Anyone ever fish Travers Res or Little Bow Res?

[godziuk]

Anyone ever fish Travers Res or Little Bow Res? heading there may long and want to do some fishing. everyone here is so helpful and im once again seeking advice. thanks alot.

[nicemustang]

Yes, both. Travers is good in summer for walleye. Water temp on may long is still cold, so fish shallows. I will be there the weekend before on Sunday, so remind me to send you info if I have luck. Haven't been on little bow with a boat but i've caught tonnes of pike off shore casting with five of diamonds or size 7 rap.

Travers has the easiest to catch lake whites I've ever encountered. And tons of them, to the point of craziness some days. Just fish a wireworm tipped with bug of some sorts 1-8 feet under a slip bobber along the provincial park, deadly tactic. Also good numbers of walleye, pike, burbot and even perch in some of the weedy areas (though I've never seen perch worth keeping, to me they're just walleye food in there). I've watched little kids catch lots of little walleye and pike off the dock there. I haven't targeted the walleye in there much but have caught a few while targeting whitefish and pike. Good luck.

[WayneChristie]

caught some nice pike off the shore at Travers, also at the bottom of the spillway below the dam. seen some big ling caught past the dam on the rocky corner too.

[loopyalcsel]

Whats goin on with that damn spillway anyways, anyone know if the new one will be open or are they gonna run the old?

[godziuk]

i fish off a larson 17 ft'r, its a heavy ski/fish boat. am i going to have issues anywhere on the water? Also has anyone ever pulled perch out of the res before?

[merk1]

Godziuk I have the larson 180 ski/fish and that is our favorite lake. Very deep and sandy shores with lots of little beaches you can pull into safely. Should not have any issues there, double launch and docks are boat friendly, my only problem is the launch can get very busy, waited 1hr to load the boat before.

[AlbertaOutdoorsmen19]

Travers holds some nice size walleye , pike and whitefish.
Just bottom bounce along the shore line with pickerel rigs.

[nicemustang]

I don't think there are any perch in that lake. And the whites are tubilee, not lake whites.

If you have a friend with a cabin at the resort, you can use that launch with no wait I just borrow his sticker so we can park there.

[matt1984]

Originally Posted by nicemustang

I don't think there are any perch in that lake. And the whites are tubilee, not lake whites.

If you have a friend with a cabin at the resort, you can use that launch with no wait I just borrow his sticker so we can park there.

Why would you think they are tulibee? I have caught many lake WHITES out of travers and never have seen or heard of a tulibee caught.

[fishing_flower]

We're headed down there the weekend after the May long weekend. Looking forward to some fishing in cooler waters, before the skiers get out there We did our best there last year with good old fashioned Len Thompson spoons, just casting off the boat. At one point midday when no one seemed to be catching any, I was fiddling around and got one on an orange plug. Just never know what will work.

[godziuk]

sound advice guys, keep it coming.

"I don't think there are any perch in that lake. And the whites are tubilee, not lake whites.

If you have a friend with a cabin at the resort, you can use that launch with no wait I just borrow his sticker so we can park there."


There are lake whitefish and perch in both those lakes. Some one is pulling your leg as Travers has one of the most robust lake whitefish populations in the area. Most of the locals still consider them trash fish, may be leading to your confusion. I got many funny looks when targeting them by the provincial park a few years back, guys came to ask what i was using but when they saw what i was catching there was no interest at all (even if i offered them wireworms). Very different from central Alberta for sure.

[pikester]

Originally Posted by nicemustang

I don't think there are any perch in that lake. And the whites are tubilee, not lake whites.

Originally Posted by nicemustang

If you have a friend with a cabin at the resort, you can use that launch with no wait I just borrow his sticker so we can park there.

I don't really know the difference between whitefish & tulibee so I can't say you're wrong but I can tell you that I was down at the lower spillway late last summer when the water was crystal clear & only about eight feet deep & I saw tons of "whitefish" about 2 feet long & @5-7lbs! Whatever they are I will definately be back this summer to see if I can nail some of those beasts on the flyrod!

[nicemustang]

I don't either really, but I was going on info from my friend that lives at the resort and is a pro fisher for years. He's lived down there for 15 years. He says they are not whites, they are tubliee. Although very similar but a little different. I know there is lots there, off the boat launch at the resort side, they are everywhere in the shallows and kids were catching them off and on.

Anyway, still don't understand why albertan's actually fish for lake whites. Much better fish out there and usually only used to catching them with nets for the annual smoker.

[HUNTER55]

There are perch in Travers.......this i can say for sure! we were pulling small blades last year at about 1/2 km hr and hooked 2, one was 12.5 inches and the other was 14.1/4, i fish there a lot but never have i hooked into one till that day, would love to find more.

[godziuk]

iv done my homework on the lake and it says there are 14 species of fish in the lake including perch and lake whitefish. never fished or have been to the res. what is an emerald shiner or a trout-perch? hybrid? they are listed amoungst the 14 species.

[jesse34567]

an emerald shiner is basicly a minnow

A trout perch is a really cool looking forage fish, google it for photos, neat looking little guys. And shiners are really important walleye food, lots of them in Travers. You sometimes see schools of them that would number in the tens of thousands. Check out Atlas of Alberta Lakes for more info about that reservoir.

[strathmorite]

what is the boat launching fee at the provincial park??

[nicemustang]

No charge to launch a boat at Travers at the PP.

[nicemustang]

Originally Posted by HUNTER55

There are perch in Travers.......this i can say for sure! we were pulling small blades last year at about 1/2 km hr and hooked 2, one was 12.5 inches and the other was 14.1/4, i fish there a lot but never have i hooked into one till that day, would love to find more.

Cool, it's a huge lake and you got lucky Doesn't mean you could go down and find perch everywhere like Burnstick or Sylvan. I'm sure they are there but there are a lot of predators there too. If a guy had lots of time....

[marlin1]

I have aslo seen perch there . Years ago one popped out of the mouth of a pike I landed . Caught a rainbow there as well , about 4 pounds.

"Cool, it's a huge lake and you got lucky Doesn't mean you could go down and find perch everywhere like Burnstick or Sylvan. I'm sure they are there but there are a lot of predators there too. If a guy had lots of time...."

There's actually a lot of the little guys in certain spots, if you find them once they're definitely creatures of habitat, they'll be there again. I remember seeing thousands of small ones, just nothing big. i was pike fishing shallow though so i would expect the bigger ones are hanging out in deeper water.

Marlin1, I'm betting that rainbow was pretty thick eh? I've heard of a few coming out of there (browns as well) and they've been fat. They come from the Highwood diversion at High River, follow the Littlebow River down into Twin Valley, then have to go downstream from Twin Valley to Travers. Pretty good journey i'd say.

[marlin1]

I think they come in from the canal which comes from Magregor which is fed from the bow. The rainbow was very red fleshed from eating shrimp I think and yes it was thick . that was about 20 years ago

[godziuk]

thanks for all the tips.