One Last Day Before Winter Arrived

Winter in Calgary is long. It's not unusual to begin November with a blizzard and then have Old Man Winter stubbornly leave with one last snowstorm in April.

This year seems to be following that pattern.

A couple weeks ago my friends Ivan, Adam and I went fishing for rainbow trout on a small private lake near Calgary.

The fishing was super fun. We managed to get a bunch of fish in the boat including a couple big ones.

Ice breaker rainbow

Another rainbow on a beauty fall day

Ivan and a nice rainbow

We spent the day rowing around the lake in t-shirts or hoodies, soaking in the sun, waiting for the trout to fall for our jigs. It was a perfect fall day for fishing in Southern Alberta. 

Adam and a decent rainbow

Not a bad way to end the season...literally

The next morning we awoke to 10cm of snow.

My dog, Oscar, wondering what the heck happened?!

Thanksgiving Bass Fishing on Fifth Depot Lake, Ontario

It's been a few years since my wife and I were able to make it back to spend Thanksgiving at her family cottage on Fifth Depot Lake in the Land O'Lakes region of Southern Ontario. This year, our schedule and the availability of relatively affordable flights made it possible to make the pilgrimage once again.

Alberta is a beautiful province but it is hard to beat the stunning colours and the near perfect weather Ontario offers in the fall. Obviously, the chance to catch big bass that are fattening themselves up for winter is an added bonus.

It's hard to beat Ontario in the fall

When we arrived at the cottage late Saturday afternoon, the weather was unseasonably warm and the lake was glass calm. After hurriedly unpacking and helping with the opening of the cottage, I couldn't wait to set the boat up so I pulled the paddle boat down to the lake and paddled a few hundred feet down to where Skewgaw Creek enters Fifth Depot Lake.

The sun was setting so I tied on a black Hula Popper topwater lure and started casting toward the creek mouth. Immediately, the water boiled around the lure. I was so stunned I failed to set the hook. Usually, this little inlet will yield one or two bass tops so I was pretty choked that I'd missed the first strike. To my surprise, a fat little largemouth inhaled the popper on my second cast and I was able to swing it into the paddle boat. These two first hits were no fluke. Over the next half hour I landed 4 more largemouth, two of which were around 15 inches (after bringing a scale on a recent trip I realized I'm better at exaggerating weight than I am at estimating).

The weekend's ice breaker bass

A decent largemouth that slammed the Hula Popper

Another topwater largemouth

The next day the wind had picked up so I decided to try drop shotting a X-Zone Slammer around some of the mid-lake weed humps I could find by looking for flat spots in the otherwise choppy water. I also tossed my rig toward rocky points and at a submerged tree that scared the bejeezus out of me when I nearly backed the boat into it while working along the deep edge of a weed bed. This is the pattern I fished for most of the remainder of the weekend. When the drop shot slowed down I did manage to catch a few fish on a wacky rigged pumpkin Senko and I caught a small pike on a jerk bait I tied on mainly because I had bought it specifically for the trip. Faster presentations that often work on Fifth Depot, like crankbaits and inline spinners, were not producing this weekend.

A decent smallmouth caught on an X-Zone Slammer

A largemouth from a mid-lake weed hump

A largemouth that lived in a scary looking sunken tree

Another timber-dwelling largemouth

A largemouth that fell for a wacky rigged Senko

Get off my line pike! I'm here for the bass!

Another incidental pike

After the boat was pulled ashore and the cottage was closed for the season I had managed to land around 20 fish including 6 fat largemouth and 1 smallmouth in the 15-17 inch range. Along the way I also landed 2 small pike and I lost 3 big bass that I'll have to try again for next year.

Run and Gun Spinner Fishing in the Southern Alberta Foothills

Even when the fish aren't biting, people who fish are generally luckier than many who don't. We're lucky because the sport that we love happens to take place in some of the most beautiful places in the world. This is especially true for anglers who are logistically and physically able to walk and wade the Eastern Slope foothill streams in Southwestern Alberta.

Last Saturday my friend Terry R. and I decided to try the canyon stretch of the Highwood River a few kilometers west from the town of Longview. Despite paralleling Highway 40, with river access gates right off the road, the steep climb down to the river keeps the fishing pressure on this stretch of the river relatively light, allowing anglers to fish the numerous deep pools and productive runs undisturbed. 

We scrambled precariously down the steep cliff, aided for some of the way by a rope someone left tied to a tree. We both tied on #1 red and white Mepps Aglia Spinners with a couple split shot about a foot above to help the lures stay down in fast water and sink deep down into the deeper pools.

The Highwood River

We fished for about an hour with limited success. The water temperature was quite cold and the fish were docile. I did manage to catch a medium cutthroat trout and a slightly smaller rainbow.

A pretty little Highwood River rainbow

A Highwood Cutthroat

Terry was wet wading (Terry's an old maniac who grew up in the area. After so many years wading mountain streams, I don't think he feels temperature in his legs the same way as most people) and when we came to a point in the river where we'd have to cross, we considered our options and decided it just wasn't worth it.

We decided to get back in the car and try Trap Creek. Trap Creek is a Highwood tributary that enters the Highwood just east of the Kananaskis Country Gate off Highway 40.

As soon as we got to the small stream, I cast my spinner into a tiny little pool near where we parked. A small cutthroat darted out and hit it immediately. This was proof that you can catch trout "no matter how fickle the trickle."

Trap Creek

Trap Creek

Trap Creek is a small stream with a few rapids and decent pools. Perfect for run and gun fishing. With the abrasive and fast moving presentation of a spinner, we were generally able to get one fish out of each hole before having to reel in and move on.

Terry and I spent the next 2 hours leap-frogging up the creek. I hooked and landed 3 cutthroat trout. I lost a couple as well. Terry caught the nicest fish of the day when he pulled a chunky 15 inch cutthroat out of one of the deeper pools in the little stream.

Terry's nice cutthroat. It was bigger than it looks.

A Trap Creek cutthroat

Another Trap Creek cutthroat

With the season drawing to a close I'm glad I got out for at least one last reminder of how lucky we are to be anglers in a country with as much opportunity and beauty.