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.