuary Pond at Hastings will get their fish. Because of Covid-19 protocols, each stocking process is taking a lot longer, that's why two or three lakes are stocked per day instead of five lakes. More stockings are expected next week once the "Big Fives" are done this week.
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Awesome, thanks for the heads up Rodney! Do they still publish their stocking plans for the year? I have heard some rumblings that one of the ponds I fished as a kid might be stocked again but can't get any confirmation.
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Stocking schedules are not published, but I believe a plan on how many fish each lake is expected to receive is available. I'll ask where it is later this week.
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Okay thanks again Rodney!
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Stocking schedules are not published, but I believe a plan on how many fish each lake is expected to receive is available. I'll ask where it is later this week.
Thanks Rod! You had a great vid on fishing Lafarge with a euro float, do you have any suggestions for a lake to take my Cub Scouts to? The issue is always that we could have up to 20 kids and getting enough room for them is tough. Thanks
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Thanks Rod! You had a great vid on fishing Lafarge with a euro float, do you have any suggestions for a lake to take my Cub Scouts to? The issue is always that we could have up to 20 kids and getting enough room for them is tough. Thanks
You could try Lafarge? The west side is wide open with a walking path and can accommodate a lot of people.
Also maybe Sasamat. There's a bridge bride with docks that spans one end of the lake, though I havent been there in quite a while.
If you can, go as soon as possible after stocking for best chance of success.
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Those were going to be my suggestions Dan. Sasamat's concrete foot bridge scares me a bit if you are putting 20 scouts on it. It's fairly narrow, and the wate is really deep along it. I can see some congestion issues. The beach along that west side of Lafarge Lake is good. It's reasonably wide and fishing is usually quite productive. That's where FFSBC usually did its off-site learn to fish sessions.
(https://i.imgur.com/rgLmtix.jpg)
So, Lafarge and Como were stocked on Thursday. Yesterday Rice and Green Timbers were stocked. Each lake received 2,000 fish. More lake stockings will take place next week. Due to COVID-19, the hatchery is limited to only doing a couple of lakes per day at the moment.
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Thanks Rod! You had a great vid on fishing Lafarge with a euro float, do you have any suggestions for a lake to take my Cub Scouts to? The issue is always that we could have up to 20 kids and getting enough room for them is tough. Thanks
What city do your scouts usually meet at? Might give us a better idea of lakes to suggest. If it's further out in the Valley there are a few more options.
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Thanks Rod! You had a great vid on fishing Lafarge with a euro float, do you have any suggestions for a lake to take my Cub Scouts to? The issue is always that we could have up to 20 kids and getting enough room for them is tough. Thanks
That would be quite an outing. I’m surprised that you can handle 20 kids and give them real support, good for you. I know that I’d have to break them into 2 or 3 groups at different times to be able to make sure they got the full experience. Two thumbs up.
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They better not be doing Minnie and Stoney.
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They better not be doing Minnie and Stoney.
X2
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When is Mill lake getting stocked?
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Thanks for the replies everyone. Lafarge is my first choice and then Mill. And that sounds like the best choices. I'm not really a lake person so wanted to get some feedback.
We have 2 cub groups one smaller and one a bit larger. In total there is usually 6-8 scouters when we meet and put them into cohorts of 6-7 kids. Makes it easy. Our home area is Cloverdale but I know that Green Timbers is tighter for space and parking.
How fast do they get fished out? Approx?
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Both should be stocked 2x in the spring. Fishing will be best in the week or so after stocking then fish will spread out and adapt to feeding in the wild and get harder to catch. While numbers go down as fish are caught some fish will last over summer. into fall and even into the next year.
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https://youtu.be/FF0i_Lq-z8c
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Fished at Como lake yesterday ...in the rain!
Fishing from the belly boat was good.
One thing I did notice that I have not observed in past years was quite a lot of dead trout near the shore ( where the 'boat launch' area is), beside the dock. Is this a normal occurrence? I get that some won't survive the transfer but it seemed like a lot to me?
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Fished at Como lake yesterday ...in the rain!
Fishing from the belly boat was good.
One thing I did notice that I have not observed in past years was quite a lot of dead trout near the shore ( where the 'boat launch' area is), beside the dock. Is this a normal occurrence? I get that some won't survive the transfer but it seemed like a lot to me?
No that's not normal. How many is a lot? I'll pass on the information to the hatchery.
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I tried bottom fishing Lafarge yesterday along paved walkway. Very few people out because of the rain. So many weeds got in the way so I switched to float fishing. There were a few biters. I didn't see any dead ones along the shore.
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Fished at Como lake yesterday ...in the rain!
