Fishing upper/lower Kananaskis lakes

[Bigdad013]

My son really wants to fish up there. Never fished it, and not sure what to use, which lake is more productive. Any help would be appreciated.

[bogwalker]

I usually fish upper. I've caught on fire tiger raps and buzz bombs. I've been told that lower is better but I can't say for sure.. if you fish upper, look for the point and fish between it and the hiking trail on the south side of the Lake.. good luck.. theres big bulls up there. Caught a few over 24"

[Bigdad013]

Originally Posted by bogwalker

I usually fish upper. I've caught on fire tiger raps and buzz bombs. I've been told that lower is better but I can't say for sure.. if you fish upper, look for the point and fish between it and the hiking trail on the south side of the Lake.. good luck.. theres big bulls up there. Caught a few over 24"

Thanks for the input

[Zeb]

Here are a couple I caught at Upper K recently. I just kept these two I caught several others including some huge Bull trout going over 10 pounds was a fun day. Use buzz bombs in orange and green colors also big white jig heads with a white plastic grub on the end fished off the bottom for the Bulls.

[Zeb]

Quick side note these fish were caught 3-4 years ago when the size regulations were min 30 cm not the new ones which are 50cm When I said I caught them recently I didn't mean yesterday but that was the last time I was up there.

[bogwalker]

Catching big bulls in deep water is a lot of fun through the ice. I'll be heading up there on this Friday. Hope to land a few bulls and maybe a cutty or 2..

[Bigdad013]

Thanks for all the tips, my son is quite stoked to try it, hopefully we will have some beginners luck

[blackmamba]

when you guys headed up ?? I will probably head out mid week if work allows me .. was up there recently with some good success. .

[Bigdad013]

Hopefully next weekend, though I tore some ligaments in my ankle on thursday, hopefully I will be mobile by then

[bubba 96]

Is there lots of floodwater on the lower lake.

[rena0040]

I'm heading up tomorrow, anyone know what the snow and flood water is like on either or both.
Might just do upper, never fished it just lower.
I'll report on the snow and ice conditions and how I got skunked when I get back

[marty1]

Originally Posted by rena0040

I'm heading up tomorrow, anyone know what the snow and flood water is like on either or both.
Might just do upper, never fished it just lower.
I'll report on the snow and ice conditions and how I got skunked when I get back

just got back ice is good no flood water,fishing was good,found that the bulls liked a big long drop so what my buddy and i were doing was one guy fished 30 feet while the other btm in this case 70 feet of water and we would switch positions every 2 minutes,very cool seeing the fish on the flasher come in at all parts of the water column.They just didnt seem to hit a bait jigged or strummed it had to be on a drop or a slow reel upto 30 feet.good luck

[Chisholm77]

Originally Posted by Zeb

Here are a couple I caught at Upper K recently. I just kept these two I caught several others including some huge Bull trout going over 10 pounds was a fun day. Use buzz bombs in orange and green colors also big white jig heads with a white plastic grub on the end fished off the bottom for the Bulls.

Is this legal with a bait ban in place?

[EZM]

Originally Posted by Chisholm77

Is this legal with a bait ban in place?

There is nothing in the post you are referring to that indicates bait - all of those are artificial lures ........

[Chisholm77]

I was thinking the white plastic grub on the end was referring to something similar to powerbait? Or is this something that's already attached to the jig?

[SCHOOCH]

Originally Posted by Chisholm77

I was thinking the white plastic grub on the end was referring to something similar to powerbait? Or is this something that's already attached to the jig?

There are rubber grubs on the market that have absolutely nothing to do with powerbait........just rubber no scents.

[Chisholm77]

Is it ok because it's not scented?

I'm hoping to go there and have never fished a lake with a bait ban before. I thought it basically meant nothing on your hook.

[Brandonkop]

Originally Posted by Chisholm77

Is it ok because it's not scented?

I'm hoping to go there and have never fished a lake with a bait ban before. I thought it basically meant nothing on your hook.

Read the definition in the regulations if you want to know for sure. Bait ban just means no actual bait or artificially scented baits or plastics.

Plastics like mister twister and others that are not scented are considered artificial lures.

[rena0040]

Hit upper yesterday, ice was solid 18 inches and only 4-6 inches of snow cover. No flood water

I was in 40-45 ft of water, couldn't find deeper and didn't really feel like dragging gear all across the lake. I was about half way to the rock point going diagonally from the boat launch.

Fished from 800-1330 caught 2, missed 2, and marked about 6 more that I couldn't entice. They were all marked and caught at 25-30 ft. Only thing they were hitting was a jigging rap in a sort of rainbow trout pattern.

Anyone know if there are whitefish in upper k, could have swore I saw one cruise under my hole about 5 feet under the ice.

I'll try to get pics up later

[Chisholm77]

Originally Posted by Brandonkop

Read the definition in the regulations if you want to know for sure. Bait ban just means no actual bait or artificially scented baits or plastics.

Plastics like mister twister and others that are not scented are considered artificial lures.

Thanks. I had read the regs but wasn't sure.

[rena0040]

woke up at 430 for this


got all set up


First fish of the day. I noticed the red on the jaw, did i catch my first cutthroat or is that a hybrid, looked more like a rainbow.


Second fish.


What they were after:

Overall, a beautiful day.

[rena0040]

an obvious fail at my first photobucket attempt

[rena0040]

[huntsfurfish]

Originally Posted by Brandonkop

Read the definition in the regulations if you want to know for sure. Bait ban just means no actual bait or artificially scented baits or plastics.

Plastics like mister twister and others that are not scented are considered artificial lures.

"Chisholm77
Thanks. I had read the regs but wasn't sure. "






Read the package of the plastics before you buy. Many if not most plastics are scented or have salts added not just the powerbaits etc.

[huntsfurfish]

Nice pics and fish rena0040!

[JReed]

Originally Posted by rena0040

woke up at 430 for this


got all set up


First fish of the day. I noticed the red on the jaw, did i catch my first cutthroat or is that a hybrid, looked more like a rainbow.

Second fish.


What they were after:

Overall, a beautiful day.

They both look like cutties to me, however I can't see the red slash under the jaw of the second fish. I could be wrong, nice fish anyway, good job!

[BeeGuy]

drool

[TangoKilo]

Great thread guys.

I used to fish Upper K a tonne before I moved to Lethbridge.

Its nice to see that some people are catching some really nice trout there now!

[scel]

Originally Posted by JReed

They both look like cutties to me, however I can't see the red slash under the jaw of the second fish. I could be wrong, nice fish anyway, good job!

A 'pure' cutthroat will most likely have
- a speckle pattern on the back and sides, increasing density from the dorsal fin to the tail.
- a bilateral red/pink slash under the jaw
- the jawline does not go past the eye
- AND (the definitive trait)...pharyngeal teeth (i.e. teeth on the tongue)

They look like cutthoats. Without looking at the tongue, it is really hard to tell.

The cutthroat pharyngeal teeth are recessive to the rainbow lack of teeth. Therefore, the lack of teeth definitely means cuttbow hybrid. The presence of teeth means that is 'pure' or it had at least 2 rainbow or cuttbow parents.
The first breeding would eliminate teeth. Now the hybrid breeds again with a cutthroat, the result would statistically be 1:3 (teeth)no teeth). The hybridization between cutthroats and rainbows can stay very hidden.