May 29

Fishing Trips- Lake Newell

Boat Control is Everything!                         

We left Calgary yesterday morning around 8:00 Am for Lake Newell. My brother and I got our Walleye tags for Lake Newell this year. I was confident that we would fill our tags and be home in time for supper. Much to our chagrin the fish would prove otherwise as usual. We got to the Lake and the wind was steady through the trees which made the sky was partly cloudy.

I called the folks we were meeting and they were already on the far side of the Lake. As we headed out across the lake, the water was a little more than your average walleye chop. When we caught up to our friends we dropped our line and went to work. Bottom bouncers, plastic worms, and minnows we fished the whole south end of Lake Newell until about 2 Pm and not a fish in sight. Wade and I decided to go up to the north end and give that a try. We got to the far end and we were starting to wonder if we were going to come up empty handed.

As we fished the south end of Newell, we noticed a couple boats that looked like they were catching the odd fish.  The wind was the calmest it had been all day and we found a nice break in structure from a 25ft  to a 12ft drop. We threw out the drift sock and started up the break. 20 ft nothing and then came to 18ft in depth and wham-o; fish on babyI don’t know what it is about the first fish but, after a couple hours the nerves were running high. “GET THE NET! THROW THE MARKER”.  Good thing were brothers because you wouldn’t bark at other people the way we were wound up. One fish landed and within tag limit, a keeper. We both breathed easier knowing we weren’t going home empty handed. We called our friends and they made there way down the lake where we were fishing. We made pass after pass and continued to pick up fish. The minute the wind picked up and our boat speed would change, that was it no more fish. I think it just goes to show how important boat speed can be, just like speed of a retrieve can make all the difference in the success of a fishing trip!

We played around all day at different depths; Speed seemed to be the only thing that would add up to success today. It was a great day on the water. It is always nice to spend some time with friends and family out on the water, that’s what it’s really all about for me. Until next time, keep your line tight.

Written By Ted E.

Edited by Mike at Bowriverblog.

Mike Robertson

Hello to all my fishing friends around the world. My name is Michael and was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. I have a deep passion for the sport of fishing and is what I live to do in my spare time. I have 20 years of fishing experience under my belt and started fishing when I was 10 years of age. I have recently opened my own guiding service here in Alberta and would love to pass on my knowledge and experience to my clients.

24 comments

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    • David Adams on May 30, 2007 at 10:40 am
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    I still wanna fish the bow!

    is the river’s water level to high to do so right now???

    I”m new to calgary and just getting the ropes.

    Thanks a bunch

    dave

  2. Hey Dave, nice to see you here on the Blog. The water levels are still a bit to high Dave but in 2-3 weeks time it will be prime time to hammer those large Rainbows and Browns. Welcome to Calgary Dave, if your a fisherman then you have surely picked the right spot to live.

    The Bow is the number 1 river in North America in my opinion. I look forward to taking you out on the Bow real soon Dave, you will be amazed to say the very least. Hope to see you back here reel soon. Keep an eye out for another article that will notify the readers the Bow is ready to fish. Happy fishing Dave. Mike.

    • Travis Robichaud on May 31, 2007 at 10:12 am
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    Hey Mike, bugging you again, have you ever had success on the Glenmore Resevoir? I live like 2 minutes from it and never tried. I have heard of people with some success but they had boats, I would have to shore it. My old man said he fished it hundreds of times as a kid and never caught one thing(not sure why he kept on going)

    Thanks
    Travis

  4. Good Day Travis, I just want to make one thing clear here before I answer your question about the Glenmore Reservoir, you are never bugging me by adding comments to the site Travis, this is why I built the site; so we can talk amoungst one another and exchange information. Do NOT ever think you are bugging me Travis, in all reality you are doing me a favor by commenting and asking questions. My grandfather always told me ” There are no such thing as stupid questions.” So thank you for asking me your question.

    Glenmore Reservoir is loaded with mid size Pike and also has a good population of Trout as well. Believe it or not my friend Tom say a 14 pounder come out of Glenmore. The best places I can direct you too are as follows, just about a 5 minute walk past the sailing club on the south side of the reservoir, there is a point that jets out and this is where I like to fish Travis. The best place of all is where the Elbow River flows into the reservoir at Weasel head. This is where you will find the Trout hanging out and is one of my favorate spots to fish here. I hope that you can prove you dad wrong Travis, there is definatly fish in the Glenmore Reservoir. Take care and happy hunting to you Travis. Mike

