[89RS]

Has anyone here boated up through harrison lake to the Lillooet river? Apart from being CnR only, are there any specials regs I should know about? (F.N. land, etc) How difficult a river is it to run?
Finally, any tips or advice for the fish up there?
thanks a bunch guys, hard to find any of this info on the net....just wind up with a million guiding services. :-[

 

[Rib]

I've never run the river in a boat, so I can't say, but it looks like a large enough river that it shouldn't be too much of a challenge...

Lots of Dollies to be had there, spinners and spoons often produce well, but flies also I would imagine...

The run of Springs isn't all that big, but if you time it right you can enjoy good success, big, bright fish too...

Some of the more popular areas are around the creek mouths of various tributaries along its length and also the outlet of the big lake...

There are a few guys here that have considerably more experience on the Lillooet than I do, namely some of the guides, but also a few others, Hotrod was up there recently and had a good day...so hopefully for you they put a few bits in...

Also, consider stopping in at some of the various Hot Springs in the area and the old Church while you're up there, it's a beautiful valley, with good camping and decent access...well worth a multiple day trip...

Good Luck,

rib

 

[Mike D.]

I could suggest giving Bent Rod or Bergler a PM they might have some advice on running the river! as for flies maybe PM Hot Rod, or visit www.flyfishbc.com and ask the pros there! :thumbup:

Mike <")))))><

 

[hotrod]

I would say go with egg patterns! When I scoped the river recently I knew I was on a recon of the area and just thought where would I hold if I was waiting for food and the most logical was at the bottom of runs wherer apids spill into a pool like water or small backeddy's. If you try backeddy's throw your presentation right on the seam between the main river and the eddy.I have found alot of fish holding in these spots.

Also I have found that the big springs tend to hold in deep slots and back eddy's. Very steelhead like holding water.If these fish are not on the move then they are holding in these areas.Be aware that they also bite like the local trout. On my recent trip I at first thought I had a trout biting and when I hooked her she fought like a little trout at first then the fight got stronger like it was a bigger trout and then my rod bent right over and peeled out my line.It was a nice suprise!

For springs use big egg patterns with pink and orange wool combos or if you are tossing spoons use big kitamats,ironheads,and koho's in the blue colour.You want them big so they get to the bottom of those deep runs you may find springs in. Also use spinners or blue fox in various sizes depending on what your are targeting.

Alot of bugs out up there these days.I saw some biguns too.I saw what I believed to be a stonefly with wings and saw reminents of the shedding skins of bugs that I have only seen on the thompson so I assume they were stoneflies.

Hope ths helps! Good luck and let us know how you make out!


Hotrod

 

[rln]

the river has some very nasty rapids and if you are not good with your boat and have buggy loads of power on it you could get into to some serious trouble if you run up from Harrison lake very far. There are tight corners in some locations and a certain times, very shallow bars to run across with little room for error. Most guides stay below the bridge and the water down there is fairly simple to run. Now if you have a large boat with huge power, good on the steering and reading water part, you can run from lake to lake. Just remember if you break down in any sort of way, there is no way to get your boat out of the river without floating it back down Harrison lake.

 

[89RS]

Hey thanks a bunch guys, this is exactly the kind of info I am after! You BCFR guys are great!

 

[Bent Rod]

Word is it's in the trees now, this stopped me from going and would suggest getting a reliable report before blowing huge amounts of gas going up.

 

[hotrod]

A yup! Pretty sure now that those were stoneflies I saw around.And yeah the river was pretty high when I was there.According to my cousin who was up there a couple of weeks ago it 's up at least 5 ft.It'll be that way for awhile!




Hotrod

 

[Valley Guide]

Water pretty high up there as of yesterday when we were there, high temps this week will make it worse.....

 

[hotrod]

How was the visability?



Hotrod