French Lake

Region

Cariboo

Management unit

MU 5-1

Species

Rainbow Trout, Kokanee, Longnose Sucker, Northern Pikeminnow, Redside Shiner, Northern Redbelly Dace (last recorded 1990), Sucker (General) (last recorded 1990)

Lake size

Medium Lake (50 - 500 ha)

Ice fishing

Open to ice fishing, confirmed

Coordinates

51.5928, -120.7636

A year is when the Province last recorded the fish here, not a statement that it is caught today.

Best times of year at French Lake

• May - June
• September - October

10.4 km of traced road to the campground by way of Windy Mountain FSR, Womack Rd and Burgess Rd. The road at the end is a loose surface. It stops 370 m short of the campground.

Coordinates: 51.5928, -120.7636

Camping and rec sites at French Lake

• French Lake South

  Campsites

  1 designated

  To the shore

  25 m

  
  Access: From 100 Mile House, travel about 8 km south on Hwy 97 and turn left/east onto Hwy 24. Travel 38.5 km east along Hwy 24 and turn left/north onto Judson Road. Travel 2.4 km and keep straight/right (rejoin the pavement at Shertenlib Road). Go another 0.7 km and turn left/go straight, turning onto Judson Road. Travel 2.7 km and turn right onto the Windy Mountain Forest Service Road. Travel 5.5 km and turn right onto the access road. Four-wheel drive is required from this point, and travel with a trailer is not possible from this point. Travel 0.6 km down this very rough road to the recreation site at French Lake.
  Coordinates: 51.591089, -120.771239

  The site on Recreation Sites and Trails BC

28.8 mdeepest12 mmean

French Lake runs to 28.8 m (94 ft) at its deepest, by the Province survey, 1991.

The mean of 12 m (39 ft) is read off the same chart, surveyed in October 1991.

The Province sounded French Lake and published the depth chart surveyed in 1991.

• Depth chart (PDF)

Modelled from air temperature, not an ice report. It says nothing about whether ice will hold you.

In the model French Lake froze in 65 of the 65 winters since 1960. Freeze-up falls most years between 1 November and 14 November, and ice-off between 28 April and 14 May. The median winter freezes on 7 November and opens on 6 May.

the middle half of modelled winters the median ice cover in the median winter

Winter 2024-25 in the model: frozen from 15 November 2024 to 24 April 2025, 160 days.

French Lake is open to ice fishing under the regulations on file.

Whether a lake is open to ice fishing says nothing about whether its ice will hold you. Ice conditions vary year to year and across a single lake. Check locally before going out, every time.

Averaged over a year, the air above French Lake is 0.9 C warmer than it was in the 1960s. That is 66 years of daily readings, not a forecast.

• +0.9 Csince the 1960s
• 4.1 Caverage year now
• 3.2 Caverage year then
• -8 daysbelow freezing, change

Open French Lake in the app

• Needa Lake 3 km away
• Sulphurous Lake 6 km away
• Deka Lake 6 km away
• Hathaway Lake 9 km away
• English Lake 9 km away

All 328 lakes in the Cariboo, with today's conditions on each.

• How the score works
• Depth, and where the trout are
• A year on a trout lake
• Fishing chironomids
• Reading a depth chart
• Trout and char of BC lakes
• Camping at rec site lakes
• Winterkill explained
• When the ice goes off