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  #181  
Old 01-12-2023, 09:09 AM
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laker laker is offline
 
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Those that have fished Cold Lake long enough know that something has changed with the fish population over the past 40 years. In the eighties you very rarely caught anything under 75cm. And vary rarely caught over a half dozen fish a day.
Seems to me it was about ten years ago the smaller ones started showing up more and now it seems like the lake is full of them. There are still plenty of 75cm plus in the lake, you just have to find them. For me I won’t fish where you can’t keep the little ones off the line. If I’m alone I’ll go to my boring spots where I’ll only catch 1 fish but it will be worth it and it’ll go back to catch another day. And maybe scoop up a 12lb burb for supper. Get out and explore, it’s a huge lake.
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  #182  
Old 01-12-2023, 12:24 PM
Egymcara Egymcara is offline
 
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Made it out for a quick fish this morning with my uncle for his first trip of the season. He had a blast... caught so many he actually had to take a break . Anyways, bite seems to be keeping up but there is definitely slow times mixed in as well. Fished maybe 3 hours and ended up with 23 on the ice and lost lots. Happy fishing!
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  #183  
Old 01-13-2023, 11:23 AM
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Just love the dark markings on this beauty, should get a replica done!


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  #184  
Old 01-13-2023, 01:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Egymcara View Post
Made it out for a quick fish this morning with my uncle for his first trip of the season. He had a blast... caught so many he actually had to take a break . Anyways, bite seems to be keeping up but there is definitely slow times mixed in as well. Fished maybe 3 hours and ended up with 23 on the ice and lost lots. Happy fishing!
Damn, i look forward to the day when I can say I iced 23 fish in 3 hours and that there were "slow times" mixed in as well lol. Thats a challenge most days on open water for me!!
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  #185  
Old 01-13-2023, 03:56 PM
Egymcara Egymcara is offline
 
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Damn, i look forward to the day when I can say I iced 23 fish in 3 hours and that there were "slow times" mixed in as well lol. Thats a challenge most days on open water for me!!
January lake trout usually produces exaggerated numbers... when the Feb lul kicks in, ill just remember the good ole days . If this regulated weather keeps up, I see great numbers well into late January TBH. Here's hoping....
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  #186  
Old 01-14-2023, 06:50 PM
Egymcara Egymcara is offline
 
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A few of my buds from Tobin Sask came up today for a three day trip on Cold Lake. Didn't get out fishing until around 11am this morning but stayed until 5pm. Fishing was mediocre but consistent, tons and I mean TONS of bait fish everywhere all day. We fished 55', 10 inches of ice, minimal snow, ended up with 35 or so fish on the ice. They had a great time and nabbed a few nice pictures. One of them caught a tanker burbot on a still line. Another guy dunked his rod down the hole and then we caught it 10 minutes later when we hooked up on the same fish . Going to put in some 12 hour days here sunday and monday, ill keep up with updates!

Cheers
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  #187  
Old 01-14-2023, 07:55 PM
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Who you have up from Tobin ?
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  #188  
Old 01-14-2023, 08:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Egymcara View Post
A few of my buds from Tobin Sask came up today for a three day trip on Cold Lake. Didn't get out fishing until around 11am this morning but stayed until 5pm. Fishing was mediocre but consistent, tons and I mean TONS of bait fish everywhere all day. We fished 55', 10 inches of ice, minimal snow, ended up with 35 or so fish on the ice. They had a great time and nabbed a few nice pictures. One of them caught a tanker burbot on a still line. Another guy dunked his rod down the hole and then we caught it 10 minutes later when we hooked up on the same fish . Going to put in some 12 hour days here sunday and monday, ill keep up with updates!

Cheers
That’s awesome you got the rod back lol!! I was fishing for whites with a slip bobber a couple summers ago, and set my rod on bow of my boat, sure enough something grabbed it and away it went. About 20 minutes later we saw the slip bobber maybe 80-100yds away, grabbed it and whatever took the rod busted off the hook and I got all but my chironomid back lol.

