Author Topic: Cold lake????? - Trip Results and Pics on pg 3 (Read 9807 times)

Eztiaan · « **on:** Feb 10, 2012, 10:15 AM »

I am a southerner looking to make a trip up to cold lake for five days near end of February. Grew up in northern Manitoba fishing lakers so familiar with the techniques. I was wondering of anyone had any tips for a guy that's never Been to cold lake..... Some areas to focus in on, what depths to home in on, what baits you primarily use etc. I have an lx 7 so flasher is no issue. It will just be me ad my fiancé Comming up to enjoy what looks like a great fishery, not planning on harvesting any fish. Also, can you use quads on the lake, what's snow cover like? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Also any
Hints on accommodations you would recommend in the area ?

Thanks a bunch guys

gwildeman · « **Reply #1 on:** Feb 10, 2012, 08:09 PM »

about 20" of ice. almost no snow. start in 65' of water in the morning and go deeper from there. saw lots in 110'.
best hint for baits; their stomachs are full of 2-6" baitfish.
good luck!!!!!!!!!

Eztiaan · « **Reply #2 on:** Feb 10, 2012, 08:59 PM »

Thank you appreciate it.

mikeo2 · « **Reply #3 on:** Feb 10, 2012, 09:11 PM »

Eztiaan, when you planning on going up? I know a few spots on cold lake but haven't been there yet, live to far away but am making a trip soon.

Eztiaan · « **Reply #4 on:** Feb 10, 2012, 09:27 PM »

I'm planning on heading up the 18 and staying till 22 or so . What was your plan mike?

gwildeman · « **Reply #5 on:** Feb 10, 2012, 11:30 PM »

Ps
I have heard straight off the main marina has been one of the best areas this season
With a flasher u should be set
Hope u slay
Cheers, gw

Eztiaan · « **Reply #6 on:** Feb 11, 2012, 09:26 PM »

Any one got some areas to focus in on?

SNAPFisher · « **Reply #7 on:** Feb 12, 2012, 06:11 AM »

What? Straight out from the Marina is specific enough for you

Homewrecker · « **Reply #8 on:** Feb 12, 2012, 11:18 AM »

Just got back from cold lake Feb 12 ,seen full size trucks , cars and mini Vans on the ice .
Just follow any of the truck trails on the ice and they will take you to fishing spots ,just look where everone else is .only 3 or 4 spots.
Did not see many out in front of the Mernia
White tube jigs . Best bite was at noon both days . If you need a partner let me know might be interested. Edmonton.
Stayed at Kings court Motel $80 night includes tax around $5.00 more for kitchenette. older hotel much better in the area $$$
there # 780-594-4408
They have every type of fast food place Edmonton has. including 2 Tim Hortins only one is open 24 hrs.
We have always eaten dinner at a Chinese Buffet located besides supper store .
Heard about the higher end grill at the merina,there is a hotel called the Dock side inn about 200 yards from the Merina $85 plus tax for two,just no place to have breakfest in the morning ,.have to drive always back to main strip.
Three place to get on ice ,Merina best for cars, and both provincil camp grounds

Eztiaan · « **Reply #9 on:** Feb 12, 2012, 02:04 PM »

Thanks home wrecker, that's some good details. I appreciate it. How did you make out while you were down there?

Homewrecker · « **Reply #10 on:** Feb 12, 2012, 04:13 PM »

We caught about 10 a day between the both of use ,90% of them were under sized.But faught like 12 pounders
Had many fish follow our hooks all day as seen on flasher ,gave it a smell, then go back down.
Fished many years at cold lake never had a day like that.Never caught any last 2 years.
If you find a group of fishermen stay on the deeper side of them and 100 ft away so you don't screw up there flashers.
After we set up our tents, some guys set up between me and the other guys ,screw use all up !
90% of the fish were caught 11:30 on wards ,we were on the lake 1 hr before the sun came up.
That was a waste as we seen none in the sonar or flasher till 11:00.
So no need to rush ,go have a good breakfest at Humpties
What will you be driving ,I might head out agian that weekend.
Meet alot of guys from Alberta outdoorsmen out there.
But then again every one that fishes is on that site.
What we found worked the best was ,let your jig drop from the top of the ice straight down to the bottom and stop it 3-10 ft from the bottom.
And just let it sit there. with out moving . kinda seemed like the lakers would only notice bait that fell from the top. tryed jigging many times on the bottom
Did not work as offen.
Good luck

Eztiaan · « **Reply #11 on:** Feb 12, 2012, 08:20 PM »

