Welcome to my Fishing Adventure Blog. Let me give you a short introduction of myself and what this blog will be focusing on. Quite simply I'm a doctor who loves to fish. Doesn't matter if it is Kayak, Ocean, Stream, Shore, Alpine, Spear, Ice, Deep Sea or Fly Fishing. If it has anything to do with Fishing I'm into it. Hope you enjoy and feel free to give me suggestions for topics!
Brook trout have become my favorite early ice pursuit since moving to British Columbia. Many fertile lakes are stocked with these colorful char in great numbers. When the lakes turnover in the fall and temperatures drop these fish go on feeding heavily. They focus on shallow water shoals, weed beds and reed edges. When I say shallow I am talking inches of water where often there is only 8 to 12 inches of water between the weed tops and the bottom of the ice. Seeing these fish right below your feet is a crazy experience.
Usually the lakes are clear and you are fishing water less than 8 feet deep, so sight fishing is excellent. They can come through as a single fish or sometime in large schools. Imagine 20+ fish swimming below your hole chasing your lure.
They take a variety of lures and love action to attract their attention. But slow it down a bit so they can eat it! I prefer jigs and spoons to get their attention and trigger bites. Tipping with a worm or shrimp will sweeten the deal, but may not be necessary if very aggressive!
Check out @gofishbc for Eastern Brook Trout stocking reports of a lake near you. Notice that the stocked fish in BC are All Female Triploid fish. The grow fast and great quality with dark red flesh.
This fish was caught on @northlandtackle Buckshot Flutter Spoon tipped with a worm in 8 feet of water where the weed bottom transitioned to sand on a drop off. This fish was 19 3/4" and weighed just under 5 pounds. The rod pictured is @circletackle Alpha 029 flat tip rod and handled the fish excellent. Check them out if you want a durable ultralight that can handle larger fish.
How to you like your winter fishing season? Do you hang up your open water gear and go into hibernation? Or do you get excited for the hard water season?
I'm definitely the latter of the above getting excited for the hard water season everytime fall rolls around. I check the forecasts and try to predict ice formation... and bug some of the online buddies closer to the ice for up to date ice reports.
This year has been up and down with the temps. Smaller higher elevation lakes are locked up and some of the lower elevation lakes are starting to be fishable. With the next little cold snap coming I am guessing in the next two weeks there will be a lot more hard water available to fish.
While you do risk getting wet traveling on skinny ice you should carry picks and be prepared for anything. Self extraction if you go alone or help from a buddy if you have one is necessary for escape of an icy grave. Unfortunately people do drown under ice every year so be careful. Recommendations are four inches of clear solid ice for safe foot travel.
The advantage of getting out soon is getting in on some fabulous early ice fishing where the trout cooperate so well. They are feeding heavily and sight fishing in shallow water is very exciting if you have never tried it before, I highly recommend it. So stay safe this year... do some social distancing on some hard water near you!!!
If you're looking for an ultralight durable ice rod check out @circle_tackle Alpha Series Flat tipped rods. This rod pictured is the 29 inch and handles trout excellent! This is an 18 inch Pennask rainbow trout. Such a beautiful and hard fighting rainbow trout. These @northlandtackle spoons are awesome. Fish catching machines!!!
This fishing adventure started quite a few years ago back on the frozen ice of December 2012. The location was none other than Cold Lake, Alberta. Maybe more familiar with people in regards to the location of Canada's Air Base and weapons range, but we were more interested in the life below the ice. This is a large open body of water at approximately 16 miles across and over 300 feet deep. For this reason it is one of the last lakes to freeze in northern Alberta and much caution should be taken when venturing out on the ice at any time of the season. Many years it is safe to wait until mid January to get out on the main lake, while some of the smaller bays will freeze earlier in the winter.
We were in luck though since this year was a quick freeze and trucks were already out on the ice at Christmas time. We already knew the lake after fishing it many times during the open water season. The only thing that separated us now from the fish was a few inches of ice that our auger would help us get through in no time.
So what is the big draw to Cold Lake and why is everyone still talking about it 5 years after out first adventure out there. Well lets just say it's something in the water! A healthy population of obese, hard fighting and willing Lake Trout have created a stir all around the ice fishing sphere! I had been watching the popularity of this fishery grow the years prior and I wasn't about to let another ice season slip by without getting out there to try it out. This was also the first year I had a Marcum flasher sonar on the ice to use to my advantage.
