The road to Dardanelles leaves the valley at the north end of Stump Lake and climbs, gravel all the way, into the hills south of Roche Lake. By the time it ends, at a few campsites on a small lake that sits higher than Roche itself, the crowds of the Roche shoals are well behind you. On a weekday you may share the water with one other angler, or with nobody.
Dardanelles is a
rainbow trout lake that fly fishers know and go to, and few others bother with, because the drive in is long and the last stretch is rough. Hardly anyone has written down how it fishes, so you come here to work out a quiet lake for yourself.
Think of it in two parts. The first is the north-east shore, where the road ends at a small recreation site with a hand launch at the water’s edge. That is where you start: put a float tube or a cartop boat in, and fish the shallows and weed edges near camp while you get a feel for the lake. Dardanelles drains out through Stumplake Creek towards Stump Lake below.
The second part is everything beyond the launch, the shoreline and drop-offs you reach by rowing or kicking out. Nobody hands you a map of where the fish sit out there, so bring the methods that work on the plateau lakes around Roche. Look for the shallow, weedy flats where insects hatch and the edges where they fall into deeper water, because that is where trout on these lakes feed.
The season up here starts late. Expect the ice to hang on longer than at Roche and the hatches to run a little behind the lower lakes near Kamloops. The road is also a reason to wait for dry weather in spring.
If Dardanelles turns out to be your lake, it stays your lake: there are only a handful of campsites. If it doesn’t, Stump Lake and its broad shallows are back at the bottom of the hill, and Peterhope Lake lies on the same tangle of forest roads.
Fish in this water
Each fish is rated by its strongest evidence. A rating says how sure we are a fish is here, not how many there are, whether it is worth fishing for or whether you may keep it.
Likely
Older records here, recent stocking, a local guide or fly shop, a guide listing, or recent records on connected water nearby.
Fish and forage
The lake is fished for rainbow trout. Its own hatches have not been written up; on Roche, to the north, chironomids lead in May and June, mayflies and caddis follow from mid-June, and damselflies and dragonflies carry into summer, with shrimp and leeches there all season. Expect something close to that here, a little later.
How to fish it
Start near the launch with one chironomid pupa under an indicator, set just off the bottom on the shallows; a black or dull olive pattern in sizes 12 to 16 is a sound first choice on lakes like this. If nothing moves it, take off the indicator and long-line the same fly slowly.
When the chironomids fail, change to a leech or a shrimp pattern on a sinking line and fish it slowly along the drop-off with pauses. To find fish on unfamiliar water, troll a leech slowly around the lake behind a float tube or a rowed boat, and anchor where you get a take. In summer, try a dragonfly nymph worked slowly across the weed. Fish one fly at a time: BC allows only one artificial fly on a line, so change patterns rather than adding a second.
Access and safety
From Highway 5A, turn onto the Dardanelles forest road at the north end of Stump Lake. It runs about 21 km, climbing steadily, and the final short section into the recreation site is rough enough to need a high-clearance vehicle. You can also come in on forest roads from the Peterhope side. The site is free, with a few campsites, pit toilets and a hand launch, and it works on first come, first served. ATVs are allowed at the site, so expect to meet them on the road.
Bring what you need: there is nothing at the lake beyond the campsites, and help is a long way back down the road.