Right on home wrecker, I will be driving a ford king ranch, brown. Hope to see you out there and thanks for the advice...... The lx 7 is nice for interference rejection lol But I'm not a big fan of fishing I'n a crowd anyways

Homewrecker · « **Reply #12 on:** Feb 12, 2012, 08:37 PM »

Where ever you fish on the lake they will come !
Does the lx 7 give an intereference signal

Eztiaan · « **Reply #13 on:** Feb 13, 2012, 07:08 AM »

It does not tell you that you are receiving signals from another unit but when interference occurs, it has a 12 stage Rejection system ( different channels) to eliminate the interference. I use a vertical zoom window alongside the chart display which can also help determine interference versus fish. On the chart you can see the size of the return better and gives you an indication of the size of fish. Amazing feature with the 7

FishingStrat · « **Reply #14 on:** Feb 13, 2012, 06:42 PM »

Hey E that LX 7 is a nice piece of gear a friend of mine just bought one, something like 4800 watts peak to peak it almost cooks them lol. Give yourselves some standoff to prevent interference nothing worse. Last Sat was slow we caught 21 between 3 of us, I have found this year moving a lot has proven to be a good tactic. We average about 90 feet my best day was in 85 ft 7 fish 30 min all keepers. I find the best thing to do is after jigging a bit start reeling up threw the water column, and if you get fish pulling off the bottom also start reeling they will chase it up. I have had them hit 20 ft under the ice also sometimes as you are reeling threw the column fish will appear under your lure about half way up and start the chase lots of fun to watch on a flasher and these fish tend to be big mature females. And last of course tie on a stinger 80% of all my fish are on the stinger especially when they are chasing. Well I hope you guys have a good time this weekend, we are headed to the west side to see if we can find some big boys. Have fun and good fishing.

WalleyeTom · « **Reply #15 on:** Feb 15, 2012, 04:11 PM »

Watch the ice heaves. A big one opened Monday night and was not safe to drive over. We are hoping by Friday to drive down the lake.
Tuesday fishing was slow. We could see them but they were not hungry. We did get our keepers.

Stay safe .......

Eztiaan · « **Reply #16 on:** Feb 15, 2012, 06:55 PM »

Thanks for the tips guys, appreciate it. Any one else got info on the action... Making the trip on Sunday

Eztiaan · « **Reply #17 on:** Feb 16, 2012, 11:55 PM »

So I have been looking at the weather forecasts for cold lake and it is looking pretty warm. Are people still driving on the ice Or would it be safer to bring a quad? Are quads even aloud since it is a provincial park?

Thanks

burbotman14 · « **Reply #18 on:** Feb 17, 2012, 12:10 AM »

Although it gets to 2 or 3 in the afternoon the majority of the day is still below freezing with much of the night being around -10. If anything the ice is still forming nicely. The access might get a bit soft, but the main lake will be fine at least until mid-late march in my opinion.

WalleyeTom · « **Reply #19 on:** Feb 18, 2012, 08:45 AM »

Friday ..... fishing was very slow.

Ice heave is still not safe to drive a truck over. Snowmobiles and quads are crossing.
Ice is 20" where we were.

Stay safe .....

Eztiaan · « **Reply #20 on:** Feb 19, 2012, 08:29 PM »

So made it on the ice by 10am today, went over towards sask border and got
Nothing. Fished
Several other areas over there and nothing. By 230 headed over to the marina and we got 4 in a matter of an hour. Did not get skunked on this large intimidating lake so that was good. Looking forward to what the next few days has to offer.

Thanks again for all the advice

WalleyeTom · « **Reply #21 on:** Feb 21, 2012, 08:51 AM »

Eztiaan,

How did the trip finish out?

Anyone else fish Cold Lake this week end?

captainslug · « **Reply #22 on:** Feb 21, 2012, 11:13 AM »

My son & I were there on Sunday the 19th. Started in front of the marina about 9am and stayed there till 230. My son landed one at around 1140 that was about 56 cms and so we sent it back to the depths. At 230 we move about a km East where there were about 4 vehicles. My son again caught another small one which we promply released. Looks like we should have stayed at the Marina. $:-\$

I seen them on my flasher but they didn't seem interested at all. Lots of them looking at the lures but no bites.

burbotman14 · « **Reply #23 on:** Feb 21, 2012, 04:32 PM »

Quote from: captainslug on Feb 21, 2012, 11:13 AM

My son & I were there on Sunday the 19th. Started in front of the marina about 9am and stayed there till 230. My son landed one at around 1140 that was about 56 cms and so we sent it back to the depths. At 230 we move about a km East where there were about 4 vehicles. My son again caught another small one which we promply released. Looks like we should have stayed at the Marina. $:-\$

I seen them on my flasher but they didn't seem interested at all. Lots of them looking at the lures but no bites.

