Go fish! Now residents can reel it in year round at Auburn Bay Lake

Residents of Calgary’s popular Auburn Bay community have turned their lake into a thriving fishing spot, allowing them to reel it in all year round.

Auburn Bay Lake/Facebook

Auburn Bay Lake was stocked with 1,500 seven to nine inch rainbow trout last spring with another 1,200 expected in the fall. The Auburn Bay Residents Association (ABRA) gets the fish from Smoky Trout Farm Limited for the purpose of cultivating an ecosystem within the 43-acre lake. The family-run fish stocking company helps groups create sustainable fishing holes as well as manage their lakes and ponds for years to come.

Auburn Bay/Brookfield Residential

Auburn Bay Lake not only contains stocked trout but also freshwater shrimp, native minnows (brought in by water fowl), and other beneficial aquatic insects. The small minnows and insects feed on the bacteria that live off the nutrients that enter the lake from runoff. The trout then feed on the minnows and insects. Auburn Bay residents stopped feeding the trout about three years ago as the population is now self-sustaining.

Lake/Auburn Bay Connect

Residents are invited to help with stocking the lake with rainbow trout every spring. In the first couple of years, Auburn Bay had 20 to 40 people attending the stocking; this spring’s attendance, to contrast, was well over 100. For the kids, it’s a chance to learn more about this sustainable, incredible ecosystem that the community has built together.

The next stocking event is slated to feature a fishing company that will show people how to fish, encouraging residents and their guests to enjoy the lake as much as possible. Anticipating a large turnout, ABRA plans to prepare the beach area with rope line to help with crowd control, as well as provide the buckets for releasing the fish. Several staff will be in attendance to ensure that things go smoothly and that the trout are not too stressed out.

Auburn Bay Lake/Instagram

Residents looking to cast a line can sign out a boat free of charge with their membership card, another great opportunity within the thriving community where new houses are being built every day.