The road to Fatox climbs out of the Thompson past Savona and up the Deadman valley, under hoodoos of coloured sandstone, then leaves the river and climbs onto the plateau. At the top is a small lake with cold, clear water, no resort, almost no one on it, and rainbows that run to three pounds or better.
Fatox is a small lake high on the plateau above the Deadman River. It has two kinds of water worth knowing: the shoreline edge you can work from a float tube or a cartop boat, and the open middle, where trollers pull small lures. It also has a neighbourhood: a string of lakes along the same road system, each with a campsite and more company.
Start on the lake itself. There is a small, undeveloped area for rough camping and a spot to slide in a cartop boat, and that is all. Light use is the point of the place.
Trolling small lures and spinners is the usual way to fish Fatox, and it works. The quieter reward is that the fly has taken fish here as well, and on a lake this lightly fished a slow leech or a damsel nymph worked along the edge goes over trout that have seen very few of them.
The neighbourhood is the other find. Vidette, Deadman, Skookum and Snohoosh lakes line the Deadman road system, each with a camp and a cartop launch, and with rainbows and
kokanee in them. If you want a base with more room, camp at one of those and drive up to Fatox for the day.
When you want a bigger lake with a hatch calendar of its own, Hihium Lake lies on the plateau to the south-west, long and shallow and full of weed, with the sedge coming off its shores at the start of summer.
When to fish it
The open-water season runs from ice-off, usually in May, to freeze-up in November. Late May and June, as the water warms after the ice, is the time for chironomids and damsels over the shallows. In high summer, fish mornings and evenings, and go deeper in the middle of the day. September and October bring the fish back up as the water cools. The rules list no closure for the lake; check in-season changes before you go.
How to fish it
From a float tube or cartop boat, work along the drop-off with the shallows on one side. Cast a single leech or damsel nymph in toward the shallow edge on a floating or intermediate line and bring it back in short pulls. If nothing follows, change to a full-sinking line and count the fly down along the outside of the drop-off before you retrieve. If fish are rising, change to a chironomid pupa fished just under the surface. If you troll, use a small lure or a single fly and row slowly along the edge rather than across the middle. Long, light leaders help in water this clear.
Access and safety
Drive west from Kamloops on Highway 1 past Savona, cross the Thompson River and then the Deadman River, climb the hill and turn north onto Deadman Creek Road. Fatox is roughly 50 km up from the highway, and a truck is the right vehicle for the last of it. Bring everything with you: there are no services at the lake. Off the road, you need permission before entering or crossing private, posted, cultivated or reserve land.