My year of exploration continues with one of the Lakes I heard of as a Kid but never got to try. Our first trip to Bonaparte was not very successful for fishing but it is a beautiful area to visit. Caught one 15 inch Brook Trout on Saturday trolling a Frog F5 Flatfish at about one a half colors of Leaded Line. We had three others on but never got them to the Net. We saw all of them, though, and they were all fat and in great shape. We also caught four 10-11 inch Smallmouth Bass Saturday and Sunday fishing worms with a Bobber at 4-5 feet deep near the shore up-lake from Bonaparte Resort. Also trolled Green and Red Wedding Rings with worms, both with and without Pop Gear between one and two colors of Leaded Line on Sunday and kept getting bumps but could not hook the fish. These may have been small Kokanee that just couldn't get their mouth around the large worms (just a guess). We were marking a lot of Fish on the Fishfinder but were told the bite has been off for 2 or 3 weeks because there is a lot of food in the Lake. Some of the Fish we marked were very large. I guess this might be some large Lake Trout but I also saw pictures and were told of several Rainbows from 5-10 pounds being caught this year. Oh well, a nice trip but the fishing was poor. If I keep this up for a few more years I may figure out how to catch fish a little more consistently (I am being optimistic). FYI The Boat Launch is O/K. The Forest is full of Deer sign. I also walked down to the USFS Campsite to get a look at it (couldn't get any info on it over the web). It seemed pretty nice. Many (relatively) large campsites that are well spaced and it appears to have a good Boat Launch. There looking for a Camp Host. $8 per vehicle per

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