First Casts of the Season are at a River Near You

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to cast my first line in the spring and the place is likely in one of our rivers. The North Saskatchewan flows right through the heart of Edmonton, minutes from my doorstep and it offers up some great open water fishing.

If you can believe it, I checked the progress of the melt a few days ago in late March and found large pockets of open water right by shore. There were plenty of pools in these open stretches so I had the perfect situation to check out the fishing. I went down one evening last week with Melanie and we caught a walleye and a couple of suckers, plus we had a few others on. It was fantastic to be able to cast a line and catch a fish.

At this time of year the water is still quite cold and the fish are not all that active. That means fishing by their rules, which is low and slow and use bait if allowed. On the North Saskatchewan we put on a big, full sized dew worm and drop it right to the bottom of the pool and let it sit there. The tackle is real simple, just a hook with a split shot placed about a foot up the line. While all fish species populate the river, it seems that the walleye and suckers will top the list as the most willing biters.

If you’re into catching something really unique as the ice comes off, drop a frozen minnow off that same rig and wait out the bite. Many of the early spring bites turn out to be a neat looking fish called a burbot. These fish have a barbell under the chin and kind of look like a cross between a catfish and an eel, plus they have spotting much like a leopard. If you’ve never caught one before, the first open water probably offers up your best bet to tag one in the river. Where these fish go come summer and fall is anyone’s guess. I’ve never caught them other than in spring.

So there’s the scoop. There’s great fishing on the go in my river right now. If you think about it, pretty much every major city has a big river running through it and every one of these rivers has great fishing opportunities. Take a look at the rivers near you. If the regs allow fishing, pack up your tackle and go have fun.