SE Shore of Lucid Lake - Good Fishing Spot!

Just a short local ride today.  I left the house with the intention of fishing at a local no-name lake about 1km NE of Round Lake, (dubbed Dragonfly Lake by some of the more "flowery" local residents).

There were elk standing on opposite sides of the lake today.  They called each other across the lake for the whole time I was there... excellent entertainment, and much better than the fishing as it happens!  I bait fished there for about an hour, and after twiddling my thumbs and seeing no rising fish, I took off with a better plan in mind.

I thought it might be interesting to find the NE shore of Lucid Lake.  Paul and I had watched a fisherman on the NE side of the lake when we visited the lake for the first time last year.  Coming from Doumont Trail, continue past Boomerang Lake, keep left and follow the logging road that runs along the lower SW side of Mount Benson.  Almost 10km past the lake turn right and keep right at the next Y.  The trail opens up at the end to a large turn-around area with a fire pit at its centre.  This is the best place to park and begin a short hike to the right to get to the lake shore.  The trail does continue through a series of "tank trap" obstacles, but the trail eventually ends at a logged-out clearing some distance from the lake.

There must be a group of regular campers at this location:  A small lean-to, fire pit and a tall frame designed for some special purpose are located a few metres from the lake shore.  A small  fishing peninsula has been built, or at least added to, to get a line further out into the lake.  The lake's silty bottom looks relatively snag free except for the occasional weed here and there.  There were fish rising here!  Not many, but one alone was a 100% improvement on Dragonfly Lake.

It was late and there was no time to fish today, but this spot will make a good alternative for one of our local fishing spots.

             

  

GPX File: Doumont Trail to Lucid Lake.

Two More from the NE End of Kidney Lake

After receiving complaints about my awful ipod photo posted yesterday, I decided to post an equally inedible looking trout photo today taken with my GPS.  I guess I had better take my real camera with me in future.  Anyway, they were delicious!!!  Gotta love having trout stocked lakes close enough to ride the bike to in less than half an hour.

AND, that's a dinner plate...  NOT a side plate.  :)

Kidney Lake Coughs Up Another Four Cutthroat Trout

Straight off to Kidney Lake at 4:00 today.  The bite was on five minutes after I got there and it lasted for about twenty minutes, after which I fished an empty lake until 7:00.  I rushed them in the door and Vicki had them in a buttery frying pan within ten minutes.  There really is nothing like a fresh trout!

What a way to finish a work day.

Another Ride to Rhododendron Lake

I took the same route out to Rhododendron Lake today to meet up with Paul who was doing a bit of fishing.

29.1Km both ways

Beautiful lake!  Lots of snags though.  I'd like to try fishing with worms and a bobber here.

 
Great ride there and back.  We saw a bit of rain at the lake side, but it passed quickly.  Paul caught a very nice trout.

My mother-in-law asked me if I had taken any photos of the rhodos when I was out here last and so I took a few this time around.  Looks like I'll need another trip to catch them in bloom during the summer.  All of them are covered in tight buds right now.  Here's a few shots:

 
I'm looking forward to heading back out there to catch the blooms.

Kudos to Paul for trying out the steep rocky section that leads back to Blackjack Ridge on a direct route from the lake.  He reached the top and came down with no difficulty.  Don't know how you came down so easily Paul.  You're going to have to coach me on that one during the summer.  Definitely too bloody steep for me when coming down. 

Some GPS tracks:
Garmin GPX
Google Earth KMZ

To wrap things up, here's a cheesy time-lapse movie of the ride from Rhododendron Lake, through Okay Mt. valley, down the power lines toward Blackjack Ridge and then a left turn towards Boomerang Lake.  I haven't solved the bumpy camera mount yet.  Right now, my iPod is mounted near the headlight in a bum bag.  :)   It has to move up to my chest or helmet to settle the image down!  This time-lapse shows nearly twenty minutes of footage in five minutes.   

Kidney Lake Bonanza!