What size of lure/bait were you using? I am just wondering if maybe a smaller presentation would trigger less aggressive fish.

WalleyeTom · « **Reply #24 on:** Feb 21, 2012, 05:14 PM »

We are going up Thursday. Will offer them a smaller portion of Anchove.

Eztiaan · « **Reply #25 on:** Feb 21, 2012, 07:06 PM »

Mr walleye Tom, where you Comming from? So I have been here since Sunday, on Sunday I tried several of the locations people had given me on this topic and was skunked, 230 i went to marina and got 4 in an hr in 160 ft. I was fishing big baits as that's what people were Suggesting but when I caught my fish I had switched to a 1/2 ounce jig head with maribou, the fluffy hair and tipped with a minnow and Stinger hook. So Monday went back to same spot and got 2 by 12, then shifted and found my own spot where no one else was and caught 22 lakers from 12 to 4. At least 7 were over 10 pounds and biggest was 85 cm with 48 cm girth guessing around 16 pounds. Went back to same spot or area today and whacked 33 lakers with several again over 10 pounds with average around 4-6 pounds. Leaving tomorrow but will be fishing till 2 at same place. Seen te fish cops out there and he was amazed at how good we were doing, said no one else was catching fish like that. Needless to say the money spent Comming up to cold lake had been well worth it. Best ice
Fishing of My life I kid you not. Never have I had such quality and quantity of fish in one day never mind 2 days in a row. PM me and maybe I can give you the coordinates to where I have been bagging them.

Eztiaan

Eztiaan · « **Reply #26 on:** Feb 22, 2012, 06:08 PM »

So I have extended my trip and will be fishig up here for a few more days probably till Saturday or Sunday. I think I also need to re phrase my above statement on the coordinates. I had mentioned this as some individuals provided me with some constructive information which I used as a base to plan my Trip up here and feel I can give them something in return for this information. I will gladly share what it was that I did to catch fish and the general location along with some fish pictures once
My trip up here is over. My best suggestion for now would be stay away from the crowd, no need to fish were there is a maze of fishing lines in the water which the fish could get aclimated too. Go out there and bang some holes, I'm fishin 90-60 ft. And a sonar is an absolute must. Fish were not biting the dead stick ever. What I did was made them commit to the bait so they ha to hit it. I would mark a fish on bottom and slowly lift my bait if the fish started to follow I would start reelin up and generally got The hit after a 10-20 ft
Chase. This is how I caught them. With nice small presentation all white 1/2 jig with maribou tipped with a minnow and a trailer hook. 30% of the fish I have caught were on the stinger hook only.Hope this helps anyone interested in Comming up here.

SNAPFisher · « **Reply #27 on:** Feb 22, 2012, 06:59 PM »

Quote from: Eztiaan on Feb 22, 2012, 06:08 PM

So I have extended my trip and will be fishig up here for a few more days probably till Saturday or Sunday. I think I also need to re phrase my above statement on the coordinates. I had mentioned this as some individuals provided me with some constructive information which I used as a base to plan my Trip up here and feel I can give them something in return for this information. I will gladly share what it was that I did to catch fish and the general location along with some fish pictures once
My trip up here is over. My best suggestion for now would be stay away from the crowd, no need to fish were there is a maze of fishing lines in the water which the fish could get aclimated too. Go out there and bang some holes, I'm fishin 90-60 ft. And a sonar is an absolute must. Fish were not biting the dead stick ever. What I did was made them commit to the bait so they ha to hit it. I would mark a fish on bottom and slowly lift my bait if the fish started to follow I would start reelin up and generally got The hit after a 10-20 ft
Chase. This is how I caught them. With nice small presentation all white 1/2 jig with maribou tipped with a minnow and a trailer hook. 30% of the fish I have caught were on the stinger hook only.Hope this helps anyone interested in Comming up here.

Okay, willing to get info but only share so much. You have provided a good deal aready. I'll keep this in mind.

WalleyeTom · « **Reply #28 on:** Feb 22, 2012, 07:25 PM »

Eztiaan,

We are going up tomorrow morning (Thursday). Can you give a rough direction from the marina?

WalleyeTom · « **Reply #29 on:** Feb 23, 2012, 06:13 PM »

Thursday:

Had a great day fishing with Eztiaan. Thank you very much.

Learned a lot about the Marcum LX-7 he uses. Looks like I need to save my pennies
to purchase a unit for next year.

News:

Author Topic: Cold lake????? - Trip Results and Pics on pg 3 (Read 9807 times)