My 2012 Open Water Season.

[Water Wolf]

Thanks waterwolf603 & Raquettedacker.
I am not a fan of the wind, but am use to it, as it's blowing often in this area.

Good question Raquettedacker.
Those photos are taken is off of a deck at the lake.
I chose the deck for photos as it is nice and flat and is easy to have camera positioned on.
It is also a very close to the water, just over the berm,not seen in the background.

WW

[Raquettedacker]

Oh..  Just wondering.....   Just keep the pictures coming....   Maybe I will get out and have some new pictures...

[Water Wolf]

 
I will be watching for your new photos Raquettedacker.
 
Hi all,
 
Here is my fishing report for the long weekend.
 
The family and I spent June 29th, June 30th, and July 1st {Canada Day} at Fishing Lake.
 
During the 3 days the weather was nice, with hot temps in the day, mostly sunny skies and calm mornings and evenings.
 
We did see a bit of a thunderstorm the 2nd day but it was after dark so it didn't affect us at all.  On the 3rd day we had to quit a bit earlier that evening as we could hear thunder approaching fast.
By the time we ate, packed up and just started off for home the storm was on us with lots of thunder, lightning and heavy rains.
I am glad we were not on the lake or just loading the boat when that one hit.
 
The fishing was decent with a good number of fish being caught, and a good bite occurring on our last day there, {July 1st}.
The pike were ranging in the 2 - 4 lb mark and the walleye were 1.5 - 3 lbs.
 
We only kept a few fish each evening with 90% of them going back.
 
The water is also starting to develop a bit of algal growth but nothing too bad yet.
 
The fish were hitting on swimbaits, single and double tail grubs, crankbaits and on the last day especially spoons, Pelican Lure spoons in particular.
Those spoons really have a tough pattern on them and although you could feel the scratches on the spoons they never chipped from the fish, rocks or wood they encountered.
 
Here's a few photos from the 3 days.
First fish of the trip.







 


A calm morning.










I AM SMILING!




This was not the biggest pike we caught, but it was the most unusual.
I don't think I have ever seen one with this short a tail. It was also quite thick at the base.
Look how close the tail fin is to the dorsal and ventral fin. Mr. Stubby,lol.

It did fight quite well, but I noticed when I let it go, it used more of it's body to swim than
the other pike.



All in all a relaxing time was had by all and I can't think of a better way of spending the long weekend than at the lake.
 
Once it got dark enough we were treated to some good fireworks displays here and there around the lake for quite some time each night.

 
I hope all of you had a good Canada day long weekend as well.

 

WW

 

[Water Wolf]

Hi guys,
Here are 2 weekend fishing reports.

Report 1{July 6th, 7th & 8th}.
Here is my report for my weekend at Candle Lake and area. Thanks for all the info on the area.

Nice to meet you RAF, thanks for stopping by my booth, it's good to put a face and voice to the name.
Your sure in a scenic area of the province. I hope you have a good open water season.

The first night I was there I went to the local trout pond and fished for 20 min without a bite.

We drove around to see all the beaches on Candle Lake before it got too dark.

Candle Lake was really busy that weekend, and it seemed that all the popular shore fishin' spots were occupied, so on the Sat. evening, we took a drive to Shannon Lake in the Narrow Hills to try for some brown trout.

On the way there we saw stretches of trees that look to be recently wrecked by a plough wind or tornado.



Once I got to Shannon Lake I fished for an hour and a half, just before sunset, {I was hoping prime trout time}, and had quite a few small to tiny trout { about 2"-5" inchers} following me, but alas, no trout hit the lures I presented. I even tried a worm under a bobber and that was rejected as well. There were a few good sized fish rising right in the middle of the lake and well beyond my casting distance.



The lake was dead calm.  There were more loons in that area than I have seen in most big lakes. I counted 6 in one family group as they fearlessly swam right past me looking as interested at me as I was at them.
It was neat to hear their haunting calls echoing through the trees and off the steep hills of this narrow little lake.


