Maligne Magic

[SNAPFisher]

I've taken many of the same pictures of Maligne but they all seem special and different, especially at the time of taking them. Pretty much a place that sooths the soul. At least for me.

Okay, enought with the fluff!

Escaped to Maligne on Friday afternoon. The wildlife was in full bloom. On the way into the park and the lake saw mountain sheep, mountain goats, several huge male elk, some deer, and a fox that stalked and caught a vole. Saw a nice eagle at the lake. On the way out today saw more sheep up very close, a black bear, several moose and some more deer. After reading Speckle55's post I'm wondering if someone staged the same wildlife. BTW. Nice to meet you Speck!

Saturday started out windless and calm but changed later to wind and rain. It was chilly but we toughed it out. Managed to catch quite a few trolling but really picked up when we starting indicating for them. I managed 27 - 15 brookies and 12 bows. My buddy got about a dozen. Sunday was a nice sunny day with a light breeze. The fish got bigger too! Managed 19 by noon. My biggest bow was 23 inches and brookie was 20 inches. Pretty amazing fishing!

Lots of snow on the mountains. Even some still in the parking lot and along the shore. No ice on the lake though. At least not within seeing distance.

Here are some pics:



Glassy!








A really spawned out bow.


The big brookie


Cheers!

[DuckBrat]

Great job can't wait to get there next week. See you there.

[climid]

spinning or fly fishing?

[EastCoastFisherman]

Nice Fish!! I assume you were using live bait?

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by climid

spinning or fly fishing?

Flyfishing

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by EastCoastFisherman

Nice Fish!! I assume you were using live bait?

Umm, not sure why you are asking this. Just in case you need the regs:

When angling, it is unlawful to:
•Fish without a national park fishing permit
•Fish with or possess within 100 metres of park waters the following:
◦natural bait and chemical attractants;

Here is a link to the regs:

http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/jasper/...it14a.aspx#act

[McLeod]

Very nice ! Thanks for sharing ..Always love mountain pictures with trout.
Feel free to add more picture of Brookies !

[SonnyJ]

Maligne = a little piece of heaven...

[Alberta Bigbore]

Congrats! Those are some great looking fish.

[BobLoblaw]

Nice!
Gotta love Maligne!

[tikkataker]

Nice fish! I was out there this past weekend and landed a few nice ones, the biggest being a rainbow at about 23". Best place for trout hands down.

[TyreeUM]

that is a great looking brookie!

[HopperDropper]

Wow, 39! That is an unreal day! We had 11 in the boat Friday, maybe we'll try the indicator fishing this wknd! Any color/size/depth tips would be, well, AWESOME!

[Speckle55]

hey Snap .. enjoyed watching you land that Brookie .. very nice fish btw .. i only got 1 there,, missed a few went back to trolling missed way more wow!!
here is a couple rainbows i released.. will be back with my buddys Bill and Tim 14/15/16/17 at Fishermans Bay.. doing some chronamids and Deep Trolling
.. very nice pic's also
David
001.JPG

002.jpg

003.JPG

004.JPG

[BeeGuy]

Hey David,

What do you use to troll deep?

D-rigger? Banana weights?

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Great pictures snap .

[Speckle55]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

Hey David,

What do you use to troll deep?

D-rigger? Banana weights?

I have two down riggers and have use 2 oz and 3 oz weights with a small Williams Wobbler etc.. also buddy has Tail Dancers.. we will be working that 20 to 45 fow

Both big Brookie's in 1984 that i got into were in 40fow to 50 fow
one i was letting the line out at the second narrows in 40fow 9# to 11# male losted June 17 1984
the other was in 50fow i was on the inside coming back to Spirit Island at Currie's Bay 10 1/2 mile ..she is on my profile at 12#13oz June 28 1984

both on a Williams Worbbler medium as a flasher then 12/16 inches back a Green Doc Spratley size 10 or 8


Food for Thought
David

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by Speckle55

hey Snap .. enjoyed watching you land that Brookie .. very nice fish btw .. i only got 1 there,, missed a few went back to trolling missed way more wow!!
here is a couple rainbows i released.. will be back with my buddys Bill and Tim 14/15/16/17 at Fishermans Bay.. doing some chronamids and Deep Trolling
.. very nice pic's also
David

Sounds good. May the next trip be even better!

I like the story of the big brookie from the depths. Question is, do you believe that there are still fish that big to be had in Maligne?

[Mountain Guy]

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Sounds good. May the next trip be even better!

I like the story of the big brookie from the depths. Question is, do you believe that there are still fish that big to be had in Maligne?

no...

[Speckle55]

Yes i see them on fish finder every few years .. saw 6 on the bottom 400 yards out from the end of Rainbow Ally in middle in 125 fow with my boy acouple of years ago ..

i was told in 1979 by a old guy in a Green canoe from Jasper that there were 10# plus brookies in the lake it took me till 1985 to get into two.. he said Quote"you will get one to 3 times a chance at a big brookie in your lifetime of fishing this lake .. i have fish it for 40 years and had a few on the key will be if you can hang on to them most people will lose the brookie"

I have fish the lake for 33 years now and had 4 times into something big of those 2 i had to the boat in netting range i got one and one was my boy he lost it because he wasn,t holding the rod.. the other was lost way out and i think it had the Worbbler..

there aways is a BIGGER BROOK TROUT

you can quote me

Food for Thought
David

[McLeod]

Originally Posted by Mountain Guy

no...

