Moose Lake is a popular recreational area for local residents and a great fishing destination for all anglers. It’s a relatively small lake with a surface area of 40.8 km2. The average and maximum depths are 5.6 m and 19.8 m, respectively. It offers excellent fishing opportunities for people using power boats, kayaks or canoes because of the narrows, bays, points, dropoffs, and other structures present. Please read my post about how to catch fish successfully and consistently: 6 factors every fisherman needs to know.
Before your fishing trip to Moose Lake, make sure you read the depth chart and Google Map to give you an idea what specific areas may hold the specific fish species you want to fish for. A PDF version of the Moose Lake Depth Chart can be found here. I am gonna focus on Franchere Bay fishing hot spots and tips in this article, because that’s where I enjoyed fishing every time I went there in the past two years.
Below is a map of Franchere Bay of Moose Lake with markers on it. Marker A (GPS location coordinates: 54.256789,-111.004129) indicates a beach; Marker B (54.253329,-111.003805) a boat launch; Marker C (54.253209, -110.996430) a good hot spot for Walleye fishing; Marker D (54.261490,-110.991267) a deep hole 14 to 15 meters; Marker E (54.261933, -110.997890) a great Pike fishing hot spot; and Marker F (54.261833, -111.004842) also a great Pike fishing hot spot with good shore fishing opportunities. I like Franchere Bay exactly because of these structures which may hold a variety of fish species.
We started kayaking in a tandem kayak at about 8:30 pm in mid-July, right after a storm. The moment we reached Marker C from B, I saw a fish mark on my fish finder at about 4 meter (13 feet) depth on 6 meter (20 feet) deep water and asked my wife to drop her fishing lure to about 4 meters deep immediately. She caught a 53 cm (21 inches) Walleye with fat belly at Marker C right after she dropped her soft plastic lure (Powerbait minnow) in the water. The surface water temperature was around 21 degree C (70 degree F). We had a great time kayak fishing with beautiful sunset lake scene around us. Ha, I can’t wait to do that again.
Read my post about the 7 great soft plastic lures for fishing for Pike, Walleye, Trout, and more. And also how to use and choose fish finders.
The second day, we launched our kayak again at the boat launch (Marker B). This time we wanted to target Lake Whitefish. Knowing that Lake Whitefish is a cold water fish and often goes deep in summers, we headed directly to the deep hole at Marker D. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any bites. So we headed toward the outflow mouth at Marker F. Before we reached Marker F, we stopped by Marker E as I saw fish signal on my fish finder. I then put down my anchor and started jigging there. Bang, game on! We then enjoyed catching Pike one after another. The size ranged from 50 cm (20 inches) to 67 cm (26 inches). In the end we didn’t go to Marker F at all because we were tired of catching Pike and Pike only. Nevertheless, I did catch a 82 cm (32 inches) Pike a year ago fishing on shore near the bridge at Marker F.
Related information:
You can reserve a campsite here at AlbertaParks.ca
Alberta Fishing Regulations can be found here. Below is a quotation for Moose Lake:
The portion south of a line from the easternmost point of land in
NW2-61-7-W4 (locally known as Pelican Point) to the southernmost
point of land in E2-61-7-W4 (locally known as Deadman’s Point)
and southeast to the northernmost point of land in SW31-60-6-W4
(locally known as Ferbey Subdivision).
l June 1 to Mar. 1 – Walleye limit 1 over 50 cm; Pike limit 1 over
63 cm; Perch limit 15; Lake Whitefish limit 10; Burbot limit 10.
l Mar. 2 to May 31 – CLOSED
The remainder of the lake
l June 1 to Mar. 31 – Walleye limit 1 over 50 cm; Pike limit 1 over
63 cm; Perch limit 15; Lake Whitefish limit 10; Burbot limit 10.
l Apr. 1 to May 31 – CLOSED