Until very recently, I thought that any large-eyed, flat, silvery fish pulled from one of the larger rivers of southern Alberta were goldeye, but thanks to the book “The Fishes of Alberta”, I've discovered that only a small percentage of the fish I've assumed to be goldeye actually were. Keys to identification that anyone can readily memorize are as such: Mooneye have only the top portion of the iris colored, the abdomen is rounded, not sharp edged as in the goldeye, and the maxillary is short and extends no further than approximately the middle of the pupil, whereas the maxillary of the goldeye extends past the pupil of the eye. It's also easy to discern males from females (differences in the shape of the anal fin-see The Fishes of Alberta ) in both species. And it's been my experience that mooneye are generally smaller than goldeye, at least in the areas I frequent.

Their Latin tags are Hiodon Alosoides (Goldeye) and Hiodon Tergisus (Mooneye). For simplicity's sake, I'll refer to both fish as goldeye, the commonly used term.

Goldeye in Alberta can be found in the Peace, Slave, Athabasca, North and South Saskatchewan, Battle , Red Deer , lower Bow, and lower Oldman Rivers. Lakes with populations include Athabasca , Claire, and other shallow lakes in the Peace-Athabasca delta. Mooneye can be found in the same rivers with the exception of the Peace, Slave, and Athabasca Rivers .

I live in Vauxhall so I have quick access to the Bow, Oldman, and South Saskatchewan Rivers . These waters have all produced good catches of goldeye with the Bow, at least in my own experience, giving up the highest numbers of fish. The South Saskatchewan seems to harbor the largest fish, which invariably have been goldeye.

Goldeye are an insectivorous fish, perhaps more so than any other fish that the fly rodder pursues. If you are a novice fly rodder or perhaps have a friend that you are trying to convert to the fly rod, goldeye can be a very reliable confidence builder.

Goldeye are also not difficult to find as they are almost suicidally co-operative in revealing their location with abundant rises. They're a schooling fish, so if you're into them, and take reasonable care to avoid spooking the school, fish can often be caught for hours without shifting your feet. They seem to prefer anything that breaks the current yet gives ready access to any food drifting by, which is typical behavior for any fish found in flowing waters. The uneven cliffside banks of many of Alberta 's southern rivers provide them with many backwater areas.

Without a doubt, my goldeye honey holes are on the downstream side of the large concrete pillars of the numerous train and traffic bridges that cross the Oldman, Bow, and South Saskatchewan Rivers . Bridges also ensure at least one easy access point in any given stretch of water. The current breaks provided by the pillars are a goldeye magnet. Shade provided by the structure can also be a welcome relief from the July sun, which is the month that my home waters contain the highest goldeye populations.

When I started fly fishing for goldeye in the 1980's, my favorite location was under the Trans Canada Highway bridge over the South Saskatchewan River in Medicine Hat . I still try to revisit the area every year. A pleasant method of fishing this stretch of river is to launch a drift boat or pontoon boat upstream of the city, and ride the current to the takeout at the boat launch in Strathcona Island Park .

One of the riverside hazards in Southern Alberta

Fishing techniques are remarkably similar to those employed on the famous stretch of the Bow River , only the quarry is different. You also meet fewer boats chasing the same fish you are, or, to be more accurate, you rarely meet other boats.

During one of these drifts, unless we spot the telltale rise forms of a school of goldeye, we pound the water with size 2/0 pike streamers. This technique also gives us a chance at hooking a walleye, sauger, or even a pike. Why limit your options while out fishing? The streamers seem to attract the larger goldeye and perhaps scare the smaller fish away. My wife Shirley Ann and I usually pursue goldeye in the evening. Often, the southern Alberta wind has diminished and insects are buzzing around the water's surface. When we arrive to see the river's surface freckled by dozens of rises, it always takes too long to don all the gear seemingly required by the wading fly angler.

We search for something we've christened a feeding pod. This is a school of goldeye, feeding heavily in an area sometimes no bigger than the average garage, with the density of fish being such that it's nearly impossible to drift a fly through the pod without getting a strike. Any hooked fish must be promptly removed from the vicinity of the pod to ensure the remainder hang around as long as possible.

