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Anyone been into oriole in the bogie area in the last while that could comment on access (how is driving the trail). i have not fished it and was looking to get in on sunday. don't mind a hike and have a solid 4x4 to get in as far as that will get me.

PM if you have info please, thanks.

No takers I guess! I will head in tomorrow and post for others so they know how to access along with how the fishing was.

I'm curious too. Please report!

Good luck trying to get guys to open up about trout lakes. Especially on a public forum. The last thing anyone wants is crowds converging on a nice quiet back lake. There are already enough stories of lakes getting ruined by over fishing and piles of garbage left behind.

As for Oriole, it used to be a nice lake. I used to camp there 30 years ago. Back then you could drive in part way off of the Barrett Chute road and then it was a good walk in carrying a canoe and all our gear. Sometimes an extra trip for the beer lol. Then 4x4 clubs discovered the area and many roads got chewed up big time, making it very hard to access some lakes even with regular 4x4 trucks. Same thing happened to Quinn Lake where boulders grew by the year and eventually even got hard for quads to get in.

Now I know with the logging in the highlands that some roads are easy to travel now making access to some lakes easier than ever but for good fishing it's still best to go exploring with boots on the ground or quad and find out for yourself. And then keep it quiet.

Cheers

Good luck trying to get guys to open up about trout lakes.

I was a trout fisherman for 30 years before i lived here have caught 10+ lb rainbows and 10+ lb browns trout 10+ lb bull trout and 5 other species of trout for me the trout around here is not even worth wasting your time on..... like im gonna go hiking mile in the bush for a 6" trout i couldnt be bothered. They probably taste like porcupines lol ......wouldnt waste my time better things to fish for.

pchilli1 wrote:Anyone been into oriole in the bogie area in the last while that could comment on access (how is driving the trail). i have not fished it and was looking to get in on sunday. don't mind a hike and have a solid 4x4 to get in as far as that will get me.

PM if you have info please, thanks.

I wouldn't want to insinuate, but if you are indeed fishing for Trout, I hope your trip was a succesful one and that you caught a $hit load of them.

I would LOVE (caps always emphasize) a report as Fish-Hawk "Embraces the power of communication, learning, and sharing"

Tight lines!!

P.S. How's the Bass fishing in Oriole?

Access to Oriole was a no go. There is a new subdivision going and along the road were many no trespassing signs. Regardless there is a gate that blocks you from further access up Barrett Chute road so no dice. I wasn't about to bother trying to find another way in. I have fished 50% of the lakes in that area and agree with the previous post that while never worth it (in terms of sizeable fish) I always try and make a late fall trout mission to the area (and frankly every time I come home asking myself 'why'. Tradition I guess and the scenery is always nice). We ended up fishing another bow lake. Caught 4 but they were only 6 inches telling me they were recently stocked a few weeks ago. No holdovers. Went to a brookie lake and got one 12 incher. Spring trout in QC can't come quick enough!

Access to Oriole was a no go. There is a new subdivision going and along the road were many no trespassing signs. Regardless there is a gate that blocks you from further access up Barrett Chute road so no dice. I wasn't about to bother trying to find another way in. I have fished 50% of the lakes in that area and agree with the previous post that while never worth it (in terms of sizeable fish) I always try and make a late fall trout mission to the area (and frankly every time I come home asking myself 'why'. Tradition I guess and the scenery is always nice). We ended up fishing another bow lake. Caught 4 but they were only 6 inches telling me they were recently stocked a few weeks ago. No holdovers. Went to a brookie lake and got one 12 incher. Spring trout in QC can't come quick enough!

I REST MY CASE ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I'm not 100% sure about this but I believe the reason you cannot get up close to the Barrett Chute Dam or drive up to Oriole Lake anymore is because a woman and her young son drowned there in 2006 (I think?). It was a popular spot for people to go and sunbathe and swim. They would hang out in the spillway of the dam and on that day Ontario Power Generation employees opened the spillway with no warning whatsoever, and it caused the deaths of this woman and her son. So I think after that accident they made it much more difficult to get up close to the dam. Two workers were found not guilty of some sort of negligence after the deaths, even though they knew people used the spillway to sunbathe/swim in. I believe they had a policy of not using warning sirens back then so they had no idea or warning from OPG that they were going to be drowned in a huge wall of water. It was pretty sad. OPG started to put up more warning signs etc after this and put out more TV commercials about the dangers of dams.

If you had an ATV you could get into the lake but I don't know if it would be anymore productive than some of the more accessible lakes.

Here is a link to a news article about the drownings at the dam and the trial that followed.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat ... le1132640/

There is (was?) a way in from the north, off the 508. I made it in a 4x4 ranger several years ago. The path was very gnarly with some serious rocks.

Given that Pembroke is still stocking the lake there has to be public access, though it doesn't have to be easy/convenient. If I recall the gate is on the hydro easement, and was put up to keep the road from being abused by 4x4s, etc. Just give the Pembroke office a shout and ask what the public access point is for the lake. It may be the case that it has become an "ice fishing" lake that is only readily accessible in the winter with snowmobiles.

the woman and boy who drowned were on private property, it was well posted and the were told by employees to leave on many occasions before,. It was a very sad occurence for sure. That being said I really have no use for people talkin smack about what they do not know. Its like the courts who charge a shopkeeper for beating up a robber.