Accomplishing a Long Standing Fishing Goal

For me, one of the most appealing aspects of fishing is the fact that there is really no end to what you can learn, attempt or achieve. There is always a new technique to try or spot to fish. There are species of fish you've never caught or size class accomplishments to pursue.

My list of fishing goals is substantial and every time I think about it, something new seems to be added to it.

I haven't really had a chance to catch my first musky, arctic char or inconnu; fish species at the top of my North American freshwater bucket list. Just recently I boated my first lake trout. Even though it was just pan-sized by laker standards, finally striking the species off my list felt pretty good.

My fishing bucket list also has many size targets for fish I'm familiar with catching. I would love an opportunity to land a northern pike over 20 pounds or a walleye over 10. Hell, how awesome would it be to haul a 2 pound perch out of the water?

Sometimes, my fishing goals are very personal and related directly to things that only I seem to have trouble doing or are specific goals for specific places. 

My very first Bow River brown trout. Reached two goals that day!

One such goal was catching a walleye, of any size, on the lake where my wife's family cottage is located. This lake is supposed to have a decent walleye population but I have never been able to catch one.

And believe me, it's not because I didn't try. Over the past 7 years I had tried everything from bottom bouncing spinner and crawler rigs, trolling crank baits, casting swim baits, slow death rolled worms to jigging weed edges and even drop shotting minnow imitators and swimming buck tail jigs in likely looking spots. You name it, I tried it. The only reason I was sure there were actually walleye in the lake was a dead walleye fry I found while swimming one afternoon and a walleye skull a bird had left on a rock near the cottage.

Well guess what. Last week I finally caught not one but two walleye and one was of pretty decent size! 

I wish I could say I was out targeting them but my friend and I were drop shotting plastic minnows around a mid-lake weed hump that often gives up big bass. A big group of fish showed up on my fish finder so I dropped the rig down vertically on a prayer and immediately got bit. I readied myself to land a big bass but I damn near jumped out of the boat when I caught a glimpse of a big walleye before it barrelled straight back toward the bottom. A couple minutes later I was giddily holding my first walleye out of our little cottage lake.

My first cottage lake walleye

My second ever cottage lake walleye. Not a trophy but
more memorable than the big bass we were catching!

We managed to catch a bunch of decent bass that afternoon, but I really can't remember much about any of them, my memory blurred by the excitement of achieving one of my longest standing personal fishing goals.

A nice largemouth...that I almost forgot about

Thanks for all the Fish, Alberta

Six years ago, almost to the month, my wife and I loaded up our little Toyota and moved from Richmond Hill, Ontario to Calgary, Alberta to begin our careers in public education.

We originally only planned to stay out there a couple of years to gain some experience while the teaching job market cooled down back in Ontario.

Well you know how things go. Two years turned to three and three years quickly turned to six. It was during our time in Alberta that my passion for fishing was truly reinvigorated. I had enjoyed fishing since I was a little kid but Alberta helped turn my interest in fishing into a full blown obsession.

Jessica and I during our first summer out west

There's many possible reasons I rediscovered my love for fishing while living in Wild Rose Country. Maybe it was my first big Bow River brown or it could've been smashing my personal bests for pike and walleye in Northern Alberta. Being able to have local Albertans tour me around their favourite mountain streams definitely had something to do with it. Regardless of the reason, Alberta had a lot to do with my current love for fishing.

My first fish on fly gear

Can't get these in Ontario! A Highwood River bull trout.

Despite our love for life out West, six years was a long time to be away from our family and friends. So last week, we jammed what was left of our belongings into a U-Haul trailer and began the long journey back to Southern Ontario. Getting ready for the big move didn't leave much time for fishing this past June.

Still, I clearly had to get out for a last hurrah so my friend Adam and I rented a canoe and fished Two Jack Lake in Banff for one last day of fishing in the Canadian Rockies.

The sun was shining and we weren't disappointed with our decision to forego guaranteed fish for a final chance to fish in some of Canada's most beautiful country. If we had gotten skunked it almost would've been okay just to get out there.

I'm definitely going to miss fishing places like this

Adam started off with a chironomid below his strike indicator and I tied on a balanced leech below mine. It took us some time to figure out at what depth we could expect strikes but once we did, it became clear olive leeches were the way to go.

