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  #31  
Old 12-31-2022, 09:52 AM
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Originally Posted by eman View Post
thx ! going to pigeon lake right now . hopefully ice is thick enough to drive on.
the ice is 24 inches now , and the spot is a little to the left of the pin drop in snap post.
good luck.
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  #32  
Old 12-31-2022, 09:58 AM
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Originally Posted by Rockymtnx View Post
The Wetaskiwin Special is the hook to have when you hit Pigeon!
It is. They are very piscivorous in that lake.

I also found a really small white jig head with a small minnow bounced an inch or two on the bottom worked also when the wetaskiwin special failed me.
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  #33  
Old 12-31-2022, 10:40 AM
Curtsyneil Curtsyneil is offline
 
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Yeah if you go to pigeon lake and use the 2 hooks you mentioned for whitefish you are goin home empty handed. Posts from 2011 and or advice on catching these fish from 2011 is not accurate. There’s people that catch those tanks on a regular basis and they have it figured out and I can guarantee there not using those hooks, nor fishing on snaps pin.
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  #34  
Old 12-31-2022, 09:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fish99 View Post
the ice is 24 inches now , and the spot is a little to the left of the pin drop in snap post.
good luck.
i was there today. ice is over 24 inches now ! but no fish . will try mulhurst next week.
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  #35  
Old 12-31-2022, 09:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eman View Post
i was there today. ice is over 24 inches now ! but no fish . will try mulhurst next week.
Were u east or west of the heave
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  #36  
Old 12-31-2022, 10:58 PM
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Originally Posted by fish99 View Post
Were u east or west of the heave
west 25fow. any suggestions ? i want catch a pigeon pig very bad
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  #37  
Old 12-31-2022, 11:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Curtsyneil View Post
Yeah if you go to pigeon lake and use the 2 hooks you mentioned for whitefish you are goin home empty handed. Posts from 2011 and or advice on catching these fish from 2011 is not accurate. There’s people that catch those tanks on a regular basis and they have it figured out and I can guarantee there not using those hooks, nor fishing on snaps pin.
i tried different wire worms .
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  #38  
Old 01-01-2023, 01:45 AM
akn akn is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eman View Post
so can you share some spot ?????????????
Why don't you just go to the same spot you limited out last season?
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  #39  
Old 01-01-2023, 06:14 AM
SNAPFisher SNAPFisher is offline
 
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Why don't you just go to the same spot you limited out last season?
What?? I offer up a golden spot and this guy is holding out on me? What is the world coming to.
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  #40  
Old 01-01-2023, 09:51 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eman View Post
west 25fow. any suggestions ? i want catch a pigeon pig very bad
most people fish east of the heave for whites
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  #41  
Old 01-01-2023, 10:02 AM
Curtsyneil Curtsyneil is offline
 
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You gotta find the food and active fish. If you are marking say 10-20 fish a morning your in the game and most likely catch a couple of them.
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  #42  
Old 01-01-2023, 12:45 PM
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They are a very tough fish to find. I was out six times last year with no fish. I fished from Grandview to Silver beach west across Mulhurst bay to Sandholm. and back across lake towards Grandview. I fished at the spot snapfisher recommended and have not seen any last year or this year, but two years ago I was marking whitefish and was catching a few at that area. I was out a couple days ago east of the big ice heave 27ft no fish seen or marked, I wonder if the whitefish are in shallow water and move to deeper water later in January.
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  #43  
Old 01-01-2023, 01:54 PM
Curtsyneil Curtsyneil is offline
 