On Sunday my work ended in the afternoon and I was able to fish for an hour after supper before we left for home.  I went to a new lake I have never been to.  I tried Heritage Lake for a bit of shore fishin'. This was a nice quiet lake with very clear waters, and in one area purple sand, neat. There were no fish biting there either but it did not matter.  

In the end I had lots of bites but none from fish, but still had a good time.

We also saw many deer {30 or more in the park} and 3 moose and a black bear.

I hope to be back there again in the near future.

Report 2. {Sat. July 14th.}
The family and I went to our local lake with my uncle and I fishing for the evening from 6:15 pm - 9:05pm.

There was just a slight wind on the lake that evening and with the cloudy skies and smoke blowing in from northern Alberta and or northern Saskatchewan it made the area quite hazy.
There is a moderate algal bloom in the lake now, so the light levels should be quite low making for good walleye conditions.
Not 3 min into fishing and my uncle hooks the first fish of the evening a healthy 3 lb pike.

We hook a few more fish before I see a boat cruising in at a fair rate of speed. They pull up beside us and we see it's the conservation officers. They check our fishing license, make sure we don't have barbed hooks on the line and take a peak at the one walleye I had on the stringer. We chat for a bit and they area off.

In the end we net 20 fish.
I net 10 walleye while my uncle nets 2 pike and 8 walleye.

The pike were around the 3 lb mark while the walleye were 1 - 2 lbs, and one nice walleye near the end.

Here are a few photos of the bigger ones I caught that evening.







This is my uncle's nice walleye.
It was 27.5" long. It had big old head, and thinner body.


With the on-line calculations it would be 7.5 lbs.

It went back to grow even larger.

An action shot,lol.
It almost jumped right out of his hands and into the lake.


We kept 2 walleye for supper {one person's limit on this lake} with all the others going back.


One fish was caught on a rattlin Rapala, but spoons were again the lure of choice.

In the end we had a very productive few hours with lots of action. At one point I had 3 fish in 3 casts and we were lucky to find the biggest walleye I have seen since I got my personal best off shore on that same lake a few years a ago.

WW

[waterwolf603]

thats sounds like a couple great weekends with great views and great walleye fishing, a 27.5'' marble eye now that is a great fish congrats to you and your uncle

[Raquettedacker]

Some great photos right there....

[Water Wolf]

Thank for the comments Raquettedacker & waterwolf603.
Glad your enjoying them.

Hi all,

Here is the fishin' report for July 21st & 22nd.

Day.1
On the 21st we went back to our usual lake for some evening fishing.

The evening had a fair wind from the SE and a mix of sun and cloud.
Large storm clouds were gathering to the NW and E of us later on that evening. We would have to keep our eye on them.

The water was quite stirred up with all the wind, and there was a fair algae bloom in the water with larger brown clumps of it blowing by.
We had to anchor the boat quite a few times.

We fished from 5:30pm - 7:00pm, stopped to have bite to eat, then continuing to fish from 8:10pm - 9:25pm.

Fishing was a bit slower, but we still managed to net a few fish.
In the end we caught 10 fish. I caught 3 walleye and 2 pike while my uncle caught 4 pike and 1 walleye.

This was one of the bigger walleyes at  20 7/8" or roughly around the 3.2 lb mark.




My uncle had a few "not bad" pike in the 4 - 4.5 lb range but the batteries in the camera died on me.

We left the lake to the flash of lightning and rumbling thunder closing in all around us.  Good time to be off the water.

Day2.
I had some business to do in the Fort Qu'Appelle area on Sunday, but before I left the area I did a bit of shore fishing.
Most of the common shore fishing areas around Fort Qu'Appelle were quite busy with lots of shore anglers, but I did manage
to find a spot on the E side of Echo Lake where the mouth of the lake enters the river.

It was a sunny, but cooler afternoon / evening with a wind coming down the lake and into the area where I was.

The water here also had a fair amount of algae in it, but there were also very large clumps of weeds and algae mats drifting and swirling with the current.
The river bottom was also quite weedy and I was having to clean the lures almost every cast.


