Trout Fishing Stories Of Kananaskis Country

The Secret Jewel Of Kananaskis Country

Many years ago now a friend of mine and I decided to go fishing. We decided we weren’t going to go anywhere near Calgary, we wanted to drive out to the mountains to see if we can find a secluded spot where we could fish. We drove out to the mountains heading West in search of trophy trout. Highway 1 west we drove and continued on towards Highway 40 where we turned off to enter the mountains of Kananaskis country. Once we made the turn we both began searching for water that looked fishable. It didn’t matter where we were as long as we could find water that was fishable and looked like it held trout.

We drove a long ways on Highway 40 until finally my friend Tom said “whoa wait a minute, there’s water down there pull over”. I didn’t see the water at first as I was in the driver seat and could not see over the side of the cliff. I decided it was worth a try and pulled over at the first available turnout. Once we pulled over, Tom immediately grabbed his fishing rod and lures and was halfway down the hill before I could open my car door. Tom made a bee line for the trees and disappeared into the thick pine filled forest. He was not playing around, he had fish to catch!

As I continued on into the trees I could see the water from the top of the hill. It was a gorgeous sight as I figured that there could possibly be fish in this location. Tom had already arrived at the pond before me. Once I arrived I saw Tom kicking an overhanging tree that was submerged in the pond.  When he kicked the submerged tree about five or six fish darted out and swam away. “Oh yeah baby, this is the spot” exclaimed Tom. The fish were taking cover from the hot scorching sun; wow was it ever hot that July summer afternoon. Once we saw the fish swim away from underneath the tree we both knew that this was the place that we were going to catch fish! Just how many fish we were going to catch we did not know.

It was time to tie up our lures and get busy fishing. We had bought lures called Kastmaster’s made by Acme the day before. We bought all different sizes and colors of these lures to make sure we were going to get trout. Tom was the first to get his line wet and upon his first retrieve on his very first cast, Tom was able to hook into a nice little Brook Trout. Those trout that day were scrappy and they were sure a lot of fun. I then made my first cast into the pond and was able to land a nice Brook Trout as well. “This is going to be a great day” I said to Tom who was standing just a little bit to my right. What was about to transpire neither Tom nor I had ever imagined.

We caught fish one after the other, all day long! It wouldn’t have mattered if we would’ve tied a piece of tinfoil around a hook and threw it in there, I’m sure we would have still caught fish. Tom and I walked around the whole pond and pulled out at least 50 fish a person. It was incredible! What looked to me from the road like nothing but a waste of time and energy, turned out to be one of the best fishing trips of my life. These fish were not massive by any stretch of the imagination, but there were lots of them. This place was sacred and we both kept it’s location a well guarded secret. We made a pact right there and then, no one was going to know where we were that day. Both Tom and I returned to this honey hole that same year and were successful on all our trips. Don’t you just love summer days like that?