Posts tagged 'Winter'

Now that winter has arrived and the cold temperatures and inclement weather conditions with it, angling activity tends to teeter off.  Winter is commonly a sign for anglers to ...

A few tips that may modify your approach to ice fishing.

As winter fast approaches here in Alberta, (did we ever get summer?), thoughts of a long, cold winter disheartens most fly fishers. We will probably be lucky enough to get in a few days on the Bow or Crowsnest, as long as our days off coincide with the much anticipated Chinook winds.  Last winter I was lucky enough to make two winter fly fishing trips, both of which were first time events for me. In late January I travelled to Cuba to fly fish for bonefish and in early March I travelled to Idaho to fly fish for winter steelhead. One of the best things about trips like these is that not only do they give you a break from winter for a week or two but the trip planning and preparations make the time go by a little quicker. As a fly fisher, part of the preparation involves researching the flies that will be needed, and, if you are also a tyer, it means sitting down at the bench for several evenings tying up your final selection.

The warm days of March seem to trigger something in lake whitefish.  They seem to go nuts and get started on the biggest feed of the year.  There are days when I can limit out in minutes as one fish after the other line up and hammer my hook.  I think the warmer weather from the Spring sun kicks the food chain up a notch.  Whatever the reason, it’s a great time to be a whitefish angler.

In the coming months some of the biggest walleye of the year will be caught, through the ice, in water so shallow it'll scare you when they bite. Just ask my good friend Derek Nyrose. He came to Alberta from Vancouver on a work assignment and took a day off to go ice fishing on Calling Lake with me. After looking down the hole and breaking off on a large walleye early in the day he jumped to his feet motioning with his arms to indicate how big the fish he was now seeing down the hole. At this point his eyes were as big as saucers but he managed to settle down and stick the next few bites including a 7 pound beauty and then a 9.6 pound monster. Talk about beginners luck. This was the first day he had ever fished for, let alone caught a walleye. I couldn't complain either as I caught a 7 pound beast myself and our friend Larry hooked a few beauties himself. Calling Lake is a real producer of monster walleye through the ice.

Every year around early to mid November I make my pilgrimage to a couple chosen lakes for some of the best brook trout fishing of the year. At first ice, brookies will be spawning, normally in shallow water over gravel beds if available. Barring that, they will pick any suitable shoreline, set up shop in two to six feet of water and have at it. This is great for fishing because we can drill a bunch of shallow holes and if they’re around we’ll see them swimming under our toes.

It started back in grade 7. I had just moved to Grande Cache, Alberta from the lower mainland of BC and to quote my dad, “now you’ll see what a real winter is like.” Snow that lasted more than a few days excited me, plus the fact that it can be a dry snow.

As I look out to snow covered fields, frozen puddles and the distinct quiet that winter brings; I look forward to the coming of ice fishing. It’s always anticipated, if for no other reason than change.

If ever there's a time to get on the ice for some great fishing, this has to be it. The burbot event, as I like to call it, is starting. I was at South Buck, a newly discovered favorite lake catching all kinds of pike by day and walleye by night. The fish were biting strong right into the night and then . I had hooked a heavy, heavy fish that didn't run, but pulled real hard. Burbot have a habit of doing that.

To consistently catch fish through the ice requires versatility, foresight and a willingness to go that extra mile.