Back to Sylvan Lake, ...A Great Way to Spend Victoria Day!

Karen and I avoid the west country on long weekends. 

We decided to hit Sylvan lake today with our daughter, Kate, and Son-In-Law, Adam. Tiki and Pepper also wanted to be part of the fun so off we went. We hit the lake early but not too early just to avoid traffic at the boat launch! It was a good decision. We motored to a favourite spot and started to chironomid fly fish. Well the action was continuous for lake whites and the occasional walleye. We had a ball. Two old timers came by to ask how we were catching so many fish. I tried to explain what a chironomid was. I gave the two fellas 4 chironomids, told them how to fish with them and they were off to their favourite spot. Pretty sure they were looking for dinner!

Again like last Wednesday, we fly fished in 7 or 8 feet of water. We rigged up our indicators so we were were 6 or 7 feet down. All we used were black and red ice cream cone chironomids, size 12!

When going to Sylvan Lake, pay attention to the wind. Today we had a mainly NW wind which was ideal for where we were fly fishing.

There is no question that we loved Victoria Day! So much fun!

If you have not tried fly fishing for lake white fish or walleye, do give it a go! It will be great until early July and then again in October!

Taking One of the Grandkids to Mitchell Pond at Heritage Ranch

May long weekend is upon us. Karen and I were able to get our 4 year old grandson, Gavin, out to fish. He loves to fish! I did a quick check of the Alberta Conservation Association stocking report and realized that they had indeed stocked Mitchell Pond at Heritage Ranch! We hiked on down. Now Gavin is too young for a fly rod but his cars casting rod set up with a bobber and flashbacks and a Glens Leech got the job done. Fly fishing with a casting rod is a great strategy for kids!

Be safe and get the kids outside. Enjoy the beautiful weather!

Winter Kill at Dickson! What a Relief! Honestly!

It is not a pretty sight and your sense of smell will tell you that something is decomposing. Yes, it is a major fish kill at Dickson Trout Pond. Ordinarily, winter kill is a bad thing but this time, it is a blessing in disguise. The biomass of fish in Dickson Trout Pond has been dominated by suckers. A lot of suckers, 1000s of them. This harsh winter killed off most of the suckers but not all of them. A few die hards did make it through the long winter.

My neighbour, Colin, our friend Murray and I spent a few hours at Dickson fly fishing. If you can get past the bad smell of decomposition and the sight of 1000s of dead suckers, the fly fishing is pretty good! You will be limited to catching "stockies" but they are willing and plentiful. The water is turbid but a size 12 Glen's Leech fished close to shore just 18 inches to 2 feet under a strike indicator kept us busy!

The pelicans, osprey and eagles are having a great time. The food in the lake will allow the rainbows to grow until the sucker population again dominates the biomass in the lake. Unfortunately, Dickson is over stocked with rainbows. It would be nice to see the stocking match the available food in the pond.

I hope the decomposition happens fast and then the smell will settle allowing a more enjoyable fishing experience. ...but in the sort term bring a clothes pin for your nose!

Sylvan Lake Opener, ...Lake Whitefish on the Fly and Walleye too

May 15th is a date we have circled on the calendar because the Red Deer River opens for a new season as does Sylvan Lake. The weather was perfect to get out on the lake and test out all the systems on our 1756 G3 and 40 hp Yamaha. We loaded up and thirty minutes later were launching at Sylvan Lake. Rick, Colin, Karen and I were targeting lake white fish. Before the water temperature gets too high, the lake white fish are cruising in 10 feet of water or less. We were using chironomids today to catch them. A basic black and red ice cream cone chironomid size 12 kept us into white fish from 9 am to 3 o'clock when we called it a day. We fished in 7 or 8 feet of water and we we able to catch a lot of white fish! Some were excellent quality! We even caught some walleye on chironomids. 

As you can see, it was a picture perfect day. Very little wind, great company and hungry whitefish made for an outstanding Sylvan Lake Opener!

Early Season Fly Fishing

Shore fly fishing has been excellent at several local pot hole lakes in Central Alberta. Head out to your favourite lakes and check them out! Slashing boatmen, small forage fish patterns, and light chironomid hatches have been on the menu for hungry trout!

Ice Off in Central Alberta, ...FINALLY

Finally the wintery shell that has covered our lakes and pot holes for the long winter is melting! The flies we have tied over the winter months are stored in the fly boxes as we anxiously prepare all of our gear for the new fly fishing season! Many of us have new gear and we want to put the gear to good use!

click on the pictures to make them larger

It was nice to find open water in Central Alberta that also had hungry well conditioned trout that survived the winter quite nicely! My buddies Colin and Murray and my wife Karen, wanted to go exploring , so we threw the gear in with the anticipation of another fun filled season!

We found open water that had rainbows! The water temperature was cold, after all it was just after ice off but fortunately we found some hungry trout. We even found some larger rainbows that were fat,  thanks to the incredible supply of forage in the lake. Our best fly was Glen's Leech, size 12 (black). It is a good fly to try right after ice off!

Dust off the gear everybody, get a current fly fishing license and enjoy the lakes we have in Central Alberta. Not all lakes are totally ice free but most are partially ice free or close to shedding their icy cover.

Many of our pot hole lakes will be stocked in the next few days!

be sure to review the updated regulations!

....finally!

Images are all from this past week!

Glen's Leech, a great early season fly!

Murray with a nice rainbow!

Forage fish!

Can you see the forage fish under the strike indicator!