Fish Kill at Hansen's Reservoir at Eckville

Hansen's Reservoir has had a Fish Kill: Take a Look 

 

Is it too Hot to Fly Fish?

...from Weather Network

I have talked about water temperature before. All fish are vulnerable when the water warms. Just because a fish swims off does not mean it is ok. Fish will be dropping into deeper water. I would recommend considering either not fishing or constantly monitor water temperature. Karen and I are not fishing at these temperatures at the moment!

If you do venture out, take a water thermometer with you and use the guidelines in a previous post as a guide!

We do fish lakes that are glacier feed and the water temperature is definitely cold and then it is just fine to fish!

The best rule of thumb is use a thermometer and if the water temperature gets close to 67 or 68F, shut it down. That includes non trout species as well! Some fly fishers beef up the tippet and quickly land the fish and release it with no pictures when they do fish when the water temperatures are rising!

 

Pike Like Bloodworms

Karen and I had quite the pleasant surprise a few days back. We were targeting lake trout but the first three fish we caught were pike. We were using a rather large bloodworm pattern. We have experienced this as well with chironomids as well. Pretty cool to have this happen!

 

Do You Use Bathymetric Maps?

Bathymetric maps are a great tool. In Alberta, you can find them on several Alberta Sustainable Resources Development (SRD) websites. You can use these maps to find, drop offs, structure on our provincial lakes. I use this excellent resource all of the time. It helps get me started especially when I am fly fishing a new lake that I am not familiar with. 

Take a look right here to find your favourite lake and map!

 

Sylvan Lake Whitefish

I love to fly fish for lake whitefish! They are definitely hard fighting fish. My buddy Doug and I spent 6 hours at Sylvan Lake tangling with lake whites today. The water temperature was 59F in the early hours. We fly fish for the lake whitefish in the same manner as we do trout! Once we figure out the right depth, we decipher what the lake whites will strike! Today is was bloodworms. We saw a lot of chironomids on the water, the whites were also gulping caddis on the surface. Fly fishing in 11 to 12 feet of water anywhere from 9 to 10 feet deep kept us in very steady action! If you have not tried it, I would definitely recommend giving it a try! At times we connect with both walleye and pike with bloodworms and chironomids as well!

 

Lake Trout on the Fly-Great Fun!

Catching a lake trout on the fly is not easy, especially when the population of lake trout is not high! Karen, Doug, Rick, Silvia, Dave, Steve, Taryn and I gave it a go in the last two days. There are so many variables to contend with but, when you get it right and have some luck you might connect on a beautiful hard fighting laker. Yes lakers eat chironomids, bloodworms, mayflies, balanced flies and streamers. What depth, that is a big question I must say. You have to be patient and be prepared to be snubbed all day. Wind can also be a big factor. We do not troll although that is an excellent strategy using a full sink deep 7 line. Lakers like to follow your fly for a long time, then they might just turn away but every once in a while you connect. Lakers are hard fighting and quite challenging to bring to the surface.  We mainly used 7 weight rods.

Steve Luethi photo

If you are willing to spend a day and not catch anything, you have the right mind set. When you do connect, you are in for an excellent tussle. Do some research and you can be chasing lake trout within 3 hours of Red Deer on several lakes. It is well worth the challenge.

Steve Luethi photo

 

A Milestone Yesterday for Our Blog

 We broke the 500 000 visits mark for our blog. Now that is incredible! Thanks for visiting!

Something to Keep in Mind

...an excellent reminder from Trout Unlimited

 

Keep'em Wet and In the Water When the Water Warms

Doug and I spent the day chasing rainbows. We both agreed to not lift any fish out of the water. The water temperature was 65F. We experienced a cold front, wind when the cold front left then one beauty of an afternoon! The action was decent considering the weather changes we dealt with!

 

Chasing Hatches BUT, ...

Chasing hatches is always a great adventure. At times, you get thunderstormed real good. Steve, Brandon and I will be back!

 

Downtown on the Red Deer River

Oh baby it is hot outside today. Karen and I decided to hit the Red Deer River in town. There are lots of places to fly fish too! We are lucky enough to walk right out the door of our house and be fly fishing in less than 5 minutes. The Red Deer River is off colour (about 2 feet of visibility) and reasonably low today for this time of the year!

Karen wanted to cast dry flies and she had some takes but no hook ups. I nymphed and the good old wiggle worm helped me catch several goldeye!

Look for a riffle with a drop. You might find a goldeye, whitefish, walleye, pike or a brown trout! Lots of bugs were hatching today.

One of my favourite hatches is amping up!

So frustrating to continually find evidence of poaching. Sigh. Have the Report a Poacher Number handy and on quick dial. Take a photo and send it in!

 

Wiggle Worms Work Great on Stillwaters

My neighbour Colin and I were out enjoying a beautiful day on a local lake yesterday. We tangled with a few fish but it was the day after a cold front passed through. It was cool and breezy. Colin suggested we should tie on a wiggle worm. I did not really think he was serious but what the heck. Surprise, the rainbows smashed them. The throat samples clearly were indicating the trout were eating blood worms. Well we caught several beautiful specimens. The key is to fish the blood worm imposters very close to the bottom. Just attached your forcepts or a weight to your fly to measure depth to your strike indicator. I got one throat sample that was full of mud and worms. The rainbows were nosing right into the bottom to get after the blood worms. By the way, take a look at the throat sample below. Some of the blood worm samples are white. Interesting. I have encountered several samples like this lately!

Caddis are on our local waters. Be sure to have some small sedge like patterns along. The rainbows were smashing them yesterday.

Please be aware that water temperatures are climbing. When we get into the high 60sF, it is time to give the trout a break. Maybe hit a walleye lake, a river or target lake whitefish.