Monte Lake?

[Jagermeister]

Has the water gone hard yet?

[hoho]

Has the water gone hard yet?

Many Kok has been caught for the last 2 weeks.

[Jagermeister]

Thank you for the update

[Jagermeister]

Has anyone been to Monte Lake lately? I am interested in launch conditions and lake level.

[LYKTOHUNT]

Drove by there on my home last Friday,lake looked high but there was boats on there that would have had to have come off of trailers, even saw someone reeling in a fish

[Jagermeister]

Drove by there on my home last Friday,lake looked high but there was boats on there that would have had to have come off of trailers, even saw someone reeling in a fish
Thanks for that info LYKTOHUNT.

[Jagermeister]

Anyone fishing Monte Lake?

[wifigary]

Drove by tonight, lots of tracks from people ice fishing with the odd hole visible right out to the middle.

[Jagermeister]

I think I will wait a few more days. Did it look like a lot of snow?

[wifigary]

Was passing by again today, saw 4 shacks out around 330pm, snow was likely in the 6"-1' range but that's an estimate from the highway.

[Jagermeister]

Thanks Wifigary
I have to make the trip. Not fussy about wading through water between the ice and snow

[Jagermeister]

Here we are once again, tail end of 2019 and fast approaching 2020.
And it begs the question, anyone fishing Monte?

[lovemywinchester]

Zero ice as of Friday when I went by. 2C in Pritchard today so can't see it being safe unless we get a cold snap.

[Jagermeister]

May have to launch the boat.
2°C in Pritchard? That's 2°C warmer than up river a bit. Dam wind blew all day

[lovemywinchester]

Lots of other lakes are fishing really well these days. I'm bet the people really hoping for Monte to ice up soon are the folks working at the Monte lake store. I'm sure they are getting tired of people calling to see if it's iced up yet.

https://i.imgur.com/VKaHAuql.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/tjA67sW.jpg

[Firstblood]

Paul lake has ice and koks are biting. Lots of other lakes are fishin great too. Monte wont be long.

[wifigary]

Drove past monte about 8 hours ago and not a speck of ice to be seen. Keep waiting I guess.

[BCHUNTER21]

any updates??

[Jagermeister]

I don’t think it will freeze this week

[bankshot]

Went by the lake Sunday, maybe 5% of the lake was iced over at the south end. Then I went past again tonight and it was all open water, zero ice.

[lovemywinchester]

Anyone going by Monte today? This cold snap must have the lake pretty close to safe.

[REMINGTON JIM]

Anyone going by Monte today? This cold snap must have the lake pretty close to safe.


Be COLD there ! as its OFTEN windy there ! RJ

[diceman]

Was there today at the kamloops end, The ice is about 3 in.with about 6 inches of snow, It was wet and scary.Two bites in 5 hours. Out of 9 fishermen one fish was caught.

[lovemywinchester]

I went to check it out late this afternoon. I'm with you diceman, not much ice!!! I have a float suit so i'm not worried about going down but wouild hate to lose some gear. All that snow wont help it freeze up

[BCHUNTER21]

any updates?

[338win mag]

any updates?
I drove by on Sunday and there were about 20 people out there fishing, it looked like there was water flooding in places.
Looked sketchy to me.

[bighornbob]

Drove through Monday night just before dark and back yesterday at 3pm and there wasnt one person fishing. Lots of water on top. Not sure how thick the ice was before all the melting started.

[Jagermeister]

Here we are a year later and was wondering if the lake went hard?

[Firstblood]

Monte has 5'' of solid clear ice, people been fishing it all week/ Be safe and take safety gear and get yourself some kokaneeeeeeee.

[Jagermeister]

Thanks for that update. Now all I have to do is find a source for some maggots. The two places that previously had them have closed their doors

[walks with deer]

Thanks for that update. Now all I have to do is find a source for some maggots. The two places that previously had them have closed their doors

Stop by the ndp office there loaded.

[Jagermeister]

Stop by the ndp office there loaded.Some would say, "That's a low blow".
You know what I heard today? You'll have to goto that thread in the Politics section.

[4 point]

Don’t know anything about the current ice conditions. But I remember being told by a guy connected to one of the two mills that were located at either end of the lake that the lake was big time contaminated and to not eat the fish. The mills operated there for years and the lack of environmental concerns in the early years of operation was the issue.

[Jagermeister]

My neighbor (he's in my bubble) and I went to Monte this past Saturday. We got there at about 9:45 and quickly set up. Bored a couple of holes, the ice thickness is pretty substantial, about 8". Set the fish finder into one, (which I fished) and he the other. The one thing that we noticed was the clarity of the water, or I should say, the lack of clarity. It had a sandy color to it, although I could just barely make out my flasher to a depth of 10 feet. The finder was showing a few fish on the screen at a depth of 25 to 35 feet, yet we received no strikes, taps or anything to suggest that we had fish on. We decided to depart the lake just after 2PM, Skunked.
About the water condition, if my memory serves me correct, the one time in early summer that I fished it, the water was quite clouded like Saturday. Much like a lake when it turns over after the ice goes off.
As far as polluted. I don't think that the sawmills had an effect on the lake water quality. I may be wrong but on the topo maps, it shows a stream coming into the lake on the north-west corner. That is erroneous. That stream actually breaks to the north and is Monte Creek headwater and does not flow into the lake.. The other stream indicated is more or less a catchment of water when the lake is at high water mark. Monte Lake outflow in on the south end and meets with the Salmon River near Westwold.
A lot of transient RV travelers park at the launch area on the north end of Monte during the summer. It is one thing to go into the bush on the west side of the launch for a whiz, but there are so many landmines laid by this lot of folks that it is totally despicable. The locals there have complained to the government about it, and I too, but the ministry is powerless do act as the property is private property and owned by the person(s) that own the mill.
I will try it again in the near future.

[Jagermeister]

That time again. Anyone see anyone fishing on Monte Lake? I was by there a couple of weeks back and the south end had ice but the northern ¾ was open.

[Canuck77]

A current update would be great!

[bighornbob]

I drove through on Dec 24 and it was fully frozen and a bunch of guys fishing. Drove back through today and it looks like the lake is wide open. I assume it’s just melted water on top of the ice. But it looks sketchy driving by. There was two guys about 100m from shore so ice must still be thick enough.

bhb

[Canuck77]

Thanks for the update. I love ice fishing but not going to push it. Will wait until some conditions improve. Might try pillar lake,

[Jagermeister]

I drove through on Dec 24 and it was fully frozen and a bunch of guys fishing. Drove back through today and it looks like the lake is wide open. I assume it’s just melted water on top of the ice. But it looks sketchy driving by. There was two guys about 100m from shore so ice must still be thick enough.

bhb
This type of ice can be tenuous. The bottom ice probably is strong enough, but the water on top freezes at the surface first but not to the extent of the bottom ice. So it can broken through easily which can cause a weak heart to flutter...or the sphincter muscle to tighten for a week creating constipation not to mention that ankles and shins can take a beating. Will need to get back to some serious freezing and that does not look to happen until Jan 02 and then it warms up again got the next week and a half.