LOCATION Lake Kalamalka
TACKLE/GEAR 1 oz sinker, 30 gram float size 4 hooks
METHOD Spin, float, bottom
DEPTH  Approx. 20-30 ft
TIME OF DAY Morning. Afternoon
SPECIES northern pike minnow, mountain white fish, kokanee, lake trout, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, burbot

Fishing Lake Kalamalka – October 29-31 2020

We decided to book a trip to Kalamalka lake after seeing some reviews online as to how large some of the lake trout could get in this lake! We went ahead and booked a stay at an airbnb that was right in front of the lake with a private 120ft floating dock.

We left in the morning and decided to take a more scenic route, driving through the backcountry mountain highway. We stopped and fished all the little rivers, streams, lakes and tributaries in Manning Park. Driving through Princeton, Penticton, Kelowna and finally Vernon the views were breathtaking. By the time we finally arrived in Vernon it was getting late, we quickly googled and found the closest Canadian Tire, ran in and purchased some dew worms. We arrived at our Airbnb in the late evening and prepped everything for the next days adventures.

In the following morning we woke up to a beautiful view of Kalamalka Lake at our doorstep.

Around 9am we began to set up our fishing rods and decided to try fishing off the dock. I set up a bottom rig along with another rod for my wife with a floating rig. As I have never fished this lake before, I was not certain which method worked best so we decided to try 2 different methods. Both rigs were tied with worms.

Just after we had casted, I went inside to use the washroom. As I came back out, I saw my wife with her with rod fully bent over with a large fish splashing! I ran up to see her as she began reeling in a fat 3lb northern pike minnow. She was ecstatic. We landed the fish, took some photos and released it back.

A couple moments later while we were still talking about our catch, the float rig rod started to bounce. I quickly grabbed it, retrieving it and landed yet another fat chrome Northern PikeMinnow!

Exploring Kalamalka Provincial park

We cleaned up and decided to go for a walk in Kalamalka Provincial park. We came across a beautiful beach with crystal clear water. After casting a couple minutes, I noticed a spawned out kokanee floating, this was a signal that I was a little too late in the season to catch Kokanee here. We kept trekking and found many very fishy spots. The water was turquoise and contrasted beautifully against the limestone. There was a lot of surface action but no bites.

First-Time Mountain White Fish

When we got back to our Airbnb i casted out my rod on our dock again and got a very hard bite almost instantly. This time it was another fish I had never caught before, a mountain white fish. It was extremely fat with beautiful scales running the length of the body. I heard these fish were delicious but decided to let this go, hopefully bringing me more future fish karma.

Fish Kayaking the Lake

We spent the afternoon of our last day trolling around the lake in a kayak supplied by our airbnb host. The waters were calm and the weather was prime. It was the perfect ending to our Kalamalka trip, although I did not get a chance to hook a lake trout.. I’ve come to realize that this is part of the reason as to why fishing is such a great sport. Sometimes you win, sometimes the fish wins..It makes you realize that the chase and the journey is the bigger reason why anglers fall in love with this sport.