gate in smoke
rainbow and boot
abby at old rodeo grounds
Pics I Dig
October 28th
Late October. It’s closing down. Hard to find rising fish. On Saturday saw a couple of trout surfacing inconsistently on my local river late in the day when the wind died down. Missed them. No other opportunities that day. On Sunday changed it up and took a drive through the mountains into British Columbia. Fished the Elk river in Fernie in the afternoon. Hoped for BWO’s. Hoped for some rising Cutthroats. Found some. Nothing big. Caught several. Missed several. Not a great hatch. Actually quite weak. As I said, it’s closing down. I had to search slow collector areas; back eddies, etc., in order to find some rising fish. Only saw one other angler as I worked my way upstream. It was a young boy and his grandmother. He was fishing. She was supervising. They were standing above at a deep, clear, calm pool next to a huge log-jam, spotting cutthroats and occasionally catching one. When they saw me they said, “We didn’t think there would be anybody else foolish enough to be out today”. With a big smile the boy showed me a photo of a Cutthroat he had just landed. A great fish. He didn’t know what fly he caught it on. I checked. It was a small parachute Adams.
I went just upstream of them and fished a slow area. Two fools casting dry flies in late October in the rain, sleet and snow. Two fools, a grandmother and a wet dog.
Some soggy, foggy photos…
side channel
one clear photo!
more beaver cuttings
challenging walking river’s edge, busy beavers
late october
Nice weather for a change. Light sweater conditions in the afternoon and minimal wind. The dry-fly season on the Crowsnest river has been extended a little. Finding rising fish is getting harder but there are still some around. Bug life is weak but there are just enough midges and small olives around to entice some good fish to feed on the surface with the low, slow, clear water conditions. The river is still producing if you’re willing to hunt. I walked it this past Sunday. It’s an afternoon game. The low arcing Autumn sun creates long afternoon shadows and the trout like feeding in these darker river sections once (if) the bugs get going.
I started fishing the Crowsnest river in 2001. Seventeen years later it still amazes me the quality of the trout that inhabit it given its size. Best of all you can search for them with your eyes and try to fool them, often in the shallows, with small dry flies. You get to watch the trout react to your impression; you get to see it all unfold. Engaging, visual angling. It’s why I fly fish…
Here’s a nice Crowsnest rainbow that was located feeding on a shadowy bank. Caught on a size 18, BWO hacklestacker pattern.
same rainbow
post storm
A big snow storm this week. Some melting occurring. Rivers still low and clear. Brief angling days for the dry-fly angler. It’s usually a 2 to 5 pm event. This past Saturday trudged through the snow to the Crowsnest river. In the bright sun and low water conditions fished to some surface feeding rainbows on my knees.
naturals and an impression
great flat water
snowbanks show off the hatch
olives before the storm
A friend, Roman, came into town last-minute to fish. We spent three days on local rivers. The weather was cold. In the 3C to -3C range with some occasional snow. Winter like. Winter in September. It was runny nose, frozen finger fishing. The heavy skies and low light conditions were an advantage. Some great fish were spotted. Many were feeding solely on emergers and were extremely challenging. The ones willing to eat dries and in some sort of feeding rhythm usually could be duped. Roman landed some truly exceptional ones. Fall fishing in my region can be stellar when low fronts come in and the wind holds-off. We tossed low riding patterns to sighted trout each afternoon: parachutes, hacklestackers, etc. All trout were taken on size 18 Olive dries. Late one day some Mahoganies made an appearance. With the poor weather there was little angling pressure. For the most part we had the rivers to ourselves. Late one day a young fellow appeared out of the fog in jeans and running shoes and started to wet wade a pool we were on. He told us he was Czech nymphing a 2 fly rig. The temperature was about zero. Ice was forming on the river’s edge. An apparition from Prague? Later our paths crossed again at a local restaurant. The wet cuffs on his pants gave him away. We chatted and discovered he once lived one or two streets over from where I use to own a home in a little town in Quebec. We spoke about trout streams just south of the Quebec border. He identified several then spoke about one little obscure stream that was special to him. I knew it well. We both talked fondly about the small stream that flows some 3600 plus km away from where we were standing.