I discussed my dreams of icing fat lake trout with my uncle Johnny and he thought it sounded like an adventure worth pursuing. We packed up and left the house early in the morning with the plan of hitting the ice as the sun came over the hill. As with most fish these lake trout will feed most heavily during the morning and evening hours. You might still pick up a few fish during the day, but it is often a slow wait till things get going again when the sun falls back towards the horizon. We hit the ice and as beginners often do followed the trail out to an area where it looked like other people had been fishing. Once we drilled some holes we realized we were on a drop off from about 80 to 120 feet of water. We later found out that this is typically the type of water people target and usually is what you want to look for on the charts.
With great anticipation I dropped down a big 2 ounce white and chartreuse buck tail jig tipped with a smelt. I watched as it fell towards the bottom on the flasher. In a matter of minutes the first mark came storming in and slammed my jig. After a great battle I landed my first Lake Trout through the ice and I was stoked! I just love it when a plan comes together like that and in a matter of minutes you're on the fish. Trust me it's not always that easy and we've struggled some days out there.
We kept on fishing and the fish kept on coming through slow and steady. The Marcum was a big help as I could see when the fish were coming through and at what depth so I could crank my jig up to their location and often trigger a bite. My uncle didn't have a flasher yet and after one day of me out fishing him in a ratio of 3:1 he was sold! Within a few weeks he had purchased his first Marcum and has never regretted it for one moment either.
If you want to watch our adventure to see how it actually went and watch one of the first videos I ever published as The Fishing Doctors Adventures, then you have to check this out!
Getting Down to Business:
So what does it really take to catch these fish. Well here are some of the things that I have learned fishing it over the past few years.
#1 Get out to Cold Lake and give it a try next year and I'm sure you'll have a great time out on that big lake. If you don't know where to fish and it is your first time to the lake take a look at the underwater maps available on Agler's Atlas. You're looking for areas where it drops off from about 60 feet down to 120 feet. Underwater points and humps are great places to start. When all else fails look for the groups of fishermen and join the heard. Probably some fish hanging around under their feet, but give them some space and try to fish the same structure line instead of on top of them.
#2 Drill your holes from shallower to deep off the drop and fish them in that order too if you get out there early in the morning.
#3 Choosing a rod and reel for lake trout through the ice. Longer ice rods will work better for lake trout. Chose one over 28 inches long in the medium/heavy to heavy weight. Some people even come out with their full length summer rods too which also work well. Any reel will do but bait casters seem to work the best and hold more line for these deep water, long running fish.
#4 Having a flasher sonar like a Marcum, Vexilar or other brand is a game changer. If you are serious and want to catch more fish you need to have one of these on the ice with you.
#5 Choosing a line depends on what you expect to catch and these fish can grow in excess of 20 pounds. So I would recommend having 12 to 20 pound test. A braided line with a fluorocarbon leader would probably be your best bet for these deep water fish, but as you see in the videos we were using mono filament which also works.
#6 Lure choice goes along with the depth. You will need a heavy lure to get down fast. Usually jigs 2-3 ounces heavy will work best at getting you down to the right location quickly. I have caught fish on buck tail jigs, tube jigs and airplane jigs. My favorite though is a Big Hammer swim bait. The Cold Lake Special is probably something you'll want to pick up before you head out as well. When choosing a color remember these fish love to eat ciscoe and white fish. So white is generally a good color, but chartreuse, silver and blue seem to be good choices as well.
#7 Bait choice is probably the most simple as most people use pieces of smelt to tip their jigs.
#8 A key ingredient is a stinger hook... don't go fishing without one as you are likely to lose a lot of short hits. Put on a treble stinger that sits near the tail end of your jig.
#9 I find if you have a Marcum you can Yo-Yo the jigs up and down the water column and see what depth the fish are at. You can do the same this without a marcum but you won't know where to stop or drop if there is a fish. If fishing blind the best seems to be fishing near bottom.
#10 Don't forget to have fun and read the regulations before heading out. You can currently keep one Lake Trout over 75 cm long. This is a big trout so make sure you measure correctly before you take one home!
Good Luck out there and if you want to watch some more lake trout being pulled through the ice check out these videos from other trips we took out there.
Autumn is a wonderful time of year with mild temperatures, beautiful scenery and big fish searching for an easy meal before freeze up. It's the later fact of fall that gets me excited to drop a line in the water.