Curious by your comment.. Do really think so or were you being sarcastic
to keep people away..

I believe it's still possible. You works for Parks ?
Cheers

[Mountain Guy]

No I don't work for Parks.
Don't have 33 or 40 years of fishing the lake under my belt. I'm a rookie at 14 years
Don't claim to be an expert myself at this body of water, but do fish with some renowned fella's that would be considered very knowledgeable.
From what I hear, 20 years ago or so the fish were bigger on average. Possibly due to, some saying, less fish in the water.
I've seen tons of fish caught in this lake. Biggest brookie going about 5 lbs.
The pet that hangs out under the dock at fisherman's ( which I catch and release every year ) is way above average at about 3-4 lbs.
Anythings possible and it is a huge,deep body of water, but don't see anything like that still lurking around.
I think somebody would have snagged one by now .

Oh, and as far as big fish on the finder go's, a fish at 50+ feet shows up a lot bigger than it would at 20 ft. Especially if its suspended.

[McLeod]

Originally Posted by Mountain Guy

No I don't work for Parks.
Don't have 33 or 40 years of fishing the lake under my belt. I'm a rookie at 14 years
Don't claim to be an expert myself at this body of water, but do fish with some renowned fella's that would be considered very knowledgeable.
From what I hear, 20 years ago or so the fish were bigger on average. Possibly due to, some saying, less fish in the water.
I've seen tons of fish caught in this lake. Biggest brookie going about 5 lbs.
The pet that hangs out under the dock at fisherman's ( which I catch and release every year ) is way above average at about 3-4 lbs.
Anythings possible and it is a huge,deep body of water, but don't see anything like that still lurking around.
I think somebody would have snagged one by now .

Oh, and as far as big fish on the finder go's, a fish at 50+ feet shows up a lot bigger than it would at 20 ft. Especially if its suspended.

Thanks for the comment ..Very much appreciated. I would agree with almost everything you say.. I don't believe that many fish are actually harvested from the lake so to many fish is accurate. What is differant from the 80's is the limit is only 2 now and used to be five.. More fish were killed then as C and R was not the norm as it is now.


However I do believe at the upper end of the lake it is possible that as has been seen in the past that a few Brookies could be in a situation were they could live long and get large but yes an exception.

[Badgoodguy]

Up past the narrows and spirit there are monsters I am sure as it was always the best place for the biggest Brookies.

[Mountain Guy]

Originally Posted by McLeod

Thanks for the comment ..Very much appreciated. I would agree with almost everything you say.. I don't believe that many fish are actually harvested from the lake so to many fish is accurate. What is differant from the 80's is the limit is only 2 now and used to be five.. More fish were killed then as C and R was not the norm as it is now.


However I do believe at the upper end of the lake it is possible that as has been seen in the past that a few Brookies could be in a situation were they could live long and get large but yes an exception.

The bigger brookies I see appear stunted. ( Big head for the size of the fish)
Another indicator that these apparent huge fish are long gone.
I think a guy needs to go west a little ways ( Fortress ) for a chance at a trophy

[McLeod]

Originally Posted by Mountain Guy

The bigger brookies I see appear stunted. ( Big head for the size of the fish)
Another indicator that these apparent huge fish are long gone.
I think a guy needs to go west a little ways ( Fortress ) for a chance at a trophy

Excellant observation.. Too many fish.

I sure David will give us a full report when he returns from his trip.

[fishman]

This is what is see but i could be wrong as the keep limit has changed it seems to have affected the brooikies the most as they are such prolivic spawners and are starting to take over the lake as years ago the rainbows out numbered the brookies now it is the other way around

[McLeod]

Originally Posted by fishman

This is what is see but i could be wrong as the keep limit has changed it seems to have affected the brooikies the most as they are such prolivic spawners and are starting to take over the lake as years ago the rainbows out numbered the brookies now it is the other way around

Yes so feel to take a couple home to eat.
The Brookies are far superior..in my opinion in eating quality compared to the Rainbows.

[Bhflyfisher]

Originally Posted by Mountain Guy

The bigger brookies I see appear stunted. ( Big head for the size of the fish)
Another indicator that these apparent huge fish are long gone.
I think a guy needs to go west a little ways ( Fortress ) for a chance at a trophy

While I understand, there are some brooks that I have caught out of maligne that have had some massive maws over the past few years.

I'm heading out this weekend in the cold and rain (probably snow up on maligne) super pumped. Hopefully the chronies will be popping.

[tikkataker]

I was out there a couple weeks ago and was stopped by the warden and we talked for quite some time. he said the pressure on the lake has decreased over the past few years maybe meaning more fish. He also seemed to hint at catching and releasing the fish we catch for some odd reason. Deffinatley some nice fish come out of there and great tasting. Then he got to saying that the lake is 80% brook trout which i found hard to believe. Ive fished a over the lake with all sorts of different set ups and rainbows always come out on top. Very informational guy, but odd in that he promoted catch amd release fkr such a populated lake.