Good luck with the rest of the trip and look forward to hearing about it!!
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  #189  
Old 01-15-2023, 07:37 AM
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So was out yesterday on the skidoo, I went into French bay and hit three areas of flood water, ice was 10-12 inches, so good ice but you gotta watch out for the flood water, one gooder was in the middle as I crossed to get over to garnet.
Garnet area I ran into flood water about 200 yards off shore but good ice of 10 inches, out at the hump or further out your looking at 6-8 inches.
It rained, it snowed and visibility was poor at times, fishing slow with chasers that would just do that.
Ohh well had a hot meal on the ice and burnt some gas!

Heated the burrito up on the exhaust.
Closed the panel and 10 minutes later just perfect!

All the closer areas like the marina, provincial park and MD park at French bay was tent city but good to see that no one is being that person taking unnecessary risks.


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  #190  
Old 01-15-2023, 10:11 AM
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Past garnet , about 9” but have 4 so far , one small, a 72,75 and 76.5 so decent start , in 100ft
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  #191  
Old 01-15-2023, 04:06 PM
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Just wrapping up day two now but it was definitely an interesting one. We took our sleds about 12+km out into the main lake. Not many tracks out our way, lots of major flood water areas and the fog was insane. Ice was basically 8-10 inches where we drilled holes, seen just a tiny heave nearby as well.

Fishing wise... the boys figure about 60 or so on the ice but honestly just didn't count after awhile. However, the only way you were getting a fish was with a dead bait. I didn't bother fishing after a few hours, I just watched the mayhem of chasing flags and people falling in there asses. Not sure what it was today but the fish only wanted one thing, an easy meal.

Just shows you how different areas on Cold Lake require different tactics in order to have a great day. Good Luck out there and be safe!
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  #192  
Old 01-15-2023, 05:40 PM
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We only ended up landing 6 but had 2 over and lost a big one that didn’t want to leave bottom , got it up about 10ft 4 times then hook pulled.
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  #193  
Old 01-15-2023, 06:47 PM
Egymcara Egymcara is offline
 
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We only ended up landing 6 but had 2 over and lost a big one that didn’t want to leave bottom , got it up about 10ft 4 times then hook pulled.
O man! Leaves a guy with a lot of questions, nice size fish anyways.
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  #194  
Old 01-15-2023, 06:52 PM
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We only ended up landing 6 but had 2 over and lost a big one that didn’t want to leave bottom , got it up about 10ft 4 times then hook pulled.
Dam....I could only imagine the blank stares after that

We need a cold snap for two weeks or so of -20 or colder to make better ice and some sunshine would be nice too.
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  #195  
Old 01-15-2023, 07:16 PM
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We were down 2 sleds waiting on parts so had the 1993 Polaris Indy 500 tank out. Hasn’t been used in a couple years so we weren’t about to make the crossing. Dead stick for all as well
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  #196  
Old 01-16-2023, 01:26 PM
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Heading up to Cold Lake this weekend with my son, was thinking of parking at the Provincial Park parking lot and walking onto the lake with my smitty sled....wondering if people are going off the boat launch with their vehicles, driving just onto the lake and parking there before walking to their spots? Aside from the marina and PP, not sure where a guy could access the lake during the winter. Thanks for any help....
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  #197  
Old 01-16-2023, 03:00 PM
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Heading up to Cold Lake this weekend with my son, was thinking of parking at the Provincial Park parking lot and walking onto the lake with my smitty sled....wondering if people are going off the boat launch with their vehicles, driving just onto the lake and parking there before walking to their spots? Aside from the marina and PP, not sure where a guy could access the lake during the winter. Thanks for any help....

Yes people are parking on the lake and walking out, cutting the distance down and you can have eyes on your vehicle too.
On and off in the past the vehicles left in the PP parking lot get stuff stolen so keep that in mind.
Another area is the MD campground on French bay by the ski hill.
You can drive on and over to where a bunch of shacks are and anywhere around there start you trip.
Just check the ice conditions prior to.
Seems flood water pops up this year more often then previous seasons.

Good luck out there.


