Walleye on the Red Deer River

Have you ever caught walleye on a fly? It is an excellent challenge. Karen and I hit the Red Deer River this morning with our fly rods. We rooted around until we found some walleye. We tied on a white balanced fly (size 4) and jigged it through some likely looking walleye spots! The takes are subtle. A little bounce of the strike indicator is a hit! We also fly fished with a fly called a Candy Corn. The walleye liked Dave Green's neat two tone orange Candy Corn as well.

It was cold this morning! Lots of layers made us comfortable. Karen wore her trusty Muck boots and I put on my waders. It was quite overcast as well this morning. For some reason, we seem to have better success on cloudy days.

We even had a curious bull moose pop out of the willows to pay us a visit!

 

A Chinook Arch Over Sylvan Lake

What a great day to be outside. A chinook arch stretched across the western sky! It was there all day. Actually it pulled off mid afternoon but shortly after, it reformed. It was very cool to watch! Karen and I decided to stay close to home today and we were glad we did. We had a second cup of coffee this morning. It was cold, a frosty -5C. Then we loaded up the gear and pram then headed to Palm Bay to launch. We headed to the west end of the lake. It took us a bit of moving around to find the most active area with lake whitefish. We probed with blood worm patterns. We finally settled on 10 feet of water. We also added a red butt zucchini to our train of flies. The whitefish smashed the zucchini when they saw it. We could have stayed until dark but family obligations pointed us home. That was just fine after a wonderful day on the water.

A Well Chewed Red Butt Zucchini!

Perfect Water Temperature

Our Go To Leader Material

 

Lake Water Temperatures in Central Alberta Are Dropping Quickly

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend everyone! Karen and I were having a great time with our family! We have a lot to be thankful for!

I was quite shocked today when I turned on my Garmin Fish Finder and saw the surface water temperature was a bone chilling 44F. That cold front that settled over Central Alberta and dropped some snow caused our lakes' water temperature to drop down 5 of 6 degrees celsius.

Well Karen and I broke out the warm jackets and wind pants today. Karen wore 2 jackets. The wind was definitely cold. We also threw a couple of small towels into our kit so we can keep our hands dry. When they are wet with the cold water, they get cold fast, especially when there is wind.

Well today was a decent day out on the water but not amazing. Throat samples suggested that the trout were not very active the last few days. Our catch rate was lower than last week. The fish were definitely lethargic! I hope that picks up the next time we get out!

Lots of geese were on the move as well!

Actively feeding fish were deeper today. I was able to hook up a lot stripping backswimmers and boatmen in the afternoon using an intermediate line. Today I had to count down to 15 to get strikes as I stripped in my team of three flies. I caught trout on all three flies.  (a Rinse and Repeat and two modified Flashbacks) I had them spaced 2 to 3 feet apart!