Hello Fishermen! need some tips for a noob

[KingTitan]

Its a little short notice but me and my friend have decided to head out from calgary to go for our first fishing day of the year. We are horrible at this hobby and over the last 2 years caught only 5 fish. not sure what we do wrong but I am looking to head out to one of these places most of which are about 2 hrs away

1. Badger reservoir
2. mcgregor lake
3. Traverse
4. Sylvan lake
5. Crawling valley

I am very interested in Badger lake and we spin cast mostly from shore but we also have a 12ft inflatable we can paddle out with if needed. what are your recommendations on these lakes? which one do you think i should head to? hows the water clarity? Im going to try using a spinbait this time to try to get some pike. Any info will be very much apreciated, I have to catch some fish or my wife will never stop making fun of me! haha

PS Im not really sure but do I need a boat license to take a small inflatable out on lakes?

[Fishingnutter]

write me

[Kingfisher]

Badger might be your best bet. You can drive around the lake on the dam and fish anywhere along it. That's probably the deepest part of the lake anyway. So if your fishing from shore you'll do OK there.

McGregor has some good spots to fish from shore. Big lake though. Lots of people fish from shore on the dam at the north end by Milo.

The other 3 you mention you may as well just toss your lures in the grass. Not that you won't catch any there. But the easiest to fish from shore are your first 2.

How about PCR? You can go out on the dock and catch a pile of walleye. There is always a chance of catching one of the monster pike that lurk around the dock.

Good luck. Now get out there and catch some fish.
Rob

[KingTitan]

Well just got back from Badger and I had no luck again, but my buddy had a hit but he didnt land it. Nice place though. I really need to get myself a real boat, seems like everyone that was getting 5+ catches were on motor boats. Time to look through the bargain finder lol. Thanks for the replies guys!

[SushiUnagi]

You should give PCR a shot too, its a pretty nice area actually and a decent sized lake for your inflatable too imo. Even shore fishing there is pretty good. I see people pulling walleyes after walleyes just at the docks. You just need to find out what is biting that day and if you could squeeze in that narrow piece of floating dock to get some room to fish.

Traverse and Sylvan (and Newell) seems a little too big a lake for shore fishing I think...probably need a decent size boat to get to places.

As for McGregor, I see a lot of people fishing the north shore as KingFisher have mentioned...and a lot of ppl have success too.

Only ice-fished at Badger but hear there are monsters in there.

Never been to CVR.

[jesse34567]

Well just got back from Badger and I had no luck again, but my buddy had a hit but he didnt land it. Nice place though. I really need to get myself a real boat, seems like everyone that was getting 5+ catches were on motor boats. Time to look through the bargain finder lol. Thanks for the replies guys!

Yes like everyone has said
give PCR a try, your guranteed a fish when you go
just use a 1/4 standard jig or nuckle ball jig
put a gulp leech on the tip and your good to go.

plenty of other ways to catch them but this is the easiest.

[Trey]

my question is what and where is pcr

[Geezle]

my question is what and where is pcr

Pine Coulee Resevoir

Do a quick search, there's lots of posts about it :)

[Trey]

thanks geezle

[Walleyeman]

I know of a couple spots on Sylvan you could get to with an inflatable if it's not to windy.Keep in mind there is a lot of traffic on Sylvan on the weekends.Walleye fishing has been exellent over the last 2 weeks.PM me for more info.

[Blackman82]

I go fishing at Badger almost every seconed weekend and i dont have a boat and i always catch a few pike i just use smelts cast my line in and wait.

[nicemustang]

First of all, it's Travers, not traverse. Learn to spell (joking) lol.

And you can fish travers from shore just fine. Plenty of people fish with a pickeral rig or a bobber from the rocks and the spillway. If the fish are there, one should do fine. You could paddle out with your inflatable, weather depending no problem. You can also pikeral rig it in the river channel. Often the fish travel through there and its worth a try. Or you can fish (jig) right of the dock.

If you check the lake map of newell, there are plenty of places to fish.

[KingTitan]

I was at Chestermere last night and a got a small pike and lured a monster in that did not go for my bait. I am going to try PCR tomorrow. I don't like the thought of too many people at the lake but I am sure I can find a more private area to fish from. I dont really care too much about "catching" a fish, more about the relaxation and anxiety relief =)

So I guess its the south end day use area / boat launch that has good spots?

[Tcw]

pm'ed

[RedHeadedFisherman]

my question is what and where is pcr

Pine Coulee Reservoir
Fee: @20.00 per night/access to Pine Coulee campground

6km west & 4 km south of Stavely Alberta on SH 527 then 1km east on Township Road 140 Follow the boat launch signs on good paved roads ( till you get to Pine Coulee) Good Boat Launch.

http://maps.google.ca/maps? find #2 highway, go south to Stavely ,.. west on 527 and you can zoom in on the lake real good L)


Trey, buy some Smelts, cut each one into 4-5 pices, ( 1/4 ") on a small green or pink jig head, thow out 10-15 feet( sometimes just drop off edge of dock) and SLOWLY retrive, twitching the tip occasionaly.. walleye go crazy for that.

anyone going out there tommoro.. i'll be at the dock.. :scared0018:tan folding chair camo B.ball cap )

So.. with that, i will say by for now..
Tight Lines Yaall
RedHeadedFisherman
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