Fly fishing around Edmonton without boat

[StupEd]

Hi all
New to the forum here and fly fishing too. I took a boot camp at Hanson's outfitters down in Calgary recently. I don't own a boat or waders yet. I live in Edmonton and wondering where some good lakes are nearby within 90min where I can fish from the shoreline.
Thanks in advance for any comments.


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[pipco]

Hello,
Welcome to the forum and to flyfishing.

A few spots you could try would be Cardiff ( probably your best bet) ponds which has many good spots for fly casting from shore, Beaumont, Genessee pond ( might be pretty weedy by now), Heritage and Star lake ( limited area for casting from shore).


You could try East Pit as well. Lots of room for flinging flies from shore.


Have fun!

[MmmBoost]

As said before, Cardiff is probably your best bet. There aren't a lot of trees around to get caught on. You might also try and couple of spots around Chicakoo Lake or Mere Lake, but those are best fished from some sort of a boat since access isn't the easiest and the shores are VERY silty and gooey.

There are also a couple of stocked ponds over in Heritage Park, but I've honestly never seen anyone catch anything out of there.

Some spots to be found on the North Saskatchewan as well out by Fort. Sask.

[Sumara]

x3 to Cardiff. Lot's of open space and shore access!

[300magman]

Ft sask trout pond is great for easy casting as well.

[densa44]

As a lad in New Brunswick I wore running shoes and blue jeans and waded all the small streams. It is the greatest way to fly fish IMO. The eastern slopes have some of the nicest trout streams anywhere. Give them a try.

Oh BTW, so you don't worry about losing flys on trees, rocks etc, start tying your own. There is lots of help here. To get you started I suggest an elk hair caddis and an elk hair hopper.

[yetiseeker]

You could also try Sardine lake - Highway 39 I believe - East of Drayton Valley.

It's pretty open to enable easy fly casting - but make sure you wear either rubber boots, or sandles as usually lots of water in the marshy area surrounding the lake.

[yetiseeker]

Also Dodd's Coal mine, or Black Nugget Lake south of Tofield.

They have it stocked with both Rainbow Trout and now Tiger Trout.

It has lots of easy access to the water - good for casting.

[ShortsideK]

No one has mentioned that July/August are the poorest times for fly fishing from shore on ponds and lakes.
Weeds fill the shorelines right up to the water surface and some ponds have a great deal of algae floating on the water surface which (without some sort of boat) makes fly fishing very, very difficult.

But you can get lots of practice casting.

[fsa313]

Hi Shortside K
I agree with the postings. Fly fishing from shore in the Edmonton area is difficult. Waders do help. Here is the link to information on the trout lakes of Northern Alberta.
https://myalbum.com/album/TKiLsxkxRwyR
Cheers,
Neil

[StupEd]

Originally Posted by fsa313

Hi Shortside K
I agree with the postings. Fly fishing from shore in the Edmonton area is difficult. Waders do help. Here is the link to information on the trout lakes of Northern Alberta.
https://myalbum.com/album/TKiLsxkxRwyR
Cheers,
Neil

Wow. This is great Neil. Thank you VERY much for sharing this.


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[Ozzzzz]

Originally Posted by fsa313

Hi Shortside K
I agree with the postings. Fly fishing from shore in the Edmonton area is difficult. Waders do help. Here is the link to information on the trout lakes of Northern Alberta.
https://myalbum.com/album/TKiLsxkxRwyR
Cheers,
Neil

That is an incredible link, Neil!! That must've taken a long time to compile.

Well Done!!

Bill

[Gunfever]

Some decent areas near redwater