Where's my 10lb Rainbow Trout?

[AlbertanGP]

Still in the lake.

I set a goal for myself back in November to catch a 10lb rainbow this ice season. I'm not there yet, but I did catch a 25" fish I'd estimate between 7-7.5 lbs. on Saturday. I figure by posting my goal up here, I'll have more incentive to achieve it. I don't think it'll be particularly hard...it just requires a lot of hours logged on the two water bodies up here known to hold the fish. I do have an ace in the hole...I'm fishing Diefenbaker with Adam Konrad for three days in March. That would only sorta count though. Sorta as in only if I need it to. lol.

[Bearski]

Beauty 'bow!

[58thecat]

Well sir you put your time in and that is very obvious, you will succeed or have a lot of fishing stories to tel!
Maybe over time the stories will get longer as will the fish.
Good luck and tight lines!


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[spurly]

Beauty.

[DRhunter]

Gorgeous fish! Good luck and can’t wait for the updates, thanks for posting.

DR


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[nimrod]

Nice fish, wish I caught a fish like that

[Frank_NK28]

Very nice! That is a GREAT Rainbow!!
I have the same goal in mind but I fish the same small body of water continually where each year seems to produce one or two 10lb fish but as yet it hasn't been me producing them. Last spring a fellow caught a 13 pounder trolling a tiny spoon at ice out.
Last year I took a buddy with me who had never ice fished. I set my jawjackers up and told him you take any hits we get. His first fish through the ice turned out to be our biggest Bow of the season. A 24" beauty hen that weighed 6lb-12oz.
This season so far our biggest has been a 22" 6lb-3oz kype jaw male I caught while fishing solo.

[AlbertanGP]

Originally Posted by Frank_NK28

Very nice! That is a GREAT Rainbow!!
I have the same goal in mind but I fish the same small body of water continually where each year seems to produce one or two 10lb fish but as yet it hasn't been me producing them. Last spring a fellow caught a 13 pounder trolling a tiny spoon at ice out.
Last year I took a buddy with me who had never ice fished. I set my jawjackers up and told him you take any hits we get. His first fish through the ice turned out to be our biggest Bow of the season. A 24" beauty hen that weighed 6lb-12oz.
This season so far our biggest has been a 22" 6lb-3oz kype jaw male I caught while fishing solo.

Nice fish Frank_NK28. Sadly, the two lakes I'm fishing are stocked with all female triploids...I'd love to catch a nicely colored male. On the bright side, one coughs up 10-12lb'ers annually and the other produced a 17lb'er a couple of years ago that was released.

That 22" is a pig. I caught a 22" on Sunday. Although a big fish, it was quite a bit smaller than the 25" I caught the day before in the picture above. Using my formula of (Length X (Length*0.58) X (Length*0.58))/740 (which seems to produce a reasonable guesstimate for the fatties in the lakes I fish) yields 4.8lbs. I may have to weigh more smaller guys and adjust my formula.

Here are my two biggest from last year that I'm trying to beat. The first one was 26" and 7.95lbs. The second I didn't measure but was 8.1lbs.

[Frank_NK28]

Beauties!

[58thecat]

Wow, you got that lake dialled in now a little Lady Luck and you will have the fish of a lifetime!


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[OL_JR]

Great fish all awesome 👍👍

[Outbound]

Great fish!

[goldscud]

Very nice.
I should take the rod on an adventure in your neighborhood in the spring

[spurly]

Very nice fish.

[AlbertanGP]

Originally Posted by goldscud

Very nice.
I should take the rod on an adventure in your neighborhood in the spring

Shoot me a PM if you're coming and I'll let you know how the fishing is. There are all sorts of fishing opportunities in the area, especially if you're open to popping into B.C.

[goldscud]

Awesome AlbertanGP. Wish you success on finding some 10+ fish

[AlbertanGP]

OK time to rant. I got up at 6am to chase my fish. Had a good breakfast and lugged everything out and set up in the dark. Almost done setting up and some minivan rolls in and out pours a herd to come set up 20’ from me…I’m the only one on the lake. Told them it’s better over there…way over there…at least they sorta took the hint and moved 50’ away. Now it’s prime time and some husband and wife decided to roll up 30’ from my tip ups. Seriously took the girl two minutes to punch a hole with a gas auger while the guy videos it on his phone…

Please God let COVID end so the wannabe outdoors people can get back to reality.

[58thecat]

Ok
Go in your ice tent and strip down then go out and check your tip ups and don’t forget to wave and be friendly!
Your welcome!!!


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[58thecat]

See no more neighbours!

I usually wear my goofy hat too.


