The road to Glimpse Lake leaves the Douglas Lake road above Nicola Lake and climbs through open bunchgrass, slopes that go yellow with balsamroot in spring, until the grass thins into Douglas fir and pine and the lake lies in the timber on the Douglas Plateau. Cattle country gives way to trout water in the length of one gravel road.
It fishes like the plateau lakes around it: chironomids and leeches, a shoal edge, an anchor, patience. The quiet is what brings people back, along with a campsite on either side of the water.
Think of the lake as three places. At the west end, where the road arrives, there is a small community of cabins and the good public launch. Past the cabins, on the north shore, is the larger of two recreation sites. Across the water, on the southwest side, a smaller site sits above a shallow shoreline.
Start at the west end if you are bringing a boat. The public launch there takes a trailer or a cartop, and a pontoon boat or canoe is all the lake really asks for, moved by oars or a small electric.
The north site is the bigger camp, open forest under large Douglas firs a little past the launch, close enough that the first hour of light can be spent on the water.
The southwest shore is the one to look for. The site there is smaller and the launch is rough, cartop only, but the shoreline is shallow, and shallow water on a plateau lake is where the first warm days of spring bring the bugs up and the trout in after them. The good launch is at the other end, so this side is easy to overlook.
In winter the lake freezes over and the same rainbows are fished through holes in the ice: a second season on the same water.
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.
When to fish it
The rules list no closure for Glimpse Lake; check in-season changes before you go.
Spring after ice-out belongs to leeches and then chironomids, with the shallow southwest shore warming first. By midsummer the fish go deeper in the heat of the day, and the hours worth having are the early morning and the evening, when a sedge on the water can bring them up. September and October cool the lake and the leech fishing comes back. The recreation sites are reported to run from May to September, so check before an autumn visit if you mean to camp.
Winter ice fishing is popular here, and the lake’s rules don’t ban it. On the ice you fish one line with one lure or fly, you must warn other people of your hole, and you must take any ice hut off before breakup. Test the ice before you trust it.
How to fish it
Anchor on the shoal edge, front and back so the boat doesn’t swing, and fish a chironomid pupa under an indicator. Start it about a foot off the bottom, where most of the feeding happens. If nothing comes in twenty minutes, change the depth before you change the fly, a foot at a time. Then change the colour: black with a red rib early, olive later in the season.
When the chironomids won’t work, take the pupa off and tie on a micro leech in black or maroon. Fish it on an intermediate line, crawling it back along the drop or trolling it slowly under oars or the electric motor. In the evening, swap to a single dry sedge and cast it to rises over the weed, twitching it once and then letting it sit.
A 4 or 5 weight is right. BC allows one artificial fly on a line, so each change above means cutting one fly off before you tie the next on.
Access and safety
From Merritt, take Highway 5A east past Quilchena on Nicola Lake, then turn onto Douglas Lake Road. About 7 km on, just past the hydro station, turn left onto Lauder Road, a maintained gravel road. The southwest site is about 14 km up: turn right at the cattleguard and drive about 1 km in, on a road that is narrow in spots for longer rigs. The north site and the west-end launch are about 16 km up; slow down through the cabin community just before the campsite. On the water, the lake’s own rule is electric motor only, to a maximum of 7.5 kW.
The cabins are private. Don’t cross posted or private land without permission. Black bears and moose are both seen around the lake, so keep a clean camp.