Goldeye Lake in Clearwater County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Alberta holds Goldeye Lake, in Clearwater County. The setting is pine and birch. The water covers some 18 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. The bank runs about 1.4 km all the way round, so one visit can cover most of it. Start from Rocky Mountain House, 87 km down the road. The big place round here is Red Deer, 164 km distant. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Goldeye Lake

  We hold no depth figure for this one. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Survey and observation records for Clearwater County include bull trout, mountain whitefish and brook trout. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. Goldeye Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about -12°C in January to roughly 13°C in August. The freeze arrives properly here and holds. Look for the thaw near late April; the fishing lifts straight after. Break-up sits around late April on average, with the water closing again about mid November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Time your trip to Goldeye Lake by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  No public source sets out the position on this bank. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Public data records a boat ramp 210 m out. The mapped parking is Goldeye Lake Trail, 230 m away. There is a jetty 190 m off, worth knowing on a busy day. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Should this one be busy, Shunda Lake is 2.8 km off. None of that is settled for Goldeye Lake in what we hold.