    • Travis Robichaud on June 11, 2007 at 3:29 pm
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    Hey Mike, obvisously you are big on the bow, but with the 16th approaching, I wanted to try some rivers and streams south of the city, from the Longview area down to the Crowesnest, any recomendations for a strong day,

    Thanks as always Mike,

    Travis

  6. Hey Travis, you have just listed off two of my favorate places to fish. The Highwood River has excellent fishing near the Eden Valley Reserve bridge and all along the 542 highway. Look for the pools and you will surely find the fish. Throw Panther Martin #9 spinners in the spring or try the Rooster Tail in a brown color. Later in the summer and into the fall use small to mediun sized Rapala’s and Berkley Frenzy’s for those monster Bull Trout that are in this river. You will catch Cutt Throut Trout here and also many Rocky Mountain Whitefish as well.

    The Crowsnest River is one of my favorate places to fish and in fact I fish here every year. I camp at the Lundbreck campground and fish upstream and downstream of the campground. Just below the falls is one of my personal favorate spots. There is many great rivers in this area as well Travis, the Castle River where the Alberta record Cutt Throut Trout was taken from, The Livingstone River which has excellent Cutt Throut fishing and of course the Old Man River which produces massive trout year after year. I will be fishing all of these rivers this year Travis and hope you get the chance as well, believe me you won’t be dissapointed. Thanks again for your questions Travis and I hope you catch that monster you go looking for. Mike.

    • Chris Sanchez on July 6, 2008 at 12:14 am
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    Hello Mike,

    Just reading up on some good tips you have passed on to those looking for some good places to fish. I have lived in Calgary now over 12 years and have never fished the Glenmore resevoir… I just recieved a nice pontoon boat as a fathers day gift and i am dying to get out and do some fishing. I have read up on the regulations, but I am uncertain if i can use my pontoon boat to fish the resevoir?
    I can’t see why not? any advice as to where I would launch? thanks in advance for your input.
    Cheers, and happy fishing!
    Chris.

  8. Hello Chris, very good question. On the Glenmore Resevoir there are no motors allowed either gas or electric as this is where our drinking water comes from. So there are plenty of sailboats and canoe’s that frequently make use of this body of water.

    Your pontoon boat is fine to use on the resevoir as long as it has no motor attached to it. You can row out there for as long as you wish, or until you catch the fish you are looking for.

    As for where to put it in the water, the Glenmore Sailing club is the first place that comes to mind Chris. Here is how to get there if you are not familier with it. Here is a map to get there from the South side of Calgary. Here is the map Chris.


    View Larger Map

    If you have any other question’s please feel free to ask.

    Thank you,

    ~Mike.

    • Norm on July 17, 2008 at 1:35 pm
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    Hey,

    I’m new to lake fishing, after recently moving from Vancouver and spending my whole life fishing the West Coast from the Island to the Charlottes.

    I would really love to get in to some Pike i have wanted to hook one of them since i was a little kid but have never had the opportunity. I live minutes from Glenmore and have heard there are pike there any advice on where to start?

    Also I plan on taking a weekend trip sometime late August early September with some buddies who are also unfamiliar with Alberta fishing. we would like to head out to a secluded lake to do some fishing/camping. do you have any suggestions?

    I do not own a boat either as that might ad to some advice for the reservoir.

    thanks in advance man.

  10. Hey Norm, when I fish the Glenmore Res I start at the Glenmore Sailing Club in the south Glenmore park. I walk north along the path way until I hit a point in the Res. I fish there and have had good luck in the past !

    Here is a atlas of the major lakes in Alberta. http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/Projects/Alberta-Lakes/characteristics1.php Some are popular spots and some are off the beaten path. I like to fish Pike/Walleye where I can use bait. I like to buy frozen minnows and set them up on Pickerel Rig fished off the bottom of the water. Look for back bays, weed beds, places where there is water flowing in or out of the lake or reservoir. These are great places to start shore fishing a lake.

    I hope you have a great trip and catch lots of big Pike/Walleye.

    ~Mike

    • antony on August 15, 2008 at 5:08 pm
    • #

    hey there, i just moved to medicine hat a few weeks ago and wanted to do some fishing in the area. i dont have a boat so i was wondering if you could give me some advice on where to go to catch some fish ( doesn’t really matter what species) just wanted to take my fiance and wanted her to get on some fish. so can you give me some ideas and maybe where to fish on a couple lakes….thanks alot, antony

  12. Hello Antony, there are a few good places for you to fish in that area. I personally like Keho Lake, Crawling Valley Reservoir in Bassano, Lake Newell, Macgregor Lake near Milo, Travers Reservoir.

