I guess I never did write anything about that place did I?
The day I arrived, the Lodge changed my guide to Darryl Gilbert to guide me the first day after we arrived...Greg and Lisa had Amir. Darryl never did show up at my cabin to introduce himself and make plans, as the guides are supposed to do the night before. I decided to go out with Amir the next morning. We get out to the big lake and Amir is getting phone calls while he is supposed to be guiding us with the lodge screaming at poor Amir and accusing him of stealing Darryl's client. Came back to the Lodge at the end of the day and went to the office and wound up talking to Brett's son Brody, who is a little *****. Darryl's story was that he came to my cabin a half dozen times looking for me the night before. Anyone who has ever been to the BNL knows you're either in your cabin or at the restaurant a few hundred feet away from your cabin. And my sled was sitting outside so it was obvious I wasn't far away for anyone who came looking. Long story short, Brody says they believe Darryl's story more than mine and I can go pound sand. Brett winds up calling me later that night for some very shady reasons that I can't really go into without getting other people at the Lodge in trouble. In the end they refund my $350 day fee for the guide *minus* the $200 or so that normally goes to the guide, as they say they have to pay Darryl even though he never showed up, never came out to the big lake to apologize or make things right, never came to my cabin at all the rest of the trip to try to work things out, etc. According to Brody, I should have stayed at the lodge, went to the restaurant when it opened at 8am, and Darryl would have met up with me there. That would put us out on the big lake where the lakers are around 10am for a lake with a pronounced morning bite...pretty much wasting a day of fishing. Greg had already seen the biggest fish of the entire trip by then.
It's interesting to note that most of the staff of BNL has quit since we were up in April, including some members of the Baynton family themselves. It didn't even look good for them being open this season at one point. But now they have Kamuchawie and Laurie Lake Outposts to spread themselves even thinner.
TLDR: IMO BNL is more marketing hype than anything. Athapap is a good lake, which is why I would make the trip back with the right friends even though there are countless other better spots closer for me (Yukon, northeastern B.C., N.W.T., Cree Lake, etc). I might even go to the restaurant at BNL for a meal. But I'd sooner stay across the road in the provincial park than give that family any of my money again.
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