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  #198  
Old 01-16-2023, 05:17 PM
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That's what I did with my vehicle couple weekends ago. I drove down on the boat launch and walked out with my smitty sled, we ll b there this Friday morning again, wonder any trucks driven on yet ??
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  #199  
Old 01-16-2023, 05:23 PM
Weavster Weavster is offline
 
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That's what I did with my vehicle couple weekends ago. I drove down on the boat launch and walked out with my smitty sled, we ll b there this Friday morning again, wonder any trucks driven on yet ??
There has been the odd veichile starting to venture out. Id be worried about that flood water I went across to Garnett today by sled and there was a fair amount of flood water on the way I'd guess the ice in those spots is less than 8" as thats what I was seeing out at Garnett.
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  #200  
Old 01-16-2023, 05:37 PM
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Some pick up tracks that way but I wouldn’t recommend it ! 8-10” in good areas , in between , who knows
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  #201  
Old 01-16-2023, 05:47 PM
Egymcara Egymcara is offline
 
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Made it out today with the boys for day 3/3 of their trip. Fishing was really good between 7:30 and 9:30 then it was just the odd lake trout through out the day. Dead baits worked ok for the first few hours then didn't even get a hit. The fish much preferred rod/chase up the column. We ended up with over 50 fish on the ice but most of those were caught early morning. Ice conditions still aren't the best and we seen water creeping up in a few spots. Careful out there and looking forward to the warm weather this weekend!
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  #202  
Old 01-16-2023, 06:51 PM
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Get anything of size ?
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  #203  
Old 01-16-2023, 07:03 PM
Egymcara Egymcara is offline
 
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Get anything of size ?
Honestly 97% of the fish were under 75cm but we weren't really chasing large trout, mainly action/numbers. The deepest spot we fished was probably 65-70' and mostly under 55 feet. I find most large trout are 90' + on Cold lake but since we don't keep fish, hard to care. The boys wanted constant action so that's what I tried to deliver
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  #204  
Old 01-16-2023, 07:16 PM
AlbertanGP AlbertanGP is offline
 
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The boys wanted constant action so that's what I tried to deliver
How do I book my trip?

Looks like I'm going to make it up the first weekend in March atm...if my wife doesn't kill me in my sleep first. Every other weekend for two or three weeks on either side of it is booked for other trips requiring more days off for travel. Still looking forward to hanging out with some friends at Cold Lake for a few days though.
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  #205  
Old 01-16-2023, 07:32 PM
Egymcara Egymcara is offline
 
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Originally Posted by AlbertanGP View Post
How do I book my trip?

Looks like I'm going to make it up the first weekend in March atm...if my wife doesn't kill me in my sleep first. Every other weekend for two or three weeks on either side of it is booked for other trips requiring more days off for travel. Still looking forward to hanging out with some friends at Cold Lake for a few days though.
You have my email/number, can easily try to get together. Feb/March can be tough, especially for all day affairs but see what mother nature brings us.
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  #206  
Old 01-17-2023, 08:55 AM
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We started off the day up shallow with lots of fish moving through and the odd bite throughout the morning. So I decided to check a new spot a little further out to see if the fish were more active. This big red blob came racing off the bottom chasing down my bait as I continued to reel up before he inhaled my tube 40ft under the ice and peeled drag back to the bottom. I instantly knew this was a big fish..

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  #207  
Old 01-17-2023, 09:02 AM
AlbertanGP AlbertanGP is offline
 
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That is a very nice fish. Big congrats. What was the length?
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  #208  
Old 01-17-2023, 09:19 AM
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Originally Posted by Weavster View Post
We started off the day up shallow with lots of fish moving through and the odd bite throughout the morning. So I decided to check a new spot a little further out to see if the fish were more active. This big red blob came racing off the bottom chasing down my bait as I continued to reel up before he inhaled my tube 40ft under the ice and peeled drag back to the bottom. I instantly knew this was a big fish..

WOW!!! Beauty fish!!!
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  #209  
Old 01-17-2023, 09:30 AM
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What a gorgeous trout.
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  #210  
Old 01-17-2023, 09:41 AM
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congrats Mat, well deserved!!!!

Tournament winning fish right there

Funny I have been hole hopping staying away from the wee ones and smediums just to find that one fish....send him my way
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