i moved to Grande Prairie a couple months ago from BC. so far, i've fished Swan Lake and Sturgeon Lake from shore. i did well at Swan picking up some decent bows on spoons. haven't touched a thing at Sturgeon. i don't have a boat here yet. gonna have to bring my pontoon boat up from Abbotsford at some point.

where are other good places to try? i'm mostly a trout fly fisherman, but am interested in walleye and pike. lakes are good, rivers are good. all the rivers are shot to shit right now though. is there anything in Bear Lake?

i have 3wt, 5wt and 8wt fly rods with all the fixing's, an ultra-light spinning rod (which i used at Swan, thanks to there being nowhere to back cast from shore), a mid-weight spinning rod and of course my salmon/steelhead weight level wind rod.

not looking for anyone's honey hole, just a place to start. 

There are a few different lakes to fish around GP. Depends how far you want to drive.
Two Lakes are trout lakes stoked with rainbows and about a 2 hr drive (depending on road conditions) while down there you can fish the Torrens river and Kakwa falls.
Spring Lake is about 45min drive and has rainbows and brookies easily caught from shore if your willing to put in some time to find the spots. But also has a fishing dock there no gas motors allowed.
Kakut Lake is about 30-45 min if I remember correct I haven't fished it myself but there are rainbows in there.
Grovedale fish pond is stoked with rainbows and bout a 20min drive from GP.
Wapiti River has bull trout, walleye, grayling, pike all vary on where you are on the river.
Smokey river has walleye, pike, burbot, goldeye etc again everything kind of depends on where you are fishing.
Peace River has all of the above also.
Moonshine is supposed to be fairly good fishing also for rainbow.
East Dollar has some good trout about an hour and 20 min from GP.
Snipe has walleye, good pike, perch and burbot. I have only ice fished it and haven't had great luck on it but some people do real well.

There is some decent fishing around a guy just has to do some driving. As for Bear Lake I am not aware of any fish left in  there. Almost every stream, river etc has grayling in it which are fun on the fly and light spinning gear.

If you need more info let me know and I will see if I can help you out.

Joe pretty much summed everything up for you and what's around.  Hit up the Little Smoky, and the Kakwa for grayling and bull trout.  Check out satellite maps for access points.

Chris K

I move away from GP three years ago, but here is some info that may help you.

Spring lake is tough to fish from shore, unless you are bait fishing.  Is shallow around part of the lake and has steep shores making hard to flyfish.  but if you get your pontoon boat you will have a good time.  Kakut pond has trout and perch.  easily fished in summer and winter.  nothing big but can be fun.  Moonshine was great for rainbows and browns.  easily fished from shore and with a boat. ( not a bad campground either).

Swan lake is your best bet for larger Rainbows.  East Dollar is fun and you can get some deceit fish.

If you want good Walleye and pike fishing from Sturgeon or Snipe, best to get a boat.  You can catch fish from short, but will have much better luck from a boat.

If you like river fishing the Kakwa and Simmette are fun. Just watch out for bears.

Cheers.


Cheers.