As we rowed around the clear mountain lake, we both got a few whitefish (Adam seems to only catch whitefish). We were having trouble staying at the right depth as the wind was blowing quite strongly across the lake so we decided to try a quieter bay we spotted on the far shore. Once we got there we both landed a couple more whitefish and much to our surprise I caught my first lake trout. Not a big one but I could finally scratch lakers off my fishing bucket list.

Adam and a nice Rocky Mountain whitefish

My first lake trout

As Jessica and I drove east last week I felt a little melancholy to be leaving the beautiful trout streams and my fishing companions behind. But, as we got into Canadian Shield country and passed countless lakes, rivers and fishing lodges, any sadness I felt quickly turned into feeling excited to finally be home.

Mourning The Loss of a Dream Pike Fishing Spot

For months, I had been waiting anxiously for winter to end but my longing for spring had very little to do with the weather. From what I saw on the news this winter, I think we got off easy here in Southern Alberta. Even though we got an early May snowstorm, a long wait for warm temperatures and sunshine is just part of life here. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if we got another big snow in June.

The real reason I was looking forward to spring was Northern Pike. Specifically hauling the long toothy fish out of our secret pike fishing spot.

Our spot was a once-in-a-lifetime gem. It was one of those places that you sometimes hear about and wish whoever was bragging about it would somehow offer to take you there even though you know you can't simply ask them to. Less than a square kilometre in area, we could easily fish every inch of the shoreline in a couple of hours. Twenty-plus fish mornings and double or triple headers were not only possible but common.

A standard "Pike Pond" pike

Another healthy pike from "Pike Pond"

The fish weren't just plentiful. Many of them were also big. My personal best at "Pike Pond" was a 12 pound pike I caught casting spoons from shore on a sunny late-spring afternoon. My friend Chris managed to pull a 15 pound gator out of the pond early last fall and I have seen much bigger fish chase smaller fish as we fought them to shore. All fishermen are liars, but I swear some of the bigger fish I saw gliding out of the depths had to be over twenty pounds.

A 12 pound pike. Bigger ones lurked in the depths.

This is the type of spot that fishes well so consistently that it's easy to take for granted. I'm really glad I never let that happen.

Two weeks ago I got word that ice was finally off the pond.  The evening before our first spring pike trip of the season I took the time to make sure all my rods, jerk baits, swim baits, spoons, crank baits, leaders, spreaders, pliers and everything else I would need were carefully accounted for and packed up for the morning. It's funny how it's so hard to fall asleep the night before a long-anticipated fishing trip yet it's so easy to get out of bed the morning of.

When we drove up to the spot we noticed that the planned subdivision development had begun as there was a team of yellow excavators parked in a freshly graded field beside the reservoir. There was also a new culvert spilling water into the southeast corner of the pond.

We didn't think much of the development. We knew this day was coming. We felt lucky to be able to fish the pond for one more season before the construction began on the new "lakefront community" that was being built. I did find it a little strange to see a few dead perch washed up on shore but we paid no mind to it, tied on some spoons, and started casting.

Right away, I found it weird that we weren't getting strikes or seeing followers. Further testament to how awesome this spot was.

We continued fishing unsuccessfully around the pond and we kept seeing dead fish here and there on the shore. It was impossible not to think that something was wrong.

As we approached the far side of the pond we saw what we had been beginning to dread. In a corner of the reservoir were hundreds of dead pike and perch. Along the entire side of the pond the water was littered with fish carcasses big and small. We kept casting but it was clear that a mass die-off had occurred and the spot was pretty much done. With the new subdivision being built, it probably wouldn't be coming back either. Every angler knows what it's like to lose that one monster fish. I now know what it's like to lose literally all of them.

When we realized things were really not good

Had we caught these fish before?

So what happened? I have heard of winterkill on several small trout lakes around Alberta. But like I mentioned above, the winter wasn't abnormally bad here and pike and perch are pretty hardy. A friend of mine who works in the water treatment industry suspects something more sinister. He hypothesized that the land developer may have used chlorinated water to sanitize the water line connections for the new community and may have dumped the spent water directly into the pond, thus "sanitizing" our pike spot. I'm not really in any position go much past speculation but that would be pretty unfortunate if true.

I've been hurting to go fishing lately. Pike Pond was supposed to be my big fix this spring before summer bass fishing in Ontario. Maybe this is a sign for me to put down my lead-chucker for a while to focus on tightening my loops in the Bow River until runoff arrives.