This past fall was the first time I actually had the chance to dedicate time for some fall fishing. I had the last week of September and the first week of October off, so we packed up and headed off to Canada. This had been an unusually warm Fall and I was concerned that I might hit the fall turnover. This is a period when the water temperature throughout the lake hits around 4 degrees Celsius and it mixes top to bottom. This occurs because water is most dense at 4 degrees Celsius. The water during turnover becomes murky and the fish are usually turned off the chew for a few days on either side. Lucky enough though I didn't have to deal with fall turnover at any of the lakes we visited.
We went after some big pike at other lakes, but we stuck to our home base for a few days and went walleye fishing. Even though this is a small lake and not really known to hold huge walleye we had fun fishing with great numbers and steady action.
Previously I have come up empty handed when trying for walleye in the fall, so what was the problem? Well here are a few tips I learned this fall that may help you catch more fish.
#1 Spread Thin: In the Fall fish tend to be more spread out since the whole water column is now at a suitable temperature with high oxygen concentration. Keeping this in mind using a strategy that covers a lot of water will help put you on more fish. For example; I spent some time drifting with a bottom bouncer and spinner / floater set up that worked really well finding walleye along a drop off in water from 20-30 feet deep. I find drifting or slow trolling a bottom bouncer in the fall is more effective than a crank bait. Walleye tend to take the slower moving presentations better with colder water temperatures.
#2 Key Summer Structure: Often the key summer locations like mid lake humps and rocky main lake points will still hold fish in the fall. These well known spots that are often covered by the weekend warriors are largely forgotten as fall approaches. The truth is these locations may even become more productive into the fall as fish stack up to feed in these areas. During the fall weed growth dies off and bait fish are left only to the rocky areas to take cover. These bait fish are what those larger walleye will be searching out during the fall binge.
#3 Subtle Presentation: When the big flashy summer baits are not working you have to downsize and slow it down. Remember these fish are exposed to falling temperatures and are sluggish at times with the fluctuating weather patterns of fall. So go for a slow subtle presentation. You might consider using a slip float that will hold your presentation in place just like dead sticking on the ice. This is a highly effective method for fall walleye.
#4 The Minnow: A top fall fish magnet is the jig and minnow. It is simple, has been around for a long time and still produces catches of large numbers of fish. When you find them drop this presentation down and you might be into some non stop action. Don't forget that simple works!
#5 Big Bait = Big Fish: In the fall this is especially true for walleye. If you want to catch a big one and you're fishing a lake where they roam then GO BIG! A great fall presentation is working large swimbaits 5-6 inches in length slowly through the water column. Give it a few cranks and let it fall, crank it a few and repeat. This slow retrieve with that tantalizing tail flicker will have some huge walleye going crazy this fall. Give it a try with a Big Hammer swim bait. These soft baits can't be beat for fall fishing!
Hope these few tips will help you put more walleye in the boat this next fall. Go give it a try.
Fishing Hermitage Park Pond rainbow trout that lurk under ice is something I enjoy trying when home for Christmas. Unfortunately this year I didn't make it to the lake until later in the ice season after Christmas. You see this small pond is only about 12 feet deep and stocked with 3000 rainbows a year. As the winter lingers on oxygen levels plummet and the trout are left struggling to survive. Sadly nature wins out and the lake consistently winter kills leaving the remaining trout dead under ice. No one can predict when this will exactly happen as a lot of factors come into play. For example live weeds add oxygen and dead weeds consume oxygen. Regardless I always go out to give it a try.
The forecast was for a rapid change in weather throughout the day. It started out on the cool side, overcast and calm. By the end of the day it was freezing cold and blowing snow.
I tried a faithful point on the lake in the morning, but there was no trout activity on the radar at all and no strikes on the awaiting Jaw Jacker. I decided to pack up and walk across the lake to a deeper section and see if there were any fish around. I drilled holes starting from a shallow bank and out every 20 feet into the main lake basin. Shortly after I set the Jaw Jacker in shallow water it went off! I ran over and lost the first nice rainbow in the hole.
I reset the line and returned to jigging with my rod and MarCum VX 1P. I noticed that there was some action on the flasher half way up the water column. I raised my Kastmaster with dropper fly to mid water column and soon had something that felt like a bite. Then the Jaw Jacker went off again and I landed a nice rainbow at 15 inches. I returned to the jigging rod and started to have more hits and landed another rainbow. The trout were ON which was unusual after Christmas. I attributed the action to a rapid fall in barometric pressure which sometimes turns the bite ON! Regardless the cause I was just happy to be the one experiencing it.
