Sylvan advice

[BanffJohn]

Hey all, heading up early tomorrow AM to Sylvan.
Anyone catching lately?
Hoping to find a pike or two, and maybe some Burbot.
Thinking of going out at Norglenwold-Can anyone confirm if the ice is still fine to drive on? It’ll be an F-150.
Is there somewhere else you’d recommend instead for access?
I’ve never been up that way ice fishing, so I’m really not too sure where I’ll be heading, if anyone would be so kind as to point me in the right direction-it would be much appreciated.
I’m not looking for anyone’s honey holes, but even something as simple as “drive out 100m and turn left, look for 15ft.” would be a great help.
I really have no idea as to where we should go, and it’s a 3 hour drive each way, hoping to avoid it being a bust.
Are the smelt that I use for Lakers going to be okay for those species, or is there somewhere close to the lake that I should pick something up from?
Any and all advice/suggestions/warnings are welcome.
4:00am can’t come soon enough!
Thanks all, tight lines!

[Zip-in-Z]

I was out on Norglenwold hunting for big game today, missed a nice Walleye didn't see any Pike. Had a few Whites come in for a look at my big presentations, one aggressive White nailed a w/w I had tied above a big jig/minnow combo. Was fishin in deep water (18-24 ft) along a big weed bed that went out into the open lake, it was a slow day.

From some of the F/B reports RR23 on the south side of the lake is starting to produce a few Whites as the Burb's bounce is going to start any day now. These days Pike are hard to come by. I'm sure you know the rules, there's NO retention of any Pike or Burbs, the C/O's were out on the weekend with a check-stop and checking every person/vehicle including the trunk.

Any place you access the lake you'll find lots of shacks and places were guys removed shacks, head out to those locations.

Don't forget your auger extension, it was close to 30" today.

Wish you all the success .... my map should help.

Cheers

David

[BanffJohn]

Hi David,
I appreciate your detailed and very helpful reply. It’s truly appreciated. I am aware of the retention limit, no issues for me-I don’t eat fish, but it’s good to know.
Too bad about them pike, that’s really what I’d like to catch, but I’ll happily catch whatever’s biting that day. I know in years past I did well for pike there in open water season-has that fishery collapsed or is it just a bad year?
Any other lakes between Banff and that area you’d try instead of looking for a few pike?
Again, thanks for your help, and I really appreciate the map.
Tight lines,
John

[Zip-in-Z]

It's a bty day out here today, hope you caught a few. From some local F/B reports the Whites are gathering the Burb ball is starting & the bounce is working.

D.

[mulio]

what's the burbs bounce?

[BanffJohn]

Just wanted to thank those that had suggestions, and especially the two people who reached out via PM.
It was very helpful.

Anyways, got to the lake on Friday the 12th a bit later than we wanted, apparently the fishing store in Red Deer we went to wasn’t open until 9, thought that was late to open, but the guy and lady were super helpful and friendly.

We got to the lake at about 9:30am, super excited as it was clear skies and calm winds.

We set up shop in 21 ft of water near where was suggested by someone, and were in and amongst approx.30 fisherpeople.

We didn’t get a bite.

Wire worms and bottom bouncing with a bell.

Nothing.

Had a tip up set with a 7” herring, the only excitement of the morning was when we looked over and saw the flag was up.
Ran over-nothing there.
Bait was directly below the hole-so an assumed false trigger.
No one that we saw caught anything either.

I had just received replacement poles from Eskimo and used the time with gorgeous weather to take out the busted ones and replace.
Weather had to have been over 10 and calm as anything.

Ended up packing it in around 1:30 and heading to Gull, as we had previously been informed at the store in Red Deer we might have more luck for pike there, and that was what we were kinda hoping for.
He said Sylvan would have bigger pike, but Gull would have a lot more.

Almost went straight there to Gull because of this, but based on the suggestions/recommendations for locations etc from the helpful folks here, I felt I owed it to those that reached out to try Sylvan first.
Unfortunately didn’t work out that AM.

Got to the suggested spot on Gull, there was about 10 other vehicles in the immediate vicinity.
Set up shop in 18 feet.
Long story short, After 2 hours It was a bust. Tried everything we had.
Again no one caught anything that we could see.
We didn’t mark a single fish on the flasher the entire time.

We decided to try going back to Sylvan for the last couple hours of light, stopped and grabbed a bite in town and headed back on the ice at Norglenwold at around 5-5:30, but this time we went a little further east than the first time. Probably only another 150m, but it made a difference.

Within 2 minutes the family beside us caught a burbot, then a few other people all around us started catching them at a rate of a fish or two was coming up every few minutes, along with a few whiteys too. But we hadn’t caught a thing.Just kept plugging away, trying to watch others around us to see what we needed to do. Cars were still arriving so we assumed there would be a night bite that was still to come. This was indeed the case.

