Lake trout near Canmore/Calgary

[Rohanc]

Hey there,

Does anyone know of any lakes with big lake trout near Canmore or Calgary?

I know spray lakes and ghost have some but I’ve heard it’s really hard to get a decent sized one

Any tips would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

[Scott N]

Other than Lake Minnewanka in Banff, those 2 are the closest with lakers, and Minnewanka is closed to fishing right now and falls under Federal Park fishing regs. Sometimes people catch lakers out of the Bow River too, the fish get flushed out from upstream.

I think Crowsnest Lake is the next closest body of water with Lakers in it, but I haven't fished it since I lived in Lethbridge, which is a long time ago. We never had much if any luck when I tried it, but that was years ago.

You are right about most lakers being small in Spray, but there are bigger fish in there. The biggest one I've personally caught wasn't very big by most standards, but at about 4 or 5 pounds, pretty big for Spray. I saw someone catch a "trophy" for Spray at about 12 pounds, and I've seen some pics of some pretty decent fish. You'd probably catch 99 small 12" ish lakers to 1 larger size though.

[fish99]

bears paw res has some nice lakers .access is the only problem unless you know someone .

[Brovacs]

The only other lakes not mentioned here is Waterton Reservoir by the town of Hills Spring and Swan Lake west of Caroline. Both have a nice average size for lakers (5-6lbs) but they can be tough to find and catch.