Report - Red Deer, James, Raven, Tay, North Raven, and Fiesta Lake

Bigwoodsman · #1 05-13-2019, 10:34 AM

On Saturday, I took a drive down to the Snake Head Natural Area, just outside of Sundre. The river was little murky with limited visibility. A long hike between pools but still a nice place to fish. I had fished this stretch 30 years ago and forgot about it until I pulled up on the gravel bars on the East side. I will be back later this summer, in the fall for sure.

Checked out the James and a few different locations, pretty muddy, fast and un-fishable in my opinion. Checked out Fiesta lake, and dam I wish I had brought the inflatable along. I will be back to fish the QSTF. I poked around the Raven for a bit, didn't see anything. Booted it down the road to the Tay, it too was high and mucky. Decided I'd go and give the NRR a try.

Went to the old buck for wild life site, one group just leaving another pulling in and two more already fishing the stretch. Headed over to Coulson's and there was 3 more vehicles parked there. Grabbed the rod and head to fish a few holes that have held fish before, but it was obvious they had been fished hard this day.

Headed home from there. 650Km day, no fish, my dog got to be a dog for the day, beautiful weather, beautiful country...priceless.

I'll be heading to the potholes with the inflatable now until late June!

BW

SNAPFisher · #2 05-13-2019, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigwoodsman

On Saturday, I took a drive down to the Snake Head Natural Area, just outside of Sundre. The river was little murky with limited visibility. A long hike between pools but still a nice place to fish. I had fished this stretch 30 years ago and forgot about it until I pulled up on the gravel bars on the East side. I will be back later this summer, in the fall for sure.

Checked out the James and a few different locations, pretty muddy, fast and un-fishable in my opinion. Checked out Fiesta lake, and dam I wish I had brought the inflatable along. I will be back to fish the QSTF. I poked around the Raven for a bit, didn't see anything. Booted it down the road to the Tay, it too was high and mucky. Decided I'd go and give the NRR a try.

Went to the old buck for wild life site, one group just leaving another pulling in and two more already fishing the stretch. Headed over to Coulson's and there was 3 more vehicles parked there. Grabbed the rod and head to fish a few holes that have held fish before, but it was obvious they had been fished hard this day.

Headed home from there. 650Km day, no fish, my dog got to be a dog for the day, beautiful weather, beautiful country...priceless.

I'll be heading to the potholes with the inflatable now until late June!

BW

Nice! I had a similar Saturday with a buddy. We went to the Big Horn dam to check out the NSR there and before the hordes show starting the long weekend. Nice looking water for sure. Didn't get a sniff and didn't see any activity. Decided to head to Ironside Pond by Rocky after that. Didn't catch anything but stockers about 6-8 inches. But, did get them on the dry so my buddy and I had fun at least that way. Put on close to 650 kms for the day.

We did think hard about the Stauffer including the buck for wildlife area so we came close to crossing paths

I echo the same sentiments about the trip. Good to just be out there. The mountains in the Nordegg area look amazing with all the new snow. Here comes the run off!

Bigwoodsman · #3 05-13-2019, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Nice! I had a similar Saturday with a buddy. We went to the Big Horn dam to check out the NSR there and before the hordes show starting the long weekend. Nice looking water for sure. Didn't get a sniff and didn't see any activity. Decided to head to Ironside Pond by Rocky after that. Didn't catch anything but stockers about 6-8 inches. But, did get them on the dry so my buddy and I had fun at least that way. Put on close to 650 kms for the day.

We did think hard about the Stauffer including the buck for wildlife area so we came close to crossing paths

I echo the same sentiments about the trip. Good to just be out there. The mountains in the Nordegg area look amazing with all the new snow. Here comes the run off!

Forgot to mention, the NRR has signs of Otters, saw lots of tracks in the mud, and a few scat piles with fish bones and scales and such. I'll head back to this stream once more in mid June and then again in the fall before freeze up.

Glad to hear you had a great day as well.

BW

goggin · #4 05-13-2019, 06:40 PM

Went to try prairie creek today, milk chocolate colour, so tried north raven river at buck for wildlife, walked between 2 to 3 km downstream, then fish on way back, fished what I thought would be holding fish, obviously got a lot to learn about this place, tried a small streamer and then a pheasant tail nymph, no success, didn’t see any rising fish, then fell down a beaver run and snapped my rod, so not a good day, think I’ll pay for a guide

keeks · #5 05-18-2019, 09:22 PM

Thanks for the update BWM. I've never had luck on the James. Maybe I didn't get far enough from the easy access.

kmacisaac · #6 05-18-2019, 11:29 PM

Great thread folk! This will be my first season fishing North of Calgary and it seems info is limited. Always interested in how others are fishing new to me areas.
Cheers