Then finally after an hour or so of watching around 25 burbot and 10 whitefish being caught all around us, I finally hooked up.

Fish had a fair bit of weight, and was peeling drag.
Got it to the hole-my first burbot.
Then tried to get it out of the hole-you know the story-it flipped off and was gone. No pic of my first burb. ****.
Lines back down and my buddy gets hit hard, but misses, I miss a few myself and it’s now getting pretty dark. I hook up again, but it’s off after 20 seconds or so.Ughhh.
Most vehicles have now left.

I hook up again, and after an unremarkable battle, I get the fish up on the ice.

A burb-a small one maybe half the size of the one I lost at the hole lol, but we were pretty stoked after having left Banff at 430am and finally getting something.

It was just after 8:00pm.

Long day for a single fish, but I was just happy I finally figured out the proper cadence and whatnot for the bouncing.

A couple hours in, and we still were missing most of our bites-but we at least we had finally started getting the bites.
Fished for another 15-20 minutes with no more bites and headed out.

Pitch black heading off, and we only saw one other vehicle on the trip out, so I guess we probably stayed out later than necessary.

Left for the drive home and got home, 20 hours after we left, tired but happy. Talked the whole way back about trying to get back up another time before the melt, and made tentative plans with the buddy to try next week. We’re happy thy we think we’ve now sorted it out and just need another chance.

Was a great change of pace from just fishing small lakers at Spray lake in 80-100 feet. A very different game for sure, and super convenient not having to drag my train of 3 sleds out over 1.5 km from the parking spot on foot.
Driving right up to the hole is a game changer haha.

The best part of it all is talked my lady into making the long drive up 2 days later with our dog. I had been pretty pumped about how the day ended that first time, and was sure I’d do better next time. My excitement was contagious.

We left Sunday the 14th AM, but left at a reasonable 8am for her.

Got on the water around 11:30, and within 10 minutes I had iced 2 decent burbs, and was super excited that this was gonna be an amazing day.

However, action dropped off.
After 2.5 hours I was stuck at the 2.
I had lost a couple, and my girlfriend hadn’t caught anything yet.

She said she had a few bites, but wasn’t sure as she hadn’t done this type of fishing yet so wasn’t to confident she was doing it right. Assured her we were doing the same thing and keep at it. She’s a trooper and never stopped smiling.

Then 4pm hit.
She caught a burb.
She caught a whitefish.
She caught 2 more burbs.
I caught another whitey.

She was now ahead 4-3 and was loving life. Offered to give me pointers in jest haha. Did get a few sideways glances and comments from people that couldn’t believe we were releasing the whitefish, but that’s a common occurrence for me lol.

We stayed until 730 and final tally was 8burb/2whiteys for me, and 5/2 for her.
Gorgeous sunset for the drive off and we headed home with 1 tired golden retriever and great memories of a new fishing experience for us.

Thanks again to all that reached out. Honestly if I hadn’t received such positive messages about the spots that were suggested-I probably wouldn’t have come back for the afternoon bite at Sylvan after being skunked in the AM. But the assurances I received I figured had to be real, we we have it another chance and couldn’t be happier that we did. It caused me to come right back up 2 days later, and I’ll be back again.

Not yet sure how to upload the photos, but I’ll figure it out.


Tight lines,
John

[FreeToFish]

Originally Posted by BanffJohn

Just wanted to thank those that had suggestions, and especially the two people who reached out via PM.
It was very helpful.

Anyways, got to the lake on Friday the 12th a bit later than we wanted, apparently the fishing store in Red Deer we went to wasn’t open until 9, thought that was late to open, but the guy and lady were super helpful and friendly.

We got to the lake at about 9:30am, super excited as it was clear skies and calm winds.

We set up shop in 21 ft of water near where was suggested by someone, and were in and amongst approx.30 fisherpeople.

We didn’t get a bite.

Wire worms and bottom bouncing with a bell.

Nothing.

Had a tip up set with a 7” herring, the only excitement of the morning was when we looked over and saw the flag was up.
Ran over-nothing there.
Bait was directly below the hole-so an assumed false trigger.
No one that we saw caught anything either.

I had just received replacement poles from Eskimo and used the time with gorgeous weather to take out the busted ones and replace.
Weather had to have been over 10 and calm as anything.

Ended up packing it in around 1:30 and heading to Gull, as we had previously been informed at the store in Red Deer we might have more luck for pike there, and that was what we were kinda hoping for.
He said Sylvan would have bigger pike, but Gull would have a lot more.

Almost went straight there to Gull because of this, but based on the suggestions/recommendations for locations etc from the helpful folks here, I felt I owed it to those that reached out to try Sylvan first.
Unfortunately didn’t work out that AM.

