Kinbasket Lake

[Gordoats26]

Planning a BC fishing trip this June. Thinking about hitting up Kinbasket for a few nights. We are looking to stay in a quiet and private campground. I have found a couple on this lake with Boat Launches and such it looks like. I have heard this lake can get pretty dangerous so just looking for some advice on a good place to start Fishing this lake and maybe some tips on what to use. I mostly want to target dollys and big rainbows. I have a 17.5 foot Crestliner and Downriggers and good sonar. Any advice anyone can offer me is greatly apprecheated. also if there are any other spots in the kootanys that I should check out would also be great. thanks guys

[The Fisherman Guy]

Yes, the lake can be dangerous. Many places on bottom is riddled with stumps and logs, watch your downrigger depth closely.

June is high water, fish can be tricky. Lyman plugs, buck tail flies behind a dodger, and a fire tiger deep running crankbait on a surface line, have all produced for me.

Fish will be feeding on Kokanee, find the schools, find the fish.

**watch the weather**
Keep your eyes on the forecast, and more so on the mountain tops. If you see a storm approaching, your best bet is to stay close to the launch. It gets nasty out there in a hurry.

[billycap]

Depends on which side of the lake your your trying to launch on. The rainbows are generally much smaller than other bc lakes. And depending on when in june and what cycle of water retention the dam has planned you may have an very rough drive to the waters edge at bush campsites. I spend many many hours at this lake and i swamped my 16ft landing craft last summer. Be sure and pull your boat out every night or anchor in slightly off shore facing into the lake unless u find a good bay.

[Gordoats26]

Planning to launch on the east side of the lake coming in from Golden. Will likely be end of June or early July.

[Gordoats26]

I will definitely be pulling the boat out each night. Leaving it in the lake isn't worth the risk to me.

[albertadeer]

Originally Posted by Gordoats26

Planning to launch on the east side of the lake coming in from Golden. Will likely be end of June or early July.

Launch is a huge ramp there, no issues. A few good bays and arms around there. I didn't fish much last summer... Just drove the roads on the edge of the lake and camped.

We biked to the very end of the road past cariboo camp. There's a rustic camp in a sheltered bay down there...

Beautiful place, can't wait to go back and explore.

[Joe Black]

Originally Posted by Gordoats26

Planning to launch on the east side of the lake coming in from Golden. Will likely be end of June or early July.

I did the same in July a couple years back. That end of the lake does not start filling till about June, and the water is full of silt and logs. I travelled about 40 miles up lake before it cleared up. Spent two days in clear water. Only fish were Kokanee. I'd go to the north end or don't bother. Maybe it would clear up in the fall but no bigger fish are resident because the east end is completely drained during the winter. You will get Kokanee later in the year as they travel up to that end to get to the river. Going to the north end means you have to go to revelstoke and travel another hour and a half.

If I were you, I'd just go to Shuswap if you're gonna travel that far. Bit busier but you also have lake camping options at that point.

[Markstene]

Anyone been fishing kinbasket lately near goldeneye