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ULTRAlite
02-28-2007, 11:13 AM
Was up at Upper K lake last weekend. Had a few strikes, but this is the only thing pulled up all day....
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/cory_r_t/CatchoftheDay3.jpg

Was jigging a Zzinger in about 45 ft of water when I felt tension on the end of the line. Fish On - but wait, I feel weight, but it's not running at all. Get er to the top of the water and low and behold it was an old school fishing rod complete with bobber and lure.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/cory_r_t/CatchoftheDay2.jpg

Last pic of the catch of the day before she ended up in the parking lot trash bin...
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/cory_r_t/CatchoftheDay.jpg

Remi
02-28-2007, 03:36 PM
Hey Ultra,

That's better than I've done there the last couple times out. I used to love fishing Upper K Lake, we always did well through the ice (see pic for typical morning catch). That is until BLTRs were stocked and a bait ban was put in place. I just don't know where to fish for that kind of quality RNTR anywhere near Calgary any more. Any suggestions?


http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r80/Remi870/upperk05RNTRs.jpg


Remi

lethalconnection
02-28-2007, 06:01 PM
Hell of a catch and i really like your pose with the monster catch of the day too.:lol :lol

fishnutz4ever
02-28-2007, 08:38 PM
I hear you Remi. The last few seasons I've done well with the quality of Bows from there during hardwater season. Not so this year thus far. Used to always do good at first light. Oh well, better than staying at home.

ULTRAlite
02-28-2007, 11:33 PM
Wow - thats what we're in search of...

Gonna keep at it - it's gotta pick up a bit as it gets later in the season.

As far as my catch - really crazy thing is that it is the second time that this happened this year. First happened in about 10 ft of water at Mclean Pond. What are the chances....

I may make the drive out Friday morning to give it a shot - If I do, I will let you know how it goes. Anyone tried recently towards the rock dam at the south end??

Cory

chef
03-01-2007, 12:07 AM
If im correct the rock dam is on the north end of the lake ,not at the parking lot of broke bak lake ,, its a joke , the same part of the lake thats in the movie im told but across from that rock dam on the mountain side of the lake under the slide area is usually the best,,always some big broods laying around there ,just before the small island with the under ground spring in the middle of it. winter and summer.
also did anyone see the movie rv ,,, how did they get permission to sink an rv in the lake on the parking area of the lake .noticed the scene of the rock point in the middle of the lake..

Upper K Catch-pics
03-01-2007, 01:53 AM
I have caught rainbow trout from Upper kananaskis like those in the spring. I agree that it was the best Rainbow trout lake in the Calgary area, until they quit stocking the bows and put in the Bull trout. A possible silver lining to this saga might be if the cutthroat trout they put in there get to the same sizes as some of the rainbows I have caught. So far, no, but I am getting bigger cutts every year from here. Only time will tell.

ULTRAlite
03-01-2007, 02:01 AM
The large dam is at the north end. Last time I was out there was a large amount of water on top of the ice at the north dam. The south dam does not. If I remember correctly, the south leg dam was used to fill lower K lake originally...

I believe it is explained in here somewhere -
Atlas of Alberta Lakes - Kananaskis (http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/Projects/Alberta-Lakes/view/?region=South%20Saskatchewan%20Region&basin=Bow%20River%20Basin&lake=Kananaskis%20Lakes&number=113)

This is the dam I'm wondering about...
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/cory_r_t/SouthDam.jpg

chef
03-01-2007, 03:08 AM
K got what your talkin about and your right thats the south dam but , thats the parking area and usually the main entrance to the lake and the fishing , so you confused me , i guess you come onto the lake from the hard to get to area.
boat launch is there so thats usually the main area .
So if ou want to get your big fish ,, head strait across from your dam and a little north towards the island and ,,,,, bammm your on the bigg unns.

ULTRAlite
03-01-2007, 03:22 AM
You mean here...

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/cory_r_t/Island.jpg

If thats the case - I see what you mean about the north parking lot - much easier access. Was wondering if anyone had dropped a line around the south dam yet this winter though??

re
03-01-2007, 09:38 AM
What is the big thing with bull trout anyways. My dad calls them a "sacred cow". WHen I was a youngster I remember throwin a worm on my hook below a slip bobber and having a blast!! It really erks me that they put a bait ban on such a fun lake. I realize the trout are catchable on a lure but how are you supposed to get the youngsters into it?? THey don't wanna throw a spoon all day. And tell me do the bulls even spawn in upper k?

Remi
03-01-2007, 10:51 AM
Hey buck,

The BLTR is Alberta's provincial fish and are listed as threatened, also "At Risk" by COSEWIC (federal listing). And no there is no spawning in Upper K Lake for the BLTR, CTTR, or the RNTR they used to stock. There was once a plan to develop part of Sarrail, Rawson or the K River into spawning habitat but it was just not feasible. It was such a bad move to introduce BLTR in there in my opinion. I'm completely behind protecting naturally sustaining, native BLTR populations like those in the Lower Lake and Smith D but to put BLTR in the Upper Lake, where they never were, only ruined a great RNTR fisheries (heck there weren't any trout in the original pothole before it was dammed in 1932). Let's hope the CTTR do well. I've herd rumour there may eventually be a limited BLTR harvest (on a tag system maybe) tried on the Upper Lake. I can just imagine how hard it would be to enforce a reg stating you can keep fish from the Upper Lake and not the Lower Lake.