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They will be in the deep water already you just gotta find them. They will be feeding heavy for the next 2 months out deep. Find the shrimp and the whites shouldn’t be to far behind. Last year I noticed it was a lot slower for fish and a lot more food in the water column from previous years. When there’s so much food it’s tough to track them down cause they can be anywhere in the basin. This time of year can be unbelievable if you find them and if it’s a hot bite they will hit all day long but mornings usually the best.
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  #44  
Old 01-01-2023, 03:47 PM
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I will keep trying. I was starting to wonder if the whitefish numbers were really low from summer kill. When I was out last year I noticed some people go out fishing out by Sandholm for a couple hours then just leave the lake if the bite was off. I stayed out and kept moving toward the middle of the lake but no luck.
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  #45  
Old 01-02-2023, 08:38 PM
SNAPFisher SNAPFisher is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Curtsyneil View Post
Last year I noticed it was a lot slower for fish and a lot more food in the water column from previous years. When there’s so much food it’s tough to track them down cause they can be anywhere in the basin.
Yeah, that was my thinking as well. The food seems even more dispersed this year. The search is on!
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  #46  
Old 02-04-2023, 01:17 PM
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which spot is mostly likely to find white fish, A,B, C? Thanks. Pigeon lake is the hardest lake to catch white fish, my target is to catch one white fish in Pigeon this year or next couple of years.
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  #47  
Old 02-04-2023, 08:03 PM
SNAPFisher SNAPFisher is offline
 
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Get in line!!

Try all 3. Got to put in the time to understand that lake. And then it kicks you square in the gonads on the next trip...
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  #48  
Old 02-04-2023, 09:04 PM
Curtsyneil Curtsyneil is offline
 
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I would say B personally have caught them in that general area. A @ C I wouldnt even bother unless April fishing was still goin then C forsure just off personal luck and experience. Very tricky the last 2 years tracking them down good luck finding them. They are there but seems like numbers are down from previous summer kills and so much food not making it easy. Mornings the best I find but if there moving and biting can catch them all day long.
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  #49  
Old 02-04-2023, 09:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SNAPFisher View Post
Get in line!!

Try all 3. Got to put in the time to understand that lake. And then it kicks you square in the gonads on the next trip...
Thanks SNAPFisher and Curtsyneil, I will focus on Pigeon lake this year, if I see/catch one, I will post here.
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  #50  
Old 02-04-2023, 09:32 PM
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Just my two cents, Then again the penny is obsolete so my ideas might be too.

This time of year, February, is when the burbot are spawning the whitefish love filling up on burbot eggs. There was a video posted here 3 or 4 years ago of a burbot swimming close to the bottom and there was 10 or more whitefish closely following the burbot as it dropped its eggs. Burbot drop their eggs over sandy bottoms. Burbot eggs are copper colored so a copper colored small round wetaskiwin special works good. Whitefish like eating tiny baby clams too so again a wetaskiwin special fished close to the bottom in deep water can be good. Small leadhead jigs in yellow or white and castmaster spoons can be good for big whites too.
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  #51  
Old 02-04-2023, 09:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bullets View Post
Just my two cents, Then again the penny is obsolete so my ideas might be too.

This time of year, February, is when the burbot are spawning the whitefish love filling up on burbot eggs. There was a video posted here 3 or 4 years ago of a burbot swimming close to the bottom and there was 10 or more whitefish closely following the burbot as it dropped its eggs. Burbot drop their eggs over sandy bottoms. Burbot eggs are copper colored so a copper colored small round wetaskiwin special works good. Whitefish like eating tiny baby clams too so again a wetaskiwin special fished close to the bottom in deep water can be good. Small leadhead jigs in yellow or white and castmaster spoons can be good for big whites too.

I got the eggs from sylvan burbot one week ago, see photo. Is this the right colour ? Your 2 cents are very valuable to me IMG_1777.jpg


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  #52  
Old 02-04-2023, 10:16 PM
Curtsyneil Curtsyneil is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bullets View Post
Just my two cents, Then again the penny is obsolete so my ideas might be too.