Took a nice ride out to Kidney Lake after work today.  When I arrived the lake was calm and full of rising fish.  I couldn't get the line in the water fast enough.  Caught a trout on my third cast!  Five in all today, six if you include the one Paul caught when he showed up late and stole my spot.

Tried bait fishing for a short spell, but no dice.  They were going for gold spinners today.

Wee bit o' rain, but generally pretty dry.  Great day at the lake.

Friday Workday... then FISHING! ڷ

I zoomed out of work really quickly today so that I could get a few hours of fishing in at our local lakes and by 4:00 I had a line in the water at Kidney Lake.

It was a great ride down there:  1Km before the lake I heard a thunderous clatter to my left and made a mad scramble for a camera as a herd of 8 to 10 elk crossed the road right in front of me.  They were pretty spooked by my bike and so they moved really quickly to conceal themselves in the trees to my right.  I managed to get one shot off with my Garmin which was close at hand, but got nothing of the herd.  So, off I went with my heart pumping about twice its normal rate only to meet a single female still looking for the herd.  She gave me a bit more time and loped well ahead of my position so she could cross over to the other side.  I captured her with the Garmin...  Not a quality shot, but at least I got it!  Totally thrilling watching them motor by like that!

Purple route from "Intersection A" (bottom right) to NE end of Kidney Lake.

Get out your magnifying glass!  She's that clump of pixels near the centre!

 
So, I got down to the lake and fished with some bait for a change.  I set up "Andy's Handy Dandy Lake Trout Rig" which consists of an egg sinker (1/8lb lead weight that slides freely on the line), a swivel clip (which doubles as a stopper to keep the weight on) and an 18" leader attached to the swivel for floating bait.  For bait I used yellow and orange scented Glo Mallows.

The beauty of this rig is that it allows the line to slide freely through the weight.  That means that when the trout hits, it travels away with the line unimpeded by the weight and sets the hook when the slack is taken up.  It's perfect for stocked trout that have a tendency to hit aggressively in this way.  A small treble hook can be used also, providing it's small enough to be lifted by the bait (#14).  Great for molding bait around with Power Bait.  Also, leader length can be changed to match the weed height in any particular lake to keep the bait floating right at typical feeding height, (slightly above the weeds), for bottom swimming trout.

I fished that setup for about two hours without so much as a nibble today.  There was lots of action on the surface by 6:00 and so I switched to spin casting my "Super Duper" favourite spinner.  I caught the youngest and smallest trout in the lake with this.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!!

YUM

Auuuuugh... My Bloody Hip!

Great ride today!  I feel like we fooled the weather completely; not a drop of rain for the entire ride.  With that said, there was enough rain sitting in pools and around wet logs to get me flying off my bike.

Here's the route today:

Click Me to Big Me!

We left from Metral Starbucks today and entered the logging roads from the usual direction: We decided to risk going through the tank traps again, boggy pools and all.  Paul wanted to show me an alternate route to Nanaimo Lakes Rd. via the logging trail that leads to the Boomerang "boatramp."  We turned right at the Boomerang Lake Y junction and headed through some really great twisty logging roads, (pink on the map).  That is, without doubt, one of the better local trails in that neck of the woods.  We ended up joining onto Nanaimo Lakes Road at an open gate very near to the main First Lake entrance.  It's a far better ride than my earlier "Behind Benson" route.  We both had our rods with us and we decided to head towards Second Lake where I had seen some pretty busy swirling fish action a week ago.

Second Lake was alive with rising fish again today.  We both clambered down a steep embankment just past the Second Lake Bridge and fished there for about half an hour.  It was frustrating as hell watching masses of bloody fish swirl on the surface while casting into them with every lure in the tackle box.  We both left with nothing but tired legs from climbing the embankment.

First Lake looking right from the fishing spot

Looking left from fishing spot

 We clambered back onto our bikes and flew off down the half gravel logging road to Fourth Lake, (which we nearly missed because some clown has knocked over the sign).  We fished to the right of last weekend's spot.

