August is typically a challenging month for trout fishing at Lac des Roches.
Warm water makes the fish lethargic or stay down deep while the abundance of natural feed in the lake offers a satisfying menu over the foreign flies, worms and spinners the fishers use as lures. Statistics don’t keep residents and their guests from trying their luck on the tempting shoals.
Andy Fochuk, a longtime visitor to the lake, fishes regularly in the rivers around his home in Fort St. John where he claims to “throw in anything brown and fuzzy and catch a fish right away.”
With a little extra advice from family and neighbours this summer, Andy successfully landed his first rainbow trout on Aug. 31.
Local fishers claim the trout fishing will pick up in the cooler days of autumn, which have already begun lowering the temperature of the lake.
Wolves to the north
Several nearby wolf sightings have been reported by residents.
On Aug. 31 at the junction of 201 Road and Wavey Lake Forest Service Road at Rabbit Meadow, a local family observed a pack of three wolves for several minutes until at least two more wolves, which had been out of sight, started to howl and they all disappeared into the woods.
The group also discovered remnants of a wolf-killed moose. With reports of cougars in the vicinity of Bridge Lake, residents must never forget the many wildlife hazards when living out on the edge of the wilderness.
Logging underway
The active logging just south of Lac des Roches may be out of sight but the distinctive sound of a feller buncher sawing its way through the forest definitely disrupted the tranquility of early mornings at the lake for many visitors.
Nylon tents and fibreglass trailers dotted throughout the neighbourhood housing sleepy campers during the Labour Day weekend offered little in the way of sound buffers from the heavy equipment working early in the mornings. Several visitors were actually looking forward to return to the quiet mornings they claimed they would find back home in the city.
AGM planned
The annual general meeting for the Friends of Lac des Roches and Birch Lake will be held on Sept. 30 at the Lac des Roches Resort, starting at 7 p.m.
All are welcome but only members can vote. The $10 biennial family membership can be purchased at the meeting.
Shallow water
Water levels continue to drop, despite the many rain showers we have enjoyed during the last month.
While the channel is passable, extreme caution must be exercised to avoid the many sunken logs. The rock shoal near the west end of Eagle Island is partially exposed but well marked with buoys.
Bays that are now only covered by inches of water are perfect hunting grounds for the many Great Blue Herons that fish there regularly.
Critter watch
Ground squirrels have hibernated and hummingbirds have flown south.
While it is too early for the Canada geese to migrate, they have relocated from the lawns in the McCarthy subdivision, and that is a welcome reprieve to those residents who must clean up after them. Deer have returned to the residential areas, although sparsely and families of otters are fishing with the loons on the south shores of the lake.
A moose crossing the lake was a treat for one resident, as she followed its progress through the deep water then through the tangled underbrush of the south shore.
There is evidence of fresh beaver activity at the west end of Boultbee Road.