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CAVERHILL LODGE SHOW PLACE OF THE BONAPARTE PLATEAU

by Don Robertson

Part II

Accompanied by a father and son team from Bakersfield, California, we took a pair of boats across Bramon Lake. A black leech fly brought Jeremy success, and he had one trout for smoking Caverhill-style.

Arriving at the southwest corner of the lake, we went ashore and began the 10-minute portage to Triangle Lake. Triangle is just over a mile long, with a rocky, treed shoreline and waters to 80 feet in depth. Here, the "athletic" trout are bright silver and run up to two pounds. A cabin on Triangle Lake, at the start of the portage, provides shelter from stormy weather or as an overnight stop for avid anglers.

Winds play a factor on the larger lakes, as the prevailing breezes often sweep their length. Each boat is provided with an anchor to enable fishermen to cast without blowing ashore.

In two hours of fishing at the Boulders (while devouring Marlene's tasty bag lunch), and cruising through the narrows into a mini-lake formed at the southwest end, we netted two nice 12-inch-long rainbows, which were quickly released. The California father-and-son duo of Bill and Mike Lazzarini, fishing along the shoreline, successfully boated a half-dozen rainbows, destined for the lodge smoker and packing for shipment home.

In addition to the major lake, the 132-foot-deep Caverhill, anglers have a choice of fishing Nomans, known locally as Mud Lake, Spring Lake, the two Grassies, Belcache, Keith. Malcolm, Christina, Beckworth, Malarky, Harbor, Stony, Day and both Bramon and Triangle Lakes. Caverhill's brochure points out that the number of fishing lakes available, equated to the maximum number of lodge guests, results in a ration of one lake per fisherman.

Even casting from the lodge dock can bring results. Anglers often lay a dry fly onto the sunset dappled waters or cast from a boat anchored just a few yards from the lodge.

Caverhill Lake has an eight-trout daily limit, but anglers are encouraged to take only those fish they can use and to release the remainder.

Fishing Nomans (Mud) Lake as well as nearby Spring and the Grassies, a duo of anglers did well using primarily a blood leech fly backed by shrimp patterns and Tom Thumbs.

We lost count of the number of fish caught and released after a day's fishing on Big Grassy Lake. We kept only four larger trout for the smoker, ranging from 12 to 17 inches. It pays to cast away from the shore into the deeper waters to attract the larger fish when casting on these shallow, reed-lined lakes, as the shoreline seems to be the domain of a myriad of pan-fries. On the deeper lakes the tree-shadowed banks hold the big ones, but not so here. Casting in the mouth of streams also provides great fishing action.

» Read Part III

CAVERHILL LODGE SHOW PLACE OF THE BONAPARTE PLATEAU

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