Unless an extremely heavy hatch is on, I use my favorite goldeye fly, a size 10 black foam ant. According to the available information about goldeye, a hopper imitation should produce fish at any time. But in my experience a black dry fly, such as a foam ant or black caddis, has always provided the best results.

After years of experimenting with various techniques to set the hook, such as quick strikes, delayed strikes or no strikes I've concluded that goldeye have very poor aim. For too long I thought my own skills at hooking fish should be questioned, but after drifting dozens of live hoppers through schools of feeding fish, in the interests of scientific research, I'm no longer surprised to see the hopper tormented by several fish before it finally disappears.

An often repeated piece of lore about goldeye is that they will hit, or actually prefer, a dragging fly. That may happen, but most of the fish that have grabbed my floating patterns have struck on a perfect drag free drift.

Any gear you use for your trout fishing will perform very well on goldeye. A light fly rod, floating line, and leaders of 7 1/2 or 9 feet tapering to a 4X or 5X tippet will fit the bill. Just remember to clean your fly line regularly as the rivers that hold these fish carry a lot of silt and the banks can be quite muddy. Wading in these big flatland waters requires a bit more caution, as the bottom is not always visible. Proceed as though your feet were trying to read Braille.

Are you ever fatigued by fishing for trout that demand perfect match the hatch skills? Flies, tied to nearly invisible fragile tippets, thrown to fish that demand perfect presentations? You're in luck, as goldeye rarely make such demands. Every once in a while, goldeye provide a good stress relief from fishing that at times can be almost too frustrating to be fun.

They provide a relaxing break and allow some pure fun fishing without worrying too much about performing perfectly. And I don't think you have to feel inadequate as a fly angler because once in a while you partake of some easy action. In fact, I think that landing 10 goldeye per hour for two to three hours is enough of a confidence builder that I can go back out for some finicky trout with a renewed interest.

Goldeye/Mooneye | Perch | Lake Whitefish | Walleye | Rockies | Trout

Yellow Perch

Get a bunch of fly rodders together and odds are excellent that they won’t be swapping stories about the great times they’ve had fishing for perch. Not usually thought of as a fly rod fish, nevertheless, perch are becoming more popular as the old ideas of appropriate quarry for the long rod are changing.

Perch are aggressive eaters and are schooling fish. In fact, if perch were the size of pike it’s likely that small children would be kept away from perch waters. Unfortunately for those that only use dry flies, I’ve found that perch don’t spend much of their time feeding from the water’s surface.

If you’re keen on chasing these fish, use the very lightest rod in your arsenal. And if you catch one perch, chances are excellent that you’ll catch more. Perch are not the easiest fish to spook either, probably due to the feeling that they have safety in numbers. In fact, I have float tubed a perch lake and had the kick the schools away from my legs. I would hand feed my fly straight down below my flippers and watch the fish battle each other for the honor of being hoisted into the air.

Because perch are so aggressive, fly choice doesn’t seem extremely important. I’ve caught most of my perch on natural hare’s ear nymphs, Pepperoni Yuk Bugs, or Triple Prince nymphs. The Yuk Bug, for those of you not familiar with this pattern, could be considered very similar to a Bitch Creek, except with the front rubber attenae moved back behind the thorax as legs. The movement of the rubber really seems to trigger the strikes.

But my new favorite fly is an ice cream cone, color not particularly important, suspended below an indicator—a fly rod version of the bobber and worm method by which I’m sure most perch are still caught, but one that perhaps soothes the conscience of those no longer willing to fish with bait.

Goldeye/Mooneye | Perch | Lake Whitefish | Walleye | Rockies | Trout

Lake Whitefish
Coregonus clupeaformis

Shy Fish - Image Coming Soon

For too long, anglers haven’t taken this fish seriously as a target for legitimate sport fishing methods. Too many people still believe that the only way to acquire these fish is to snag them, net them out of irrigation canals in the fall when the water is turned off, or buying them from commercial netters.
Well, thanks to people like Reg Denny of Edmonton, whitefish are becoming more popular as anglers are learning techniques to take them regularly. I’m happy to say that the fly rodding fraternity seem to have the edge on these fish. Lake whites have very small mouths, so must feed on tiny morsels. Small wet flies and nymphs are ideal for this purpose.

