It was just getting light out at 7:30 am when we loaded up the 17 foot G3 and headed towards Rocky Mountain House. The weather man called for a beautiful day and for once, he (she) was accurate. As we crossed the Medicine River the thermometer on my truck read -5C, burr! Rick, Karen and I wanted another crack at Cow Lake. It is late in the season and the water temperatures are going down rapidly. The dock at the boat launch was already pulled out but we had our boots and waders for launching so we were in good shape. We loaded up the G3 and motored down the lake. All three of us were bundled up in warm clothes although by late morning, we could have been in shorts and t-shirts! The lake was glass, not a bit of wind. That made for easy motoring but tough on indicator fishing. The visibility in Cow Lake is low at the moment, perhaps 18 inches. We found an edge and fished close to shore. We started using Tokaryk Specials and I wanted to try my Balanced Olive Brill Hot Spot Leech. I like to use it when fish are on shrimp and our throat samples suggested that was exactly the case. I did have success with the Hot Spot Balanced Brill Leech!We knew that we would not catch a ton of trout but we hoped to tangle with several quality rainbows and perhaps a brown or two.
Cow Lake is a very shallow large lake. SRD stocked Cow Lake with over 100 000 rainbows (this spring) and several thousand browns. Yes there are pike and perch in the lake and if the lake doesn't winter kill, the pike and perch will eventually destroy the lake as a trout fishery. In the meantime, the lake has some decent trout to enjoy!
Rick set up casting a retrieving a scud pattern on an intermediate line. Nothing. Karen and I were getting hooks ups from indicator fishing. That seemed to be the best strategy today. The fish we did catch were all big, strong and well conditioned. We almost considered trolling. Slap, that was not happening.
We repositioned the boat a lot and we landed 10 trout during our day.
We talked to several fishermen. Most were trolling. One boat only caught pike, and another did pick up some trout with hardwear.
I have to admit that the warm weather was a real bonus once the frost left. It would have been nice to get some chop on the water to move our set ups but we were grateful to enjoy a beautiful warm sunny day while hooking up on some decent trout at times. When we left, it was 22C. Rick thought he got a sun burn.
Cow Lake is shallow and very prone to winter kill. Cow Lake also gets an extreme amount of ice fishing pressure. If you do get a chance before freeze up to give it a go, I would definitely recommend it!
Lots of shrimp and a cased caddis!
Karen with a decent brown!
Rick caught this monster rainbow that Karen is holding!
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