While I was fishing a fellow angler beside me lost a "not bad" pike when it bit off his lure and I had a few taps and lost a fish myself.
It looked like the anglers further up the river were having not much luck as well.

Just before I was going to leave I had another few taps. I was ready and set the hook. This fish felt odd but it was also quite strong making a few runs and using the current.
I got it in and was surprised to find it was... a young carp.

This one must have tapped my lure, I felt it and set the hook, missing it's mouth and putting the hook right through the tip of it's dorsal fish.

I think this guy, or, others like it, were the source of taps before, it felt like the one that got away.
It was only 2 - 2.5 lbs but fought with the strength of a fish twice it's size.

I can't imagine what a big carp must be like, but would like to some time.

I let the little fighter go to continue up the river.

In the end the fishing was a bit slower for me this weekend ,but I still found a few fish and caught a species {the carp} that I don't often encounter in my fishing, so not a bad 2 days in my books.

WW

[Raquettedacker]

Some more great pictures....   I cant believe you are wearing long sleeve shirts and jeans while us southern guys are sweating our you know whats off.....

[waterwolf603]

Some more great pictures....   I cant believe you are wearing long sleeve shirts and jeans while us southern guys are sweating our you know whats off.....

x2 this heat wave is insane i am ready for snow haha..

hey WW those carp are fun to catch the big ones make some really impressive runs

[Water Wolf]

Thanks guys.

I was a bit chilly that day I had the long sleeve shirt on but, that the last day I needed it. These last few days and by the weather report most of next week are going to be a really hot one.


Yeah waterwolf603, I sure hope I can get into some big carp sometime.
We have some big fish in a few lakes around here, but not in the lake I usually fish.

Hi guys,

Here is a fishin' report for Sat. July 28th.

I started fishing in the mid afternoon and fished off and on until dark.

The weather was hot with a humid ex value of over +30 deg C / 86 deg F.

The water has also become alot more algal filled with the high temps these last few days and every time I see the lake the water looks greener.
On this day it was like a thick green soup with large clumps of floating brown algae.
Visibility into the water is about a foot when in the boat to only a few inches when fishing from shore.

I started my afternoon shore fishing and ended it fishing from the boat. I though I would compair the action from both meathod to see if there was a better way or not
After that afternoon I came to the conclusion that they are both effective this year with landing a fair numbers of fish both ways.
My uncle jointed me to fish out of the boat a bit later on that afternoon.

At one point I had 3 fish on 3 back to back casts from shore and from the boat 2 fish on 2 back to back casts.

In the end 30 fish were caught.
My uncle landed 1 walleye and 2 pike and myself 7 pike and 20 walleye with no fish being kept this time.

Here are a few photos of the action.
First fish of the day, and one from shore.


Here is one of the largest walleyes I caught that day at almost 3 lbs out of the boat.


Spoons and swimbaits were the lures of choice by the fish on this day.

While I was there I chatted with a few other anglers and it seems the fishing has been good on all the beaches around the lakes this year with a few 6lb walleyes and caught and released last week on the same day by the same angler.

I hope this action continues.

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi All,

Here is my fishing report for 4 days of fishin'.

On the first day I was travelling through the Fort Qu'Appelle area and thought I would stop for a bit and fish.
I went back to the Qu'Appelle River on the E side of Echo and fished for an hours time just before dark.
In that time I saw several fish jumping and cast to one of the jumpers. The fish bit and turned out to be another small carp, just a few inches wider and longer than the first one I caught a while ago.

I would have taken a photo of it but as I was holding it the carp gave a good flop and jumped back into the river.
He was going back anyway, but that fish made sure,lol.

That would be the only action of the evening.

The other 3 days were at my usual lake.

All 3 days had great weather with temps in the mid + 20 deg C with just a lite to no breeze.

The water on the first day had only a small amount of algae in it and I was beginning to think the lake was clearing some, wrong! That night the algae must have
drifted in from somewhere across the lake and I came back to some very nasty looking algal growth.

