Backwoods success

[nostrildamus]

I posted a while back about fishing backwoods areas around the lower mainland. Well, I didn't get a lot a of responses so I investigated a little myself and found a local area that offered a hike-in opportunity. Some of you may be familiar with this lake (which will remain nameless for now) which can be driven to if one gains access to the FSR gate.

In any case I made the hike in to see if I could actually handle it while packing all my gear. I rigged up my float tube on my pack which was filled with my waders, fins, fly-vest and PFD (never fish alone without one!). It was not the lightest pack I've ever worn. It must have weighed in at around 25 lbs. I carried my rod in one hand and hit the trail which led up a steady incline to reach an elevation 1000 feet above my start point. The legs and gluts were burning even though I've been a competetive runner for a couple of years and I'm a bit sore today. This gives you an idea of the work out I received. I'll never have to skip a training day to go fishing again.

I got to the lake and unloaded and inflated my tube. There was only one other crazy bastard out there so I hit him up for any info he was willing to give and jumped in the tube for a couple hours of good fishing. I landed five trout in two hours and best of all the setting was serene and silent. I returned each one carefully in order to keep the fishery a good one for future trips. At the end I packed it all up again and made the hike out smiling like an idiot despite the pack weighed an additional 7-10lbs as everything was wet. A morning spent having a good time and getting a great workout. Who says fishermen are lazy?

The point is, if you want some good/great fishing you may have to go a little out of the way. This means leaving your truck more than a kilometer behind. Depending on your physical condition this may not seem worth it but I've never experienced that good of fishing in a local lake when it has been this warm out (I can't wait till the fall). I'd also like to think that having read The Gilly recently improved my abilities to land more than I lost(only had two hits that I didn't hook up on).

I'm going to continue to seek out some more hard-to-get-to destinations. If anyone has any interest, I'd gladly have someone to weeze/puff/pass-out/complain with while making hikes.

[scotch mist]

good post nost.there,s a lake we used to fish 40 yrs ago.i believe its called munroe lake ,on the top east end of burke montian north of poco.used to hike up from quarry road.was full of brook trout.any body know about it?probably surounded by condos now dale

[nostrildamus]

Munroe and Dennet lakes are still there, still out of the way and still uninhabited (or so the Google Sat. image shows). They look like they'd be worth a try and they're going on my hit list. The trail is apparently listed in the book 103 Hikes which I already own. Your comments of brookies has got me more than interested. From a couple of websites I've checked out it sounds as though the hike is otherwise not very rewarding so maybe, just maybe they'll still be there if the acid rain hasn't killed them off. It doesn't look or sound easy from what I've read. Does 2 hours to the lake sound right to you?

Ughh. My legs are already aching. Anyone own a jetpack I can borrow?

[dinsdale piranha]

Hey Nostrils,

What kind of running do you do? I pretty much run trails, only. I just started running a year ago, but have competed in a few races - run inn sane, dirty duo, iron knee, 5-peaks Golden Ears and seymour. I'm doing the 5-peaks Cypress on the 12th. I've done the run faster clinic at north shore athletics.
Anyway, it would be good to try a few of these lakes with you, but i only have a pontoon boat - read ~45lbs + my other gear.

Dinsdale.

[scotch mist]

hi again nost.the old quarry road trail went up a pretty severe switch back trail to some high ground near the lake.some yrs later we went a bit farther down quarry road to the old pipeline and followed it up to the lake. lake dennet i never heard of ,but munrore was man made with a dam .the out fall from the dam ran downstream a bit in to a huge blast hole. a cave in the bottom connected to the wood pipline which ran down hill to minnekada ranch i believe.we always walked up the pipe after finding it.our lady friends at the time always found it VERY romantic :lol: might be easyier access now from the coast meridian side of the mountian!! cheers and good fishing. dale let me know how it is if you get up there. in 1965 cougars circled our tent all night in the snow in june.

[scotch mist]

high again, nost. is ,was dennet lake separate from munroe and more towards pitt river,on the lower mountian side ,closer to widgon?sp slough.sorry did,nt mean to hijack your post.but you have awakend some thoughts on my old home grounds.i lived on cedar drive when there was 2 houses and the creek ran to hyde creek and then in to the debouvile slough,than to the pitt.huckle berry fin days dale cheers ps old man wallace ,who i believe was the govener general of canada at sometime and owner of minnekada ranch,stopped several times over the yrs .and picked up 2 or 3 wet ass kids ,with boots full of water,broken rods and a cuttie or three on a stick and gave us a ride home.nothing like a ride home on a dark night in a black rolls royce with a chauffeur to get the folks miffed when you,ve been fishing all day and you are 4 hours late for dinner. dale :lol:

[nostrildamus]

Well gents, it seems as though the access for this area is easiest from the south-west side but still is 2.5 hours. I don't really know how this bodes for any of us (thus far only Dinsdale is crazy enough ) willing to give it a crack. I've been reading up on both lakes on ClubTread (hiking website) and it sounds as though Dennett is a good fishing hole but without a real trail to get us there. Maybe I'll start looking at something a little less ambitious and work towards this at a later date as myu packing system becomes more refined. Having read 103 Hikes In The Lower Mainland I wouldn't mind finding some creeks possibly in the Squamish area to fish as this would eliminate the need for a boat.

Take a look at http://maps.google.com/ and search coquitlam bc. The two lakes are at the top right corner of the page located in the large green area which designates Pinecone Lake-Burke Mountain Park. Switch it to hybrid to show both the named roads and the Sat. photo.[/img]