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!
No comments:
Post a Comment