Rainbow trout
Good
Fish shallower as the lake turns over; leeches and small lures along the shoals. Rivers fish best in the warmest hours.
Tunkwa Lake Fishing Report
Updated Fri, Sep 25, 2026 from live weather and water data
Tunkwa Lake in the Thompson plateau: stocked rainbow trout, chironomids in spring 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
11 °C / 13 °C
Wind
WSW 15 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Tunkwa Lake rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. Today brings cloud cover, wind WSW around 14 km/h, rising pressure near 1005 hPa and a high of 13 °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. Cooler at 9 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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 Tunkwa Lake today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:54), sunset (18:54), 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 temp11 °C
High / Low13 °C / 5 °C
WindWSW 15 km/h, gusts 28 km/h
Pressure100.52 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 78%
Sunrise / Sunset06:54 / 18:54
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~15 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Tunkwa Lake
Today is the pick of the week on Tunkwa Lake, at 3 out of 5. 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: today, Sep 25 — fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
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
- 06:54 to 18:54
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Rain, 21 km/h
- Rain chance
- 78%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Tunkwa Lake: 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 Tunkwa Lake 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 Tunkwa Lake today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at good. High of 12 °C, wind to 11 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 14 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at good. High of 17 °C, wind to 19 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; the lake’s limits and any gear restrictions are in the synopsis linked below.
About this water
Tunkwa Lake is a lake in British Columbia, Canada, covered from the British Columbia reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Tunkwa Lake: the full guide
Tunkwa Lake
Tunkwa Lake is a shallow, fertile lake on the plateau between Logan Lake and Savona, south-west of Kamloops, inside Tunkwa Provincial Park, with Leighton Lake next door. Its rich water grows big rainbow trout quickly, and it is one of the best-known stocked lakes in the Kamloops region. There is no public live gauge on the lake; the report is built from the weather and the season.
Species and seasons
Rainbow trout, stocked by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, are the fish, feeding on chironomids, leeches and shrimp. The best fishing is after ice-off in spring and again in fall; the lake is ice-fished in winter where the ice is safe. The lake’s limits are in the synopsis.
Where to fish it
Anglers fish from small boats and float tubes over the shoals and drop-offs, with chironomids under an indicator in spring, and leeches through the summer and fall. The provincial park campground gives access. Leighton Lake, a short drive away, is fished the same way, and anglers often split a weekend between the two.
Planning a visit
Tunkwa is reached on a paved and gravel road from Logan Lake or Savona, about an hour from Kamloops. The park campground is busy in summer; the lake is at a moderate elevation, and nights are cool. Bring a float tube or a small boat.
The water through the year
Ice covers the lake in winter; ice-off in spring brings the chironomid hatches; summer warms the shallow lake and slows the fishing; fall brings the trout back into the shallows. Summer algae blooms can colour the lake in the warmest weeks.
Reading this report here
Without a live gauge, the page shows the seasonal water temperature estimate, labelled as one, which tracks the ice and the summer warm-up; pressure and sky build the score.
Licence, access and rules
A BC freshwater licence is needed; the lake’s limits and any gear restrictions are in the synopsis linked below. Ice thickness is not measured by any agency: check it yourself before going out.
Common questions
What can I catch in Tunkwa Lake?
Stocked rainbow trout that grow quickly in the lake’s rich water.
Can I ice fish Tunkwa Lake?
Yes, where the ice is safe; no agency measures the ice, so check it yourself.
When is the best time to fish Tunkwa?
After ice-off in spring, with chironomids, and again in fall.
Is fishing good at Tunkwa Lake 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.