Big hens a bitin

[Crankbait]

Go fishing now, bring a heater, what have you. Look for sharp drops near shore, cast just beyond the drop, herring fillet, at least 18" leader, a decent larger single hook allows bait to flutter, the windier the better.

If you've never caught back to back big girls, now is the time. I wait for these days like kids wait for Halloween. Dress warm, keep your camera handy.

For fly fishing crowd, if windy 25 km+, cast parallel to the shoreline with or against wind, silver/white with a line of red or red tail. Strip with long-long-5 sec pause-long-long-pause repeat. By long, pull back 3 foot lengths fast and wait for streamer to get down, don't top water.

[gman1978]

Or cast big swim baits in the edges of weedbeds and Rocky points.

[kc_okotoks]

what is a big hens ?

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by kc_okotoks

what is a big hens ?

Big female Northern Pike I believe.

[KegRiver]

I've been trying.

But my only option is the Peace River, which used to be great this time of year, but it's pretty much dead now.

There are still a few fish left, but so few the chances of connecting with one is slim.

Before the pulp plant opened I never got skunked, now I seldom catch anything, not even a chub.

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I've been trying.

But my only option is the Peace River, which used to be great this time of year, but it's pretty much dead now.

There are still a few fish left, but so few the chances of connecting with one is slim.

Before the pulp plant opened I never got skunked, now I seldom catch anything, not even a chub.

Theres pills for that now

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I've been trying.

But my only option is the Peace River, which used to be great this time of year, but it's pretty much dead now.

There are still a few fish left, but so few the chances of connecting with one is slim.

Before the pulp plant opened I never got skunked, now I seldom catch anything, not even a chub.

Send me a location where you would fish and I'll Google map you a likelihood of where you should cast a line.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by kc_okotoks

what is a big hens ?

Could be big pike and it could be big walleye. Now is a killer time for big walleye in the rivers. I've seen a 14.5 lb. walleye caught on Halloween night an hour after dark on the NSR in downtown Edmonton.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I've been trying.

But my only option is the Peace River, which used to be great this time of year, but it's pretty much dead now.

There are still a few fish left, but so few the chances of connecting with one is slim.

Before the pulp plant opened I never got skunked, now I seldom catch anything, not even a chub.

Used to always catch chub in the North Saskatchewan river years ago. Haven't seen one in 30 years either.

[Crankbait]

Big pike, apologies. And big walleye too right now, but I'm talking big pike.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

Theres pills for that now

LOL I'll bet there is!

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Crankbait

Send me a location where you would fish and I'll Google map you a likelihood of where you should cast a line.

This computer won't do Google maps. It won't do a lot of things actually.

The river changed a lot this year due to the flooding earlier.
And it's lower then I've ever seen it.

Google may have a hard time showing what it's like now.

But I can describe it.

I fish a huge back eddy half a mile below the mouth of the Notikewin River.

Water depth is around six feet a few feet out from the bank. The bottom is sandy. Upstream is a gravel bar and fast water. There is no current break at the gravel bar. The current break is out from shore about twenty yards and runs the full length of the gravel bar and the eddy I fish.
At the eddy the current break is closer to 60 yards out.
I can cast to it but I can't keep a hook on the break.

The water from the Notikewin and food that comes with it accumulates in that back eddy making it a favorite place for fish to rest and feed.

In years past it was a good producer this time of year, but this year there seems to be nothing there.

[Crankbait]

For those cutting their herring and smelts and hitting the water this week on their lake X,, make sure to check the weather and pick the side of the lake where waves are coming at you or washing the shore. Shelf's will be very productive, structure that graduates from 1 through 6 feet deep over a long casting distance. Bait without a weight will help considerably, just pick up the incoming slack from the wind push,, not too tight a line and definitely no P-Rigs. You want your bait to move with the wave action, bumping and rolling along the bottom. Herring fillets are best as they have a flimsiness that gets attention. You can even clip the skin of the fillet to your leader clip and then the hook for more flapping and less balling of the bait.

You'll be essentially fly-fishing with big bait in your regular rod. The bait and leader alone is more than enough weight to cast. I notice that the P-Rigs crowd tend to over use weight that their rods aren't set for, same goes for matching line at, but that's another story.

Have fun.

Keg, if you go weightless, Chuck it out into the flow, feed your line until your bait ends up in a sweet backflow area, then wait.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Crankbait

Keg, if you go weightless, Chuck it out into the flow, feed your line until your bait ends up in a sweet backflow area, then wait.

Thanks I'll try that.

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

Thanks I'll try that.

Hawwwwt bite today, six in the 80+ cm range, two 90's and one 98. All back to the water. Had an 80 come at days end, I'd be fryin it right now. Thus is Life. Two big southern Alberta reservors are ice free,not sure bout keho but I'd say likely open. Lotsa missed fish too.

Today I used a bit of floatation just to give the bait a bit more lift and bump on the bottom in the wave action. I used some tougher packing foam, not styro but then swapped to a piece of apple, peeled that worked much better. Sometimes the floatation comes off in the bite and I don't want birds or the fish eating it,,, sometimes I use a small strip of pork fat that is great too, likely better for the fish.

Keg, quietly approach the six foot deep shore depth with the sandy bottom, cast upstream into it so your line is coming to you and wait for it to settle. I'm sure your lunker's are hugging shore right now