South Buck

[Penner]

Just wondering if South Buck would be driveable for a 4x4 pick-up? Haven't been fishing SW of Edmonton since January and was wondering what the conditions are like out that way. Any info would be great.

[WTHunter]

Brother had his buddy's car out on it on Sunday. Didn't catch much.
He said there was still about 30" of ice, and most snow was packed well.

[Penner]

Ok, thanks for the info.

[TundraBuck]

Hey Penner, could you let us know how you make out?

Thanks.

[Albertabowhunter]

BUrbot should be going hard this weekend there.... Good luck!

[Penner]

Will do.

[Penner]

Well, one thing I know for certain is that nobody was or will be driving a car out on Buck Lake antime soon. Lots of snow and some surface water in places. A 4x4 with good tires should be ok. There are spots were you could hang-up a 4x4 though. Bring a shovel just in case.

Fishing was slow. Managed several small ling (biggest 5lbs), 4 pike (biggest 4lbs), and 1 Walleye (a nice keeper) and lost a few other fish for the day. Albertabowhunter, good call on the ling. FYI, that Walleye will be hitting a cedar plank and then hitting the BBQ at about 5:30pm tonight.

Ice was solid and thick but no need for an extension.

[Shrubs]

Thanks for the report and congrats on a good day. Think I'll try to rid my obsession with gull and head that way tomorrow. Is there a trail to Calhoun bay? Want to try a spot around there that really produced in the summer.

[Penner]

Well it was only my third time on that lake ever. I have no idea where Calhoun bay is? I stayed mainly to the north side of the lake and was able to gain access at the far NE bay (smallest of the two NE bays). Seen I few guys gain access at the other larger NE and seen a few guys come accross from the west side about mid way up the lake. I stayed away from the SE as I figured with a westerly wind that side would mostly likey have been drifted in much worse that the north.

[SNAPFisher]

Thanks for the report Penner! Sounds like a decent enough day. Any luck with the whites at all?

At Calhoun which is on the East side about mid way, I have seen a number of them on the cam from last year. Haven't tried this year yet but might have to. That and the chance at a keeper walleye sounds good to me.

[Penner]

We didn't see any whites out there but we were not really targeting them either. I usually only target whites up until mid Jan. Then its pike and eyes for me.

I know South Buck has huge whites, I just haven't figured out how to catch them. I've seen them upto 9lbs being caught in commerical nets.

[Kelly & Beth]

The jumbo whites are nice, we have a buddy who helps with the netting and we bought a few off him this year, really big fish. Bought 5 and the bag must of weighed 50 lbs
summer before last there was a dead one on the water, so kelly netted it to show how big it was except it got stuck in the net. That was a little stomach turning. He "wont" do that again :lol:

[Shrubs]

Hit Buck yesterday and managed to land 4 pike and 3 walleye. Hit a couple spots around Calhoun bay and kept getting bumps and what not so I pulled out the shack to see what the scoop was and proceeded to watch walleye after walleye come up and bump my jig and minnow. Some would mouth it but those that did would mouth it short and pull the minnow off. Switched from a yellow jig to white and pink and they seemed to wake up a bit and managed to stick a few before I ran out of minnows.

Pike were willing and cost me a few jigs, managed to get some up though.

Burbot would just swim by, didn't seem to be to interested yesterday but I wasn't fishing off the bottom, the walleye wanted it at least a foot off bottom.

Anyways, good weather and nice lake to fish. Not a quarter of the traffic you'll see at gull or sylvan.

[SNAPFisher]

Sounds like a good trip out Shrubs. Thanks for the update. Interesting on the light hit walleyes.

Buck is on the "to-do" list for hard water...running out of time though.

[Shrubs]

I think my biggest problem was using too big a minnow. Those "Big Zee" minnow are really good but I think a bit to large for those walleye on the most part. I wish I could find those Walleye Master minnows, their medium size would have been ideal imo.

[Penner]

We were missing some fish as well. I never got the tent out to see what we were missing but perhaps they could have been small walleye as well.

Smaller minows might help as well as maybe even going to real small power grub tipped with a meal worm. Did really well on small Walleyes a few years back up on Slave using meal worms on 2" power grubs when they would not touch a minnow with jig/spoon.

[Ace]

Hey Shrubs,

How far out in Calhoun Bay did you go?

I travel by car, so I need to pull my sled by hand. I don't mind a bit of a walk, but nothing crazy.


Thanks
Ace

[Bushmaster]

Shrubs, were you using any stinger hooks? Usually helps when they bite "short".

[Shrubs]

Thanks for the pointers, I'll definitley try and put them to use next time I go out. If all goes well I'll be out there this Sunday again, maybe see you guys out there. Just look for the ugly dude cruisin around on the blue big bear, doubt I'll chance it with the truck, I already got stuck a couple times last weekend.

[Chris K]

Drop down to an 1/8th or a 1/16 ounce jighead and you will slam fish. The more passive fish just don't suck in enough water to move bigger jigs, and lightening them up makes it much easier for them to suck them in. Chris K