Bonaparte Lake Fishing

[white moose]

Was just wondering if any members have ever fished here. Have the week of July 14th off and was maybe going give it a try. Was wondering what kind and size of gear to use. Was thinking leaded line with good size flatfish or hotshots. Any info would be great.

[REMINGTON JIM]

Nice Rainbows in Bonny - nice Forestery camp ground at the West end of the lake - just about any " Hardware " catches Bows in the Lake - Good Luck :wink: RJ

[white moose]

Thanks RJ. Any special hardware you recommend?

[BigfishCanada]

Gorgeous area, and gorgeous lake, look on youtube, a guy makes a few vids fishing that lake. Believe they have a resort on the lake also

[REMINGTON JIM]

Thanks RJ. Any special hardware you recommend?

Petty much like the black and silver speckled flat fish and a lot of different apex's work good too - i also have some witch doctor plugs too ! :) RJ

[1/2 slam]

I've fished there for more than 20 years. My favorite time is the last week of June and the first week of July. I use a lure called a copy cat by Eppinger. The red and white is my preference. Lost of line out, no weight and troll fast. I've caught 8 pounder and lost bigger.

Buck-tailing can be good as well. Black/White and silver

[white moose]

Thanks for the advice. how do you check speed when trolling? GPS? or just make sure your tackle has good action?

[REMINGTON JIM]

NO Fish that big in that lake ! :rolleyes: LOL RJ

[T300WSM]

I was working up there the other day and stopped at the resort. They will now be open year round and welcome hunters to camp or rent a cabin there.

[M.Dean]

We used mainly "Witch Doctors", I had great success with solid silver ones. We'd go 3 miles down the Lake to "Grant's Cabin, then go back and forth across the Lake, with a 6 HP motor we had it at about 1/3d throttle, seems a bit fast, but with 200 yards of line out the Witch Doctors would work great, you could see them way behind the boat jumping right out of the water! I seen a guy up there that borrowed his brothers brand new 16 foot boat, boy was it nice, they came in one night after a day of fish'in and drink'in, and even after Fred, one of the owners at that time told him to moor the boat on the "Inside" of the dock, he didn't, choosing instead to stay in the lounge with everyone and drink until all hours of the night! Next morning my Brother in Law and I were loading up our boat at first light to go fishing, the first thing I noticed was a boat gas can floating in the water,with a black hose going down into the water, so we pushed off and low and behold, there was the guys brothers boat bust into 3 big pieces in about 15 feet of water!!! We came back about mid day, and there the guys were, trying to tie the pieces onto the boat trailer!!! So, park on the Inside of the dock at night, that lake can get real rough most nights, and real fast!!!

[open-sights]

I grew up in Fishing lodges on the Plateau, I fished Bonaparte very little but had to take clients out who wanted the bigger water - Mostly dragged full sink fly gear and far into the backing, otherwise, in the bays we always had success for smoking sized trout in less than 20' water, throw rooster tails at them, white w/silver or silver seemed to work best. I still remember one client from NY that loved Ack and Bon. and he would never change from a frog flatfish on a full sink flyline. Probably what he caught his first fish on.

[white moose]

Well I went out and picked up some gear. A couple six inch apex and 6 4inch hockey sticks, they were on sale for $2.49 at army and navy. Also picked up a couple 5 inch tomic plugs. Tried looking for the eppinger cop e cat lure, couldn't find any. Is this similar to a red devil spoon? Have a couple mooching reels that can hold a lot of line, just wondering if we should fish the surface or go deep. Anybody going up there this year? We should be there July 15th