Quesnel Lake Rookie

Red Monster

Well-Known Member
I'm soon heading to Quesnel Lake for a week and would appreciate any help you could provide about how to fish the lake. I'll have my 20 foot boat and riggers. I assume I can troll. Gear? I'm a complete rookie at lake fishing. What do I use for lures and how do I fish them? Thanks
 
personally the Apex 4.5 caught both Lakers and rainbows. Green, blue, glow white, black n pearl, seem good. Lakers like a dodger and spoon.
It is such a big lake, depends where you stay, then find some fish close by.
Standard rig for rainbows would be a big gang troll and a Tee spoon about 2-4' behind.
3" Tomic plugs and 3.0 Apex are popular.
 
Where are you staying ? We use 4.5'' Apex's for Lakers. Silver/black , silver/blue,watermelon, firetiger lots of colors work there.
Water was super high but heard its dropping.
Downrigger 60-200' .
 
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I'm soon heading to Quesnel Lake for a week and would appreciate any help you could provide about how to fish the lake. I'll have my 20 foot boat and riggers. I assume I can troll. Gear? I'm a complete rookie at lake fishing. What do I use for lures and how do I fish them? Thanks
Okay, you must be back by now. What is your report?
 
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Had a great time and caught some big trouts. Some first-timers landed trout too. Only caught one on an apex and about 6 on spoons, fishing 80 to 120 feet deep trolling at 2mph. Caught all Lakers, no Rainbows. Hardly any boats out on this huge lake. This lake holds big fish, 10 to 20 pounds; you just need to find them.
 
Rule of thumb for Quesnel Lake trolling speed is less than 2.5 mph for Lakers and 2.5-4.5 mph for the big rainbows. Beautiful looking lakers in your pics!

Cheers!

Ukee
 
The boys smoked a few of those big lakers and they came out awesome.
 
No the biggest was under 10 pounds, but apparently 20 pounders are not uncommon.
 
personally the Apex 4.5 caught both Lakers and rainbows. Green, blue, glow white, black n pearl, seem good. Lakers like a dodger and spoon.
It is such a big lake, depends where you stay, then find some fish close by.
Standard rig for rainbows would be a big gang troll and a Tee spoon about 2-4' behind.
3" Tomic plugs and 3.0 Apex are popular.
good day. I will be fishing Quesnel Lake early June - Do you have any insights into fishing the lake at this time? What about location - Plato Island or Elysia? Thanks!
 
Never been to Plato's, but enjoyed Elysia a few times now. At Plato you could try the bay where the river comes in. Maybe small bay to troll but minnows coming down river to stimulate the big fish?
I've caught fish shallow in June, using #9 fiberglass fly rods, spinner and bucktail. Rainbows and Lakers seem to seek out shallow areas in the early season. The area on the south shore where the big sandy cliffs are seems good for me. Between resorts...
 
I was fishing at Quesnel in mid June 2023 and thought I would let you know how it went. We stayed in a cabin at plato Island resort. the cabins were quite nice with all you would need to cook and hang out comfortably. The road is great all the way until Horsefly. The last 60 klm is very rough and it is advisable to do the drive in the day light. Nice marina at the resort with fuel if required. No other supplies so make sure you have everything you need. The lake is quite beautiful but with the size can get rough if the wind picks up. I think you could still find places to fish but a bigger boat is advisable. (18 ft plus) The fishing in June is slow and we fished all the spots the locals suggested at the right depth with the right hooks. We caught a couple lakers but nothing of size. It was recommended that we fish later in the season or from July on. Fishing apparently gets better through the course of the summer. I would recommend trying it out in late July and into August and if you are traveling a ways to get there plan to stay a while to ensure you get some lake time as weather can change on you. I enjoyed the trip and do plan to go again but later in the season.
 
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