Things slowed down mid day and I moved to another hole. I decided to try a few inches under the ice in 12 feet of water. In no time I had a strike and then another. I got down on my belly and stared down the hole. In no time a rainbow was staring back at me inches from my face. They were swimming back and forth right under my nose. This was so cool I thought. Turns out this is typical behavior as the oxygen levels fall in a lake. The fish start to swim closer to the ice where trapped air pockets and cracks are the only way oxygen enters the lake late in the season.
I quickly drilled another hole and dropped the GoPro down to see if I could get any footage. Turns out they weren't camera shy and even though it was getting dark the footage is still pretty neat. Check out the video links below.
I continued to catch fish on the Jaw Jacker and rod right under the ice. Turned out to be one of my best days on Hermitage Park Pond. I saw several other groups of people on the ice and nobody else was catching. Just goes to show you can't always stick with what usually works. The fish were not on the bottom and unless you moved around and fished mid water column and up to the ice there was no catching going on. So don't forget the rest of the water column when you are out on the ice. Also having a MarCum Flasher can really help you understand how fish are using the water column and put your lure in the high traffic area.
I've been very impressed with the Jaw Jacker on ice. I set it up with three small ice jigs or flies about a foot and a half apart and tip with pieces of meal worm. Drop the set up down and wait. More often then not when it goes off there is a fat trout on the end of the line waiting to be brought in by you. If you are allowed a set line in your province or state I highly recommend investing in some of these.
I previously used tip downs which I built, but usually by the time I ran over to grab the rod the fish had dropped the bait. The Jaw Jacker actually sets the hook for you increasing your odds of catching more fish!
If you'd like to see the action from this day click the links below. I also do a demonstration of my Jaw Jacker rig for those of you who are curious.
Fast approaching the end of another great Canadian fishing adventure in early August, we started entertaining the idea of going back in the Fall. My wife didn't have to ask me twice before I quickly found a gap in my schedule over the last week of September and first of October. Flights were booked and it was all planning and daydreaming from there.
Fishing in the fall had always been something I read about in magazines and watched on fishing shows, but never able to experience first hand. Generally I'd fish over 50 days a year, but these days were highly concentrated around school vacations. Now after 20 years of education and 4 years of post graduate training life looked more promising for a fall fishing adventure.
As with all new adventures much planning and self education is required for success. I started reading everything I could lay my eyes on regarding fishing the fall bite. After a few trips to Outdoor World and hundreds of dollars spent on large swim-baits and crank-baits I was certain I had what was needed to put some fish in the boat.
The Horizon Airlines pilot announced we'd be arriving at the Edmonton International Airport in a few minutes. Gazing out the window I could see the John Deere combines working the fields and fall colors on the trees. The weather had been great and the first cold weather was set to hit while I was in town. This was fine with me since everything I had read stated a cooling trend in weather turns fall fish on the chew.
My target fish of choice was northern pike as I'd never really caught much over an 8 lb pike in open water. Pinehurst Lake in North East Alberta has always been a favorite lake to catch summer walleye and monster northern pike through the ice. I figured given the presence of large pike in the winter this would probably be our best bet to hook into a dandy. Keep this in mind if you are after trophy fish, you have to fish waterways known to hold them.
The weather report said we could expect a high of 4 degrees C, wind, overcast and rain showers throughout the day. We geared up and put a tarp on the 12 foot aluminum boat. Dressing appropriate to survive a day like this is key. Layer your clothes, wear a rain suit and don't forget to wear something warm on your feet like winter boots or insulated rubber boots. This will make all the difference on those cold fall fishing days.
We launched and started to troll large crank-baits on the south shore along deep water rocky points. These are known fish holding structures in the summer and fall. As the weeds die off the small bait-fish will move to these rocky areas to find cover from predatory fish. Naturally the walleye and large pike are drawn here in search of food. After a few minutes of trolling my dad hooked the first pike of the day, but far from a monster.
Shallow weed lines and reeds can also hold large fish as the waters cool to temperatures that large pike can tolerate while in search for a meal. We next headed across the lake to a very large weed bed and cast large crank-baits. This seemed to be the ticket as we started having explosive strikes and hookups on hard fighting northern pike. I knew we were on the fish and it was only time until we found a big one.