The day of Roman’s departure a wicked snow storm hit. Here are some photos of some of the trout he caught.
great brown trout
amazing rainbow
brown trout
the storm
some
SOMEone flipped the switch at the end of August. September has been real cold so far. SOME mornings snow at elevation. SOME mornings right around zero. SOME mornings even colder. On Saturday it was 3C pretty much all day and foggy. SOME good Baetis hatches. SOME good fish have been looking up. SOME selective. SOME very, very selective. SOME frustration getting them to commit. SOME failure. SOME success. SOME brown trout. SOME photos from past two weekends. All trout, not SOME, taken on size 18 BWO’s.
size 18 BWO’s
taken on hacklestacker BWO, size 18
focused river guide
broad tailwater and wind
low challenging clear water on crowsnest river, fish landed below
classic crowsnest river rainbow
same brown below
brown trout on size 18 parachute BWO
transition time
Sliding into Autumn. Pale Duns have had their day. Blue Winged Olives are just starting. A few Mahogany may flies around too. The dry-fly angling has been challenging during the transition. Visited four very different rivers over the past few weekends. It was hard to find rising fish. Had to walked a lot and search. Not easy. Not many opportunities. Caught a few nice ones. Missed a couple. Time spent roaming around beautiful SW Alberta in search of trout is always enriching…
Underdog without cape
cuttbow, I believe
same thick cuttbow caught on size 16 mahogany
great rainbow
trout spotting
size 18 flies
same rainbow, on size 18 hacklestacker bwo
river walking
Mornings on way to one of my favorite trout rivers with Abby…SW Alberta.
hacklestackers
The Hacklestacker. A creation of Bob Quigley. An innovative fly tier who is unfortunately no longer with us. Over time I’ve learned that his creations such as the Hacklestacker, Quigley Cripple, Film Critic and other patterns, can fool some very picky (selective) flat water trout. Here are some PMD and BWO Stackers all tied on size 18 hooks; with size 18 or size 16 hackle.
smokin’ trout
August. Smoke everywhere. It keeps coming. It’s blocking the sun. There was an evacuation alert (fire) the other day. No rain in sight. That’s bad. Cooler recently. That’s good. I just spent one week walking a nearby river in the Coulees. Challenging breathing. Challenging angling. Small fly stuff: size 18 dries and emergers… Pale Morning Dun mayflies and small Caddis. Most fish were on emergers. Real daunting angling. Some were found sipping on duns. My best fish were taken on duns.
Early in the week I missed several great trout. A hand-tied leader popped mid-section on a biggie; on more than one occasion fish wedged my line between river bottom boulders and freed themselves; several powerful trout on reel screeching first runs cut me off on rocks in the low water conditions; a fly line got sliced and diced and rendered useless; I missed several connections as the small fly didn’t set once eaten, especially on the tiny emerger patterns I tied on Klinkhammer style hooks.
In frustration I talked to myself. I talked to my dog. I looked-up and talked to the sky. I hung in. I walked and searched, and fished my way through the slump. I made some adjustments and things eventually started to click.
I started connecting more consistently when I opened (slightly) the hook bend on my klinkhammer flies with hemostats and also slowed down my hook set. In the future I’ll tie on emerger/scud hooks. A less acute bend. I also tied on stronger tippet, especially when approaching a fish from above and casting down and across (fly first) to it.
The tailwater trout were selective. They would have nothing to do with ants, beetles, grasshoppers, and attractor patterns. They stuck to the main items on the menu. It was Pale Duns, small Caddis flies (mostly on the emerger stage).
The thicker the smoke the better the top water angling. Like clouds it intensified the hatches. And in the low light trout were more willing to surface. Even some of the bigger trout made an appearance.
It was some of the most demanding and best sight-fishing I’ve ever had. You simply couldn’t make any mistakes with the powerful trout in the low water conditions. An angling error meant a lost fish. Fish perfectly and you could still lose a fish. I lost my share. A few great smokin’ trout caught and released on tiny dries. Ridiculous! One memorable week in August…
beefy brown on dry
chewed pmd on sleeve
smoke- driving to river
horizon of smoke
brown on pmd
spent pmds
rainbow on pmd
abby riverside clearer day
brown trout
cdc pale dun
riverside cottonwoods
brown trout
low water but cool
rainbows were thick
small flies and glare- tough combo
black wing for river glare
cattle in smoke
half hackle, size 18
caught on size 18 half hackle
trout on dries 