    These lakes are great fisheries for good sized Walleye and Pike. Spoons work good for lures and frozen minnows work great when using bait. Be sure to check the regulations guide when using bait as some places have a restriction on using bait.

    Thanks for the comment and good luck.

    See this link for an atlas of lakes in Alberta

    http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/Projects/Alberta-Lakes/

    ~Mike

    • Lou on April 29, 2009 at 10:59 am
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    hey i was just wondering about a few fishing spots u could reccomend for may long weeeknd?
    Theres a bunch of us from the east coast living in here in calgary and we wanna plan a long weekend fishing camping trip somewheres outside the city but we don;t know of any places
    anyways u could help?

    • Sunny on May 15, 2009 at 10:43 am
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    I would also like to know where I could find a place over the May long weekend. I just bought a fishing boat and would like to know where’s the best place where its not frozen over and where motor boats are allowed, not too far from Calgary. Also any tips on bait or lures used for these places would be great.

  15. May long is always iffy for camping, I don’t like snow when I camp !!! Fishing close to Calgary includes lakes like Newell, Mcgregor Lake, Pine Coulee and many others close to Calgary.

    A good idea is to get a Barry Mitchell’s Alberta Fishing Guide as it lists all lakes close to Calgary to camp and fish. It also lets you know if motors are allowed on specific bodies of water.

    Hope you find a good spot to fish and camp,

    Good luck,|

    ~Mike.

    • Jason on July 18, 2009 at 5:15 pm
    • #

    I’m new to fishing and was just wondering what are the best times to fish on Glenmore reservoir.

  17. Hey Jason, my favorite times to fish are early in the morning or late in the evening but on the reservoir there are many Pike to be caught all throughout the day.

    Thanks for the comment and your question, please visit again soon.

    ~Mike.

    • Gavin on September 9, 2009 at 9:46 pm
    • #

    Hey Mike,
    I have been wanting to see what i can do on the Elbow with my fly gear. I was exploring the area about 15km under the falls and found great looking water. I fished it all day using a small assortment of wet nymphs as well as my dry stuff and didn’t catch anything. Not only that but I didn’t see one fish. Wondering where you recommend to fish and what should be used from now until the winter?

    • Tim on January 7, 2010 at 4:21 pm
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    starting to ice fish this year with my family. tired of going to chain lakes for small trout. Any suggestions for lakes near calgary for bigger fish, but lots of actions. Kids have no patience.

  20. Hello Tim, its fairly tricky to send you somewhere where the fish bite all day long but I will give you a list of places you can try out. I have kids also and I know how impatient they can be some days.

    If you want to fish for Walleye and pike I would try Mcgregor lake, great fishery and usually has good action. It also holds lake white fish so if the pike and walleye are slow you can try for whitefish. Eagle lake in Strathmore is also a good place to try, walleye and pike here as well. I have had good luck ice fishing here.

    Believe it or not another place you could go is Glenmore Reservoir, some monster rainbows have been caught through the ice here. Also has the odd big brown and is usually good for pike fishing as well.

    If you want to head a little out of town then Spray Lakes is a good bet for Lake Trout, I have personally fished here many times and I usually catch a bunch. Its a deep lake so make sure you have at least 100 yards of line on your reel. You can also head up to Upper Kananaskis Lake to try for rainbows or you may even hook a decent Bull Trout.

    So there are some options for you to try, keep me posted as to where you went and what you caught.

    Thanks,

    ~Mike.

    • Naomi on June 16, 2010 at 1:35 pm
    • #

    Hi Mike,

    I’m trying to plan a camping/fishing trip for my husband and me. I would like to go somewhere within 3 hours or so from Calgary where we can pitch a tent by a lake and pontoon around during the day. There’s nothing better than a quiet, private lake and some good fishing. Where might you suggest?

    Thanks,
    Naomi

  22. Hi Naomi, please tell me what species of fish you want to target and I will give you several ideas on where to go.

    I take it you are set on some lakes around Calgary so I have a few ideas in mind for you.

    Thanks for the question,

    ~Mike.

    • Naomi on June 24, 2010 at 3:16 pm
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    Hey Mike,

    We’re fly fishing so probably trout. I’m still quite new to this so I’m not really sure what else is an option in the smaller lakes. I’m thinking down in the Crowsnest somewhere.

    Thanks,
    Naomi

    • Darian on September 3, 2012 at 6:52 pm
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    Hey Mike, i ve fished Lake Newell before and havent had much luck.But i really like the lake. ive read your blog and wondering if you know any good spots along the shore.?
    Darian

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