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
