Culper Lakes

Culper Lake

I like late-fall fishing, but these cold evenings sure keep the furnace going in the tent trailer. It’s late in September and I camped at Solco Lake on one of my explorations into little out-of-the-way lakes. It was warm enough in the sleeping bag, but so cold outside I slept in late. Easy to do when the view outside is vapour coming off the lake. A good case can be made for truck and camper, comfort for all seasons.

Loading the canoe I went back down to the Weyerhaeuser 201 which came up from OK Falls and headed north to the Derenzy forest service road. I then took the Culper Lake forest service road up to the Culper 100 road, which turned for a short distance down the slope. From the Penticton side one can reach the Weyerhaeuser Road by going up the Carmi Road past the Lost Moose Lodge then turning south.

From the end of the road into Culper Lake is was about a kilometer carry. The trail is rather muddy in spots but is generally quite good ,and wide enough for me to make it into the lake with my 18 foot canoe. I dropped the canoe near the shelter, which sits along the shore below a steep slope of broken rock, and headed further along the trail leading to the other end of the lake in search of Upper Culper Lake, which is about half a kilometer from Culper Lake.

This trail is overgrown and very rough and narrow, and eventually petered out before I reached Upper Culper. The trail was reasonably easy to find, however, and I did not even resort to using the GPS. A word of caution though, if you head into this lake be careful; in spite of being fairly heavily treed the ground is quite boggy and it would be very easy to step into a hole and twist an ankle.

Upper Culper Lake is quite small, at the most the size of a football field but likely smaller. It appears to be quite shallow with a fairly thin growth of weeds around the shoreline. Still, I was able to fish between the lily pads for about twenty minutes and in that time landed six small fish about fifteen centimetres in length and had about four times that many strikes. These small rainbow trout were dark and appeared to be spawning, so likely a twenty-five centimetre fish would be a very big one here. I’ll let you know if I have better luck next time into this lake.

While you can carry a canoe into Culper Lake, Upper Culper is better suited to either belly boat or fishing from shore. I will definitely look into getting a belly boat, as with many of these tiny lakes it is often difficult to fish them efficiently from shore. Usually I use my spinning outfit for these explorations as I can use it under most conditions.

Back at Culper Lake I launched the canoe and tried my luck at the outer edges of the lily pads. Again action was quite fast and in forty or so minutes I had about forty strikes and landed three reasonably sized fish. Several of the strikes were very heavy and I’m guessing I’d be looking at fish between thirty and forty centimetres in length. Cold and hungry, with threatening clouds above, it was time to head back to base camp.

Checking stocking records it is quite interesting to note that neither of these lakes show up as being stocked in the last six years, so they must be reproducing naturally. Ideally it would be great to get most lakes back to reproducing naturally. Usually this means a decent stream into or out of the lake, although I have had reports of trout that do not require such conditions.

Co-ordinates Culper Lake N 49 - 24 - 632 W 119 - 27 - 521
Upper Culper N N 49 - 24 - 771 W 119 - 27 - 145

Future articles every Tuesday or Wednesday

Ratnip Lake

Ratnip Lake

Edda and Aaron must have wondered what I was getting them into. We had parked on the side of the Ratnip Forest Service Road near where the old trial used to be, and with the GPS turned on, were wending our way towards the lake. We soon began running into windfalls from the Okanagan Mountain Fire but found no trace of the old beautiful trail that we used to travel when my children were young.

Gone was the euphoria of gathering and eating the late July raspberries and Saskatoon berries from the roadside. The raspberries were very tasty if a little tart and the Saskatoons very sweet, it would be easy to picking enough for a pie or even a batch of jam. Now however without the old trail this was rough travelling. Cattle, moose and deer had left many short trails crisscrossing the slopes in the dry powdery soil. However, we kept running into burnt snags felled either by the fire or recent windstorms. These ranged from those easy to step over to some up to waist height and even some nearly shoulder height. In spite of being forced one way or another we arrived safely at last.

The first cast resulted in four strikes and I was expecting some fast action. However, the next cast did not get any action. If the fish were not biting it was a good time for a quick lunch. From 12:30 to 2:00 we had many strikes, but most were striking short. I did land a few but they were rather small, which I was expecting. Most seemed to be between 6 and 8 inches, although I’m sure there could be some reaching up to 12 inches.

