Taylor Lake

Taylor Lake

 

It’s been a little while since I had been into Taylor Lake. We used to hunt the Barslow Canyon area and hike over to this lake to have our lunches, and usually caught a mess of nice brook trout even though there were just a few spots to fish from shore.

It can be accessed from the Twin Lakes Golf Course off Highway 3A, from Oliver via Willowbrook or from Penticton in past the Saint Andrews Golf Course. This was the route I had chosen today and was rewarded with the sighting of a cinnamon coloured black bear. Just past White Lake Observatory I met two ladies looking for fossils and spent an enjoyable 20 minutes talking to them. The road then passed the Oliver-Willow Brook Road and traversed the open sage bush country until reaching the Twin Lakes Road.

I zeroed the odometer here and took the left turn for 0.4 kilometres before taking another left onto the Grand Oro Road. The pavement extends most of the through the subdivision before becoming a narrow dirt road. Past the private land and at 5.9 kilometres I took the left hand fork. At 6.4 kilometres a road splits off to the left up to the old Grand Oro Mine site: most of the buildings have been demolished, but there are a few cabins on the other side and the road drops down to Willowbrook. This is a very rough road, however, and should be carefully travelled.

The lower right hand road gets quite rough and the vegetation is much denser, not really great if you are worried about keeping the finish of your vehicle scratch free. There are several old side roads that could easily be missed. The one at 7.9 kilometres circles back and joins up with the Grand Oro Mine Road. At 8.3 kilometres there is one off to the right that takes you out to some good deer and grouse hunting, and if you are lucky you might find the old tree stand.

The next one of note is at 9.8 kilometres. This little road leads up to an old historic cabin: one can only hope that it is preserved. Keeping to the left at 10.7 kilometres will take us to Taylor Lake, while the way straight ahead leads to some open areas overlooking the Fairview Road. This is a good area for mule deer and blue grouse.

The boat launching area is at 11 kilometres, and at 11.1 kilometres there is a nice turn around spot with a fire pit and picnic table. Parking here I took the fishing gear and checked out the lake. I had smelled smoke earlier, and sure enough there was a smouldering fire by the boat launch. Please, take that extra minute and douse your fires. The gusting winds can fan the embers into flames or send sparks for some distance.

Gone were the huge log and rafts that offered a few good spots to fish from the shore. I did manage a few casts, but this is definitely a lake for a canoe or belly boat now. I did see a few nice fish jump and talked to some fishermen on the way out who had landed a few good sized trout.

According to the Fish Wizard web site, the species present are brook trout and rainbow trout. Last year and this year it has been stocked with 500 yearling triploid rainbow trout of the Pennask Lake strain of rainbow trout.

Taylor lake is one of many high mountain lakes that were dammed ages ago without clearing the bush around the shoreline. This has left many dead snags and a weedy shoreline that makes fishing from the shore very difficult, if not impossible. I would recommend a small canoe, boat or belly boat at this lake