Spray Lakes Report/Success (With VIDEO and PICS)

[critter]

Went to Spray on Monday, and had one of the best days ever. I had ordered a bunch of new lures online and they finally arrived, so i went to test em out. They worked... It was unusually warm, and for once, everything seemed to be going my way from the start. Minus all the snow. I ventured off the beaten path about 50 minutes, and finally slogged it through over a foot of snow and another 4 inches of floodwater to get to my favourite spot. It was snowing lightly all day, but was above zero, so very pleasant. Got started around 11:30, as i simply slept through my alarm in the morning haha. Landed about 15 fish from 11:30-4:30. A few around the standard 8-10 inches, some a bit larger from 12-15 inches, and a few nice ones around 15-20 inches that woulda pushed 2 pounds. Was sgteady all day, perhaps due to the low light conditions.

I should add that after about 10 minutes of fishing, i hooked into a tank. For spray that is. I was lucky enough to get most of the fight on video. I was fishing on the shallow side of a very steep dropoff. 30 feet from me in the video it is over 100 feet deep, and i am in about 40 - 60 feet of water. My big one last year hammered the jig on the drop and nearly yanked my rod in the water and broke me off, but i got lucky and had ther drag set just loose enough that some line came out. (a reminder to always have ur drag decently loose, as it is common to tighten it right up to set hooks while jigging on smaller fish, that one strike you want will surprise you) Anyway, this one bit differently. The line went slack on the drop, so i reeled slowly until the rod bent alittle, gave him another second of slack to engulf the jig, and hammered him 3-4 times. This thing took off like you wouldnt beleive. Peeled over 80 feet of line right after the hookset, (i meant to say feet, not yards in the video) and then slowly came to the hole. I got my first glimpse of the fish, and they always seem to look bigger in the water. This is where the fight just began. We looked each other in the eyes and she made an epic run. The video tells the rest of the story. I was pretty excited and overestimate the weight at the end, but i think this fish was between 7-9 pounds. At around 72 cm long, and a nice thick back and belly on her, she was unusually heavy. She had 2 old whitefish in her, one fairly fresh and pretty big. The big one last year had 5 whitefish in her, all that size. Amazing what they can eat. Enjoy the video! There are nice fish in this lake if you know where to go and what to use. All other fish were released, this one was kept, and fed the 2 of us for 3 meals. Cheers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ_jV1l19IQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7EEWBvh9HA

[stiknfish]

Nice fish...biggest I have seen out of there ,congrats

[nicemustang]

WOW, nice work.

[go-big-or-go-home]

That is a top shelf fish man congrats. Good watchin vid to. The end made me laugh when the fish was holebound when you went towards the camara

[craggerss]

awesome fish and great video!,all I ever seem to catch are the 16 inchers!

[Braun]

Nice work!

[jacenbeers]

That is so awesome. Nice work!!

[crazyfish]

nice, gonna have to get out there someday !

[jts1]

GREAT JOB. Thats the largest Laker I have ever seen come out of there. I was starting to think they were a myth that size. Again great job

[kinwahkly]

Nice fish, nice country.

[Logan]

Nice fish!! Im shocked your rod didn't snap it looked like it was almost touching butt to tip haha.

[marlin1]

nice one , definately better than average

[critter]

@ Logan - Haha i friggen love that rod. Its an ugly stick. These things are insanely flexible and durable. Ive bent it to this extreme and not had any problems -->

[alacringa]

Beauty, critter. Looked like a great fight.

[Kim473]

Great catch and a fantastic vid. Can a person drive on spray? Or is it a walk on lake only?

[nicemustang]

Walk only. Every lake in the Kananaksis park is that way.

[Dust1n]

it lost the yellow tips when u fillited it lol

[Newspeak]

I'm pretty sure the second pic is the whitefish that was in its stomach, not the filleted trout.

[#249]

Very nice fish!
Based on a total length of 72 cm, and the great condition of this fish, it is likely that your fish weighed just over 10 lbs.
The biggest laker that I am aware of coming out of the Spray measured 86 cm (fork length) and 20 lbs.

[Gumbi]

Great Fish!

[critter]

Thanks guys, it was alot of fun, and cool to capture the moment. I think this fish was near 10 pounds perhaps, it yielded more meat than ive ever seen. There was this, then 2 more peices as i was filleting it and throwing em in there. Compared to this one last year which weighed around 15, its a good contrast. And very different looking fish! Any guesses on weight??

[FishBrain]

Still agree with around 10 lbs. Great fish. I have had one big hit that was a nice fish but allas it broke off. Hopping to get another one day. lol

[ryisnky]

Awsome Fish; Congrats!! Cool Video too!!

[cochrane_guy]

Nice haul and great vid..... Best I ever did there is 4lbs over the years.

[Dust1n]

not too many big ones but i have seen this one dude with at least a 20 pound laker at spray

[FishFearMe]

SAWEEEEEEET...Nice job on both the fish and the video. This video has significantly increased my odds of calling in sick on Monday !

[ddddd05]

Nice fishing vid!! How did the laker taste? looked good in the pan. I've heard that small ones taste better than big ones. Any truth to that?

[critter]

It tasted heavenly. Really good. Altho i have decided that i will always bring a camera now and release the next large fish. Video and pics is better anyway!

[alacringa]

Bite was definitely on at Spray this morning -- caught quite a few, had a ton of bites. Lost 3. One was quite large (though not as big as yours, I don't think) -- took a bunch of line, and then swam back towards me, faster than I could reel in, and got off. Biggest one I iced was 14" (smallest 10" -- my smallest Laker ever), so all went back down the hole.

[Alberta Bigbore]

Nice job....Congrats!!