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GEOFF MUELLER

Kamloops marks British Columbia's Interior stillwater fly-fishing hub. Within an hour's drive of the city, you'll find more than 200 fertile lakes with big trout and healthy population of aquatic invertebrates and insects to keep them fat.

Roche Lake rainbows (above) average 2 to 3 pounds but rare specimens can top 10 pounds.

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I recently traveled to Kamloops to fish with Brian Chan on his home waters. Chan, with his experience as a regional biologist, work with the provincial Freshwater Fisheries Society, and long hours--more than 200 days annually--logged on the water, has an encyclopedic knowledge of the area and its fish. September in the Interior plateau is a time of mix-bag weather--everything from snow and gale-force winds to sun and t-shirts--and up-and-down hatches. Despite the unpredictable skies, numerous lakes at varying elevations throughout the Thompson-Okanagan region mean that somewhere fishing is always on.

Battle Plan
One of Kamloops only drawbacks is the sheer depth of its diversity. There are myriad quality stillwater choices in the region, and only so little time to fish them all. If you plan to visit the area for a week or more, invest in a copy of the Backroad Mapbook Kamloops/Okanagan, backroadmapbooks.com. Here you'll find listings for most of the best stillwater destinations, brief write-ups on the fishing--don't plan a trip around the sometimes misleading information, instead consult a local fly shop for current fishing conditions--and solid maps to get you in and out of where you plan to fish. The following listings are FFM's top picks for planning your next trip to B.C.'s best stillwater fishing spots.

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Geoff Mueller is managing editor of Fly Fisherman magazine. He lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

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