A normal photo of Paul fishing at Fourth Lake.  He was practicing his highly unusual, (and slightly anti-social), "Gandalf cast" this afternoon, but I wasn't lucky enough to capture it on camera.  Look at those two rising trout to the left.  Trust him to be looking the other way.

Fourth Lake

I caught two monsters in there!  I assure you they would have appeared as monsters to any passing mosquito larvae.  I chucked 'em back in.  Paul claims to have caught a 13" trout of over two pounds, although I never did actually see it.  The only evidence of the catch was his constant flitting around on a nearby rock with a cheap wooden handled knife.  Should you visit his blog I suggest both comparing his new trout shot with earlier posted photographs in addition to heedful checks for flakey Photoshopping technique.

We returned to Weigles Road the same way we had come.  The ride back was equally as good as the ride out to the lakes until we hit the Tank Traps.  I'm well aware that motorbike tires have no traction when riding over wet logs when approached at an angle... did that stop me?  No, I made a stupid error and cleared one of the wet traps only to glance off a small wet log at about 45° as I reached the top.  I dumped it, bending my brake lever and bruising my right hip.  That %^@#& hurt!!  I beeped my horn to get Paul's attention and luckily he heard me and did an about face, leaving his bike between mud holes while carefully placing his helmet where it would roll into one of the muddy pools.  No big damage, except for a lever, a bent mirror, and my damaged dignity... I can live with that.

(Photo courtesy of Paul). The Helmet.  Nothing will ever prevent Paul from being a bit wet behind the ears.  Unfortunately there is no shot of the downed bike.  I wasn't in the mood for photographs, so kudos to Paul for at least taking a snap of his own misfortune.

 Altogether it was a really good ride.  That twisty logging road will be great fun in the summer!

Oh, I nearly forgot...  Here's another cheesy 3D anaglyph image.  (You'll need red/cyan glasses):

View Full Size.  3D view (Made from GoogleEarth images) of the area surrounding Fourth Lake

Fourth Lake Dam

Wooohoo, there's a window appearing in the local weather.  It looks like a rain free day... perfect for a quick ride out to the Nanaimo Lakes area.  Nanaimo has a series of lakes that run west from the south end of the city.  The area is owned by a large logging company who open their gates on weekends for campers to travel the logging roads into campsites on the lakes.  I was heading for Fourth Lake today, the last of the Nanaimo Lakes, to try some fishing off the dam if possible.

The route (Click to enlarge)

I picked the route heading south behind Mount Benson to keep it interesting rather than heading through the city.  I entered the logging roads through Weigles Road and headed through the worsening gummy tank traps.  (I got my bike stuck in a pool of sludge going through there today).  I followed the route I had taken on an earlier ride with Paul, past Boomerang Lake and down to the locked gate that exits onto Nanaimo Lakes Road.  The work-around is to the right of the gate and leads through a series of hills and pools that have been pretty overrun by quads that like to churn up the mud.

The "work-around" to the right of Nanaimo Lakes Road gate

The gate "work-around"

After ten minutes of navigating on foot to check if parts were passable I emerged onto Nanaimo Lakes Road and made my way on real roads to South Forks Rd.  This road takes you directly to Nanaimo River Road, the stretch of road that leads to all of the lakes.

Some miles along you reach an opened gate.  There was a gate keeper there today, as there is on most weekends, and he took my name, address, phone number and licence number.  I was instructed to check back out before five-o-clock.

First Lake is just beyond the gate.  I could see trout swirling around near shore and I wish now that I'd taken the time to stop there to fish for a while.  I wanted to move on and try fishing at Fourth Lake and still get out by five so I went on.

Second Lake

The logging roads are in great shape all the way through the lakes area.  I wouldn't take a regular car through there, but it's quite manageable for a 4x4 truck or trail bike.  After a few turns, approximately 30 minutes after passing the gate guy, I reached a Y in the road and a sign pointing left to "Fourth Lake."  The lake is only a few minutes ahead after climbing a small hill.