Slow retrieving a 6" jointed crank along the surface was drawing some great strikes. Then it happened. I could see a freight train of a fish streaking towards my lure and inhale it. The line zipping across the water and off my reel, then NOTHING! What happened? I reeled up the excess line and found my 30 pound fluorocarbon leader had broke. This brings me to another tip. When fishing for these toothy critters it is a good idea to use a steel leader or if using fluorocarbon use at least a 100 pound leader. I found this out the hard way and that pike was now carrying an expensive lure as jewelry.
We caught many more pike before evening approached and my dad started to suggest we head back across the lake closer to the boat launch. I suggested we try trolling along the reeds where we had seen a lot of white fish surfacing. Since big pike eat whites and tulibee I figured there must be some lurking. I cast out the lure and pumped the rod as we trolled along. BAM! another big hit on the line and this time the fish is pulling drag. I slowly coerce her up to the surface some 50 yards away and notice this fish has a wake, not the usual spiraling snot rocket on the surface. Soon the big fish was beside the boat and into the awaiting landing net. It really happened, a big pike! My fall fishing dreams had really come true. We snapped a few pictures and video before letting the large female pike swim away for another day.
What a great end to another awesome fishing adventure. I think I have a new addiction that will have to wait until next fall! Till then check out these pictures and video of the day.
British Columbia is a very attractive place for most Albertan’s to head during the summer months. “Why?” some people may ask since Alberta has it's own stunning outdoors. If you haven’t been to Alberta I’ll fill you in…. Mosquitoes! There are a few other reasons my family enjoys going to the Okanagan Valley including tasty fresh fruit, hotter days, beautiful lakes to water ski on and camp at without that Alberta algae. So what is an avid angler to do surrounded by the watersport center of British Columbia? Quite simply put, they fish! We usually stay in Oyama, which is a town between two adjoining lakes, Kalamalka and Wood Lake.
Kalamalka is known for its spectacular blue green waters that make you feel like you’re some place tropical. Fishermen on the other hand will tell you it is well known to hold some monster lake trout in its depths and fair sized rainbow trout. Wood lake on the other hand is known for a population of fat kokanee that school in the lake. While the lake trout fishing seems tempting we often head out after kokanee salmon to take a little break from water skiing. There is one small problem. The best fishing and calm water skiing times seem to coincide in the early am hours. Lucky for me the kokanee in Wood Lake usually are eager to bite most of the day and later afternoon.
Sadly this past summer (2013) the kokanee fishing was closed on wood lake due to a population collapse from a couple of bad spawning years and fishing pressure. So hopefully the fisherman leave them alone and let the fish rebound so we can once again catch some kokanee in the years to come.
Like I've said the best fishing is usually in the early am hours when the sun peaks over the mountain. Fish are readily caught almost all over the lake in depths ranging from 60-120 feet of water. These fish are usually suspended somewhere between the surface and 60 feet down.
Our typical set up is very simple and goes to show that likely anyone will be able to catch them. Just get any sort of lake troll or Ford Fender flasher rig. Then put a kokanee shock leader which helps prevent the hook from being torn out of these soft mouthed fish. Next you need some sort of lure. They will bite on all sorts of lure from small spinners, spoons, plastics, and plugs. Our favorite to use on this lake is the watermelon colored Apex by Hot Spot. These are killer tipped with a few maggots or just fished bare. We find these keep the fish hitting even when they've not been biting anything else. When the fish are biting you can't go wrong with a pink wedding band and a few maggots.
Once you are set up we usually had 1-3 ounces of weight to the front of the lake troll to get it down to the fish. Typically you want to let out 40-60 pulls of line to start. Then add more or less if nothing seems to be happening. One of the most important things is slow trolling. Go about as slow as possible. If your boat wont go slow enough then just take it in and out of gear or drag a sea anchor. The slowing and speeding up action which causes the lure to rise and fall through the water column often causes strikes. Another way to slow the lines is to troll in an S pattern or make frequent turns. The inside rod on a turn will often catch the fish as it is moving the slowest.
Having a landing net is a good idea if you want to get more fish in the boat since they like to go air-born beside the boat and will get off right beside the boat if you aren't ready.
Best of all they taste great! I can't wait till they re-open the lake so we can get back out there and catch some.
