Alberta is littered with quality, accessible trout streams, but a lot of travel is involved in exploration. Your buddies and an online search can’t always prepare you for current river conditions, how do you know what to expect?
Talk river fishing in Alberta and most people immediately conjure up images of southern Alberta' blue ribbon trout stream, the Bow River. Next on the list might be another renowned rainbow and brown trout stream, the Crowsnest. After that talk moves to the growing fishery on the Red Deer River, the multitude of wonderful trout rivers along the eastern slopes of the Rockies. They may even mention the Athabasca River and her tributaries if there' a hardcore bull trout or walleye trophy angler in the crowd. Only if you're willing to sit through to the final credits might you hear anyone offer the North Saskatchewan up for discussion. For those who know the river well and fish her often, this is probably a blessing, as these folks are seldom faced with the crowds many more popular rivers host on a regular basis. Sadly, though, this lack of recognition is due to the fact that far too few anglers know of the quality angling the North Saskatchewan River willingly offers to those who cast her waters.
What is it that separates those who catch trout in moving waters from those who don't? Generally speaking, it isn't casting skills, better equipment or the ability to 'match the hatch'. It's quite simply knowing how to read the waters they're fishing and, as a result, they spend considerably more time playing those parts of the stream that hold fish than those that don't.
The change over from March 31st to April 1st completely redefines the angling landscape. Where many pike, walleye and whitefish lakes were open March 31st, come April 1st most all of them are closed. Given this, for those of us still eager to hit the ice and catch a fish, our best bet is to chase trout. Almost every trout lake near and far remains open year round however local regulations should be reviewed before setting out. The upside is that some of the best ice fishing happens through April.
While attending the U of A last winter I met Colleen, a wonderful person, an ecologist and mom who wanted to introduce her children to fishing. We made plans to go out fishing and sometime towards he middle of August our schedules agreed. We met along the shores of the North Saskatchewan River and had a great evening.
There are a number of ways to catch goldeye. They are very aggressive fish that will eat a minnow, a spoon, a worm, a plug, a spinner and, of course, a fly. The real trick to goldeye fishing is determining the right depth to present your lure.
