I finally had a day free of work and responsibility and knew I would spend it fishing but, as is often the case in Alberta, the weather did not want to cooperate. The forecast called for wind, rain and snow all weekend. After contemplating my options over breakfast I figured, snow be damned, I’m going fishing! I arrived at the lake around 10 am, checked in at the gate and drove over to the launch. There was a strong wind from the north blowing wet snow all day, making it too windy to fly fish. I wasn’t put out by that because the mission for this trip was to use light spinning gear anyway.
I have been reading lately about finesse spin fishing for trout and it’s something I am really interested in. Finesse spin fishing is popular in Japan where the waters are very pressured. It’s common to see Japanese anglers using ultralight rods, reels and line to present the smallest spoons, spinner and crankbaits to wary trout. I think there is a lot going for it too, compared to fly fishing you are able to present larger baits and cover a lot more water in the same amount of time. When the trout are feeding on chironomids or a specific hatch fly fishing can’t be beat, but when it comes to the large trout who want a big meal it’s hard to resist the call of a spinner. One of my favorites is the Acme Kastmaster spoons in a 1/12 oz size. Reeling this lure in slowly with a twitch and pause every couple feet has been very productive.
For this season I picked up a Shimano Sedona 1000 reel and a 13 Fishing Defy rod in a 7’ light action configuration. The reel is spooled with 4 lb monofilament, I tried using 2 lb last year but had too many lures snap off while casting them, an ultralight rod would help with this issue but they are very hard to find in anything longer than 5’6”, the added length makes casting from shore much easier. I am still getting used to the setup but so far I like it!
Fishing was tough with such a strong wind and unfortunately I was skunked yet again. Black Nugget Lake has been tough to fish in the summer. I have had great success in the winter but can’t seem to crack the code in open water. What keeps me coming back is last year in October, five 12 lb Tiger Trout were stocked in Black Nugget and I am determined to catch one.