Whitefish seem to be present in most of Alberta, other than the westerly regions. In the Eastern Slopes area, their niche is filled by the Mountain Whitefish. Lake whites have been present in irrigation reservoirs for so long that many people don’t realize that they were planted to supply a commercial fishery. Now that sport anglers are discovering their qualities in greater numbers, tensions between sport anglers and commercial netters are becoming more common.

By far, their most common food seems to be chironomids, so any of the flies that imitate these insects will take fish. In my own experiences, they do not seem to be particularly eager to take less than realistic insect imitations. As often as I’ve tried bead head flies on lake whites, I rarely harvest a fish on them. The chironomid imitations, small hare’s ear nymphs, and muskrat nymphs have taken the bulk of my lake whites. The first white I took on a fly rod, back in 1986, was on an elk hair caddis, and I have never taken a fish on a dry fly since. They certainly do rise, and I have tried dry flies, but probably not as often as I should. I know there are probably people out there that take lake whites consistently on the surface, and good luck to you.

I find that to consistently score on whitefish, you must fish where they are concentrated. In irrigation country, this is a little easier than in more natural water bodies. In wide open lakes, it seems that the schools are constantly moving; I have rarely seen a whitefish immobile. Irrigation canal outlets, canal inlets, the canals themselves, and the rock faces of the dams are all locations that will gather these fish and give you a better chance of having a fish take up your offering.

Over the last decade or more of fly fishing for whitefish, I have come to know some of their habits quite well. Irregardless of the fly you are using, if you have a school of whitefish in a restricted area such as a canal, and the school is always within casting range, the whitefish can be very particular. You can drift the fly through the school fifty times, and on the fifty-first drift, it will be taken. Yet other times, the fly won’t make it past the first fish in the school.

Hooking a whitefish in an area where they have room to escape can be quite thrilling. Their similarity in appearance to bonefish may be no accident. In years of fly fishing for as many species as possible, no other fish has taken me into my fly line backing as often as lake whitefish. I once had a fish I estimated at over 9 pounds on my line. It would go into the backing, I would retrieve it almost to my net, and it would go into my backing again. This happened nine times! I never did land this fish, as the hook finally must have worn through the lips of this powerful fish.

Most productive flies over the years have been olive or black hare’s ear nymphs, muskrat nymphs or midge pupa imitations. A 7 1/2 foot leader is adequate on a floating line. In moving water a strike indicator is handy. Leave your drag setting light as a portion of their jaws is quite delicate and the hook will pull free very easily if hooked in the lower lips.

Give these “northern bonefish” a try. They’re finally gaining the respect they deserve as a fine game fish.

Goldeye/Mooneye | Perch | Lake Whitefish | Walleye | Rockies | Trout

Walleye
I’ve havn’t spent much time chasing walleye with the fly rod, but they’re on my list as “things to do more of”. The few I’ve caught were landed on ½ versions of some of my pike patterns, such as the Cisco.

Goldeye/Mooneye | Perch | Lake Whitefish | Walleye | Rockies | Trout

Rocky Mountain Whitefish Often considered as the fly rodder’s curse. Because of this sometimes unpopular fish there are bait seasons allowed, along with the accompanying abuses, on fine rivers such as the Crowsnest. So many fly fishermen catch lots of rockies while trout fishing that I just don’t see the sense of opening a bait season on a river that has restrictive regulations the remainder of the year. Rockies tend to go for bright wet flies or small stonefly nymph imitations near the bottom. Keep the flies small because these fish have tiny mouths. Rockies are fine fighters on light tackle. I really don’t understand why they’re treated so badly by some anglers who toss the fish into the bushes to rot when a trout was expected at the end of the line.

Goldeye/Mooneye | Perch | Lake Whitefish | Walleye | Rockies | Trout

Trout
So much has been, and will be, written about trout, that I won’t try to add anything.