First Big Trip of the Year

[AlbertanGP]

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZdchdS2/0/917f1b0c/X3/i-ZdchdS2-X3.jpg

Halfway to Saskatchewan. Stay tuned…

[CDNOutdoorsman]

Looking forward to this story... Safe travels.
Where are you heading?

[Landshark]

This looks like it's going to be an adventure for sure. I'm following.

[58thecat]

Pick me up!
[emoji4]


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[AlbertanGP]

Pick me up!
[emoji4]


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I was planning to call you if Evan couldn’t make it. Hopefully I’ll see you on Cold
Lake in a couple of weeks…with sleds. ;)

[AlbertanGP]

Looking forward to this story... Safe travels.
Where are you heading?

Lake X. The people that gave me the name of the lake don’t want it shared. If things pan out it should be obvious why when I post pictures. Or we get skunked… 😜

Gonna be going dark shortly so I may not have updates for a bit.

[HuyFishin]

you forgot to pick me up. Been waiting at my front steps all day.

[CDNOutdoorsman]

Good luck!

[HL_transplant]

you forgot to pick me up. Been waiting at my front steps all day.

I know where this lake X is, it's not bad I'll pick u next time I'm headed that way.

[58thecat]

you forgot to pick me up. Been waiting at my front steps all day.

I’m going back in the house, too dam cold sitting on the steps waiting, guess we are going to have to wait for a written report with pics to see what we missed.:)

Might have to bribe him with snacks next time.

[barbless]

I bugged his buggy GPS. I can find Lake W, Y & Z but Lake X just don't show yet LOL
Good luck with your adventure. That is quite the toy in the box

[HL_transplant]

I bugged his buggy GPS. I can find Lake W, Y & Z but Lake X just don't show yet LOL
Good luck with your adventure. That is quite the toy in the box

He's bein cagey cause the Geeks told him it's lake XX instead of lake X

[58thecat]

He's bein cagey cause the Geeks told him it's lake XX instead of lake X


Well if it is windy where he is like here he is in the hurt locker!

Man was going to hit a local lake but 50 click winds just wasn’t worth the hassle, stuff breaks and gets swept away real quick.

Warm though.


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[AlbertanGP]

Well if it is windy where he is like here he is in the hurt locker!

Man was going to hit a local lake but 50 click winds just wasn’t worth the hassle, stuff breaks and gets swept away real quick.

Warm though.


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The wind on the lake yesterday was absolutely savage. Complete whiteout and couldn't see shore 50' away at one point. Other times the wind was just circling the entire lake. We had one wall blow in on the Resort and then a wall on the opposite side less than a minute later. I should have taken videos of the weather. Saw a lot of first time phenomena I'll post on when I recover from the marathon journey home I just completed.

[AlbertanGP]

He's bein cagey cause the Geeks told him it's lake XX instead of lake X

:happy0034:

[AlbertanGP]

I bugged his buggy GPS. I can find Lake W, Y & Z but Lake X just don't show yet LOL
Good luck with your adventure. That is quite the toy in the box

That Ranger was a celebrity this weekend. Every time we dropped the door to check the straps, someone came over for a look. We had to give a tour to an outfitter at a gas station in Lloyd on the way home today and nightly to locals where we stayed.

[58thecat]

The wind on the lake yesterday was absolutely savage. Complete whiteout and couldn't see shore 50' away at one point. Other times the wind was just circling the entire lake. We had one wall blow in on the Resort and then a wall on the opposite side less than a minute later. I should have taken videos of the weather. Saw a lot of first time phenomena I'll post on when I recover from the marathon journey home I just completed.


Looking forward to it.


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[AlbertanGP]

Alright on with the show. I've wanted to catch a large male Rainbow for some time, and all the lakes around me in both Alberta and B.C. are stocked with all-female triploid strains. So I knew I was going to have to log some miles to tick this fish off my list. The Konrads say all lakes contain big fish and you just have to know how to catch them. That hasn't really been my experience. I find there are some lakes that consistently produce big fish and others that just don't. Any time you set out for a 10lb rainbow, you're most likely going to fail. But I wanted to at least put myself on a body I knew had big fish in numbers.

Yes Sean and Adam shared this lake with me. I knew it's general whereabouts, had it narrowed down to two or three lakes, and showed the initiative that I was going to find it and fish it. So I think they just took pity on me coming from so far away and decided to help save me some gas money and plunk me on it. I've already been asked a few times about it and won't share it, because it's not my information to share. But if you want to fish it do your homework and you'll figure it out.

