Quote:
Originally Posted by alder
Thanks guys. So, is there a mosquito-free time when the fishing is decent. Are the first 2 weeks of June prime for this reason?
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Short answer: No bug free time from ice-off to July. First 2 weeks are prime time because of mind-bending spectacular fishing.
I have spent a couple weeks a year for the last 10 years at Besnard spanning from the last week of May to the first couple weeks of July.
The best fishing is from ice-off to first week of July, especially if walleye is your quarry. This has nothing to do with the insects.
Like all things, the nuisance insects depends on the weather, but the skeeters are always bad in the evening.
2 out of the past 10 years, the black flies were very bad. It was quite rainy after a dry winter though---this created breeding pockets.
Last year, it was very rainy, followed by warmth. Repellent was mandatory from sunrise to 9am, then around 6pm to dark (about 1am). Some people may not need it, but I am particularly delicious to insects.
Horseflies require warm weather to be really active. They were bad 2 years ago, but that is the only solid memory I have of them.
1 out of the past 10 years, the insects were on for 24/hours. It was a week of perfect weather for them. Daily rainshowers with overnight lows of around 8C and daytime highs around 20C. This was a perfect storm for both blackflies and skeeters.
In short, the reason why the first 2 weeks of June are prime is because the fishing is almost unbelievable---blindly trolling crankbaits can produce 20-30 walleye per hour. If you use a fly rod, you can haul 30-40 pike in a 3 hour session (and yes, at this time of year, I will outfish my father-in-law about 3-to-1 with a fly rod). I have never experienced this kind of fishing in Alberta (or anywhere else, for that matter). Good luck.