Fishing from the belly boat was good.
One thing I did notice that I have not observed in past years was quite a lot of dead trout near the shore ( where the 'boat launch' area is), beside the dock. Is this a normal occurrence? I get that some won't survive the transfer but it seemed like a lot to me?
Can you PM me your phone # so the hatchery manager can give you a call for more details? They’d like to know more before sending someone down there to see.
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Hey Rodney
PM sent
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No that's not normal. How many is a lot? I'll pass on the information to the hatchery.
I guess at least dozen or so in the small area I paddled over at that spot... you can see them on the bottom.
Not hundreds in view by any means, but as I said above, I have never seen this before.
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I'm going again tomorrow afternoon.... I'll try to take a video/photo
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Buntzen Lake is being stocked today.
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Thanks for the updates Rod! Any idea when Rolley, Whonnock, or Hicks will be stocked?
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past stockings: https://www.gofishbc.com/Stocked-Fish/Detailed-Report.aspx?waterbody=HICKS|WHONNOCK&start=3/17/2016&end=3/17/2021 (https://www.gofishbc.com/Stocked-Fish/Detailed-Report.aspx?waterbody=HICKS|WHONNOCK&start=3/17/2016&end=3/17/2021)
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Yeah, the gofishbc website is great for looking into past dates, thanks. But as you can see there is considerable variance when they do the actual stocking and was hoping that Rod might have some insight into this years planned dates.
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Yeah, the gofishbc website is great for looking into past dates, thanks. But as you can see there is considerable variance when they do the actual stocking and was hoping that Rod might have some insight into this years planned dates.
X2
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Rod mentioned above they don't publish the stocking schedule. It's kept pretty hush to prevent the proverbial traffic jam behind the hatchery truck.
I think if you look at the dates for each year you can see:
1) Hicks and Whonnock are each stocked once a year
2) Whonnock is stocked earlier than Hicks. It's a lower elavation lake and it's smaller. It will be warmer than Hicks at any given date in the spring
3) Hicks is stocked 2 to 3 weeks after Whonnock.
This should give you some idea when to watch for stocking of each.
Make sense?
Cheers
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I don't really have much more inside intel at the moment actually. All I can say is that they'll get stocked in April and May like they usually do.
Hicks doesn't really need any stocking for it to produce well. We were there yesterday with the kids and had a great time. They caught about two dozen fish and we probably only fished for about 1.5 hours.
(https://i.imgur.com/wcOIsnc.jpg)
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Awesome, thanks Rod! I've not had a lot of luck at Hicks but I do love that spot and want to figure it out this spring. Good excuse to get the boat in shape this weekend I guess.
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Whonnock was stocked yesterday. Better rush out there before they are all gone! ;D
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(https://scontent.fyvr4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/160888973_281006116718212_7689245147626675356_o.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=uIkKGwY4wx4AX9lvNKN&_nc_ht=scontent.fyvr4-1.fna&oh=598d7323ca58840d3b6dedbd31f66535&oe=6080C15E)
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(https://i.imgur.com/ZpciXzC.png)
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Hicks and Deer at Sasquatch Provincial Park were stocked a couple of days ago.
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(https://i.imgur.com/26uD1tr.png)
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Lafarge, Como, Green Timbers and Rice each got another 1,000 fish yesterday.
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(https://i.imgur.com/LJKbKtV.png)
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Last week I was fly fishing @ Rice lake and all of a sudden the Fisheries BC truck with 1000 trout came around and I was lucky enough to be there along with another couple of angler and we got see how they stocked the lake. Fisheries staff mentioned that the water was cold enough for the trout to bite (otherwise it may take them a few days to adapt) and rightly enough, it was an epic day. Pretty cool to see schools of 20 trout chasing your flies. Never had a double digit day at Rice Lake (for me 1-2 trout there means a very good day) so cannot complain!
Staff also mentioned that to avoid poaching, they avoid sharing when they plan to stock and also there is a some delay on them posting the reports online. Just keep this in mind as if you suspect a lake may be stocked in a given week, don't wait for the report, just hit the lake and you may get rewarded!!
Adding a couple of shots of trout I caught. You can see the difference between the first one (caught before the stocking, was probably in the lake for a while) and the second one, much darker and slightly bigger that came straight from the hatchery.
(https://i.ibb.co/3W3KH6C/Screen-Shot-2021-06-06-at-11-04-57-AM.png) (https://ibb.co/MpvdLwC)
(https://i.ibb.co/zx2770M/Screen-Shot-2021-06-06-at-11-04-45-AM.png) (https://ibb.co/jfwWW1N)