Lodgepole Lake sits high enough above Lac Le Jeune that ice can still cover it in early May, when the lakes below are already fishing. It is a small water in pine country up the Chuwhels Mountain road, and the beetle-killed lodgepole around it has left the campsites open to the sky and to the daytime wind that keeps the mosquitoes down.
There is not much of it, which suits a short evening: you can see all of it from the bank and cover it from a canoe in a morning. It has two ends. The campsites and a rough launch are on the west end. A small day-use spot at the east end is the easy place to slide a canoe or kayak in. Between them is open water and the edges where rainbows feed.
Start from the campground on the west end. Fishing for the rainbows usually gets going in mid to late May, once the ice is off, and fly fishing and trolling are how most people go at them. On a lake this small the fish are never far from the edge, so a slow pass along the shoreline at first light tells you a lot about where they are holding.
The east end is the quieter way on. Launch there and work back along the shore toward the camp, fishing the drop where the shallows end.
Winter is the surprise. The forest road is maintained through the cold months, which makes Lodgepole one of the easier high lakes to reach for ice fishing, and it is a popular one. Treat its ice with care: the lake has been aerated in past winters, and where an aerator runs there can be thin ice and open water.
When you have the measure of it, there is more water close by: Walloper Lake, a small park lake with a wharf, and Lac Le Jeune itself, a short drive down the hill.
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.
This is a small, high lake ringed by lodgepole pine, much of it killed by beetles. Without depth charts to go on, read it from the boat: shallows where weed grows, a drop where the colour darkens, and deeper water in the middle. Trout feed along the edge of the shallows at dawn and dusk and slide down the drop when the sun is on the water.
Fish and forage
The fish are rainbow trout. The lake’s own hatches have not been written up, so borrow from Lac Le Jeune nearby, on the same plateau: chironomids over the drop-offs after ice-out, damselflies and dragonflies along the weed in early summer, evening sedges and, later, water boatmen as autumn cools. Leeches are worth carrying in any of those months.
When to fish it
The rules list no closure for the lake; check in-season changes before you go. The open-water season starts later than on the lakes below. June and July are the months for the weed edges. September and October bring cooler water and fish back in the shallows. From freeze-up to ice-out the lake is fished through the ice.
How to fish it
BC allows one fly on the line, so fish one at a time and change it with purpose. From a canoe or float tube, anchor off the drop and hang a chironomid pupa under an indicator, set just off the bottom. If it stays quiet, change depth first, then try a smaller pupa. When fish show along the shallows, switch to a damselfly nymph or a small leech on an intermediate line, cast toward the bank and brought back in slow pulls. On a warm evening with sedges about, skate a dry sedge along the edge; if fish swirl and refuse it, drop to a smaller fly fished just under the surface. A slow troll with a leech between spots is how many people here find fish.
Access and safety
From Kamloops, take the Lac Le Jeune Road, the old highway toward Logan Lake, and turn west onto the Chuwhels Mountain Road, signed as the Lodgepole Lake forest service road. The recreation site is about 3 km along a graded gravel road that is maintained in winter. Camping is first come, first served, with a camp host, toilets, picnic tables and fire rings; there is no water or power, a fee applies through the summer, and stays are capped at 14 days. Cell coverage is patchy. Keep dogs leashed. In winter, stay well clear of any open water or soft ice near an aerator.
Regulations
Lodgepole Lake is not a classified water. The regulations allow electric motors only on the lake, to a maximum of 7.5 kW. Region 3 allows you to keep 5 trout or char a day, no more than one of them over 50 cm and no more than one a bull trout or lake trout (none under 60 cm), and lake trout must be released from 15 October to 31 January, which takes in the ice season; the possession limit is two daily quotas. You fish with one artificial fly on the line, dropper flies are illegal, and no freshwater invertebrate may be used as bait at a lake. Ice fishing is allowed with one line and one lure or fly, and you must warn others of your hole and take any hut off before break-up. Anglers 16 and over need a basic licence. Check the current synopsis and in-season changes before you fish.
calendar:
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{ kind: fly, months: [5, 6], note: “Open water usually from mid to late May; chironomids over the drop-offs (pattern borrowed from Lac Le Jeune)” }
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{ kind: fly, months: [6, 7], note: “Damselfly nymphs and leeches along the weed edges” }
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{ kind: fly, months: [9, 10], note: “Fish back in the shallows as the water cools” } faq:
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q: “Can I use a gas outboard on Lodgepole Lake?” a: “No. The regulations allow electric motors only, up to 7.5 kW.”
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q: “Is the road open in winter?” a: “The forest road to the recreation site is maintained in winter, and ice fishing is popular. Watch for thin ice and open water if an aerator is running.”
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q: “When does the lake open up?” a: “Usually by mid to late May, though ice has been seen on it in early May.” related:
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{ water: lac-le-jeune, why: “The big park lake just down the hill, with a campground and wharf” }
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{ water: ross-moore-lake, why: “Another small forest lake off the Lac Le Jeune Road, with rougher access” }