Fishing trip suggestions? Advice

[RBS14.5]

Hello all!

I am new to the forum, I figured this would be the best place to answer my questions.

Myself and a friend are looking into going on a week long trip in the early summer. Probably in June. We live in Calgary and are willing to drive a pretty good distance to find big plentiful fish. Keep in mind we will be using a car to get there so no off road adventures.

Being based out of Calgary, we have pretty well covered southern Alberta. Bow river, Crawling valley, Traverse res, etc. We primarily fish for Pike and Walleye and have heard northern Alberta has some great fishing to offer. We have come up with a few ideas, but can't figure out which would be the best bang for our buck.

Idea # 1

To do a road trip. Drive from one lake to the next, camping for one night and fishing in the morning until late afternoon. Then Packing up and moving to the next lake. We don't have a boat so if you can suggest lakes that have boat rentals nearby or on the lake would be great. Or lakes that have good shore fishing.

Idea # 2

To stay at a resort lodge for a week with guided trips daily. A quick search on Google has shown us that these lodges or resorts are WAY out of the price range for us. Well the ones we found were. If you know of any that are cheaper, please post a link or something. Distance from Calgary won't matter with this option.

Idea # 3

To stay at one lake for a week. Doing a guided trip on the first day to get an idea of what is catching and where. This lake would HAVE to have boat rentals. Otherwise the guided trip on the first day is pointless. A decent campsite is also a must. Distance from Calgary won't matter with this option.

Thanks in advance.
I'm looking forward to hearing your insights.

[marty1]

Ive got a great trip thats a great price and you will be back,if theirs any boats left.the web site kaslo shipyard co.. Will get you started.what ive been doing for many years is renting the 4 man house boat head out for 4 days on kootenay lake b.c and the chance to land 30 pound rainbows on flies on the surface trolling at 4 mile an hour,the lake has awsome fishing for both bows and dollies.all u need is a reel that can hold 330 yards of 20 pound test 9-10 foot rod,hand full of spoons,flies,4 inch lyman plugs, down riggers are nice planner boards are better(build your own easy).i know its far from pike and walleye was for me too but fell in love with the place and the style of fishing and makes a good holiday.also check out woodbury resort.com site have a look at the years catch

[nicemustang]

Welcome to the forum.

Travers has a good campground (little bow provincial park) that you can reserve a site. In summer (not sure about JUNE) they have boat rentals as well. A couple years ago it was $80 for a day. Then you can fish the river channel or up the river at that time of the year is good although depends on water temp of course. But you can find lots of drops on the way out to main lake. All good within a short distance from the campground.

Its really the only place I know of off hand that has boat rentals. I'm not sure if they still do it, but there was a place in calgary I think called sports rent that used to rent boats for a week or so, although not too terribly cheap.

Travers is fishable from shore as well in a few places like the river channel by the PP or at the spillway. CVR is fishable anywhere really along the west shore. Newell has a nice campground (Kinbrook) and is fishable from shore in many places.

Central AB has some great fishing in spring. Pine or Syvlan in June are awesome! Before all the kids are out of school. Not sure on boat rentals but both have decent camping in the area.

I did a week long tour of the southern AB reservoirs once. Stayed in Taber municipal campground (which is top shelf by the way). Fished Chin, Grassy, Forty Mile, Scope, the forks, and St. Marys. Although I had a boat, it was a great week. Although a couple days it was very windy, still able to catch lots of fish from shore on the river, chin and scope.

[Daceminnow]

if you end up north i would recommend carson-pegasus pp just northwest of whitecourt. beautiful lake surrounded by lots of trees and an outstanding campground with secluded sites. stocked rainbows. i haven't been there for a number of years but at that time they did rent nice 14' aluminums c/w 9.9 outboards. speed limit on the lake so no worries about speed demons pulling toys. there are decent sized trout to be had in there and the fishing is good. here's the link.

http://www.albertaparks.ca/siteinformation.aspx?id=247

[Wes_G]

Personally I would leave out option 1. Sounds like you would end up doing more, loading and unloading of gear, driving, eating and sleeping then actual fishing.

Option 2 Sounds good but will be way more expensive then any of the other options you have. One way to cut cost in this option is to take a look at lodges that offer outpost camps. This way your left at a small camp at a remote lake and end up doing all your own cooking. You have to do your own guiding as well so if you have never driven a boat or tried to find fish on an unfimiliar lake, it may be an eye opening experience. But they are remote and the fishing can be very good.

Option 3. Is the way I would go. Lots of people drive to Tobin in Saskatchewan to do this. If it was me I would head to Lake of The Woods in Ontario for this option, but thats just me.