This time of year, February, is when the burbot are spawning the whitefish love filling up on burbot eggs. There was a video posted here 3 or 4 years ago of a burbot swimming close to the bottom and there was 10 or more whitefish closely following the burbot as it dropped its eggs. Burbot drop their eggs over sandy bottoms. Burbot eggs are copper colored so a copper colored small round wetaskiwin special works good. Whitefish like eating tiny baby clams too so again a wetaskiwin special fished close to the bottom in deep water can be good. Small leadhead jigs in yellow or white and castmaster spoons can be good for big whites too.
Burbot don’t spawn on these central Alberta lakes till March from what I’ve seen.
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  #53  
Old 02-04-2023, 10:28 PM
Curtsyneil Curtsyneil is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jzz View Post
I got the eggs from sylvan burbot one week ago, see photo. Is this the right colour ? Your 2 cents are very valuable to me Attachment 183659


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It’s not the colour of eggs that you want to match your hook 2. It’s the action of the Wetaskiwin pounding the sand creating a dust cloud making the whites think a female ling is spewing her eggs. I have not seen a ling spawn on pigeon lake since the early 2000s.
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  #54  
Old 02-04-2023, 10:29 PM
jzz jzz is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Curtsyneil View Post
Burbot don’t spawn on these central Alberta lakes till March from what I’ve seen.
Do burbots in Pigeon lake spawn in deep water? I saw burbots in shalow water in sylvan lake
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  #55  
Old 02-04-2023, 10:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Curtsyneil View Post
Burbot don’t spawn on these central Alberta lakes till March from what I’ve seen.
They close burbot fishing in February. Maybe Feb. is pre-spawning time but does start the spawning cycle.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jzz View Post
Do burbots in Pigeon lake spawn in deep water? I saw burbots in shalow water in sylvan lake
At Pigeon, several years ago mind you, the west end of the lake used to have piles of burbot left on the ice in February and March. They weren't considered a game fish then and people left them. The depths there were 5 to 10 feet deep with a sandy bottom. Also used to catch lots of whites north and west of "A" on your map, in 6 feet or water.
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This country was started by voyagers whose young lives were swept away by the currents of the rivers for ten cents a day... just for the vanity of the European's beaver hats. ~ Red Bullets
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Last edited by Red Bullets; 02-04-2023 at 10:40 PM.
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  #56  
Old 02-04-2023, 11:37 PM
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I’ve found Ling in balls spawning in deeper water on the camera (+20fow) a few times over sand flats over the years in Pigeon. But that was more by accident more than anything since I’ve never really targeted them.
Personally I haven’t bothered trying for whites in less than 25fow in the last 5 years.
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  #57  
Old 02-04-2023, 11:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bullets View Post
They close burbot fishing in February. Maybe Feb. is pre-spawning time but does start the spawning cycle.



At Pigeon, several years ago mind you, the west end of the lake used to have piles of burbot left on the ice in February and March. They weren't considered a game fish then and people left them. The depths there were 5 to 10 feet deep with a sandy bottom. Also used to catch lots of whites north and west of "A" on your map, in 6 feet or water.
I remember them being left on peoples cars under their wipers or speared on their antennas as a joke when I was a kid at a few of the local derbies. Few considered them an eating fish as I remember.
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  #58  
Old 02-25-2023, 04:22 PM
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was on the poker run today on pigeon lake
looked like a net was set in mulhurst bay . i should of stopped and checked but was with a group so did not.
anyone else see this.
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  #59  
Old 02-27-2023, 09:13 PM
trigger7mm trigger7mm is offline
 
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Default Pigeon lake whitefish.

There was a large group of Métis having some sort of gathering west of the provincial park on Saturday. They had a gill net in the lake as well.
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  #60  
Old 02-28-2023, 08:53 AM
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Originally Posted by trigger7mm View Post
There was a large group of Métis having some sort of gathering west of the provincial park on Saturday. They had a gill net in the lake as well.
i would have to assume one reason why the number of tags for walleye were down was due to netting,
also the amount of whitefish people have been catching this year is down.
my personal best was this year at 9lbs.
and one in our group picked up a 10.36 lb whitefish that was his first of the season and his personal best.
if the nets stay out of the lake someone may catch a new Alberta record whitefish.
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