Two years ago I went through the disappointment of losing my favorite river. A combination of irrigation withdrawals, government stone walling on fixing pumping stations and deep snow levels resulted in what looked like a total winter kill. We lost a river full of big bluegills, crappie and channel cats. Not to mention the pike, drum, mooneye, goldeye, sauger, walleye and many other species the river supported.
This year we had long term high flows and the river seems to have repopulated, at least with some of the early season migrants that traveled up from the Red River during the spring thaw.
Best of all was that caught most of these fish using a new 1 wt fly rod and the rest with my trusty 2 wt.
Hi Harry! Stumbled on your blog and ended up reading the entire thing. Really great to see someone maximizing fishing opportunities on the La Salle. I'm a 5 minute drive away and am an avid crappie fisherman, mostly targeting the Whiteshell and Lake of the Woods. It sure would be nice to get into some a little closer to home. Thanks for sharing your experience.
ReplyDeleteHey Tom, glad you enjoyed it. Looks like only the early spawners made it past the dam in the park and I've caught only drum and pike u/s of La Salle. Given there is no flow in the river I suspect it will winter kill again this year.
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ReplyDeleteI dropped by the LaSalle at LaBarriere today and boy, you're not kidding. I was surprised by how low the water was downstream of the bridge. Walked along the trail and threw a line in the pools to no avail. Might give the mouth of the LaSalle and the Red a shot around dusk in the next little while. Hopefully those crappie find their way out to the mouth before freeze up.
ReplyDeleteManaged a few more species like perch, channel cats and a carp but not a single crappie, bluegill or rock bass. I have a feeling those warmwater panfish are no longer in the river.
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