Flyfishing Grande Prairie Area?

[Outbound]

Hi folks,

I'm going to be moving to Grande Prairie from BC next month. I'm starting to try and get a feel as to what kind of recreational opportunities I'll have there. I'm a die hard fly fisher. I specialize in stillwater trout fishing, but I also love to dabble in rivers and streams for trout, char and salmon.

I know I'll have to keep going back to BC for my salmon fix. What kind, and what quality of fishing am I looking at within say, a 4 hour drive of Grande Prairie?

The one fish high on my list of must catch is Arctic Grayling. I have never caught one, and I simply have too. lol. I know there's some in the Tumbler Ridge and Dawson Creek areas in BC which aren't too far from Grande Prairie. How about in Alberta itself?

Thanks, and great forum btw. Looks like I'll be a regular visitor here. :)

[Dust1n]

mostly all the streams there have grayling for flies ants work and bassicly all terestails and i also herd they go after lemmings on the tv....match the hatch but u cant go worm with saun jaun and wooly buggers

[MrDave]

Lots of opportunity south of GP. Cutbank river was fun. Rarely fished away from the roads.
Not a lot of large fish but caught enough grayling in the smaller tributaries to be happy. We were south on 40 and west. Only other fishing people were on our crew.

Everytime I plan on hitting there again, something comes up, but someday. It was one of the best fishing spots I have found, just based on the number of willing trout.

[goober]

We use to have some good luck for Grayling on the Simonette, but I have not been in about 10 - 12 years.

[greylynx]

Fish the Hudson Hope area in B.C.

You might tie into a native Peace Athabasca rainbow. These are mean little wild fish that have some atitude.

You might want to try the Kakwa. Bull Trout are worshipped in Alberta, they are thrown in the bush in B.C.

On a comparitive basis, fly fishing is not very good on this side of the Rockies. Poor management, and atitude to kill everything you catch.

Sorry for the bad information.

If you are in Grande Prarie, you are still pretty close to Prince George and west.

[7mmremmag]

Lots of opportunity south of GP. Cutbank river was fun. Rarely fished away from the roads.
Not a lot of large fish but caught enough grayling in the smaller tributaries to be happy. We were south on 40 and west. Only other fishing people were on our crew.

Everytime I plan on hitting there again, something comes up, but someday. It was one of the best fishing spots I have found, just based on the number of willing trout.

X2 on the cutbank! My rig was down the Weyerhauser Main Haul road south of GP for 3 years and I did quite a bit of fly fishing down there.
Cutbank is good, but the redrock is deadly, I caught lots of beautiful grayling in some of the bigger pools on the redrock creek. I also caught a few bulltrout aswell.
The water is sooooo crystal clear on the redrock it is amazing! Just watch out for grizzlies, theres no shortage of them there! I wanna say the redrock is at mile marker 118, if I remember correctly (if anyone knows for sure feel free to correct me) Not far past the PTI 104 mile camp.
Its a beautiful spot I tell ya, Big moose, a few elk, some nice mulies, grayling and bull trout, the odd caribou. Big wolves! Bears and lots of em! I miss working down in that area!
If you need any info on directions or anything shoot me a pm, I know those roads well, and still moose hunt in the area!

[Daceminnow]

most of the streams in northwest alberta hold a large population of arctic graying. use small #14 or #16 bead head hares ear and pheasant tail nymphs on a light setup 3-4 wt. and floating line. no indicator, just watch for the slight twitch in your fly line and hook up. lots of fun. beautiful fish.

[GPBuzz]

Try some of the stocked lakes, I don't eat them out of these as they just don't taste as good as cold water fish, IMO
Swan - large (5 - 10lbs) rainbows
Moonshine - rainbows and the odd brown
Spring - rainbows
and there are a few more that I just cannot think of right now.

Are you looking to buy a house there also?

[Outbound]

great info, thanks guys. it gives me a good starting point. could you recommend a good fly shop i can swing by?



Are you looking to buy a house there also?

not for a few year. i'm going to be renting there for at least 3 years, until i'm done my apprenticeship. after that, i'm going to decide if i'm staying in the trade or getting out of it and moving onto something else.