May 09

Gone Fishing- Crawling Valley

Back out at Crawling Valley                        PHOTO GALLERY

It was opening day yesterday at Crawling Valley Reservoirand I was able to escape the city and try my luck at this excellent Walleye fishery. The drive out to Crawling Valley takes an hour and twenty minutes but is definitely worth the trip. Crawling Valley holds its fair share of large Walleye and also has some great Pike and Burbot fishing. Every spring I look forward to the excellent fishing this reservoir has to offer. The Walleye come out of the deeper water and move to shallower territory in search for food. This provides for some non-stop action here.

I prefer to use bait when fishing here and my first choice is always frozen minnows. I went to the tackle shop and saw a bag of colored minnows on the shelf. They came in two different colors, pink or florescent green and were reasonably priced at 11.00$ CDN. I opted to buy some and give them a try. Todd however stated he always had good luck fishing Walleye with worms, so we placed our bets and moved to the till. As we pulled into the reservoir there were already six people fishing and I said a friendly hello to one of them. We exchanged some words and I went over to my favorite spot along the shoreline, tied up and sat back and waited for the bite. Todd was the lucky one who had a bite with his proven worm trick; he patiently waited as the Walleye nibbled those irresistible worms. He set the hook abruptly and was into the first fish of the day. We snapped some photos and released the fish back into the reservoir. Looks like I’m buying dinner tonight, referring to the bet back at the tackle shop.

We stayed long enough for Todd to pull one more Walleye from the murky water on a spinner made by Blue Fox. I had a few good bites but never managed to land one fish. I made a note to myself to include worms in my selection of bait for the next trip here. It is wise for one to have a selection of different baits in case one type of bait is not working. All in all I enjoyed the trip and have a feeling I will return to the Valley very soon. Hopefully this time I will be the lucky one hauling in those nice big Walleye’s.

May 06

Gone Fishing

A Day at the River                                             PHOTO GALLERY

With Rain pouring down here the last three days and the water staining up, it has been tough staying inside and working on the website. I have never been much for indoor events, I would much rather be outside floating and fishing a river. With the sun shining yesterday it was nice to take a drive to Carseland and fish above the weir. This is a popular spot amongst anglers in and around the Calgary area as there seems to be an abundance of trout in this area of the river.

Upon my arrival at the weir I noticed that the pelicans are slowly making their way back to the river. I observed seven pelicans searching for food directly across the river from where I was fishing. I watched them come together and swim around herding up their late evening supper. The water seemed to come alive when I was tying up my Panther Martin and fish were flying out of the water all over. This made me anxious to get my hook in the water to say the least! I fired that hook out until my arm felt like it was going to fall off and not one trout seemed to be interested. I think these fish are trained not to take any anglers offerings here. This is the reason that I search for low pressure holes on a river, so I can a least catch one trout.

I was alright with nothing landed as just getting outside is half the fun for me. Needles to say the fishing on the Bow River has slowed down immensely the past month which leads me to believe that I must leave the river alone and start fishing the lakes and reservoirs now. The Walleye fishing opens in two days so this weekend I will be out fishing for Walleye in my favorite reservoir. I will take many photographs and keep you posted on the days events.

May 02

Fishing Trips- Lower Kananaskis Lake

Ice off Means Fish On                                    PHOTO GALLERY

I love this time of year when the ice is about to come off the lakes here in Alberta. This is when I love to fish any lake in the province. My favorite of them all has to be theLower Kananaskis Lake in K-country. The drive from the city of Calgary is a short one of only 50 minutes. One you arrive at the lake you will be absolutely breath taken as this has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. The fishing here is as good as the scenery. 

Once the ice has come off the lake I make a point of fishing here. Those massive Bull Troutcome out of the deep water into the shallows looking for minnows and flies that are present on the shore lines. I have seen these fish drive minnows right into the shoreline and come right out of the water to chow down. One must remember that the hatch in this high mountain lake is much later than the city. It stays colder here longer preventing the bugs to hatch one to two months later. This will work in your benefit and you will have to make proper tackle selections. I use baitfish imitations such as the Rapala Husky Jerk,the Berkley Frenzy, the Rapala X-Rap or the Cotton Cordell Spot.

One thing that’s important is the size of the lure you use. I will walk the shore line to find those minnows and pay close attention to the size of the minnows. I then make my selection based on the size of the minnows I have seen. Color may also play a factor so bring various color patterns with you to increase your odds. Jigs also work really well here so include those in your tackle box as well for good measure. Move up and down the shoreline slowly and find where the fish are holding and fish your bait slowly at working the bottom, then the middle, then the top to find out what depth you need to fish. Be persistent and you will hook one of these monster Bull Trout that live in this body of water. This is where the record Bull Trout was taken so who knows, maybe you will latch into a record on your next trip.

Apr 30

Fishing Trips- Upper Bow River

Off to The Mountains                                     PHOTO GALLERY

It was a beautiful day here in Calgary, and as a fisherman that usually means that I am on the banks of the river. Todd and I decided to give the Lower Bow a well deserved rest and head towards the mountains. This portion is what is considered the Upper Bow and can produce some hefty trout. It seems as the fishing has gotten a lot slower the last two weeks, almost like someone turned off the tap. So if there’s a will then there is a way and off we go to the mountains. We pulled over at the Eckshaw turn off and quickly noticed how crystal clean the water was. We drove up the road a little further and pulled over at a nice looking corner of the river.

I looked over to see what Todd was going to tie up and I decided to use the Blue Fox Vibrax Minnow Spinner in the black/gold color pattern. I have been told that there are some larger Browns roaming the waters here and big browns love this lure. We were in a deep hole that was on the bend of the corner and I fired the lure out as far as I could get it. This lure I retrieve slowly when the water is cold as it gives the sluggish fish a chance to grab it. I made roughly made ten casts and was into a 12 inch Brown Trout. This little guy put up quite the battle but was easily landed on shore. I worked the pocket of water for awhile until my next fish latched onto my lure. This fish was very hungry that was evident as the whole 3 inch minnow spinner was in his jaws.

This fish was a lot larger than the first and I was o.k. with that. I battled him and landed him with no problem, gently removed the hook and gazed him over for a few seconds. It’s quite surprising how trout from the upper Bow look a lot different than trout from the lower portion. This fish was considerably lighter with the spots more pronounced than the fish from the lower section. Beautiful looking fish for sure, great view of the mountains combined with a nice sunny day. It does not get any better than that!