Kikomun Creek Bass Regs
 

Hey all, i just joined up as i've been seeing nothing but these forum posts pop up everytime i google something. i figured i may as well join the fun.

anyway i'm heading out to BC for some small mouth bass fishing and these BC regs are driving me nuts, i want to make sure i don't break any rules, all my previous trips to these lakes were catch and release but i want to teach my son how to clean and gut and cook a fish (hopefully one he catches) so its important to me that he learns how to follow the rules.

My questions is specifically about size. the BC reg website mentions that anything to do with size are detailed on the region specific table.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/reg...19_region4.pdf

i can see the quota is specifically 8 per day but no mention of size. so my initial thought is maybe there isn't a size restriction? but then the province wide section mentions that there is no general size limit for trout of char in BC but no mention of Bass. a general search online lead me to a site that mentioned 18 inches but this was far from official.

any thoughts from you guys on where i can find this out without the fun on being on hold calling into a government Q&A line?

thank you for the help, much appreciated!

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The regional regs at the top say what you can and can’t fish for, then the lakes listed in the tables are exceptions to the regional regs.

All the lakes in the Kikomun Creek Park are 8 bass per day, no size limit.

perfect, good to know i was reading it right, it was the size limit i was worried about. thank you for clearing that up

I just came off the water today in the Kikomun Creek area and hopefully I can be of some assistance. I take it you'll be hitting Surveyors Lake? There are no Smallmourh Bass in the Jaffray area despite what signs or the regulations tell you. I've lived and fished in this area for 40+ years, and was an aquaculture technician stationed not too far away in the early 90's.

Surveyors Lake isn't what I consider to be a premier Bass fishing waterbody. It does have a lot of small Largemouth Bass that are easy to catch. I've come across many in the 12" range with the occasional portly female, but nothing like what I've pulled out of Windermere or Duck Lake. It's devoid of obnoxious boaters, as no motors are allowed. I hope you have a canoe or kayak which is well suited to this small lake. Fishing from shore isn't fantastic, as the areas you need to be successful require you to have a boat .

It's correct that there's no size limit and you can keep 8, but keep in mind that the Bass are still spawning. I have found that it doesn't affect taste, but some people find it unethical to target them at this time. Watch some YouTube videos on how to fillet/clean them as the rib structure can be tricky.

Hope this helps and good luck

Any luck fishing Baynes lake? I will be out there first weekend of July

We always fished Tie Lake when we visited the area, but haven't targeted bass for almost 15 years, so I'm not too sure if it's a good fishery anymore.
I can also attest that the only bass we ever caught or ever saw present were largemouth, pulled in the odd pumpkinseed as well.
Back then we used a Zodiac on Tie, because it was one of the only lakes in the area that allowed motorized boats. But once the lunch hour hit, the ski boats came out and the fishing usually tanked.
We were catch and release fishing but decided one time to keep a couple bass to try. I didn't try it, but my grandfather seemed to enjoy them.

The largest bass we ever got out of Tie was a healthy 16", majority between 10"-12"

Good luck, OP, wherever you end up fishing!

Lol! One will not need luck in regards to catching Bass here. This is the lake I take people who have kids that want to catch Bass. It's very easy to have double- digit days, but keep in mind that the majority of Bass here are well under a foot. I've come across a few exceeding the one foot mark, but I've always let them go. This lake has but a handful of docks, not much if any laydowns, poor structure, and no real points and the dropoffs are subtle. It's basically a pond that the BC fisheries considers a " put & take."
There's also no gas engines allowed, so you'll enjoy the lack of buffoonery that nearby Tie has. One also doesn't need any complicated gear to be successful. The lake has a good amount of Perch and stocked Rainbow Trout that are in the 12" range.

Perfect! I'll be taking my new Sea Hawk 4 out. Any areas where Lilly pads are abundant?

Baynes is one of those lakes you can get tired of catching fish on. I used a #10 wooly bugger one afternoon and the fish tore all the tail off it, still working with just the body left on it, at dusk. Another day I used a popper along shore areas all the way round it, over 300 fish when I stopped counting, and the tail was gone off the popper. Never caught anything over 10" in there, most are 6-8".
If you watch behind your fly, you may see schools of a couple of hundred fish following it in there.
If you can get down thru the bass, there are some decent perch in there, 12-14". And they dump some brood trout in there once in a while, they will get your attention when they do hit.

I wouldn't go so far as use the word " abundant" but if you hang a right from the public boat launch, and go straight to the corner of the lake, there's a smattering of Lily pads. I wouldn't put much stock in them though, as you can catch the lil buggers just about anywhere. It's true that Largemouth key in on cover, but I've caught them everywhere in that lake. I found that a slower presentation works best using finesse style lures.

Darn! I thought all the Albertans were going boycott BC this year. I was looking forward to a quiet summer.

Try Bains lake south of Kik. you can keep 20 and catch them in about 20 minutes.