The Challenges of High Water Temperatures

Today was June 16th and that means all of our Eastern Slopes rivers are open for the season. Today was also the opener at Swan Lake, west of Caroline. Karen, Larry, Ken and I headed out to Swan Lake. It is a very interesting fishery because it has lake trout, pike and brown trout. We all arrived around 8 am and were on the water shortly after that.

Once we set up, three Conservation Officers came over to ensure we had everything in order. They checked for fishing licenses, boating certificates and the regulation safety gear (whistle, flashlight, throw rope, and bailer). We had everything in order and after a friendly chat we set up to try and catch some lakers.

Conservation Officers checking everyone at the lake.

Well, I turned on my sounder and immediately frowned when I saw the water temperature was close to 62F. That is too warm for lakers to be in shallow water. We did try to find lakers in 13-14 feet of water but we had no luck. We were using blobs and surprisingly we caught several pike. Hmmm! There were callabaetis spinners everywhere on the water in large numbers.

We looked for deeper transitions, and fished out in 35 feet of water and dangled. No luck. We did find some pods of fish 12-14 feet in 35 feet of water. Surely we would hook up, no dice.

By later afternoon, surface temperatures were edging towards 65 F. 

We headed back to Red Deer late in the afternoon, a bit disappointed but not too surprised. Was it water temperature or the big blue sky or was it post cold front from the day before? My guess was the higher water temperature. You definitely can catch lakers by fishing deeper with a full sink line. We tried but had no hook ups. There were lots of other boats on the water, I wonder how they made out?

Last year we had an amazing two days but the water temperature was way down. I certainly hope the water doesn't get too warm. 

Sometimes we forget to look up and enjoy where we are. Today we loved being on the water. Eagles, swans, loons, grebes and a whole host of other bird life made the lake feel so alive. Not every day falls exactly into place. We still made the best of it!

 

Giving Back to Our Rivers and Community-Piper Creek Community Gardens Tree Planting Project

Freshwater Conservation Canada lead by biologist Leslie Peterson along with the City of Red Deer brought 60 trees and shrubs to the Piper Creek Community Gardens to plant today. It has been a long term project to restore Piper Creek to a more natural state! Culverts have been removed, banks stabilized and we have planted saskatoons, wolf willow and several species of tress over the last several years. The trees we planted were obtained from a federal program called 2 billion trees. We had a group of 10 volunteers, 2 staff from Freshwater Conservation Canada and Ken Lehman from the City of Red Deer!

I am very impressed at how the Piper Creek Community Garden has developed and Piper Creek area is quite scenic!

We also had a large group of goats eating the grass. 

A big thanks to Adam, Karen and Doug for joining me today. It is a project that has given us the opportunity to give back to our environment and community! We even did some electro fishing today. That was interesting to help with!

 

Rocky Mountain Whitefish on the Red Deer River

Karen and I decided to target rocky mountain whitefish on the Red Deer River this afternoon before the thunderstorms rolled in! The river is in perfect condition to fly fish for rockies. We fly fished with wiggle worms, Rainbow Warriors (size 14 and 16) and Frenchies (size 12 and 16). We drifted our flies just 4 to 5 below a strike indicator. We look for seams where two currents come together, deeper water and at times, slower water on the edge of faster water!

Tomorrow is tree planting day at the  Agricultural Area just south of the Red Deer Landfill on Piper Creek on Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm. You can sign up right here:

https://www.freshwaterconservationcanada.org/event-details/piper-creek-tree-planting-e-fishing-event