Story by Harvey Thommasen

Hotnarko Lake is located some 22.5 km west of Anahim Lake in one of the most remote and beautiful regions of south/central British Columbia. This is country that features big mountains and sprawling plateaus, where thick forests are broken by expansive grasslands - and where every lake promises, but doesn't always deliver, amazing fishing.

Hotnarko Lake is accessible by a logging road. There is a British Columbia Forestry Campsite at the East end of the lake, as well as a rough boat launch which is suitable for small canoes or skiffs. Prior to 1982, Hotnarko Lake was a barren lake. There were no trout. But that changed dramatically when, from 1982 to 1984, Hotnarko was stocked with thousands of steelhead smolts from the Bella Coola River. The fish were raised by the staff of the Snootli Hatchery in the Bella Coola Valley. After release into the lake, the fish grew rapidly on a seemingly limitless supply of leeches, freshwater shrimp, and aquatic insects - and a remarkable fishery was born. Six years after the initial stocking, anglers were catching rainbow trout weighing up to 3.0 kg (6.5 pounds), and measuring up to 68 cm (27 inches) in length.

It didn't take long for word to spread. Within two years, anglers were coming from all over the Pacific Northwest, and from as far away as California, Alberta, Germany, and England to fish for Hotnarko Lake rainbows. Float planes from local fishing lodges were turning aside from isolated, wilderness lakes to deliver four to six loads of guided anglers per day.

In the winter, native people from Anahim Lake were making trips to Hotnarko Lake to set nets under the ice. In May they were back, setting nets across the spawning tributaries. In the beginning, few people left Hotnarko Lake disappointed. But it did not take long before the big fish became a thing of the past.

There are still self-sustaining populations of rainbow trout in Hotnarko Lake. And one can still catch a few fish up to 68 cm (27 inches), but these fish are few and far between. Most of the trout caught now are between 12 and 16 inches. Beautiful fish, no doubt, but to those who know what it was like - and what is should be like - they are something of a let down. However, the Hotnarko rainbows do still serve a valuable genetic role. These days, when Bella Coola steelhead are in decline, it is nice to know that the "steelhead" gene pool lives on in a strange sort of way in Hotnarko Lake.

Perhaps someday, in the not too distant future, biologists will figure out a way to use Hotnarko Lake "steelhead" to once again resurrect the Bella Coola steelhead run. In the meantime, fly fishermen can turn to the lake for some interesting angling for modest-sized trout.

Hotnarko Lake is a clear lake, with numerous small islands, and submerged shoals. The best place to find the trout is around the islands and shoals. The best way to catch the fish is to slowly retrieve a leech, dragonfly, or freshwater shrimp ("scud") imitation just above the lake bottom.

The lake fishes well in the summer, but the best time to visit Hotnarko is in the fall, preferably on one of those lovely Indian Summer days - clear blue skies, no wind, and the air temperature a comfortable 12-15 degrees Centigrade. Conspicuous among the mixed coniferous forest of lodge pole pine, Engelmann spruce, and hybrid spruce are the Trembling Aspen with their brilliant golden-yellow color autumn foliage. On the ground, most of the forbs and grasses have turned a yellowy brown color. Along the shores grow a variety of grasses, grass-like rushes, bur-reed, skunk cabbage, and bulrushes. Living in shallow to fairly deep (0.5 to 3.5 m) water is the yellow pond-lily, and a variety of pondweed species (Potamogeton spp). In deeper water one finds water weed (Elodea canadensis).

If you are lucky you may see a moose feeding on this lush water-loving
vegetation, which is also feasted on by Canada geese and mallards that are moving South again.

Perhaps of more interest to the fly fishermen are the largely unseen aquatic insects that are also browsing on the underwater plants in the shallows: Mayflies, stoneflies, caddis flies, and true flies (dipterans). Mayfly species one can expect to find in Hotnarko, and other local lakes and ponds, include the Speckle-winged Mayfly (Callibaetis nigritus) and the Western Black Quill (Leptophlebia cupida). The stonefly species one can expect to find in area waters include Paraperla frontalis and Suwallia pallidula - and caddis fly species include the Microcaddis (Agraylea saltesea), the Giant Case Maker (Ptilostomis occillifera), the Summer Flier Sedge (Limnephilus sp), Black Dancer (Mystacides alafimbriata), the Brown Checkered Summer Sedge (Polycentropus spp) and the Great Late-Summer Sedge (Oncosmoecus sp).

Many dipteran species, especially chironomid (Chironomidae) and the phantom midge (Chaoboridae) species can also be found in these stillwater habitats. In lakes and ponds one also finds aquatic insects that you will rarely find in flowing waters of streams. The best known examples would include the predaceous dragonfly and damselfly (order Odonata), the backswimmers and water boatmen (order Hemiptera), the predacious diving beetle and whirligig beetle (order Coleoptera), and the infamous mosquitoes (Culicidae spp).

Although I do enjoy looking for aquatic insects in the lakes of the Anahim Lake area, the aquatic invertebrates I am most interested in are the "scuds" and the leeches. Over the years, I have learned that fly imitations of these two organisms reliably and consistently catch rainbow trout in the lakes around Anahim Lake all year round - even in winter.

Both leeches and scuds are plentiful, available year round, and are the most important items in the diet of rainbow trout inhabiting the clear water lakes of the Anahim Lake area. These two food items account for the much of the rapid growth and fighting qualities of local resident trout.

Overfishing has removed most the trophy fish from Hotnarko Lake, but on a bright fall day it is a wonderful feeling to cast a fly across a shallow bay - then see a small steelhead break the surface as a flight of geese passes overhead.