Got to the suggested spot on Gull, there was about 10 other vehicles in the immediate vicinity.
Set up shop in 18 feet.
Long story short, After 2 hours It was a bust. Tried everything we had.
Again no one caught anything that we could see.
We didn’t mark a single fish on the flasher the entire time.

We decided to try going back to Sylvan for the last couple hours of light, stopped and grabbed a bite in town and headed back on the ice at Norglenwold at around 5-5:30, but this time we went a little further east than the first time. Probably only another 150m, but it made a difference.

Within 2 minutes the family beside us caught a burbot, then a few other people all around us started catching them at a rate of a fish or two was coming up every few minutes, along with a few whiteys too. But we hadn’t caught a thing.Just kept plugging away, trying to watch others around us to see what we needed to do. Cars were still arriving so we assumed there would be a night bite that was still to come. This was indeed the case.

Then finally after an hour or so of watching around 25 burbot and 10 whitefish being caught all around us, I finally hooked up.

Fish had a fair bit of weight, and was peeling drag.
Got it to the hole-my first burbot.
Then tried to get it out of the hole-you know the story-it flipped off and was gone. No pic of my first burb. ****.
Lines back down and my buddy gets hit hard, but misses, I miss a few myself and it’s now getting pretty dark. I hook up again, but it’s off after 20 seconds or so.Ughhh.
Most vehicles have now left.

I hook up again, and after an unremarkable battle, I get the fish up on the ice.

A burb-a small one maybe half the size of the one I lost at the hole lol, but we were pretty stoked after having left Banff at 430am and finally getting something.

It was just after 8:00pm.

Long day for a single fish, but I was just happy I finally figured out the proper cadence and whatnot for the bouncing.

A couple hours in, and we still were missing most of our bites-but we at least we had finally started getting the bites.
Fished for another 15-20 minutes with no more bites and headed out.

Pitch black heading off, and we only saw one other vehicle on the trip out, so I guess we probably stayed out later than necessary.

Left for the drive home and got home, 20 hours after we left, tired but happy. Talked the whole way back about trying to get back up another time before the melt, and made tentative plans with the buddy to try next week. We’re happy thy we think we’ve now sorted it out and just need another chance.

Was a great change of pace from just fishing small lakers at Spray lake in 80-100 feet. A very different game for sure, and super convenient not having to drag my train of 3 sleds out over 1.5 km from the parking spot on foot.
Driving right up to the hole is a game changer haha.

The best part of it all is talked my lady into making the long drive up 2 days later with our dog. I had been pretty pumped about how the day ended that first time, and was sure I’d do better next time. My excitement was contagious.

We left Sunday the 14th AM, but left at a reasonable 8am for her.

Got on the water around 11:30, and within 10 minutes I had iced 2 decent burbs, and was super excited that this was gonna be an amazing day.

However, action dropped off.
After 2.5 hours I was stuck at the 2.
I had lost a couple, and my girlfriend hadn’t caught anything yet.

She said she had a few bites, but wasn’t sure as she hadn’t done this type of fishing yet so wasn’t to confident she was doing it right. Assured her we were doing the same thing and keep at it. She’s a trooper and never stopped smiling.

Then 4pm hit.
She caught a burb.
She caught a whitefish.
She caught 2 more burbs.
I caught another whitey.

She was now ahead 4-3 and was loving life. Offered to give me pointers in jest haha. Did get a few sideways glances and comments from people that couldn’t believe we were releasing the whitefish, but that’s a common occurrence for me lol.

We stayed until 730 and final tally was 8burb/2whiteys for me, and 5/2 for her.
Gorgeous sunset for the drive off and we headed home with 1 tired golden retriever and great memories of a new fishing experience for us.

Thanks again to all that reached out. Honestly if I hadn’t received such positive messages about the spots that were suggested-I probably wouldn’t have come back for the afternoon bite at Sylvan after being skunked in the AM. But the assurances I received I figured had to be real, we we have it another chance and couldn’t be happier that we did. It caused me to come right back up 2 days later, and I’ll be back again.

Not yet sure how to upload the photos, but I’ll figure it out.


Tight lines,
John

Glad to hear you had more success on your second outing. How thick is the Ice? Planing on heading there Thursday for the first time for some whitefish action before the season end, never caught one before. Thanks to Zip-n-Z been making some wire worms to try out.

[BanffJohn]

Ice was 32” where I was. No extension needed, but another 2” and it would be.

[FreeToFish]

Originally Posted by BanffJohn

Ice was 32” where I was. No extension needed, but another 2” and it would be.

Thank you BanffJohn. I use hand drill. This is too thick for the drill.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Zip-in-Z]

BJ ... you must have a patient g-friend. Pleased to read & read & read that you got a few & had a fun trip.

Cheers

D.