Around 9:00 pm the night before Halloween, Andrew and I were trying to coordinate a hunting trip to the Meadow Lake area and we had reached the conclusion that due to a number of scheduling conflicts the trip just wouldn't work. I then mentioned I still wanted to do something outdoors and I wasn't opposed to driving up to Narrow Hills to try some late fall Fly Fishing. After a brief discussion it was decided we would meet up at 6:30 am the next morning and hit up the Gem Lakes. I thoroughly enjoy spur of the moment fishing/camping trips and often find them very rewarding experiences.
The hope was that the Trout in Jade Lake, specifically the Tigers, would be cruising the shallows feeding. From what I have observed, since 2010 the available feed in the Gem Lakes (and many other ground water fed lakes in the province) has greatly increased due to the flooding of the trees and shore line. The high water conditions seen across Saskatchewan may have resulted in tough fishing in some lakes but has also produced large fish. These large fish can indeed be caught but in my experience require a great deal of patience, persistence and a little bit of luck.
During the drive up, it was rainy and at times we questioned what we had gotten ourselves into but as we turned off highway 106 on the 913's upland it became very scenic. The rain stopped and fog blanketed the hills, a light dusting of snow coated the trees and grass in the ditches.
It was clear the second we arrived at Jade Lake that we had made a good decision. We paused to take a few photos and admire the crystal clear glassy water before hitting the water in our float tubes and starting to troll. I was using fast sink line with Whooly Buggers and Andrew was using floating line with a similar set up. We paddled a pass or two around most of the lake with no hits and spotting only a couple of rises. We then decided it was best to explore the other Gems.
Jade Lake is a tough lake to fish and it has at best provided me with five fish in a day. It typically produces two or three fish a day so there isn't a lot of fishing entertainment but I fish Jade for the scenery and multi species opportunities. Jade Lake in particular is fished heavily in the summer months and fish either get smart or get caught and eaten. I personally don't believe the lakes can support large numbers of fish either.
The clarity of a lake is often an indication of a lakes biomass. Clear lakes typically have a low amount of dissolved nutrients and therefore have a lower amount of biological matter per square meter and available feed. What this means in the case of the very clear Gem Lakes is that they will support much fewer adult sized than a dirtier lake with a much higher biomass. This is why I do my best to practice catch and release in these lakes and take no more than one or two fish as a group. I highly encourage others to do the same.
Panoramic Photo take on Jade Lake by Andrew
As we paddled into Little Jade it was immediately apparent the water was mixing and the small lake was in the middle of a fall turnover. Water visibility went from around fifteen feet in Jade to four feet in Little Jade. The deeper anoxic chemically enriched waters were mixing with the oxygen rich water from the upper water column. Like many lakes in Saskatchewan, Little Jade is likely Dimictic meaning this turnover process happens twice a year: once during the spring and once in the fall. The turnover is largely driven by changes in water temperature and density.
Andrew snapped a photo of me casting on Little Jade hoping to find some trout in or near a beaver feed bed.
We then hiked the short portage to Opal Lake and continued right past the lake only stopping momentarily to throw a few casts at a rise beside a fallen tree that was half submerged in the lake. True to its form Opal produced no catches and only sightings, as we spotted a few rises in the middle of the lake and far shore.
Curious little visitor at Jade Lake
We arrived at Sapphire in hopes we would find some Splake that were willing to cooperate. During my previous outings to Sapphire Lake, launching a Canoe or Float Tube in involved a balancing act and tight maneuvering over and between a mess of fallen and living trees. I was happy to see someone had brought a chainsaw into the lake and cleared much of the mess at the portage launch. Shortly after launching it became apparent Sapphire was also in the midst of a turnover. The typically Sapphire coloured water with excellent clarity was a milky green colour with less than 6 feet visibility. This appeared to greatly hamper our fishing productivity as we covered much of the lakes shores and drop offs spotting just one rise and catching no fish.
The calm weather allowed us to communicate across the lake and we decided to leave and try Opal for a while. As we headed back out, it was when Andrew was only 20 meters from the launch that he hooked into our first fish. Within minutes, I had also caught one and the two of us then proceeded to catch several fish each. It was like a switch was turned on and suddenly the fish came out to play.
Andrew with a Sapphire Splake. You can see the recently cleared trail in the background of the photo.
Most fish in Sapphire are in the 10 to 13 inch range and very thin. A good main course in a meal for one maybe two people but not much of a meal. In the past I have managed a couple of Splake near 16 inches but on this trip we kept just one smaller fish that was badly injured.
As we continued to fish the lake, Andrew stopped on shore for a moment and spotted several larger fish hanging out in gravelly openings within the weeds just feet from shore. From what I remember the steep bank was covered in weeds the last time I was there and it appeared the fish had been working up the gravely bottom within the weeds in an attempt to spawn.
I have often wondered how hard it would be to geo engineer the habitat necessary to provide adequate spawning habitat in a few of our trout lakes (the ones that don't regularly winter kill). Nature is often much more effective at producing fish than we are, when given the opportunity and habitat. Trout spawning habitat is artificially created and enhanced across North America. The benefits of having natural reproduction may be more than just financial. When you have natural reproduction, favorable genetic traits and activated genes that best suite a particular body of water are passed on to future generations.
A splake with a purple iridescent sheen on its side.
Fishing was an overall success and Andrew managed to land his first Tiger in Jade on our way back to the vehicle, just as darkness was falling. There was a rise or two on the lake but it was overall very quiet and the slowing fishing helped ease my fishing and nature separation anxiety.
Here is a song from one of my favourite artists Bonobo. He has a great song called Sapphire that often makes me think of the Gem Lakes and In particular my favourite Gem Lake, Sapphire.