Left for Fourth Lake.

I turned right at the lake and drove along the length of the dam itself.  You can't fish easily off the dam, but there are many spots visible along the shore nearby.  I rode off towards the end of the Fourth Lake campsite and found a good spot on the lake shore for fishing.

The far end of the dam

Looking along the dam towards the road.  That's my fishing spot on the shore near the yellow tree furthest to the right.

Taken from the dam looking SW

Cheesy self-timer shot off the dam wall.

Further round the lake... This is the campsite area.  I fished from this spot.  That's the dam on the left.

The dam

Looking SW down the lake

I fished for about forty minutes and got many hits but I only managed to pull one in, a tiny trout that I was determined to keep.

The monster of the lake

I followed part of the same route home, but this time I opted for a trip through the city because it started to rain.  Altogether it was a really good ride and one that I'll repeat again.  Next time I think I'll stop at First Lake to do some fishing though.

That was five hours of wicked entertainment, traveling 140Km through some fantastic terrain, and the whole thing cost me $5.80 in fuel.  Not bad value since I brought a fish home too.  ;)

Boomerang Tail Snagger

I took off this morning and fished for a few hours at Boomerang Lake.  There were lots of nibbles today and after thirty minutes I pulled in a very small trout.  I would have liked to return this little one to the lake, but it refused to spark back to life after I removed the hook.  (Honest).

Kinderfish

It was beautiful out there!

It was very quiet for the first half hour... No guns, no motorbikes, quads...  aaaaaah.

The bites slowed right down after an hour, so I took a break and took a few photographs. After a few shots of the lake and surrounding area I thought it would be fun to video myself casting.  I set my camera up on a log and went back to the fishing.  Wouldn't you know it, I got a bite on the second cast!  This guy must have been swirling around my spinning lure because I snagged him right on the tail:

 

I managed to get this one back in the lake before the hooded chap with the big scythe got a hold of him.

So that was it for fishing today.  I had enough for the cat and so I made my way back towards the tank traps to go home.  When I reached the turn off I changed my mind;  the weather was so great I decided to blast up to the Sundew Gate.  What a glorious day for it!

The gate was locked as usual, although I was a bit surprised to see it since the logging roads were crawling all over with trucks loading firewood.  I sneaked around the gate through the new get-around trench.  Great ride.

Boomerang Again.... (Yawn)

There was a break in today's wet weather, so I went out fishing once again to Boomerang Lake.

I stopped off at Round Lake to remind myself how awful it looks for fishing and walked a short distance towards Kidney Lake through some pretty nasty terrain.  I was hoping to get a glimpse of the SE shore of the lake from above.  I gave up:  The loggers have made it almost impossible to cover any distance on foot through there.

I turned around and headed up the previous route we had taken to the back of Boomerang Lake, (the NE side).

Looking back down the trail from NE Boomerang Lake

Mentioned in a previous post, these are small felled trees that have been placed by quad and truck drivers to help them get in and out of the lake shore area.  This is where the logging road ends.  It's a short hike through this patch of trees to the NE shore of Boomerang.  (I'm standing in a deep tire trench that was dug by a truck we saw here last time.  I'll bet it took ages to get out of here).  

    I fished for a few hours.  Two of the spots I tried with Paul on our earlier visit and the third was a floating raft that has been thrown together by locals who fish the lake.

My Three Fishing Locations

 

The Fishing Raft

There was very little action today.  In three hours I got one hit and I didn't get that one to shore.  They were beginning to rise and swirl to the surface around the time I left.  I'd had enough!

Today's 3D Gallery:  (Needs red/cyan glasses and a full size view... click photo)

3D - The Tank Traps

3D - Almost Through the Tank Traps

3D - Looking Back Down the Trail from Boomerang's NE Side

3D - Logs for Quads and Trucks