Fishing report from the weekend - Cataract, Highwood, and Chain Lakes

[Mr Wiggles]

Thanks again everyone that offered tips & places to fish, i haven't wet a line in Alberta in nearly a decade, and my girlfriend Kathryn and I were pretty fired up to catch some fish this weekend.

We wound up deciding to camp at the last minute Friday, so loaded the truck up (including all our fancy new fishing gear) and headed to K- Country. We couldn't find a single campground that had a spot along Highway 40, and wound up camping at Cataract Creek. It was a great spot, and I'm glad we ended up there. We had camped in Etherington a few weeks previous, also good times. Anyway, i'm off track.

Fishing - Well, i was hoping to catch and land more than we did in all honesty. I think the hot weather played a hand in that during the day Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday we headed to Chain Lakes in the morning, via the forestry trunk and 532. Wow, 532 is crazy until you get to Indian Graves! A beautiful drive but i think i knocked at least 2 fillings loose

So, we get to Chain Lakes at around noon. Get our lines wet and Kathryn hooks a small rainbow about 10 minutes in, she gets it within a few feet of shore, but it shook the lure off. 20 minutes or so after that, i hook what looked like a big (12"-16") rainbow. I didn't have the drag set very well on the reel, it jumped out of the water and shook the lure out. After that, nothing for the 3 more hours we stayed. We moved spots a few times, tried different lures with no luck. A few nibbles, but nothing solid. It was probably 30-32 degrees out, and i guess the fish went deep where we couldn't cast out to.

On the way back to the campsite, we stopped at a promising looking spot on the Highwood west of Longview along 541. There was a nice slow bend in the river with 2 pools but again, nothing. i did manage to get a great picture of the gf standing on a rock in the middle of the river casting out, but that was about it.

Next we stopped along Cataract Creek and found a DEEP pool underneath where Cataract & another creek met, and Kathryn hooked and landed a small Cutthroat. We tried the pool for another hour or so with no more luck so called it a day.

Sunday we went back to Chain Lakes, this time with bait, and earlier in the day (Sunday was also overcast and at least 10 degrees cooler than Saturday) but for the 3.5 hours we spent there, NOTHING! It wasn't just us either, we saw no one else shore or boat fishing that was actually catching anything. Is Chain Lakes overfished? Or maybe just an off weekend?

It was all still pretty fun. I got a nice tan out of it, and learned a thing or 2 about fishing here (much more learning to go). I'm happy with the gear i picked up, everything worked well other than some snags on the reels (i'm wondering if when i wound them, i didn't put enough tension on)

We tried a number of spoons & spinners, and jigs with live worms, but everything we hooked or caught was on a #7 Len Thompson five of diamonds.

I'm glad we brought burgers, we would've been pretty darn hungry if we had planned on catching dinner!

[The Fisherman Guy]

Wiggles,

good to hear you had a great weekend! Don't be discouraged by not catching a tonne of fish, those spots need know how, and plenty of time.

Chain is pretty over fished, IMO. The trout are pretty small, and the wind can be annoying. If you want to hook some trout for sure, try Allen Bill pond - west of Bragg Creek, on the way to Elbow Falls. Great fish, and easy to find. A great place to head out on a weeknight.

Drop me a line if you want some company, maybe I'll tag along on your next one and show you a few spots....That I discovered, none that anyone has shown me

[llmitch]

I fished this small steam that runs into the Highwood West of Longview 60 some years ago and had some unbeleivable rainbow fishing. My father used to put me on his shoulders and wade accross the Highwood frpm the camp site while my mother used to wait in the Model T and honk the horn if the wardens were around. You could fish a little way up the creek from the Highwood but the best fishing was beyond where some of the big pools were. I can remember seeing Indian hand painting on some of the rock walls. Man those were the days.