Alberta Tiger Trout

What do you get when you cross a female brown trout and a male brook trout? Well, let me
tell you!
A Tiger Trout! It takes brown trout egg’s and the milk of a brook trout to produce these beautiful tigers.

I’ve been fishing as long as I can remember and I’ve fly fished for the last 6 years in lakes and rivers all over Alberta
and have never come across a tiger trout in the wild. It was not till 2015 when the Alberta government had
released information that they’d be stocking tiger trout in some of the stocked trout ponds. that is when I finally came across one.

I drove 2 hours north of my city of St. Albert to a small pond called lower chain lakes and launched my kayak with
my fly rod in hand, attached with type 4 sinking line and a grey/white zonker with a silver belly trolling with my
Jackson Kayak Coosa FD. When the first tiger trout struck my fly. I knew I’d be hooked on these fish forever as it put
a bend on the fly rod like I’ve never seen a pond trout do before.
these tiger trout are fast and aggressive darting out from the shallows to attack what you toss at them.

Alberta fisheries chose 9 bodies of water to implement these fish. The first 5 ponds/lakes in Alberta were:
 Black Nugget Mine Pit (10 km east of Tofield);
 Blood Indian Reservoir (100 km southeast of Hanna);
 East Twin Lake (160 km north of Peace River);
 Lower Chain Lake (40 km northwest of Athabasca); and
 Moonshine (Mirage) Lake (110 km north of Grande Prairie).

So if you ever get the chance to fish for tiger trout, I can promise you wont be disappointed!
there is also Rainbow trout in Lower Chain Lakes. Best odds to catch one out there is with a balanced leech under a indicator.

I’ll see you out on the water! tight lines!

– Kurtis Mercer