bull trout | trout on dries

Bull trout. A Char. The ultimate Rocky Mountain river predator. While fishing a small Cutthroat stream a friend and I spotted two of these meat-eaters at the tail end of a small pool. They were lying tight to a log jam (structure) simply hovering in the shadows. This is not an uncommon sight on many clear SW Alberta Cutthroat streams. Walk enough river miles and you will find some.

One of Bulls slashed twice at a small streamer but no hook-up. Then repeated drifts with large nymphs were ignored. My friend returned alone a few days later with several Roosterfish flies I had tied for a recent Baja trip. He risked navigating the rough, narrow forestry road with potholes that could pass as archeological dig sites in his super-sized truck camper rental. No small feat. The Bulls were calling. When he hiked to the river he found them in the same location. He enticed both Char to take a large saltwater fly and managed a few photos…

“It’s the Otters. That’s why there are no big fish in the Crowsnest river anymore. Otters don’t belong in western Alberta. They should have never been placed here by the environment people. There’s just little fellers left; just minners. Oh well, I guess a feller still might have a fighting chance if he tied on a Quigley to his line”.

Angler standing in Crowsnest river

roadside general store

I just finished a week of trout fishing with a friend. I tried to take full advantage of the opportunity and the long warm days as I won’t have much time off the rest of the summer. The dry-fly fishing was challenging. There was an absence of bugs on some of our local rivers, and a few of my favorite waterways were off-color. It also hasn’t been a good grasshopper season so far. Hopefully that will bloom as August progresses. In spite of the conditions we did manage to connect with some good fish: quality more than quantity. Not a bad deal. Most trout were caught on dries sight fishing; some on streamers. We did a lot of hunting…sometimes that’s the best part.

rainbow caught on dry fly in shallow water, by author

fernie bull trout, caught by joe f

river sculpture

owls

dry fly rainbow, caught joe f.

mountain cutthroat, caught by joe f. on dry fly

tailwater bow, caught by joe f. on streamer

One day when hiking a trail back to our car we passed an old abandoned homestead along the river. Three owls were perched side by side in the top window. One flew away before I got a photo. Then we noticed two deer inside, taking advantage of the shade mid day. When they spotted us they exited the front door as if they were leaving their home. We also saw two giant eagles, osprey and hawks. The river valley was simply alive with life. It was nice to share it with a good friend. I hope you enjoy some of the photos…