New season.

[Homewrecker]

Hi Every one
I am back this season for another great hard water adventure .
My 2 wheel drive truck was stolen  a few months back .
So as soon as my new  factory GMC truck comes in I will be back on the lake.

Might even up date to a newer under water camera  for lakes around Edmonton, any recommendations ?

How has Cold lake been doing with this above 0 temp.
Is there even ice around the edges ?
My  reg. Cold lake partner moved to BC. I think we fished it every second weekend.
So if anyone in the Edmonton area is hooked on Lakers ,give me a shout as I am looking for a replacement.

[demasterangler]

Hooked on Lakers ....that's me ...sorry to hear about the truck
 but new is good ! 
Unfortunately I asked my wife if we could move to Edmonton
 For the hardwater season , she didn't say no but that look.
 Here in the south I wouldn't be surprised if open water
  is back but it will get cold again . Just a late start .
   Couple of jumbos from Ontario

[Homewrecker]

Those are nice looking Lakers ...Is that picture from the 70's
Thats how big ours used to be ,back in the day.
 
I Tell my wife every year I could retire in Cold Lake, she say yup ...but your going my yourself !

[demasterangler]

Yep , maybe 76 , I know they closed that lake
 Shortly after !
 I have a bit of familly up there in the cold lake area .
 I know what your talking about , I'd love to retire
 On the LOW in Ontario , but who will do the  dishes .
  Ah ha , ah ha , me !
  Do you just drive on when you go there ?
 I have a cousin who Commercial fished that area
  for years ...I should visit him !

[SNAPFisher]

Welcome back! 

Cold Lake is open water.  There is ice in the bays only but it has degraded to really unsafe ice.  Check back in a couple of weeks but more likely mid-Jan will be smartest for trucks this year.  Going to be a shorter Cold Lake ice season this year.

[walleyes]

Welcome back! 

Cold Lake is open water.  There is ice in the bays only but it has degraded to really unsafe ice.  Check back in a couple of weeks but more likely mid-Jan will be smartest for trucks this year.  Going to be a shorter Cold Lake ice season this year.

May freeze may not, talking with an old timer friend of mine that has lived here since the early '50's and it happend  before where it hasn't froze over. The bays will and the shore line but it can happen that the lake doesn't freeze well enough for safe ussage.

The quality of fish would be there in the lake if the retarted people managing our fisheries in this province would wake up and actually do some managing rather than just fining people. That lake could be a world class trout fishery if they would quit the insane policy of keeping big fish. The lake is loaded with small trout it's hard to catch anything but trout in it. But the nice fish get slaughtered to no end especially in the winter through th ice. It's like a lousy blood bath out there some days. I go out there for a look after a weekend sometimes and it blows my mind the amount of blood on the ice. The mortality rate on those fish is sad. So much needless killing going on. Just poor management from the get go. If they would do it right and let people keep a couple small fish in a slaught size say 40-50cm maybe most would catch their two and go home and quit killing fish ( I doubt it ) but lots would. It would make a huge difference in the quality of the fishing. But they won't this is Alberta, they'll let people keep killing fish until its collapsed then shut it down then repeat again. Just mindless management like the rest of our lakes.

[Homewrecker]

Yep , maybe 76 , I know they closed that lake
 Shortly after !
 I have a bit of familly up there in the cold lake area .
 I know what your talking about , I'd love to retire
 On the LOW in Ontario , but who will do the  dishes .
  Ah ha , ah ha , me !
  Do you just drive on when you go there ?
 I have a cousin who Commercial fished that area
  for years ...I should visit him !

They Stopped Commercial fishing cold lake years ago , and then the fishing got really good.
So good in fact people would come from all over to fish this lake so they upped the size limit from 65 cm to 75 cm.
Less people are now fishing it because  75 cm long fish are far in between. Caught only one last year. 
The last two ice seasons I have noticed much more bait fish in the water . On my Lx7 I would see them as thick as 50 ft deep and i could see them down my hole  with my eyes when this happens. Some times takes up to 2 hours for them to leave the area. Then they are back in an hr. 
Not sure what the best answer is for this lake. If they return the size to 65 it may get fished out fast.
Just to many people fishing it 7 day a week.
Only answer I have is the tag system . 3 tags per year. not a lottery just a flat out $20. for 3 tags. no size limit.

Yes we do drive on it with our trucks. normally need an extension on your auger. But maybe not this year !

I keep going back because I always hook into one that breaks my 30 lb line like butter .
Happend twice on 30 lbs as I thought I hooked the bottom so I set the drag so I can pull up hard .then she runs and breaks the line.  Before that it was with 15 lb line and she would empty my reel then break off.

[walleyes]

They Stopped Commercial fishing cold lake years ago , and then the fishing got really good.
So good in fact people would come from all over to fish this lake so they upped the size limit from 65 cm to 75 cm.
Less people are now fishing it because  75 cm long fish are far in between. Caught only one last year. 
The last two ice seasons I have noticed much more bait fish in the water . On my Lx7 I would see them as thick as 50 ft deep and i could see them down my hole  with my eyes when this happens. Some times takes up to 2 hours for them to leave the area. Then they are back in an hr. 
Not sure what the best answer is for this lake. If they return the size to 65 it may get fished out fast.
Just to many people fishing it 7 day a week.
Only answer I have is the tag system . 3 tags per year. not a lottery just a flat out $20. for 3 tags. no size limit.

Yes we do drive on it with our trucks. normally need an extension on your auger. But maybe not this year !

I keep going back because I always hook into one that breaks my 30 lb line like butter .
Happend twice on 30 lbs as I thought I hooked the bottom so I set the drag so I can pull up hard .then she runs and breaks the line.  Before that it was with 15 lb line and she would empty my reel then break off.

I don't think a tag system would work for the lake. People would still fish it and unnecessarily catch and handle fish, this is an issue. There's no shortage of fish in the lake I'm convinced if they would,just allow either a 1 fish or 2 fish rentention in a slaught most would catch their two and go home. Let's face it, lakers are not a good tasting fish certainly not the bigger ones why anyone would want to keep a fish over 75cm is beyond me, they are not a good fish. The small ones aren't all that bad. So let people keep a couple for the table. It's a potential world class fishery but not under the current management policy, it's not working.

Personally because of the mortality rate during the winter if it was up to me that lake would be closed to angling from Nov 1st untill May long and thats the truth. People just don't know how to handle fish and you all know that, ice fishing is just to hard on them.