I will say it's not a trip for the faint of heart, and the fishing is nowhere near as easy as the internet would make it seem. In fact, it's one of the harder trout lakes I've fished. What was in their stomachs they wouldn't touch on a hook. They only wanted it in one spot in the water column. Most fish showed interest but wouldn't commit no matter what you tried. The ones that did bite would come in full psycho and hammer you without hesitation the instant it showed up on the electronics, leaving you scratching your head. And you have to compete against all the natural forage that allows them to attain the size they reach.

The weekend was a long, oftentimes discouraging affair. After seeing several fish the first morning but not being able to figure them out, we finally put a pattern together in the late afternoon. We didn't get the fish we came for the first day, but we saw several suitably large candidates on the electronics. And with the improving weather forecast for the following day felt we would be able to attain our goal on the second day.

To say the weather on the second day was miserable would be a huge understatement. No problem though. We roll through that on a regular basis. The problem was the fish were....gone. We caught a couple fish in the morning, but they were all females. Then we couldn't find them anywhere. And we looked *everywhere* on the LiveScope. Things were looking grim as the last hour of daylight rolled around on our last day there without having seen a fish in down mode for what seemed like hours. Then we found a few fish roaming a weed line and there was a glimmer of hope to at least catch another fish before we left. Five minutes later the Jaw Jacker beside me popped. I remember doing a double take watching the tip of the rod go into the water and my son relayed to me afterwards that I stared at it for a couple of seconds before going for it. Fortunately this fish was in full commit mode and had hooked himself but good. The fight was I believe the longest I've had with a trout, and seemed to take an eternity once we realized what we had. But the drag on the Shimano held up, my hands frozen numb by the howling wind didn't fail me, and I was able to keep the swivel off the bottom of the hole to finally land what I had spend close to 24 hours total driving for...

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-3khnhmW/0/5e257019/X4/i-3khnhmW-X4.jpg

Not the biggest trout I've caught, but it fits the bill for what I had realistically hoped to catch. The fish was 24" and likely weighed in the neighborhood of 6lbs. Like most fish from trophy-producing lakes, these fish are thick. You'd have to take a picture from above to really get a sense of the size of these fish. With our mission accomplished, we slept well and headed home early yesterday morning. We may have made a little detour on the way back to check on another lake expected to produce some trophies in a couple of years. ;)

[AlbertanGP]

Random scenery.

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-DXsNfPB/0/73fd61d4/X3/i-DXsNfPB-X3.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-bfN8LN4/0/871a2cb0/X3/i-bfN8LN4-X3.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-rpLtCbh/0/da7bd506/X3/i-rpLtCbh-X3.jpg

[Sloughsharkjigger]

Wow… now that’s a trip with commitment.
Thanks for sharing the story.

[58thecat]

Well done:sHa_shakeshout:

[HL_transplant]

Sadly for size I would say that's more the norm at that lake, it gets absolutely pounded in May and June when guys take a break from the walleyes. Also gets a lot of attention when guys are posting videos on YouTube. Been fishing it for the better part of 20 years and it's definitely seen a lot better days as trophy lake.

[Frank_NK28]

Thats a beauty.

[Frank_NK28]

Not trying to hijack your thread. We finally are on the ice today. I measured 8" all the way on the 150 yard walk to the spot we fish at first ice. Was just setting up our third line when the first line set fired. We are on the board for the 2022/23 season kicking it off with a 20"+ rainbow. :)

[AlbertanGP]

You're always welcome to post on my threads. Hopefully we can get out some time and you can teach me some tricks. :happy0034:

[58thecat]

I can cook, clean, set up, tear down, drill holes etc if you need assistance?


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[58thecat]

Not trying to hijack your thread. We finally are on the ice today. I measured 8" all the way on the 150 yard walk to the spot we fish at first ice. Was just setting up our third line when the first line set fired. We are on the board for the 2022/23 season kicking it off with a 20"+ rainbow. :)


Beauty fish too!


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[Frank_NK28]

You're always welcome to post on my threads. Hopefully we can get out some time and you can teach me some tricks. :happy0034:

I can cook, clean, set up, tear down, drill holes etc if you need assistance?


