Question about arctic grayling

[pixe1334]

First of all, I want to say that I'm not looking for anyone's secret spots or anything like that, just looking to see how close I have to be to the mountains to have a real chance of finding arctic grayling.

I was looking at Athabasca, mcleod, freeman.

I've been thinking of maybe going to Athabasca river around Whitecourt (I know there's some stream north of Whitecourt but I don't remember the name), the freeman river, or maybe the mcLeod around Edson or something like that.

Would I need to go a lot closer to the mountains to have a decent chance of finding any?

Oh yea, just a general question, I'm assuming there's mountain lions around those areas? I'm probably going to wait until I can find someone to go with me if that's the case.

[Sooner]

Originally Posted by pixe1334

First of all, I want to say that I'm not looking for anyone's secret spots or anything like that, just looking to see how close I have to be to the mountains to have a real chance of finding arctic grayling.

I was looking at Athabasca, mcleod, freeman.

I've been thinking of maybe going to Athabasca river around Whitecourt (I know there's some stream north of Whitecourt but I don't remember the name), the freeman river, or maybe the mcLeod around Edson or something like that.

Would I need to go a lot closer to the mountains to have a decent chance of finding any?

Oh yea, just a general question, I'm assuming there's mountain lions around those areas? I'm probably going to wait until I can find someone to go with me if that's the case.

I have caught grayling in the creeks off the highway to Robb from Edson. Not big but fun. I have caught them in the Athabasca river by Fox Creek too. Not bad for size. I have heard you can go north of Swan Hills for them too. Anywhere you go, there may be a bear or a cougar. Just be aware of where you are and remember, creeks and rivers are noisy so they can mask your noise, be louder lol.

[Howard Hutchinson]

Brother has caught them NE of Edson in creeks up the Tom Hill Tower road about 20kms in. They are never more that 10" +/- but Grayling anyhoo.

[3blade]

I’d be close enough to see the mountains. The Athabasca is tough to fish until after runoff, but you know for sure they are around. Some of the smaller river and creek populations have collapsed due to resource road and atv trail sedimentation and culverts. Don’t read old info, things have changed. I remember the glory days of one particular river, catching and releasing beautiful thick fish that pushed 18 inches. 5 years ago I went back to see about the damage everyone was talking about…managed 3 10 inch grayling and one whitefish all day…and I knew where to look.

There are plenty of mountain lions and bears everywhere. Just carry bear spray and don’t worry too much.

Here’s a hint…if you are wading past your knees, you are standing where the fish used to be before you scared them. Graying are not grumpy old brown trout

[ecsuplander]

The Little Smoky is renowned for it's grayling fishing. Some larger fish in this river as well.

[mikeym]

any of the tribs that flow into the Athabasca will more then likely have grayling in them. most of the streams around Grande Cache, Hinton, Edson, Whitecourt, Fox Creek and Swan Hills will have grayling in them. a lot of the smaller creeks are real fun to fish for small grayling with big being a 10 or 12" one but tons of smaller ones eager to take your fly. bonus is that a lot of these smaller creeks see little pressure compared to the bigger well known grayling streams.
the Whitecourt, Fox Creek and Swan Hills triangle is probably my favourite area to target grayling as lots of good well known streams and lots of little out of the way streams and creeks that are lots of fun to explore. get a good map and do some exploring.
as far as cougers they would be the least of my worries. they will know you are in the area way before or if you even will know they are around. they tend to avoid humans at all costs. never seen one (or even bears) on any of the streams i have fished over the yrs. just be aware of your surroundings and make some noise and they will avoid you.

good luck
Mike

[Parker Hale]

Many years ago, I spent some time in Fort St. John (BC). We did a jet boat trip, started out on Williston Lake, went up the lake to the Carbon River. Camped for a few days on the Carbon. Hiked up the river and the grayling fishing was fantastic. Tons of dry fly action on Royal Coachmen.

[Sundancefisher]

That sounds like a hoot.

[Smoky buck]

You don’t need to go all the way to dease for good grayling in B.C.

It’s good around Chetwynd I caught lots of big grayling out of the Sukunka river. But really most of the rivers are good in that area. Lots of bull trout in the mix as well. Grayling are aggressive and not to bright

[58thecat]

Use the search on the forum, type in arctic grayling….use google earth to check out areas prior to your adventure.

That’s what my son did and he put us on a honey hole that paid off, other spots not so but you gotta get your feet wet and enjoy the journey!

We found a deep slow moving pocket of water that held some beauties after 6 hrs of walking, stumbling in and out of the water, woods etc.
Funny how every hole looks promising.

At first in a few areas we were all stealthy but our flies got hung up etc and in many cases one person is waist deep in the water getting untangled from deadfall etc and three feet away the grayling were picking off either the fly or the dropper.

Super aggressive fish and very active once hooked up.

Good luck.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Use the search on the forum, type in arctic grayling….use google earth to check out areas prior to your adventure.

That’s what my son did and he put us on a honey hole that paid off, other spots not so but you gotta get your feet wet and enjoy the journey!

We found a deep slow moving pocket of water that held some beauties after 6 hrs of walking, stumbling in and out of the water, woods etc.
Funny how every hole looks promising.

At first in a few areas we were all stealthy but our flies got hung up etc and in many cases one person is waist deep in the water getting untangled from deadfall etc and three feet away the grayling were picking off either the fly or the dropper.

Super aggressive fish and very active once hooked up.

Good luck.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sweet pics

I had an awesome time once in northern Alberta.

Stopped beside the highway and walked down to a large river. After a number of casts and seeing nothing I walked 5 minutes upstream where a tributary flowed in… cast at the mouth and caught nothing. Walked 2 minutes up the trib to a pool and proceeded to catch 150. It was crazy.

[SuperCub]

Did some grayling fishing in the Yukon in 1998. It was the most fun I'd ever had fishing. They did a lot of jumping and fought like a large brook trout.

Little flourescent green bug was all we used. No problem catching a bunch.