Short Trip Report Red Deer River,Alberta

After a few missed attempts due to conflicting schedules I was finally able connect with some of my kayak angling friends for a trip down the Red Deer River . The particular section we floated is home to walleye, northern pike, brown trout, rainbow trout, yellow perch, goldeye, and whitefish which makes for a pretty unique kayak fishing trip. A one hour drive from Calgary had us at the take out to meet with the 3rd angler in our party where we loaded up the yaks for the shuttle to the put in. One of the reasons I’m so fond of this section of the Red Deer is that the shuttle is literally a 10 minute run but amounts to 6+ hrs on the water. It’s not often you can find a river with such a quick shuttle for that kind of time on a quality fishery. The morning was a little on slow side as typically you spend quite a bit of time paddling to maneuver through the many twists, turns, riffles and small runs that are located on the first part of this section of the river but as the river opens up to some of the better holes and slower sections the fishing gets much better. We were having a good time sight fishing for Walleye and Pike and although they were a little slow on the take nobody got skunked. I was targeting Pike and was able to land three in the 22″ to 25’’ range while my fellow anglers were on the Walleye bite and landing a few each as well. I always enjoy this section of river and have to make sure I spend more time on it next season.

Stephen Laurie