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Northwest Fly Anglers   

A Family Oriented Fly Fishing Club

Turner Chain of Lakes

  • January 23, 2017 10:37 AM
    Message # 4564335
    Deleted user

    Apparently, there was a past trip to this lake. What was the fishing like in July: topwater, trolling, etc. I understand the lake was stocked with only cutthroat in the '50s. Is this true? What is the general size of trout? The lake is huge. What part of the lake would we be fishing and where on the lake are the cabins? What kind of canoes are provided. What is the weight limit of gear you can take? 


  • March 17, 2017 10:17 AM
    Reply # 4673668 on 4564335

    Dan,

    Fishing for me was all top water, dries. I used a foamulator. When the bite was on, the bite was REALLY on! These cutthroats have the musculature to go to the ocean and back so they are great fighters and mighty jumpers. Also quite preciously beautiful. We ate one fish that Eric Olson gut hooked and it was delicious! Our best luck was any where there was an inlet or small stream entering the lake. And anywhere at the edge of the lily pads where the depth dropped off. Fish were in the 10-14" range. I imagine that with a sink tip one could catch bigger fish out in the deeper parts. The stream fishing between the lakes was also very good. Several guys portaged a canoe up to Cutthroat, the first lake above Turner where the fishing was unbelievable with fish jumping all around. The cabins are closer to the south end of the lake on the north side. We all canoed down to the outlet of Turner. The chain of lakes is in a hanging valley so the water ushers out of the lakes through Hunlen Falls which is the highest waterfall in Canada when measured as a continuous unbroken drop of 401 meters (1,436 feet). Quite impressive with most of the water aspirating into a series of rainbows on the way down. Several of us hiked up to Junker which is the 3rd lake above Turner for an unbelievable view of the Coast Range. Cabins are rustic - bunk beds for four. Wood heat stoves for inclement weather, which, knock on wood, we did not have. Glorious sunny days into the 80's. I think that we had a 70 lb. limit on gear - I could be wrong. Those Beavers would have held a lot more than we brought. I drank the water right out of the lake. Most filtered or treated there water.

    Yours, Mark

    Last modified: March 17, 2017 10:21 AM | Anonymous member
  • March 18, 2017 11:12 AM
    Reply # 4675262 on 4564335
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

     Mark's reply is right on. I had a lot of luck both top water and with nymphs.   A combination dry drop a really worked well. I was using a damselfly nymph most of the time as the dropper. I did also do some stripping and trolling with woolly buggers down depot. Particularly when I was transitioning from one part of the lake to the other. 

    While  the main lake is large, it is easy to move from one part of the lake to the other relatively quickly in the canoes. The campground is located about two thirds of the way up the lake. You can see the cabins on Google Earth just by zooming in. Then you can take a whole look at the campground and the whole chain of lakes. One can transition up from one lake to the others and fish the streets between.  We even set a canoe up at the second lake  so that we didn't have to put your job there each time. 

     As to the canoes, I don't know what kind  were. But they were a lightweight Royalex material.  They were a bit tippy for my taste (no standing to cast). But, I was quite comfortable in the 17 foot canoes. 

  • March 18, 2017 11:13 AM
    Reply # 4675264 on 4564335
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

     We ask that each person tries to limit their personal gear to 50 pounds. But being that that doesn't include any of your food or other camp supplies. Including the cooking equipment. That doesn't pose too much of a limitation for most people. 

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