Fishing is Priceless...Well, Not Quite

The last time I wrote anything for this blog it was February. It is now May. It's not that I haven't wanted to write anything and it's absolutely not because I haven't been thinking about fishing. Between work, closed lakes and streams and crappy weather, I just haven't been able to get out much.

Generally, when I'm not fishing I'm out spending money on stuff related to fishing. Judging by my last Visa statement, I haven't been fishing enough lately.

In February I finally went out and committed to my first fly rod. I bought a Temple Fork Outfitters 5 weight to go along with the waders, wading boots, vest, fly box, forceps, wooden landing net, strike indicators and zingers I had already purchased. A couple of weeks ago the ice shelfs had shrunk enough for me to take my new rod to the Bow River and whadya know, it works! According to a few anglers I've spoken to, the Bow has been slow this spring but I managed to pull an 18 inch Rocky Mountain Whitefish out of a very popular run in Southeast Calgary. Not bad considering all the times I've been skunked on the Bow River.

First fish on my new 5 wt

A week ago I also went out and bought my first baitcasting outfit completely on a whim. The sales guy at the Fishin' Hole, my favourite local tackle shop, saw me checking out the rods and must've instinctively detected my weakness for sales "suggestions". Next thing I knew I was walking out the door with a brand new Fenwick Nighthawk rod with a Pflueger Supreme reel. I plan to try my new setup out this weekend at our favourite secret spring pike spot.

Part of the reason I never have new clothes

I'm convinced that fishing equipment manufacturers design their gear to catch the eye of the fisherman as much as that of the fish...either that or there's some sort of magic that makes money fly out of my pocket as soon as I cross the threshold of any tackle shop. Regardless, I can think of way worse things to spend money on and if you ask me while I'm on the water, I would tell you fishing is worth every cent.

Shaking off the Winter Angler Blues

Winter weather has certainly been in the news lately. From crazy ice storms in Ontario to record ice coverage on the Great Lakes and even winter driving chaos in the American Deep South, this winter has been something else.

Even though winter seems to have been more harsh all over North America than here in Southern Alberta, it's easy to start feeling the cabin fever creeping in, especially if you're an angler. Even if the weather is cooperating, most of our favourite spots are closed or too dangerous to fish.

That's not to say we haven't been catching fish. We've had fun days down at Chain Lakes Provincial Park and despite my recent skunking at Lower Kananaskis Lake in the edge of the Alberta Rockies, my friend Peter caught the biggest bull trout I've ever seen in person.

A couple more Chain Lakes trout on the ice

I can think of worse places to get skunked than on Lower Kananaskis Lake

Peter and his Lower K bull trout. This pig barely fit through the hole.

Just last weekend, my friend Ivan invited us back to ice fish the little private lake where we spent the last nice day of fall drifting in the sun catching big rainbow trout (read about that day here). Again, the lake was productive and I managed to pull a couple of big trout through the ice as well as a mess of little perch that we weren't allowed to put back as they had been illegally introduced some years ago. I usually don't keep many fish but my wife and I had a blast filleting and frying the little fish for dinner.

A nice rainbow through the ice

Another ice rainbow

A mess of tasty little perch

So, I may not be able to troll around beautiful Canadian Shield lakes or wade through pristine free stone mountain streams for at least a few more months but if this is the worst it gets, we're pretty damn fortunate to be anglers in Canada. It beats having to sleep in your car after getting caught in an Alabama "blizzard" any day of the week.

Ice Fishing for Pan-Sized Rainbows at Chain Lakes Provincial Park

Let's face it. If you're not catching fish, ice fishing is boring. Ice fishing without fish is pretty much just sitting on a lawn chair in a cold parking lot. And without a flasher or a gas powered auger, it is difficult to employ a mobile hardwater fishing strategy to find fish. For us, we may try to better our chances by choosing a likely spot on a map but once we're setup with our holes drilled, we're pretty much stationary for the day.

That's why Chain Lakes Provincial Park is my favourite place to ice fish in Alberta. I'm not familiar with too many other Alberta ice fishing spots but that's largely because we really haven't wanted to go anywhere else.

A pretty little ice rainbow

Steve's dinner

This long coulee in Southwestern Alberta is stocked with rainbow trout every year making the ice fishing action fast and easy.

