Rainbow trout
Good
Fish shallower as the lake turns over; leeches and small lures along the shoals. Rivers fish best in the warmest hours.
Kamloops Fishing Report
Updated Fri, Sep 25, 2026 from live weather and water data
Kamloops and its lakes: the home of the Kamloops trout, hundreds of stocked lakes within an hour, and ice fishing in winter.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~15 °C est.
Air / High
12 °C / 16 °C
Wind
ESE 7 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Kamloops is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings cloud cover, wind ESE around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1005 hPa and a high of 17 °C. Water sits around 15 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Tie on: Float and roe · Swung fly through the tailout · Jerkbait, long pauses · Hair jig on the rock. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 14 °C with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
British Columbia requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from C$11.43. British Columbia fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with BC Freshwater Fishing before you keep anything; the Rainbow trout page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Kamloops today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:52), sunset (18:52), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Water Survey of Canada station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp12 °C
High / Low16 °C / 10 °C
WindESE 7 km/h, gusts 10 km/h
Pressure100.46 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 59%
Sunrise / Sunset06:52 / 18:52
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~15 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Kamloops
The best day on Kamloops this week looks like Saturday Sep 26, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Saturday, Sep 26 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, Sep 25 — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 06:52 to 18:52
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Rain, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 59%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Kamloops: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Rainbow trout
Lakes: ice-off to June and September to freeze-up; rivers through the open season
Canada’s most stocked sport fish, in thousands of BC, Alberta and prairie lakes and in the famous rivers, the Bow first among them. Wild rainbows in the rivers; stocked fish in most small lakes. Fish shallower as the lake turns over; leeches and small lures along the shoals. Rivers fish best in the warmest hours.
Kokanee
Late spring and summer
Landlocked sockeye of the BC interior lakes: Okanagan, Kootenay, Shuswap and many smaller lakes. Schools in open water and feeds on plankton. Fish spawn in fall and leave the fishery.
When to come: the Kamloops calendar
Activity by species and month for the Canadian year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Kokanee
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 15 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Kamloops today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 16 °C, wind to 10 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at good. High of 21 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 24 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
BC freshwater fishing licence, from C$11.43 for a resident adult, with higher prices for other Canadians and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and protected areas are set by BC Freshwater Fishing and, in salt water and for salmon, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the British Columbia licence page before you keep anything.
Access
A BC freshwater licence is needed; each lake’s limits and gear rules are in the synopsis linked below.
About this water
Kamloops is a coastal town in British Columbia, Canada, covered from the British Columbia reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Kamloops: the full guide
Fishing around Kamloops
Kamloops sits where the North and South Thompson rivers meet, in the dry grasslands of the BC interior, and the plateau around it holds hundreds of lakes, many stocked with rainbow trout. The rainbow trout of this country gave their name to the Kamloops trout, and the region is the heart of BC’s lake fishing. The report on this page is scored for the city; the lakes around it share its weather.
Species and seasons
Rainbow trout are the fish, in stocked and wild lakes, with kokanee in some; the Thompson rivers hold trout and salmon runs under their own rules. Ice-off in spring and the fall turnover are the best times on the lakes, and many are ice-fished in winter.
Where to fish it
The lakes of the plateaus to the south and north of the city, Tunkwa and Leighton among them, are fished from small boats and float tubes with chironomids, leeches and small lures. Tunkwa Lake has its own page. The Thompson River itself, through the city and west to Kamloops Lake and Savona, is fished for trout and, in season, salmon.
Planning a visit
Kamloops has every service and tackle shops that know the lakes. The regional stocking lists, published by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, show which lakes are stocked; many lakes are at higher elevation and freeze early.
The water through the year
Low-elevation lakes open first in spring; the higher lakes follow into May. Summer heat slows the lower lakes; fall brings the trout back into the shallows; winter brings the ice. Kamloops Lake, a big, windy lake on the Thompson west of the city, fishes differently from the small plateau lakes.
Reading this report here
The report is scored for the city’s weather, which the nearby lakes share; the water temperature estimate, labelled as one, follows a typical interior lake. Pressure and sky build the score.
Licence, access and rules
A BC freshwater licence is needed; each lake’s limits and gear rules are in the synopsis linked below. Ice thickness is not measured by any agency: check it before going out.
Common questions
What is a Kamloops trout?
The name given to the rainbow trout of the Kamloops region, famous for its lake fishing.
How many lakes are near Kamloops?
Hundreds within an hour’s drive, many stocked with rainbow trout.
Can I ice fish near Kamloops?
Yes, on many lakes in winter, where the ice is safe; check it yourself.
Is fishing good at Kamloops right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Fish stocking
- Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, stocking reports
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.