All good things must come to an end and the summer fishing season is no different. This year's finale took place in the Duck Mountains area with good friend Cal who wore many hats on this trip from chef's cap to guide toque. First up was a beautiful tiger hen that measured up at a respectful 23 3/4 inches. These fish, although a hybrid of two fall spawners, the brown and brookie, didn't seem to exhibit any spawning behavior and readily took my offerings. Cal took a video of the release with his GoPro and I grabbed a screen shot.
We fished for splake on Laurie Lake for 2 1/2
days but only managed 3 fairly nice fish; Cal caught a 20" and a 21" and I managed a 21" fish only minutes before the rods were to be stowed for the trip back to the launch on our last day on this water. Sometime luck does trump ability. It appears these fish go through a false spawn period for a week or two during which time they are shallow but not necessarily feeding.
Each day we fished, the numbers of splake in the shallows declined until the last day when we only saw a few fish. Fly pattern or colour didn't seem to make much difference as each fish was caught on a totally different fly.
Our last day was spent on West Blue lake, hoping to latch into a large brook trout. The fish are concentrated in small areas where they are going through a false spawn and are not actively feeding. I caught a few on a egg pattern and foul hooked a couple on streamer patterns. I suspect spawn bags would work well but shooting fish in a barrel doesn't really appeal. The largest fish I caught on the egg pattern was a nice 18" male.
