question for upper kananaskis lake

[leggacy]

Im heading to point backcountry camp which is on the north end of the lake right by the river entrance. All the threads mention fishing the south side but not the north side. Im hoping to spend time fishing at point and im looking for insurance that the area is decent for it. any comments are appreciated

[Scott N]

This isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but I’ll comment on my weekend trip. I was up at Rawson Lake on Sunday, and when I returned to my truck, a young fellow approached me and said he was doing a creel survey for F&W for Upper K. Lake. I told him I fished Rawson that day, but asked how the fishing has been in the Upper Lake, specifically the size of the bull trout. He told me they were getting up to 28” or so, but that the success rate for all fish in the Upper Lake has been pretty poor this year.

If you’re up for a bit of a hike, I had a pretty good day at Rawson Lake on Sunday. It sure is pretty up there. I also caught a few bulls in the Lower Lake last month, but I’ve never had any luck at Upper Kananaskis Lake. Go figure!

[leggacy]

yeah i was considering going to rawson lake. lower lake is defiantly easier fishin from my experience. thanks for the advice how long is the hike? not that i care but my gal is with me and not looking for anything to crazy. Also im guessing there arent fish in hidden lake?

[Scott N]

yeah i was considering going to rawson lake. lower lake is defiantly easier fishin from my experience. thanks for the advice how long is the hike? not that i care but my gal is with me and not looking for anything to crazy. Also im guessing there arent fish in hidden lake?

The hike to Rawson is about 4 km or so from the parking lot at Lower K. It's what I would call a moderate hike... not too steep, but uphill most of the way. I've never fished Hidden Lake, but think it might have cutties?

[Heavy K]

Probably nothing in Hidden Lake. It has MASSIVE water fluctuations. It's been close to full most of this summer. In dry years, by fall, it tends to be almost empty. Not that I'm an expert, but I don't know how that would be all that good for fish habitat. Never seen a fish rise while walking alongside it. As it drains underground to Upper Kananaskis nothing would move up from there. Perhaps things get washed over Foch falls from Aster? Let us know if you have any luck or if you hear otherwise.

[Woolly Bugger]

This isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but I’ll comment on my weekend trip. I was up at Rawson Lake on Sunday, and when I returned to my truck, a young fellow approached me and said he was doing a creel survey for F&W for Upper K. Lake. I told him I fished Rawson that day, but asked how the fishing has been in the Upper Lake, specifically the size of the bull trout. He told me they were getting up to 28” or so, but that the success rate for all fish in the Upper Lake has been pretty poor this year.

If you’re up for a bit of a hike, I had a pretty good day at Rawson Lake on Sunday. It sure is pretty up there. I also caught a few bulls in the Lower Lake last month, but I’ve never had any luck at Upper Kananaskis Lake. Go figure!

I fished (I am a fly rodder) the lower lake last Saturday with an inflatable as our family was camping nearby. I used a Class IV sink tip line and figured I covered 20-25 feet of the water column and had no luck. I worked a 2 KM stretch (I was 200-400 meters from shore) east / west in front of Interlakes campground past the Trans-Alta station and beyond. Tried numerous streamers and nymphs to no avail. Admittedly, I am not much of a stillwater enthusiast and seldom fish it so this was par for the course. Looking through old threads it seems the upper lake gives up fish easier not the lower.

[Dust1n]

I fished (I am a fly rodder) the lower lake last Saturday with an inflatable as our family was camping nearby. I used a Class IV sink tip line and figured I covered 20-25 feet of the water column and had no luck. I worked a 2 KM stretch (I was 200-400 meters from shore) east / west in front of Interlakes campground past the Trans-Alta station and beyond. Tried numerous streamers and nymphs to no avail. Admittedly, I am not much of a stillwater enthusiast and seldom fish it so this was par for the course. Looking through old threads it seems the upper lake gives up fish easier not the lower.

the lower lake will give you bigger fish like the rainbows and the bulls.
the lower lake has smaller and easler cutties and skinny bulls.

a slow retve is best on the lakes i find. i was at lower k by the parking lot and got a 11lb bull on a black bucky

[Freddydog]

the upper lake was stocked in 2009 and 2010 with cutties. due to the fact you can keep fish they are almost gone. i wouldnt waste my time here. the lower lake is good for lazy bulls, again i wouldnt waste your time. these lakes wont be productive for sport fish(which bull trout are not) until catch and release regs are used. Too many meat hunters here.

