Fishing Advice - New to the Calgary/Alberta fishing landscape/environment

[tgmalino]

Hello everyone! I am new to this forum and look forward to joining the community. My wife and I are very excited to start fishing in Alberta and would appreciate any help you may be willing to share.

We both grew up fishing with our families, but it seems that fishing in Alberta has a lot more restrictions and we will need to do some reading and research to get properly set up here. We are used to lake fishing for walleye and pike and river fishing for trout in other jurisdictions where there are liberal possession limits (compared to AB) and it is legal to use different types of bait.

We live in Calgary and are looking for fishing options to start trying our luck this week (lake and river fishing – not fly fishing though). We are contemplating buying a 10’ inflatable boat from Costco and trolling motor to use on lakes in Banff and Kananaskis this summer.

From what we have briefly read so far, using bait is rarely allowed in southwestern Alberta and the daily catch limits are quite low, if anything. It does appear we can use barbed hooks as that regulation changed a few years ago.


1. What general advice do you have for locations, lures, and lakes/rivers can you share? I realize that people are not going to want to give out any secret locations and that is no problem and understood.

2. Can you provide some good options for either lakeshore/river fishing and lake fishing (small 10’ boat) in the Kananaskis/Banff areas, and the general Calgary area?

3. Are there any lakes that do not allow electric trolling motors?

4. Given that we are not used to fishing without bait, what do you recommend for trout fishing? Small spinners? Small spoons?

Thank you in advance for any advice you are willing to share with us! Happy Canada Day!

[Jack&7]

Where are you from? It sounds like I wrote that post when I moved here from Manitoba 16 years ago.

Fishing isn't the same if you came from the East...sad to say.

[tgmalino]

I am from eastern Saskatchewan. I grew up fishing around home and also a number of fishing trips to northern Saskatchewan and the Flin Flon area. I recall that we had to use barbless hooks in Manitoba at one point, but am surprised by all the restrictions on bait and possession limits here in Alberta. Luckily, there look to be many beautiful places to fish, we just need to figure out a new "environment" for fishing.

My wife and I are hoping to go out tomorrow fishing around Calgary and are looking for somewhere easy to start. From what I have read on here, we may try Mclean Pond for some trout. When we have a weekend, we may look at Canmore for an overnight outing and try fishing a couple places (Quarry Pond, Spray Lakes, Grotto Pond).

For now we are going to be shore fishing, but as I mentioned below, we have contemplated buying an inflatable boat from Costco.

If you have any suggestions, on any of the questions below, it would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

[Poppa]

Yeah, that post is a familiar one around here! It's a different type of fishing from MB and surrounding area. I'm still trying to get the hang of it, with all the streams and pothole slough lakes that make up Alberta south of Edmonton. What I've learned is: Small spoons, small spinners, small rapalas. That's your best bet in the Bow, Red Deer, etc rivers. Bait fishing in the North or South Sask is kind of fun (somewhat similar to hitting up the Assiniboine or Red back home, but not nearly as many species)

You'll eventually figure it out....but don't get me started on no bass of any kind around here :( Sigh.......lol.