It's not unusual to pull out a feisty, pan-sized, trout the very first time you drop your bait down the hole. And, as it is legal in Alberta to fish with two lines through the ice, single-handed double-headers are a common occurrence.

Adam and a single-handed double-header

Another single-handed double-header

Even though the fishing at Chain Lakes is easy and fast, the best rig for consistently catching double digit numbers of fish is a 12" - 18" light ice-mono or fluorocarbon leader connected to the mainline by a tiny swivel, thus avoiding annoying line twist. On the end of the leader tie on a tiny, 1/64 to 1/32 oz., jig tipped with a piece of shrimp. For whatever reason, white is by far the best colour for jigs.

The most effective pattern I've found is to drop the rig right to the bottom, pause it in the silt for a few seconds and then raise it a foot or two off the bottom. Hits often come just as the jig is lifted off bottom. If there is no strike on the rise, twitch the jig a few times, hold still for around 30 seconds, and then drop it back onto bottom and repeat. Since the little trout hit lightly and quickly, much like perch, it is best to always have a rod in hand ready for the slightest nibble. Any hole drilled near the south end of the lake will produce fish.

Jessica and a rainbow

Katie and her trout

Not only is the fishing really fun, the drive out to the provincial park is a beautiful trip through the Alberta Foothills. Spotting wildlife is almost a given and on our last trip out, we even saw a pair of moose lazing in the brush just a couple hundred meters from the highway.

Maybe later this season we'll try dead baiting through the ice for some big Southern Alberta pike but it's good to know that Chain Lakes is just an easy drive away for a guaranteed fish fix.

The Bow River: A Tough River That's Hard Not to Love

Depending on the weather, late fall in Alberta can be a bit of a down season for anglers. Most of the streams close on the last day of October and early snow and cold weather, along with depleted fish populations in the numerous put-and-take ponds, tends to keep us off of the spots we fish in the spring and summer. Also, it may look like winter outside but I am certainly not ready to trust any of the early season ice that has formed on some of the higher-elevation lakes.

Still, hope is not lost. In my experience, cold dreary weather can mean successful days on one of Alberta's most famous fisheries, the legendary Bow River.

The Bow River WITHIN Calgary

The Blue Ribbon rated Bow is a phenomenal trout river with most of the best fishing either directly in, or right below the city of Calgary. The river has self-sustaining populations of rainbow and brown trout with fish into the 10 pound range. There are also some large pike and bull trout lurking in the deeper holes. Best of all, warm water expelled from Calgary's water treatment facilities keep lower stretches of the Bow fishable all year long.

Amazing as it is, the Bow is a hard river to fish. It's a large river so it can be difficult to find fish-holding water and even if you know where the spots are, it can be hard to reach them without a lot of walking or by drift-boat. Adding to the challenge, the fish in the Bow are also quite big and therefore experienced, making them wise and weary of the thousands of artificial baits they see day after day.

My personal relationship with the Bow is a tumultuous one. Relatively speaking, I haven't been fishing the river for long as I only moved to Calgary 6 years ago and I have been skunked many times on the Bow. In fact, I wouldn't even bother fishing this river if it didn't offer me a decent trout once or twice a year. If you caught me in a worse mood I may even tell you that the Bow is a grumpy old bag, who makes you want to hate her and when you're almost ready to give up on her, she gives you a fish to remind you who gets to have the last word.

And these fish are almost always beauties. 

My first Bow River Brown. This one had no spots!

Like I mentioned above, the Bow has offered most of these fish to me on dark, dreary, cold days. When it's dark and grey I typically tie on a dark coloured lure, such as a Mepps Black Fury spinner or a split-shot rigged black Wooly Bugger streamer. Also, even though I still haven't bit the bullet and bought a fly rod, I like to dead drift nymphs under floats with my spinning gear.

A typical Bow River brown

A Bow rainbow that fell for a wooly bugger

A Bow brown I caught when I should've been writing report cards

A big brown I caught when everyone else was watching the Super Bowl

A better picture of the Super Bowl brown

Not all of the fish are huge but they are pretty!

With no other angling options until the lakes freeze solid, it may be time to see if the Bow is ready to reaffirm my love for her by giving up another hog.

Well, not all the fish are pretty. A Bow River burbot.