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.

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!

Every Dog Has His Day                                   PHOTO GALLERY

We hiked up to one of our favorite fishing holes today and settled in for some evening trout fishing. Todd seemed to have the right stuff on the end of his line today. He opted to go with a dynamite hook made by Rapala. The lure he chose was the Countdown in the Brown Trout pattern, size 9. He was bombing this proven trout producer out into a long weed bed that has produced many large trout in days gone by. He has a specific method when he fishes this lure, which makes for some great hook ups.

He began his day with a monster Brown that could not resist his Rapala offering.This fish took him to the limits of his eight pound monofilament, but he managed to display some poise and reel this heavyweight to the grassy shoreline. We snapped several photographs and revived him to be released back into the murky water. I was doing my best to produce some kind of life but to no avail today. Shortly after Todd caught his first fish, he was again into a nice Brown trout. This fish was a little smaller than his first but very respectable all the same. He played him out and landed him on the rocks at the bottom end of the pool, released him back into the water for you to catch another day.

The wind began to howl but that never stopped Todd from his mission, another massive trout. He decided to remove his Rapala Brown Trout hook and try something else from his gigantic tackle selection. Nothing seemed to work for him though; so he opted to switch back to what was already been producing fish for him. He fired it back out and within minutes was into a nice male Brown Trout. He was moving up and down the river almost stalking his next fish when low and behold, WHAM-O another Brown takes the plug and goes completely nuts. He landed this scrappy female and let her go. By this time I am throwing my lure a little harder and a little further than normal.

I moved up the river out of Todd’s way and no luck. I looked over my left shoulder and there is Todd, fighting one of the fattest Brown Trout I have ever laid eyes on. I ran over to him, and I do not usually run but the excitement got the best of me. He got this brute to shore and my mouth dropped wide open. This was the kind of fish we were after. Todd took very good care of this fish as you do not want to kill a big fish like this one. We take very good care of all the fish we catch! I snapped some great photos of Todd and his large trout and we packed up and hiked out. I must say, every dog has his day and today was Todd’s day. You dog you !!!!!!