See for yourself.

This is the worst I have seen this lake for algal growth ever.

This thick algae bloom extend a good 80 yards into the lake as you can see in this photo.

I even had trouble just casting through it. Every time I brought in the line I would get a build up of algae at my rod tip a penny to loony in size.

This algae hung around for most of the afternoon ,but slowly vanished out towards the middle by late evening.
It returned the 3rd day, but was never quite as thick, thankfully.

Despite this very thick algal growth in the lake it didn't seem to bother the fish, and they continued to actively feed beneath it.


On day one, 25 fish were caught most of them walleye but pike also mixed in. 

On day two, the fishing slowed just a bit with myself landing 10 fish, again, mostly walleye.

Day 3 was day of the pike. On this day I caught 16 fish, mostly pike, thus giving me a 3 day total of 51 fish.

Here are a few photos from the days action.




I think this guy wanted the lure.








Most of the walleye averaged 1 - 2 lbs and the pike 2 - 3 lbs, but I did get a couple nice ones of both species.

Here are the top 2 walleye and top 3 pike.

Walleye #2
21"x 11" 3.5lbs

It's not too long but quite fat.

Walleye #1,
26" x 13.9"  /  6.5lbs

This is my biggest walleye so far this open water season and it came close to my personal best a few years ago.
This big girl hit the lure only 10 feet from me and gave a good fight, with a few nice runs.


Pike #3
27.75" x 10.25"



Pike #2
30" x 9.75"



Pike  # 1
36" x 13" / 13.3 lbs.

This pike is the heaviest fish for me so far this open water season.

When I bring in my lures I make a habit of letting the lure settle before lifting it from the water and that is what I did.
I had a Rippin' Rap on at the time and as I got it close to me I let the lure stop and gave it good rip 3 time pausing for a few seconds between each rip.
This lure is so loud I could hear it rattle above the water. After the 3rd rip I was going to bring it up but I felt a dead weigh on it like It has snagged on a rock, the hook bit home
and the fish exploded I had only about 7 ft. of line from the rod tip and she took almost half of my rod into the water on the first big run for open water. What a shock as it all happened so fast.
The fish peeled out the line and I got some back only to have her peel it again. After 3 runs like this she came back towards me and I had to really reel to keep up with her. I finally got her close to me, but with all the thick
algae it was tough to see how big she was. I got the answer when she did a big jump, with over half of her body coming out of the water. She did this another time and I was fearing that she would throw the hooks as quite a few pike had done to me the last few days. She gave one last leap and I stuck my net under her and she flopped right  into it. Pheeww that was too close.
When I take a closer I see I was lucky, as she did that last jump she broke the split ring off the only hook holding her, so, if I would not have caught her in the net she would have been gone.

The pike gets a quick tape measure and a photo and is on her way.  As she leaves she flicks her tale and sends a shower of the green goop my way, now that's gratitude for you.

I only keep one smaller walleye that had it's gills too damaged, all the rest went back.

I thought I would try a variety of lures and see if they showed a preference for lure type but they hit crankbaits, spoons, regular soft plastics and soft plastic swimbaits equally well.
The big pike went for a Rippin' Rap and the big walleye attacked a Koppers Livetarget perch.

In conclusion it has been a great few days with many nice fish and lasting memories.
I am now eager to try and beat these the 2 big fish on the next trip and hope the good fishing continues.
I also hope to catch a larger carp sometime.

WW

[waterwolf603]

wow I have never seen algae like that, is it do to the warmer weather? Congrats on all of those fish 51 fish in a few days is a feat! That big eye and pike look like alot of fun

[Raquettedacker]

I love waiting for updates on this thread..    Theres always great scenery and awesome fish pictures.....

[waterwolf603]

I love waiting for updates on this thread..    Theres always great scenery and awesome fish pictures.....

x2

[striper50trout]

Very interesting reports! I just read all of them.  Keep them coming.
I wish I lived in an area that I could catch pike and walleye.

What is a loony?