Definitely not your imagination on the low water levels. From Water Survey of Canada:

https://i.imgur.com/cdMhwvj.jpg

There are some large water license users that draw from Cold Lake. My bet is that they've had to turn off their pumps or will be having to very soon.

Would love to get up to Cold Lake and do some lake trout fishing. Haven't been, but as an Albertan, it's on my bucket list!

Any ice fishing yet?
 

Anybody have the latest ? Are we ice fishing over the holidays?

Nope, unless you bring a boat or cast from shore, could be wrong if the weather dips to -20 or colder for a few weeks but that’s not in the forecast.....I am thinking mid January ish.....maybe:(

I have around 20 locations in western Canada saved in my Weather Network app I check every morning, and the only place consistently cold in all of Alberta is High Level. Even Peerless Lake hasn't been that cold yet. :(

At least the shallower lakes are still making ice with the lack of snow. Sucks for the deep ones though.

Thanks for the continual updates folks. It makes a huge difference for us who have to plan ahead.


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Sitting on 16 inches of ice catching trout, not lakers and that’s not the island on Cold Lake.
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But it scratches the ice hole itch.
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Looking back on photos from last year... I had my tent set up on French Bay Dec.10 catching lakers. What a difference from year to year.

Agreed. It’s hours of driving and liters of gas. You guys rock.

I feel for people wanting to go out on an adventure, make plans, book days off, meals, gas and travel all adds up real quick so I figure a little help along the way especially from a local can make the trip that much more enjoyable.

Last year I fished from Manitoba all the way to Vancouver island. Zig zagging the provinces and I sure did appreciate members on this forum for all the great assistance along the way:sHa_shakeshout:

Gonna take a drive today and check on the big lake maybe toss a few spoons from shore.

You bet, hammer the rainbows at little bear till there's enough ice on cold lake!!! Thanks for the tips ecat!

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Its funny you posted this... I said to my buddies that Santa brought the best gift of all, -20!!!

Agreed. I'm still holding out hope for French Bay in a couple of weeks. Time will tell.

And No snow forecasted which can be a a disaster if we get a few inches of ice and then a big dump of snow!


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Decided to make the trek out on French Bay and check the conditions. I believe FB froze 4-5 days ago, roughly. Drilled holes every so often and the ice is definitely black and solid. 3" everywhere I stopped, never seemed unsafe at any point. Keep in mind, I took quite a few precautions before venturing into deep water. Dropped a line for an hour or two and ended up with just 1 laker but was worth all the effort! I seen quite a few lake trout being extremely lazy, not interested in hooks at all. Just figured I'd share this with the group and use your own limits when deciding to go out fishing.

Cheers!

Good to see a laker!

Going to check it out but not walking out yet…..maybe.

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Come on -20 to give us a few more good inches of solid ice!!!!


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Beautiful pics! Wish it was worth the drive up for me. Maybe later next week? Come on -20!


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People must be throwing a lot of rocks from shore Greg. I checked that spot on Tuesday and wasn't a single rock, not its littered lol.

Yeah that area and the marina launch too…ya got me chomping at the bit to get out but I need more ice even though I got the striker ice climate suit that floats but don’t need to test it.
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If the long range forecast proves correct, it looks like it should be quite cold at the end of next week into the week of the 7th to 12th when I'm returning from Saskatchewan. I'll be making some calls this weekend. :)

Had to finally get my trout fix! I'm pretty sure this little guy identifies as an 18lb Laker...so that's good enough for me!

Well there was suspose to be a nice 6" rainbow pic from Cardiff...but it seem the upload pics function is entirely broken along with the Message and thread subscription notifications...maybe time for an update to our old fishing forum. It's been so good to us for many years...but like an old pick up, it seems to have out lived its functionality and in need of a big over haul...

Ok...figured out tge few extra steps to shrink a photo to be somewhat compatible...but like many other websites there should be automatic pic manipulation to fit the requirements of the site....oh well...maybe some day...

I use Tapatalk to send pics etc on this forum and it works great.
Just download the app to your phone and now your one of the cool folks!

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Easy now....never beennin that class before! K...Thanks...I'll give it a go!

Went out for the last few mornings and fishing was pretty slow. Managed a few lake trout each trip but definitely lazy and sluggish behavior overall. Ice is typically 3-4" anywhere I drilled and seems pretty uniformed all the way out. Hoping the bite picks up after the new year like usual.

Cheers

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Ok, enough no snow and warm weather, got the beast all in order for the big lake to make good thick ice!
Forecast is looking better.


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Forecast for next 10 Days looks to be an ice maker.:sHa_shakeshout:

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Out in French bay now and pulling in lakers one after another, missing hooks sets too, 6 inches of good ice,
Walked out, spoons, tubes, of various colours seem to work.
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Got ourselves set up mid shelf where the drop goes from 30-100 fow relatively quick.


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Ok so I just lost two fish and got crap from the old girl to stop playing on the dam phone!

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Yes ma’am!


Gotta go.


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Insane bite today, wife had the Cold Lake special on and just couldn’t stop the bites, if she landed every fish she would have set a personal record and one was a beauty too, with clear ice of 6 inches you can see them so clear below the ice which may or may not be a good thing as the intensity gets ramped up big time in the tent!


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