Calling Lake

NBScott · #1 05-29-2008, 04:34 PM

Hey guys,
I'm planning on going to Calling Lake north of Athabasca for the first time this weekend. Has anyone been there recently? If so how's the fishing and any pointers on where to start out trying? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

FisherPotch · #2 05-29-2008, 04:41 PM

I was unable to find the walleye this winter. Found some good pike. Fished very hard and was very disapointed with the way everyone talks it up. A biologist told me that the walleye have been devistated by fishing pressure due to the no size limit for 5+ years. From my understanding it was a phenominal fishery for big eye's too. He had a statistic on the number of eyes over 10 lbs in the lake that remain and the number was so low that I havnt and won't go back till I start hearing good things. Hope you find them if/ when you make it out, tight lines! Maybe someone on here will have a more positive post for you.

Oh as a positive note: I had a rod stollen from me by a good fish. Yanked the rod right down the hole at the speed of light.

impatient_hunter · #3 05-29-2008, 05:21 PM

I was there last weekend and the fishing was slow. The ice only came off on the long weekend so the water was still very cold. Our boat said that the water was 42 degrees Fahrenheit. We have had lots of good fishing and are still catching lots of good walleye. I personally seen a 10 lbs and over walleye come out of the lake though I still see a regular number of 8 and 9 lbs. With the warm weather this week it could be a lot better.

Steadyup · #4 05-29-2008, 06:09 PM

last summer I couldn't keep them off my frozen minows/bottom bouncer presentation. Never ever had a slow day there but can't speak for this year.

Drewski Canuck · #5 05-29-2008, 10:09 PM

Um,

you say the number of 10 pd + walleye are significantly down. How many lakes do you think have ANY 10 pd + walleye, let alone significant numbers.

I'll be out this weekend. I have a lakelot in the townsite I am working on, but will hit the water. If you see a Sylvan Master Troller with a guy with a sh!t eating grin, and the boat sporting the name "Mistress", that would be me. Stop and talk, I'll look things over for you and try and help you out.

Drewski

NBScott · #6 05-29-2008, 10:13 PM

Thanks,
I appreciate the feed back good and bad. Any good spots to start trying, North/South, East/West? If not I'll probably just do some trolling to locate them and then Jig.
Thanks again. Glad I joined the forum.

Deano · #7 05-29-2008, 11:44 PM

We were out last Sunday and had a great day. Managed between 56-75 fish with the 3 of us. Slow presentation just of bottom is the way to ga. To early for bottom bouncing. Our largest was 9 lbs 3 oz. Many in the 6-7lb range.

Dark · #8 05-30-2008, 07:45 AM

Ya we were there last sat. had great luck with fish up to 9 lbs with lots of 4 to 5lbders. Slow presentation was the key. Got checked by the warden friday night out of the 10 boats he checked we were the only ones with fish. Lots of boats would troll around us for a 1/2 hr than leave, with no fish. We were anchored in 8ft of water jigging with minnows. As for the fish being decimated I think not as we caught lots of LARGE eyes. This time of year you have to fish for your walleye.

FisherPotch · #9 05-30-2008, 09:19 PM

Good to here that folks are finding good eye's. Hey easy there drewski, I was just passing on what I heard and how things went for me this winter. And considering that calling was this biologists region for many years he can't be too far off. Compaired to 5 years ago Lunker #'s are down, I'm sure thats what you can expect when a lake gets opened for catch and keep. I'm not sure but from my understanding there used to be a lesser limit. Any one know what the limit was 5-6 years ago when they changed the regs for calling?

Either way I'm glad to here folks are having luck because I didn't.

As for all you boys that make it sound like there are ten pounders left right and center lets see some photos! In past years I heard amazing things about the number of lunker eye's in this lake and I was seeing photos of very large fish regularly. 9 pounders are pig fish too and you guys should post some photo's to share. Thats what attracted me to make the trip this winter twice. Fished along the east side, many creek mouths and around the provincial park. People we talked too had about the same luck. When I made posts on Calling no one had anything good to say!!! Havn't seen a photo of a 10lb+ eye from calling in a long time. This is the first Calling thread I've been logged on to see have anything positive posted. I'm glad to hear that guys are still pulling nice fish and I can only hope that if/when I make it out again I have some success finding the eye's.

Post your photos where your mouth is.

Not from calling but it's as real as it gets!

Sorry I had to do it. Tight Lines boys!! I hope you all catch ten pounders so I can shut up.

bbell · #10 05-30-2008, 10:04 PM

Fisherpotch prior to the regulation changes 6 years ago the lake had a zero limit on walleye. There was also no closed area. The new regs were forced through by Mike Cardinal despite the biologists' recommendations not to open it up.

I fished Calling several times prior to it opening in 2002 and the fishing was unbelieveable. I would go so far as to call it world class. But the numbers of fish caught and the quality has steadily declined. There is definitely still some good fishing on occasion and some big fish. Those days however are getting fewer and fewer. Calling is an incredibly productive lake and could probably challenge Tobin in terms of a quality fishery if it were managed properly.

FisherPotch · #11 05-30-2008, 10:42 PM

Thats exactly what I have heard. I could quote several people saying "Best fishing ever" in reference to calling. I recall hearing that about cardinal before too, something like thats where him and Ralph would go fishing lol. I like the idea of C&R on a lake like this to maintain trophy fishing, or maybe a draw system to fine tune the populations. It's very evident that this lake has huge potential and you never know what you could pull next.

bbell · #12 06-01-2008, 07:51 AM

You and me both. I would like to see t revert back to C/R or at very least a strick size limit with a draw. They need to protect those 4 to 8 lb fish.

impatient_hunter · #13 06-01-2008, 10:31 PM

I fished the weekend and managed to get in about 9 hours of fishing. I caught 25 fish with only 5 being walleye but that is mostly because I was going for pike in 3-4 feet of water. Had some good action and caught a 9lbs 6ozs pike on the friday night. Interesting that fish and wildlife was out on friday night, because they were also out sunday afternoon. As to the fishing the pike fishery has remained fairly stable but may have gone down to the increase in pressure from people coming out because they can keep walleye. For the walleye population it seems that there are a lot of people who are keeping way over there limit. pretty much every time you talk to fish and wildlife when you are being checked they say that they have caught someone with to many walleye in there boat. Does anyone know why they didn't change regulations in limits and keeping the 1/3 of the lake closed since having the walleye fishery opening was a five year pilot project?

Drewski Canuck · #14 06-02-2008, 09:59 AM

No offence taken. If you are seriously frustrated, PM me and I sincerely will help you. I busted my ***** all weekend on various projects, so I did not get any real fishing done. HOWEVER, if you catch a big one, you will either see a 4 - 10 inch perch or tulibee in it. If you want to catch the big guys, understand that they can feed very little on very big baits. The bigger the Rapala the better. you won't have the 100 fish days that you do at Shaw's point, but you will have a fish of a lifetime, or a few, a day.

Once July rolls around, you will find the fish suspended out in the middle. If there is a mayfly hatch on, like this weekend, again the tulibee are out in the middle with the walleye suspended under them.

Drewski