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Grayling Blitz #2 - July 11


kemo99

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As of today we have a dozen anglers signed up for Blitz #2. There is still time to sign up!

 

We are planning second Blitz on Saturday July 11. Our objective is to capture as many Arctic Grayling on Dismal Creek as possible. Teams will be paired up for PIT tagging and recording fish that have been tagged in the past. We will record data such as size and location for each fish caught as well as collection of fin clips.
  • There will be some difficult locations (such as the log jam) and some easy locations at bridge crossings.
  • Our club members will be joined by ESRD biologists from Edson (and maybe some from Red Deer) for this event.
  • On Saturday, we’ll be meeting at the Tim Horton’s in Spruce Grove – the one by Canadian Tire and Staples on Highway 16A. We will meet at 7:45, distribute maps and radios and plan to leave at 8:00. (Come earlier for coffee or breakfast).
  • The club provides fuel cards for drivers on this trip.
Please let us know if you are available. We`ll establish some groups and prepare map kits ahead of time.
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We had 16 anglers out in 5 teams on Saturday. Here are some highlights and observations:

  • It was too warm for PIT Tagging, water temperatures exceeded 20 degrees in the afternoon.
  • Water conditions were clear, but warm.
  • There were lots of caddis nymphs in the water, and the occasional large stonefly.
  • There were very few bugs emerging, and no observed rises to natural flies.
  • Smoke was in the air on the drive in and out, but hardly noticeable on the creek.
  • 34 Grayling were caught, as well as 2 mountain whitefish.
  • Approximately 40% of the Grayling were less than 20cm, 40% were between 20-30cm and 20% were longer than 30cm.
  • 4 Grayling were recaptured from previous PIT tagging trips.

We will plan another organized blitz some time in September.

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post-1728-0-39539400-1436716490_thumb.jpg

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...on this note...avoid DC12...very picturesque, but not very fishable...water is only knee deep on average...no deep pools...no fish holding spots...lots of slippery rocks...if you like lots of wading in shallow waters, then this place is for you...some pictures will follow soon...oh, did I mention. it was steep going down and steep coming back up...very little angling was done in this location, as it did not support fish, either whitefish or grayling...plenty of bear tracks...black bear...was it a wasted trip...I say no. some may say it was, but that is their opinion...the reason I say it was not a wasted trip, I think it is a valuable learning tool on the habitat and the erosion that is found, as fisher-people, we do not see what the biologist see...that is another reason I take so many pictures...I tend to look at things in different perspectives...

...anyways, in short, no fish were caught or seen in this area...looking forward to the next outing though...

 

Paulf

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Dan great pictures.

It sure was a hot day out there. Thanks for the heads up on DC12. Rick and Brent(Hinton) and myself did DC10 the Bridge on Wolf Lake road. We had done this on before with little luck. We got started around 10:30 I was the only one that decided to wet wade glad I did. Water temp was at 17C so not much room for cutoff Temp. head up stream

 

As before lots of nice looking water but no fish in it. Saw ton's of Stonefly husks no stoneflies. It was getting close to 19C when were came up to a small log jam with maybe 4ft deep pool which looked promising. Rick chucked in a CFF and had a fish on. He got it in to where he was reaching for it and he threw the hook. Just a bit of cussing. I worked down a bit to a fallen tree crossing the stream. I was casting into seem with a Fat Albert and had fish taking a swipes at it on most cast but couldn't hook up. Finally one got tired of playing and smacked the fly really good. Fish on he put up a good scrap got him to net finally and measured out at 10inches. Brent meanwhile wonder up stream a bit. Rick did manage another 6incher maybe.

 

We stopped for a bite and then headed back up stream and came up to a very slow stretch and was surprised to see the odd rise. Come to find out the stretch was very silty but had some pretty good depth. Brent manage to hook his first which was nice to see. It to was around the 9inch range. We could still see fish rising further down but the water temp reached the Magic 20C so we head back to the vehicle. We got back at about 2:20 and the temp was up to 22C. All the fish caught had never been caught in the survey groups as all none of the finns had been clipped.

 

Too us it was a success as fish caught in a spot that we had fished before with no luck. If we get this spot again will fish it a bit different.

 

Oh guess what I didn't fall in unlike like someone else in the group Right Brent. We all had a good laugh once we knew he was alright.

 

Good day and Good Fishing Buddies

Thanks Guys

 

Dennis S

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I passed in the water samples to Jim tonight...can't wait to see the results...we took one sample from Dismal Creek and another sample from one of the few trib's that flowed into Dismal...even though no fish were caught in this area, we probably will learn a lot from the pictures and information we had gathered...I was told that the area looked like perfect spawning habitat, small pebbles, slower moving water, all good... this I learned from meeting up with Jim...I can't wait until the next time on Dismal...our devious minds are at work...we may have to get out our climbing gear...

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