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You guys are welcome to join me any time. :)

We packed it in early after icing 4 today. Had several missed strikes but given the SE winds which we rarely have success on on that particular body of water I am not complaining. I am sure we'd have limited out had we stayed the full day given the steady action we were getting but we were extremely happy with what we had and had more than enough for a few meals. All the fish came in 8.5 to 11.8 feet of water. The two shallower lines, 3.5 and 6.5 fow only produced one strike each and both missed. A rainbow bullfly jig tipped with a half mealworm 1.5 foot from bottom in 8.5 fow produced a pair of 19" bows and a jawjacker glow slushbug tipped with a half mealworm produced one bow just under 21" and a 12" brookie that spewed eggs all over the ice when landed.

[goldscud]

Thats a nice thick trout AlbertaGP. It is surprising that they get so black so early before spring. Must be some lots of scuds making fat fish.

[Frank_NK28]

Thats a nice thick trout AlbertaGP. It is surprising that they get so black so early before spring. Must be some lots of scuds making fat fish.

In speaking with a friend who is a fisheries biologist there are strains of rainbow that spawn in late fall. I catch quite a few ice fishing that are spewing milt and eggs.

[goldscud]

While true Frank, I think we can say we are past fall now. Hatcheries often trick the rainbows to spawn in the fall by adjusting the light cycle. Then they can stock fish in the spring/summer.

I believe AB GP's fish is still ripening up for spring.
Nice to see big, healthy fish. Too bad they are so far away

[Frank_NK28]

While true Frank, I think we can say we are past fall now. Hatcheries often trick the rainbows to spawn in the fall by adjusting the light cycle. Then they can stock fish in the spring/summer.

I believe AB GP's fish is still ripening up for spring.
Nice to see big, healthy fish. Too bad they are so far away

I'm not a biologist so no idea of what strains or genetically modified fish are being stocked but I know it always amazes me on the body of water I fish stocked trout to have fish spewing eggs and milt on the ice all winter and I have watched rainbows on the underwater camera leaking eggs when they scoot off quickly. Fought quite a few too and watched eggs floating to bottom on the camera and in the hole after catching them. The two males in the first two pics were caught first week of January last year and both spewed milt all over the ice when landed. The third was caught third week of February and did not spew milt. The last pic was a hen caught in March on my final outing of the season that upon cleaning had no eggs in her at all. Those 4 rainbows were all mature 22"+ fish. You'd think the one caught in March would have been full of almost ripe eggs? We also catch brookies all winter that spew eggs. :thinking-006:

[goldscud]

Looks like the fish at that eastern hatchery get stripped in October.
When some old brood stock get thrown in the lake that would explain the sperm and eggs flowing during ice fishing. I imagine the other fish enjoy eating some winter eggs.
Good luck this winter

[HL_transplant]

Looks like the fish at that eastern hatchery get stripped in October.
When some old brood stock get thrown in the lake that would explain the sperm and eggs flowing during ice fishing. I imagine the other fish enjoy eating some winter eggs.
Good luck this winter

Those wouldnt be brooders. Sask only puts brooders in 3 ponds and that's not one of them. Every lake I've fished in Sask it's normal to see Milting males most of the winter.

[Frank_NK28]

Those wouldnt be brooders. Sask only puts brooders in 3 ponds and that's not one of them. Every lake I've fished in Sask it's normal to see Milting males most of the winter.

100% correct. These are not brood stock and came from SK. The lake is stocked annually with pretty much the sane numbers each year of 12,000 rainbow and either 5000 or 8000 brookie fingerlings. I have the same experiences as you fishing stocked trout in SK where we catch milting males throughout the winter and hens spewing eggs all winter as well. The brookies do also.

[Talking moose]

Looks like the fish at that eastern hatchery get stripped in October.
When some old brood stock get thrown in the lake that would explain the sperm and eggs flowing during ice fishing. I imagine the other fish enjoy eating some winter eggs.
Good luck this winter

The other fish all go through the motions as well.

[fish99]

If there is no place to spawn the stocked trout will retain there eggs

[Frank_NK28]

If there is no place to spawn the stocked trout will retain there eggs

I kind of wondered if that is what was happening? I used to shoot skeet with a biologist years ago. He told me that stocked female trout that retain eggs due to being unable to spawn will die as the eggs rot inside them from not being released and cause disease to infect and kill them. But again I am not a biologist but I can see that happening if they were not able to release them. The ones we catch that spew eggs in winter need no milking to get them out. They are coming out as the fish is fighting and literally pour or squirt out when lifted free of the water.