I miss the days when I could sink a baited, barbed hook through the ice and keep what I caught without having to worry about hooking fish I was just going to release. Before anyone jumps on that let me say that I'm not totally against catch and release fishing and that's all I do on the Bow but if I'm standing on a frozen lake I'm there to harvest and the fewer fish I have to needlessly stress to get my dinner the better. Sorry for the long post, the topic of the Upper Lake always gets me. Happy hooking all.

Remi

chef
03-01-2007, 11:21 AM
Almost ultra , alittle more toward the hidden lake outlet and toward the small northern point of land that jets out ,out around 80 yards from the shoreline,there a large rockslide area ,around 100 yards wide .good shelf area for the bigg unns to hand off.

jrs
03-01-2007, 05:43 PM
One of the reason for throwing bullies in there was to control suckers and keep other fish at a density to get larger. Cutts can occasionally succesfully reproduce in lakes so you never now how that will work out, (especially if theres a nice windblown shore with good amounts of gravel or a upwelling) rainbows need streams and as such an alternative was tried. I never thought very highly of that lake but a bait ban was coming for a long time. With the close proximity to so many people catch rates had to be reduced, same principle reason for barbless hooks in most region. lower catch rates and increase survival so more fisherman can use limited lake/fish resource. I've heard of a lot of problems with fisherman up there cutting off fins and killing all the bullies they catch. If you're up there keep an eye open and report them if you see anything suspicious.

lgu5
03-01-2007, 09:44 PM
hey u found my rod!!!! I am old school....LOL

Remi
03-02-2007, 11:58 AM
With all due respect jrs, I don't think I buy any of it.

I could be totally off my rocker but I think………

Stocking BLTR in UKL was part of a greater provincial movement in Fisheries Management to do “something” to save the BLTR. The rationale was to create a genetic reservoir to help protect a threatened species. It was argued that because so many other populations in the province, particularly the East Slopes, had been extirpated establishing one (even though it would have to be artificially maintained) in UKL would help balance out the net decline. Provincially, there has been a push to increase the public image or perceived value of a fish that was once thought of as vermin and used as garden fertilizer. A necessary move but misdirected in this case.

As for influencing density dependant competition (to get larger fish) the easiest way to do that in UKL would be through stocking rates. I suspect that wasn't an issue anyway since there has always been sufficient productivity to support sport fish growth through the establishment of the mysid shrimp population shortly after the creation of the reservoir. In a lake as big, as heterogeneous, and as productive as UKL I would be very surprised to see density dependant growth effects. If you look at the age/size structure of fish in Spray for example you find many individuals from different age classes (3yr olds all the way to 8 or 9yr olds) that all fall into the same size range. Here you may have a better argument for density dependant or resource limiting “stunting”. I don’t think there is any evidence for that in UKL.

I wouldn’t hold my breath on CTTR spawning. The problem is the water temperature, at least in the streams, is unsuitable for successful spawning. So if CTTR are going to spawn in the lake, they’ll have some serious challenges including the massive fluctuations in water level from storage/draw down. Stranger things have happened so who knows.

I don’t really want to get too into the barbless debate (not here anyway). But I would say the way it was implemented seemed to be more a political/public management move above anything else. If we want to conserve a particular population there are other more effective (and maybe unpopular) ways to do it. You can lower mortality by reducing the bag limit for example. So I don’t think it was a long time coming at UKL, it was just convenient.

Bottom line: I think they really missed the mark on what type of fishery UKL should be.

All criticisms aside Fisheries Management has an incredibly difficult job, being tasked to manage such a limited resource, with such pathetic support from the richest province in the country. Resource managers have to manage people as much or more as they have to understand the resource they’re managing and with so many of us (with a huge variety of values and expectations) I don’t envy their situation. They say ecology isn’t rocket science – it’s more complicated.

Sorry for another long post.

Remi

jrs
03-02-2007, 08:08 PM
Some interesting thoughts Remi.

"I wouldn’t hold my breath on CTTR spawning. The problem is the water temperature, at least in the streams, is unsuitable for successful spawning."

Bull Trout in particular can spawn in very frigid water where rainbow trout eggs won't even develop. They love the cold streams and i would not doubt the government has hope they will succesfully reproduce in one of the feeder streams. It may just happen. If that was the main issue on that reservoir SRD made an excellent decision. I have heard conflicting reports from fisherman and managers a like concerning the system. I'd love to see a bull trout cutty fishery but it may not work. Still better than stocking rainbows, sorry if that view clashes with almost everyone elses but i'd rather catch a single cutty than 50 stocked rainbows any day (i won't say all rainbows as the native Athabascans up north are incredable little fish). There are lots of other lakes for guys to hit on for stocked rainbows.