We heard from anglers all over Southern Alberta about the great walleye fishing on Chin Reservoir. It was the dead of summer, 29 degrees Celsius, and we were all set for a fabulous day wrestling walleye by the Chin.

Alex gives directions as Scott backs the big Lund down the ramp. Despite low water levels the boys had no problem launching the rocket on this well paved boat launch

Ten year old Cody Neary from Calgary was a little confused as to why these guys were heading out fishing with TV cameras, way too much tackle, and funny costumes. As it turns out his dad is a big fan of the show. Alex takes a few minutes before hitting the lake to sign an autograph and pass out some free lures. Cody promised to start watching the show every Sunday with his Dad.

We were only on the lake for about 15 minutes when Alex hooked into the first fish of the day. With this kind of start it should prove to be an awesome day of walleye fishing…….or will it?

Well the first fish wasn’t much more than a yearling, but that’s okay, there’s lots of day left, and lot’s of bait in the cooler

After dragging a bottom bouncer for more than an hour Scott finally got his first bite. Unfortunately he was in a trolling trance when it hit and he just couldn’t pull the trigger.

Better luck next time buddy!

You can’t help but wonder if these fish are getting enough to eat. Alex’s second fish of the day turned out to be this little Northern Pike. He’s small and thin but all things considered put up a pretty good fight.

Scott finally hooked into a walleye and the fight was on….for about 5 seconds. This little guy obviously wasn’t following the advice of his bigger buddies and decided to attack a spinner rig and minnow

WHAT’S A GUY GOTTA DO?

Scott gets ready to release another baby northern pike. As it turns out this was the "big" fish of the day. Scott and Alex just couldn’t find and concentration of fish on Chin. They used all of the tried and true techniques, called a few connections for pointers, followed some tips they picked up from magazine articles written about Chin, and used everything but high explosives to try and get some fish in the boat. After all of that NADDA! In a post mortem of the trip we found out that Chin has been fishing really slow the last two years due to intense water fluctuations. In fact, in 2001 Chin Reservoir wasn’t much more than a wide river running through the valley. The drought in Southern Alberta last year caused a huge draw down for irrigation (that’s why these reservoirs are there) . It has not yet been determined if there was a significant fish kill last year, or if the fish are just messed up due to the ever changing habitat. Oh well, I guess we’ll try it again some other time

Although the fishing was as tough as we’d ever experienced in Alberta, Chin Reservoir is a beautiful spot with lots of birds and flowers and some pretty spectacular sunsets. If you have had success on Chin we’d love to hear about it..or better yet…..send us some pictures along with your story.

The only reason there is any water, or any place to fish, in Southern Alberta is due to the incredible efforts of farmers and ranchers over the last 100 years in developing a world class irrigation infrastructure. Even with all the irrigation the industry was hit hard this year by a late spring, then drought, and then the most horrendous grasshopper infestation in years. If you’re wondering how the heck there can be so many darn grasshoppers this picture should tell the story.