Tyrell lake

[TROLLER]

Anyone fish there this winter I have always considered it one of the tuffest lakes in so. alberta to fish. Great trout but very hard to catch.

Am now wondering if maybe the ice would be off and a guy could think about putting the boat in.

[jrs]

Id assume the ice is off, not much left out on the flats. Didn't they discontinue stocking that lake? I thought they had finally decided it just wasn't worth the investment.

[TROLLER]

Id assume the ice is off, not much left out on the flats. Didn't they discontinue stocking that lake? I thought they had finally decided it just wasn't worth the investment.

I think they did stop about 3 yrs ago but they put so many rainbow in there it is unreal.

Problem is the natural food source. Pull a week out of the water give it a shake and hundreds of shrimp will fall off. It's tough to fish but there are for real 5 to 8 lbs rainbow in there. All the old retired guys from Raymond always sitting on the bank bait fishing with their pop corn. they always seem to catch a few.

The alkali is bad, you need to wash your boat real good after a day in the water but because of all the shrimp the fish meat is real red and tastes almost like a salmon.

There seems to be a trough that runs right down the centre of the lake and the depth there is between 15 and 22 FOW and that is the area I target.

[shakeyleg02]

with that much natural food in the lake those fish should have a short life span ? or is this a farse ..was allways told Dipping Vat was like this ?

[jrs]

I was trying to dig up a paper about the stocking of that lake but no luck. I believe mortality was high, crazy high, like 90%+ within the first summer. They were big, don't think i ever saw a small fish caught out of there. I just figured the fishing would be pretty bleak after a few years of no new fish. It never was that great, 2 fish a day was a good day on tyrell.

And they do die young in lakes that warm and productive, they also get big fast. Ive personally seen 2 year old bows weighing 4.5 pounds out of a nearby lake. 14'' by the first fall, 18-22'' by the second, and football like.

[TROLLER]

I was trying to dig up a paper about the stocking of that lake but no luck. I believe mortality was high, crazy high, like 90%+ within the first summer. They were big, don't think i ever saw a small fish caught out of there. I just figured the fishing would be pretty bleak after a few years of no new fish. It never was that great, 2 fish a day was a good day on tyrell.

And they do die young in lakes that warm and productive, they also get big fast. Ive personally seen 2 year old bows weighing 4.5 pounds out of a nearby lake. 14'' by the first fall, 18-22'' by the second, and football like.

I was there one day when they dropped off 100,000 little guys all about 3 inches. Guy said they had some left over and wherever that happened they would take em down to Tyrll. never seemed to be enough to keep the lake going.

I don't think they die off, I have caught several in the 10-14 inch range maybe a pound or two. they just are damn hard to catch no matter what you use.

In the fall I seem to be able to get a few on a wooly bugger red but most summer they seem to go for a gray or green flatfish. but again it can be an all day deal for a few fish.

[jrs]

http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/Projects/Alberta-Lakes/view/?region=South Saskatchewan Region&basin=South Saskatchewan River Basin&lake=Tyrrell Lake&number=126&page=Biological

Take a look at this, less than 1% survived the first winter.
There was even an attempt to develop a special strain of rainbows for this lake (and others like it) a while back. I believe funding was cut and the plan was abandoned. If there was more money in FW id be curious to see if they'd try an alternative put and take species that could tolerate the salinity. Guess we'll never know what could have been. Good news for tiger salamanders i suppose.

[NUK SOO KOW]

I had my boat out three times last year and not even a bite. Even parked a few Places and tried from shore. Nothing. I'm sure there is fish in there, the amount of food in there is crazy. One day I'll find the secret. Used to be great 15-20 years ago when I was a kid.