Fishing in Lake Minnewanka.

[Cecropian]

Hello everyone, I am new here, my name is Jean-Pierre (Jeep for short), I am 29 years old and live in Laval Quebec ( 5 minutes north of Montreal).

I found this forum while Googling for info on fishing in Lake Minnewanka and figured I could post on here to get the info I need to have the best experience I can on this lake.

I noticed that alot of you are experienced fisherman and I really need your help. I am used to fishing in medium to large rivers here in Quebec but have no experience what so ever with fishing trout in large lakes.

In the first week of August me and my girlfriend are gonna spend 1 week in Alberta visiting Edmonton Calgary and Banff. When we get to Banff we are gonna take 1 full day and go fishing on Lake Minnewanka and I have a couple of questions.

First, can we keep and eat the fish caught in Lake Minnewanka or is it a C'n'R lake?

I would love to catch some trout, any kind of trout, small and big, what kind of lures can I buy to make that happen?

Is there a site on the web that gives a precise listing of all the species of fish that can be caught in Lake Minnewanka?

Is there anything special I need to know about Lake Minnewanka like Laws I need to be aware of?

Any of you have a few tricks or techniques to use on this lake to optimise my chances of catching trout?

Wow thats a long post I just wrote, I thank you in advance for reading my post and am looking forward to reading your replies.

Thank you very much and have a good night.

[gerrycurl21]

dunno bout the fishing there but bring a camera. beautiful lake.

[Cecropian]

Oh for sure we'll bring a camera, from what I've seen on the net that lake is amazingly beautifull. We'll be visiting Lake Louise also the next day and trust me we'll fill up the 256 m. card.

Thanks for your reply

[B20EF]

I don't know anything specifically about that lake but I know for the most part the lakes around Banff are very fished out. You might have better luck walking around the lake looking for random streams and rivers with trout in the pools. Watch out for bears and cougars though, just make sure you can run faster than your girlfriend - just joking.

When fishing for trout use little spinners like Panther Martins and Rapalas always work well. Make sure you tie the lure directly up to the line, don't use any leaders or swivels because trout can spot these easily. For the most part bait is not allowed in the rivers. Hope that helps.

[Cecropian]

Thank you B20EF, everything you said helped, and you've definitely convinced me to stay in the boat all day, the cougars and bears wont get me from the middle of the Lake lolllll.

Seriously though, is there real danger of attacks in those parts? Should I bring a PoP gun in case we do deceide to go in the woods?

Thanks for the info

[Fullcontact]

I have fished there a few times this year... You will need to rent a boat, this time of year and the hot weather, we've been catching fish in the 85+ feet. That lake has Lake Trout and Rainbow Trout, there are others but i have yet to catch them. At the lake you can rent boats and buy a few lures there, even your National Park fishing license.
Good Luck

here is a link to the regulations:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/v...t14a_E.asp#act

here is a link to a fishing guide:
Banff Fishing Unlimited

BTW: Do not use lead weights or jig heads.... huge fine.

[Alex_FORD]

3 scents that have always worked well on my bait - cheese, beer, and WD40

please check your local regulations, they might be illegal.

[turbotrip]

while at lake minnewanka u should definitely rent a motor boat ($40/hour), its crazy fun.

[Cecropian]

85+ feet.... I've never fished that deep before, what kind of equipement do I have to use to fish that deep? I am only bringing my fishing poles since I am from Montreal.

We will be renting a boat from this place :

http://www.minnewankaboattours.com/

Any info and tips you can give me will be greatly appreciated, me and my girlfriend would just be tripping so much if we could catch a couple of good size trouts. Man that would be cool, all we catch here are perch, bass, pike and walleye, they are all very cool sporty fish but trout is completely new to us.

Anyway, thanks alot for the info and if you have more for me I'll be a sponge lollll.

Thank you.

Originally posted by Fullcontact
I have fished there a few times this year... You will need to rent a boat, this time of year and the hot weather, we've been catching fish in the 85+ feet. That lake has Lake Trout and Rainbow Trout, there are others but i have yet to catch them. At the lake you can rent boats and buy a few lures there, even your National Park fishing license.
Good Luck

here is a link to the regulations:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/v...t14a_E.asp#act

here is a link to a fishing guide:
Banff Fishing Unlimited

BTW: Do not use lead weights or jig heads.... huge fine.

[Cecropian]

Oh man we definitly are renting one, we cant wait to be on the Lake too, there are alot of boat tours on that lake from what I can understand but nothing beats the feel of being in a small boat on the water.

We reserved one from this place :

http://www.minnewankaboattours.com/

Originally posted by turbotrip
while at lake minnewanka u should definitely rent a motor boat ($40/hour), its crazy fun.

[turbotrip]

The big boat tour is good, but to be honest I think its much more fun to ride around on the little motor boats. The big ones are too small for the number of people they put on it and quite over priced IMO

[Cecropian]

Thats what I thought, also since our plan is to fish all day, we're better off on the small boats that way we can really go where ever we want.

We might try some kind of tour like on big boats on Lake Louise the next day though, just to get a general idea of what Lake Louise looks like.

Originally posted by turbotrip
The big boat tour is good, but to be honest I think its much more fun to ride around on the little motor boats. The big ones are too small for the number of people they put on it and quite over priced IMO

[Cooked Rice]

There's some lakes up in the mountains near Cannmore, on your way up the mountain there are about 2-3 lakes. The one at the very top is very very clean, and quiet. No one every goes up to the lake at the top, not too sure about the boating situation at the top either.

[gerrycurl21]

Originally posted by Cecropian

Seriously though, is there real danger of attacks in those parts? Should I bring a PoP gun in case we do deceide to go in the woods?

Just bring a bag of Doritos

[Cecropian]

Cool thank you.

Do you know the name of the lake?

I've tried to figure out where the lake would be on my map but cant find it.

Originally posted by Cooked Rice
There's some lakes up in the mountains near Cannmore, on your way up the mountain there are about 2-3 lakes. The one at the very top is very very clean, and quiet. No one every goes up to the lake at the top, not too sure about the boating situation at the top either.

[Cecropian]

LoL, I guess I could try and throw the chips at the big ol'kitty.

Originally posted by gerrycurl21



Just bring a bag of Doritos

[canadiandaytona]

Spray lake above Canmore is Quite and has great fishing..also one of the only lakes that still allows bait

[turbotrip]

If you go to lake louise make sure u hike up the mountain to the right of the lake. It takes a little while to get to the top but there are some nice small lakes on the way up the mountain, and a nice little lodge for coffee and stuff at teh top IIRC.

[Cecropian]

I cant find anywhere on my map Spray Lake, first chance I get I am buying a new map.

Thank you very much for the info.

Originally posted by canadiandaytona
Spray lake above Canmore is Quite and has great fishing..also one of the only lakes that still allows bait

[Cecropian]

God man, there are so many things to do there and sadly I just dont have the time to do it all, I whish I had reserved more time for my vacation.

Ill be spending 2 days in the region of Banff and one of which will be completely spent on the Lake.

I've had so many suggestions and wont get to do half of them, do you know what that means, means I'm gonna have to come back again.

Cool no.

Anyway Turbotrip, I thank you very much for posting here and if you have more ideas just keep them comming.

Cant wait for August.

Originally posted by turbotrip
If you go to lake louise make sure u hike up the mountain to the right of the lake. It takes a little while to get to the top but there are some nice small lakes on the way up the mountain, and a nice little lodge for coffee and stuff at teh top IIRC.