COF British Columbia Information Page

Overview

For several years many members of Central Oregon Flyfishers have gone on an annual outing to an area of south central British Columbia known for excellent stillwater fly fishing. This is a 600-mile trip that takes approximately 13 hours to drive. Our campsite is less than a one hour drive from the town of Kamloops, and within 10 miles of a small town where you will find a flyshop, a grocery store, a liquor store, a bank with an ATM, and public campground with a shower facility. The camping is very similar to what you would find at any of the Forest Service sites in Oregon. The access to the site is very easy and can be accessed by any vehicle including large RVs. While many of our members use motorhomes or travel trailers, tent camping is an option.

While we have excellent fishing on the lake where we camp, we have many other lakes in our vicinity with good fishing. We make a group breakfast and a group dinner each day. People are on their own for lunch. All who participate in this trip are expected to pitch in by helping set-up camp and/or cook a meal or two, and/or wash dishes a few times (see other parts of this website for details). The trip is an excellent opportunity to catch some very nice fish and have a good time getting to know some of your fellow club members.

The schedule for the 2011 trip is:

• June 16- travel north from Bend to our campsite at Leighton Lake
• June 17 through 23 - go fishing
• June 24 - return to Bend.

If anyone going on the trip could be at our campsite before the official start of the trip it would help us secure our spot and get a start on setting up.

Pre-trip Meeting:

To be determined

Meals:

We will be having group dinners and breakfasts beginning with dinner on the evening of the 16th (the official arrival date), and ending with breakfast on the 24th (our last fishing day). Dinner on the 23th will be at a restaurant or pub in the town of Logan Lake and everyone will pay for his/her own meal. Lunches are not provided. Usually we have a pretty large breakfast so some granola and a piece of fruit is sufficient for a lunch. We need to know in advance which meals you intend to have with our group so that the cooks know how many people they are preparing for.

Costs:

This year we will be asking everyone to pay $75 to cover food and equipment costs for the entire trip. This money will be used to reimburse the chefs for food expenses and to cover the costs of any additional equipment that we may need. There will NOT be a prorata cost. One fee fits all. You must also be a member of COF and sign the membership waiver. Remember there is a out of area membership available. Anyone who purchases food that is used to prepare a meal for the group should keep all receipts so that they can be reimbursed. Send your check made out to COF to Rick Sironen 1182 NW Redfield Cir Bend, OR 97701.

In addition to the meal costs you will need to buy a fishing license, pay camping fees, and buy fuel for a trip that is a little over 600 miles each way. Our campsite is a Provincial Park and the fee is $15 Canadian per night for each vehicle (They accept only cash!). In other words if you carpool, you will not only save on fuel costs but also on camping fees. The cost of a fishing license at the time this is being written is a little more than $50 in Canadian currency for an 8-day and a little more than $80 (in Canadian currency) for an annual license. Check the web for the current exchange rate.

If you are planning on attending:

Please send an email to Rick@nwqc.com with the following questions answered.

• When will you arrive?
• How many days are you planning to stay?
• Can you cook one or more meals?
• Can you donate the use of a water container, table, or propane tank (see Items Needed below)?
• Do you have any food allergies that we need to know about?

What you need to bring:

• Fishing gear (see below)
• A folding chair
• Coffee cup
• Cup for other beverages if desired
• Alcoholic beverages if you wish (the camp kitchen will provide coffee, tea, milk, soda, and fruit juice. If you want something stronger either bring it or buy it in Canada. Any alcoholic beverage will be more expensive to purchase in Canada due to the high amount of tax they place on such items.
• Food and snacks for lunch
• Mosquito repellant
• Sun block
• Rain gear
• Warm clothing (we have had hail in June up there)
• Camping equipment
• Debit card or credit card (you get a better exchange rate than if you use US currency)
• ATM card for obtaining Canadian currency at Canadian Banks
• Cash for camping fees

Items Needed for the Camp

The club now has, over the last few years, accumulated a collection of camp equipment, but we still need a few things. If you can donate the use of one or more of the following items for the duration of this trip, please let Dave know.