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Make sure you got bear spray and bangers or something that you can possibly get there attention because beleave you me youll run into alot of these . http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii122/JOHN_CONROY/ebd98421.jpg

[leggacy]

i guess i got nothing to lose at that lake. i carry bear spray for sure

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

i guess i got nothing to lose at that lake. i carry bear spray for sure

I just got back from there from a week up in god country , God I love it up there . Anyway Ill take a deep breath and calm myself , but yeah fishing was pretty moderate , perhaps it will be better , so much water up there not even funny . But the cutties , rainbows and Bulls were biteing just gotta get em horny for your lure , or fly .

[Kingfisher]

Heavy K is right. Massive fluctuations in Hidden Lake each year. I have never ever in all my years of hiking ever seen a fish rise in Hidden. I would think any fish coming over the falls and tumbling down 500+ feet aren't going to survive.

The cutthroat stocking at the upper lake in 2009 and 2010 have only provided the bulls with feed. Stocking the upper lake with bulls has been the biggest disaster that F&W has ever undertaken. What a dumb thing to have done. But hey, what do we know?

Rob

[commieboy]

From my own experiences on Upper K, I have never been skunked. I was there a week ago and pulled in 13 cutties each over 17". I think I was on a size #16 green caddis. Near the boat launch.

[Tezma]

I was there yesterday and caught a 2-3 lb bull and 5 lb rainbow.

Caught the bull in the middle.
rainbow was on the north end near the parkinglot and dam north side.

[RayL42]

Back when that lake had Rainbows I would take the canoe to that area of the lake with good success, however it has been over 15 years since I did that.

This year I have had good luck with green woolly buggers, pheasant tails and leach patterns, typically catching the majority of my fish in the mornings. In June and July on the average day I would have 10 or more before noon, however the last week when I went out I only got one.

Good Luck, if you catch any let me know I have been thinking of heading to that end of the lake again.

[Daceminnow]

This isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but I’ll comment on my weekend trip. I was up at Rawson Lake on Sunday, and when I returned to my truck, a young fellow approached me and said he was doing a creel survey for F&W for Upper K. Lake. I told him I fished Rawson that day, but asked how the fishing has been in the Upper Lake, specifically the size of the bull trout. He told me they were getting up to 28” or so, but that the success rate for all fish in the Upper Lake has been pretty poor this year.

If you’re up for a bit of a hike, I had a pretty good day at Rawson Lake on Sunday. It sure is pretty up there. I also caught a few bulls in the Lower Lake last month, but I’ve never had any luck at Upper Kananaskis Lake. Go figure!


i spoke and gave this fella my catch info a half a dozen times since ice off for the survey. real nice guy. he has the same catch success story as you've described each and every time. what does it mean? 10 percent of the fishers up there are catching 90 percent of the fish? there's usually another guy or two on the lake same day with the same good success, others nothing. i don't believe it's the easiest water to fish, but there's lots and lots of good fishing to be had there.


From my own experiences on Upper K, I have never been skunked. I was there a week ago and pulled in 13 cutties each over 17". I think I was on a size #16 green caddis. Near the boat launch.


yep. there's more than a few cutts that made it past being bull food and grew a few inches since stocking. if you can catch 10-15 fish in a few hours, wouldn't you say there's a few swimming in the lake. the bulls are so slender it doesn't look like they've being eating much for fish. insect diet looking guys, poor fellas.

Dace

[ironbutterfly]

Regarding the upper lake, I was there earlier in the year and there are a lot of fish in there. That evening in early June or so I hit on a school of cutthroats numbering probably 15-20 cruising the shallows. Of the 6 or so I landed the first 2 were about 21-22" I also hooked a lone bull of maybe 16-18". There were dozens of fish rising along the inlet by the dam thing. I also saw something that looked similar to a whitefish right next to the dam on my way out.