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[Outbound]

Originally Posted by AlbertanGP

OK time to rant. I got up at 6am to chase my fish. Had a good breakfast and lugged everything out and set up in the dark. Almost done setting up and some minivan rolls in and out pours a herd to come set up 20’ from me…I’m the only one on the lake. Told them it’s better over there…way over there…at least they sorta took the hint and moved 50’ away. Now it’s prime time and some husband and wife decided to roll up 30’ from my tip ups. Seriously took the girl two minutes to punch a hole with a gas auger while the guy videos it on his phone…

Please God let COVID end so the wannabe outdoors people can get back to reality.

Go punch a hole 2 feet from them and settle in. When they chirp, just shrug and say "I thought we were getting cozy since you decided come set up so close to me. Figured I'd save us the foreplay and just make myself at home!"

[pikeman06]

Originally Posted by Outbound

Go punch a hole 2 feet from them and settle in. When they chirp, just shrug and say "I thought we were getting cozy since you decided come set up so close to me. Figured I'd save us the foreplay and just make myself at home!"

Buy a couple old one man tents off market place. Either drill a hole and set them up or just set them up and spread an auger and a calfsled and a tip up and your pickup to properly fence your area off. I can't stand when people got the whole lake but wanna sit on your lap. I'm not shy about telling strangers they are complete idiots. Burn a hundred dollars worth of gas and take my fishing serious, if someone wants to ruin my day I let them know.

[AlbertanGP]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

See no more neighbours!

I usually wear my goofy hat too.


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Yeah the underwear and the mad trapper hat would do it. Good call. lol.

[OL_JR]

It can be annoying, quite often I gamble trying to check out new spots. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't but enjoy not fishing in crowds. Funny thing is you could be hauling in fish or on the way to a complete skunking - somebody will think you have things figured out and come wandering way to close either way.
Honestly though as long as they aren't raging D-bags I don't get to worked up about it anymore. Get enough stress outside of fishing no need to add to it.

[AlbertanGP]

I settled down after the fish started biting...funny how that works. The family was OK. I wound up giving one kid a couple of four to five pounders to take home. I think I have a new friend lol.

I've been stuck on 22" for the past couple of days. Nice fish at close to five pounds, but not what I'm looking for. Hopefully tomorrow...

[Frank_NK28]

I've been fishing a spot away from everyone all winter and doing well but the other day my wife and I are sitting in the tent and I can hear a vehicle approaching. Sure enough some guy pulls up 6 feet from one of our outside lines, parks and gets out then walks over and opens our tent door and says "are you guy's catching any over here?" I said "first that is none of your business, 2 who are you to just open my tent and stick your face in?" then I reached up and closed the tent door and told him to $%^& off!! I am usually a very friendly guy but I sure am not when someone has the nerve to just open my tent door without being invited in....and we did manage a few fish that day though I wasn't sharing that information with that goof!

[bcsteely]

Hit two fish 10 pounds plus in past 3 years on Bc Stillwater’s and several in the 6-8 pound range. I’m not familiar with Alberta Stillwater’s but I’m sure there must be big ones there as well. Good luck

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by AlbertanGP

I settled down after the fish started biting...funny how that works. The family was OK. I wound up giving one kid a couple of four to five pounders to take home. I think I have a new friend lol.

I've been stuck on 22" for the past couple of days. Nice fish at close to five pounds, but not what I'm looking for. Hopefully tomorrow...

Now you got good Karma on your side.
Funny how a kid can put a smile on our faces
Good luck!

[AlbertanGP]

Whelp, another weekend in the books. Friday was good. Saturday was slow, but it gave me time to devise some new strats. Must have been close to 10 total 22"ers since I posted last Friday, including this poor girl with some sort of kyphosis.



'Til next Friday morning.

[AlbertanGP]

Originally Posted by bcsteely

Hit two fish 10 pounds plus in past 3 years on Bc Stillwater’s and several in the 6-8 pound range. I’m not familiar with Alberta Stillwater’s but I’m sure there must be big ones there as well. Good luck

A lake either has them or it doesn't...not many lakes around here grow them that big. And unless you're lucky, you're going to have to go through a lot of fish to catch one. I saw a couple this weekend on the Livescope but they just took a look and kept going. There is a reason they got that big on pressured waters.

Grats on your catches. B.C. has some big trout. I'd plan a trip to Kootenay Lake for a Gerrard rainbow if the lake froze over.

[Frank_NK28]

Geepers where is all the snow? Bare ice! Talk about nice for travelling. We have a pile of snow here. That looks like quite the aeration system!! Only one lake I know of around here that is aerated, it's on the SK side and stocked annually with Tigers and Browns in alternating years.