We need:

• Large water containers - We need some 5 or 6 gallon containers for drinking water
• Large folding tables - Something for dinner tables. Heavy duty plastic tables are best
• Propane bottles - We need a couple more 5 gallon bottles

Supplies:

The closest place to buy supplies is Logan Lake, about 10 miles from our camp. Logan Lake is a small town but they have:

• A small grocery store that has all common items but may not have unusual things
• A liquor store
• A bank with an ATM machine (you can use your US ATM card and get Canadian currency at the current exchange rate)
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
• Two gas stations
• A drug store
• A couple of restaurants
• A laundry mat

If you need something else you could probably find just about anything you would want in Kamloops.

Chores:

On this trip everyone contributes some time and effort. The way it looks at this time, those folks who volunteer to cook two (or more) meals will have no other camp responsibilities. Those who cook one meal will help wash dishes or do other camp chores on two occasions. Those who do not want to cook at all will be expected to wash dishes or do other camp chores on about 6 occasions.
For more details go to http://www.coflyfishers.org/bc/points.html, and http://www.coflyfishers.org/bc/jobs.html

Suggested fishing equipment:

All the standard lake gear that we use here in Oregon will work in BC. There are slightly different regulations in BC. You cannot use dropper rigs (you can only have one fly on at a time), but if you are the only person in a boat or flotation device you ARE allowed to fish two rods at the same time.

Suggested equipment includes:

• A 5 or 6 weight rod
• A floating line and an intermediate sinking line (also a type 2 or 3 if you want to bring an additional line)
• Some kind of floatation device (float tube, pontoon boat, pram, etc.)
• An anchor for your pontoon boat or other floating device.
• Leaders - 9 foot 3x or 4x are a good, you can always modify them by adding tippet.
• Tippet material - it is a good idea to have some fluorocarbon material in addition to the traditional nylon material in sizes 3x, 4x, and 5x
• Strike indicators for fishing chironomids
• Flies (some suggestions):
  • Kmart - size 6 olive body
  • Chironomids - sizes 8 through 16 in black, green, chrome, brown, maroon
  • Damsel nymph - one inch long and green (or tan).
  • Leach - black and or maroon size 6 or 8
  • Dry caddis - have some size 12 or 14 cinnamon and a few size 6 or 8 olive travelers
  • Caddis pupa
  • Scuds

Crossing the Border

• Do not try to bring fresh fruit or vegetables into Canada
• U.S. passport required for re-entry into the U.S. If you do not have a current passport, apply now since the process can be lengthy.
• You are limited to either a liter of liquor or a liter of wine or a case of beer
• You are limited to either a carton of cigarettes or a box of cigars
• You may not bring firearms into Canada
• You may not bring mace or pepper spray into Canada (bear repellent might be OK but check first)
• You should have adequate documentation to prove that you are a US citizen just in case they are being extra cautious at the border (birth certificate and or passport)

Border crossing bargains - duty-free stores

Going north 8 am to 7 pm or south 7 am to 9 pm the duty free stores at the border offer the most reasonable prices on alcohol and tobacco. Returning to the US you may also conveniently claim back the 7 percent GST (tax paid in Canada) on those items purchased in Canada that you are bringing back to the US. A sales receipt must total at least 50 dollars before tax, and total taxes paid during you trip must be over 20 dollars. At times the Osoyoos store has also given an in-store discount in addition to your cash back.

Fruit and Wine

Within 15 miles north of the border you will find exceptional produce stands and some internationally known wineries. Gehringer Brothers at Road 8 (before Oliver on highway 97) has excellent reds, whites and "ice wines" at reasonable prices. Bringing more than a liter of wine north across the border is expensive so if you enjoy having more than one glass of wine with dinner it makes sense to buy some local product after you enter Canada.

Map

• Town of Logan Lake
• Washington State and Southern BC
• Lakes in the Logan Lake Area
• COF BC Map Page

Links

• Fish BC A very good commercial site with a wealth of information
• Fly Craft Angling Philip Rowley's web site
• Customs Information What you need to know about crossing the border
• The town of Logan Lake
• Hermann Fisher's Fly-tying Tips
• BC Flies
• Fly tying with Hermann Fisher