Tyrrell Reservoir

[Scuba]

Just wondering if anyone here ever fishes Tyrrell reservoir in southern Alberta? If so, how does it fish? Not looking for any secrets, just curious...

[Scott N]

At one time there used to be an overabundance of food (shrimp) in the lake, which made fishing tough. I haven't been there for several years though, so I can't comment on how it fishes currently.

[jrs]

If you can get out there in the next week or two it should be pretty good. The waters really alkaline and the amount of food is crazy. I believe they're considered the fastest growing rainbows in North America. If you can get out before the scud population explodes there's some very nice trout to be caught. We used to only average 2 or 3 fish a day but the ones we did catch were usually eating size (14''+, really good girth) and tasted awesome (very red flesh, not muddy tasting like some other lakes in the area).

Once summer gets here the fish can just about swim around with their mouths open and get enough to eat. If you wade in mid summer you'll see what i mean, waders will be coated in scuds (and white once they dry due to the alkalinity). Stocking rate is high because the survival is really low.

The local tactic is pickerel rigs with corn, worms or similar bait. If you're trolling a fly around i'd use a fairly good size streamer, food is so plentiful your offering has to stand out. And there's fish everywhere, in the winter we'd fish 3-4 ft of water and you'd see trout throughout the day, very few would bite compared to what we saw. If you're spin fishing spinners, spoons, or crank baits would be my other choice until the water warms up, then i'd just fish elsewhere. Late fall is also supposed to be good, I'm always doing other stuff so never tried it then. Good luck.