We were treated to a couple of osprey flying overhead, always a good sign on a fishing trip. However I was a bit disappointed in not spotting the blue heron that once prowled the marsh edges near the old beaver house.

At 2:00 disaster struck, Edda slipped on a windfall and came down, impaling her shin on small branch. Investigation showed that it was well embedded, so we cut our fishing short, packed our gear and headed out. We headed up through the windfalls to higher ground, managed to find a slightly easier route back to the vehicle, and in an hour and a half were on the way to emergency: 1.2 kilometres down the Ratnip Forest Service Road to the Kettle Valley Railway and then 4 kilometres south to the Chute Lake Resort and the road back down to the valley.

By 4:30 we were sitting in emergency where they removed the branch, which was an inch and a half into Edda’s shin. Shortly after 5:30 I was back home and Aaron and Edda were heading back home themselves.
Perhaps the road continues along and getting in via one of the firebreaks put in for the Okanagan Mountain Fire would be an easier access the lake. I do however have on my list of things to do in the future: get a power saw and cut a decent trail into Ratnip lake, roughly where the original trail used to be.

Oh, yes. Ratnip co-ordinates N 49 - 43 - 115  W 119 - 30 - 150

Maps show several unnamed small ponds further back into the hills. As usual each time I study the maps the old itch starts to seek out these tiny bodies of water and to check the fishing potential. Unlocking this potential could really add to the allure of this area to vacationers with the fishing itch. What nicer way to get away from the hustle and bustle than to check out a small, out-of-the-way lake with its chance of fast action and possibility of a surprisingly large trout?

Future articles published Tuesday or Wednesdays

Mad Beaver Lake



Mad Beaver Lake

Sometimes even with a GPS it’s not always going to be easy to find a new lake. All that shows on the topographical maps and on the GPS is that the body of water I’m searching for is a small lake and dam but it has no name. One road took me to the east of the lake and the other took me to the west. From either direction bushwhacking might prove to be a little thick.

However, there was a creek from this little lake that crossed the first road I had taken. I back-tracked and located the creek. As the crow flies the GPS indicated the lake was just less than one kilometre away. Keeping the GPS in tracking mode, I headed off through the brush keeping near the creek. Finally I broke out into some nice meadows and came across some ATV tracks headed in the right direction.
These tracks led me through the swamp meadow to what appears to have been an island when the lake’s water level was higher. Getting to the waters’ edge will apparently mean some wet feet. The next time in I would pack the canoe. I could see the odd fish rise and there were several ducks on the lake. My prediction is for a healthy population of fish with some reasonable size.

Knowing that the ATV tracks would take me back to the road somewhere near the vehicle, I erased the many tracks on my GPS from all my wanderings to get to the lake and then reset it to track the way out.
To get to this little lake take the Weyerhaeuser 201 road from OK Falls and turn off at the Tuzo Lake road, then look for the Kilmer road on the left. This is where I reset my odometer. In .4 of a kilometre there is a steep little road off to the left and a little pond. A brief stop here on the way out netted 20 small fish in an hour and a half. Most were between 10 and 15 centimetres, but one was definitely 18 centimetres.

Continuing on, the next fork in the road quickly appears: keep to the right. At 1.4 kilometres keep left and the right again at 1.8 kilometres. Keep right again at 2.1 kilometres, then at 3.2 kilometres there is a culvert and a tiny creek under the road. Just past the creek there is an old logging slash. Keep near the left- hand side and once you reach the far side of the slashlook for the old ATV track. Following this, the creek will be on you left. From here the lake is only 940 metres away. About the last half iof the distance is through mountain meadow and bog, so be prepared to get wet feet.

Two days later I pushed the canoe the last ten metres over the weeds to the waters edge. The weather was a bit overcast, cool and rainy, so I didn’t stay too long. I had a couple of strikes and landed a fish about 15 centimetres in length, and did see a few decent rises. Next time will be in much better weather so I can get a better feel for the lake. There is also a large beaver at the lake, who was not to pleased with my company and spanked the water several times. What better name for this lake than “Mad Beaver Lake”?

On the way out I took the canoe down the outlet creek and it was a much drier way to travel. Once you see the lake head to the left and take your canoe up that way. Perhaps this might also be the best approach if you are using a float tube. I would think the best time to fish here without too much trouble with weeds would be in July or early August. I’ll head back then.