Merritt area

[Don Camp]

I haven't fished many of the lakes in the Merritt, B.C., area. The Kane Lakes are so pleasant and the fishing so interesting that I haven't ventured far from them. There are a couple, however. One is Lodwick south of Merritt. My sons-in-law and I fished that lake several years ago in the fall (late September) and found the fishing, though difficult in the middle of the day, really exciting in the evening. At the upper end of the lake in the shallower areas there was a great caddis hatch every evening we were there and almost any pattern we tossed at them took fish. They were not of the size we had been catching at Lower Kane. But they were a respectable 14 inches with lots of fight. And they had another remarkable point in their favor; they were the best tasting Rainbows I've ever enjoyed. Note: I am a dedicated catch and release fisherman. But in Canada we do keep a fish or two to enjoy around the campfire one of the evenings we are there. Usually I try to keep a Brookie as I like the taste best, but these Rainbow were terrific. Another beautiful but difficult lake to get to is Bluey Lake south of the Kentucy Lake. Almost requires a 4 WD vehicle to get to it, however. The most interesting lake, or rather the most interesting road into any of the lakes I've fished, was Gordon Lake, a lake north and west of Merritt. On one of our visits to the Powder Keg in Merritt we asked where the fish were biting. The sportsman erstwhile explorer, who was ringing up our fly purchase, informed us that the lower lakes were not producing well yet, which we already knew, and that he'd recommend a lake off the beaten track a bit and higher in elevation. That was Gordon Lake. He gave us the directions and casually mentioned that the lake was about a ten mile drive off the highway on a dirt "track". Not knowing what he meant exactly by "track" I probed a bit further. After a rather long explanation sprinkled with the "ay's" common to the British Columbia dialect I gathered that a track is a lot like one of our dirt forest service roads. Having spent a good deal of my life wandering around on forest service roads that didn't sound too formidible. His last comment, though, sealed it. He said that he'd made the trip numerous times in his "Chevett". Now a Chevett, as you know, is a rather small and low slung under powered compact. At least that is what they are in the United States. Little did we know that Chevett in Canada is somethign akin to a 4 X 6 military transport truck. But that was later. We set out down the highway as he directed and had no trouble finding the turn off. So far his directions held true. The road, too, didn't immediately appear any more difficult than a nicely graveled and graded road in the mountains of eastern Oregon where I'd spent much of my life roaming. Appearances can be deceiving, however, as anyone who has fallen for a pretty face in a dimly lit bar will tell you. Before long the road began to wind more sharply uphill. Now, understand I am driving a 3/4 ton Chevy PU that I've had on plenty of roads marked "4 WD only" on U.S. maps and have never broken a sweat. Steep is no problem. But soon enough the road turned not only steep but rocky, and I mean "rocky." The rocks in the middle of the "track" were easily the size of smallish mountains in Oregon. But I had bragged up the ability of my truck to my sons-in-law and was not about to turn back, though one son-in-law, the one son-in-law from L.A., did offer several times to turn back for me but we were able to restrain him.   We had to get out at times to pull blow-downs from the road. At other times we had to get a run at the hill and hold our breath. All of us were pumping with our feet through the mud holes. And we all secretly pondered how the devil we were ever going to get back down if we hit a hill we couldn't handle. Backing down four or five miles of that kind of "track" would have made Christians out of all of us. (Except, of course, by that time we already were several times over.) The road finally leveled out and in short order the lake was in view. We parked a bit above the boat launch, if I may in generosity call it that, and all got out and walked down to the lake to survey the water. Parked right at the shore was a huge Ford 4 X 4 with an equally imposing camper on it. The gentleman, who spoke English with a heavy German accent stepped out of the camper as we approached and looking up the hill to our little 3/4 ton 2 WD asked, "How the hell did you get here?" It was a good question. We were wondering something about the same of his rig.  Obviously there was some other road to the lake. However, having negotiated safely and against all odds the "track" that only a Canadian Chevett was up to, we thought it best to leave off discussing our good fortune and ask of the fishing. The answer from our German friend was that he'd been there three days and hadn't caught a fish. With that encouragement we decided that we'd better get the canoe in the water and sample the lake ourselves before the fishing slowed any. Our luck held. The action did not slow.  There was an odd fish rising here and there throughout the afternoon and evening, but not on Gordon Lake. The water looked promising, though, and at another time I am sure it would be alive with hungry fish. But we were a day late, or so. The trip back down the track was not as harrowing as the trip up, I'll have to say that. But I still would not recommend it for anything but one of those Canadian Chevetts. In anything else you risk life and the undercarriage of your truck. I have to add that on the way back to Oregon we stopped at Chopaka and did rather well on fat Rainbow feeding within inches of the shore on Damsal Flies. After our experience in Canada the "highway" up the mountain to Chopaka seemed like downtown.