“Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you”. — Annie Dillard
AUTUMN. A HEAVY SKY AND CHANCE of rain. Low wind. Cooler. Much cooler. A possible afternoon appearance of Blue Winged Olives. It all suggests opportunity…
Autumn
Tag Archives: dry fly fishing
What the river offered
I WAS PURPOSELY IN A TOUGH STRETCH of river. In order to explore it I had to get into the water and deal with the current as the riverside brush/growth in most places was too thick to walk. On top of that it was dark and ominious looking in the woods. Harper my dog could make her way under and through the growth. I could not. So I stayed in the river and forded the quick flow where possible always searching for the path of least resistence. While doing so I looked for a pocket or river edge with slower water and some depth. A place where a trout could hold. I inched forward hoping for such a location and one quality fish. Maybe one that had never been caught before.
I eventually located a likely spot, a possibility, along a bank with some overhanging branches. The drake hatch the day before down river on an easier section occured at 3-3:30 pm. It was about 2:30 pm. I studied the water upstream. It was all fast and turbulent as far as I could see. So I decided to sit, eat my lunch and wait for the hatch. The hatch would tell me if a Cutthroat was in there. I could prospect it with a fly impression right away and possibly entice something to rise but this season I’ve had my fill of that. I was on a regional river that would have the rarest of events: a genuine, solid hatch. A big fly hatch to boot! No, I wouldn’t cast blindly. I’d fish with my eyes, not my arm. I’d wait until the large mayflies started emerging to see if a fish was holding there. If there was one it would rise and glow golden in the warm afternoon light. I’d take advantange of what the river would offer…
Finding What You Seek
“What you seek is seeking you”–Rumi
PIERRE AND VALERIE, OLD FAMILY FRIENDS, RETURNED to the Crowsnest Pass for a vacation/visit. Pierre and I went the distance fly fishing a few rivers where access was not easy. We were rewarded for our effort and long walks. We witnessed some excellent hatches and rising trout. Just like last year we had several outstanding August days and found some truly stunning Westslope Cutthroat trout. Pierre hit the mark with his casts and kept me busy with the landing net and camera. Harper (Retriever) participated in it all. All trout were caught on dry flies and released. Some images from our recent angling adventure…
When light fades
BROWN TROUT LIKE COVER. They like to be undercover: Under a cut bank; under the shade of a streamside tree; under overhanging tree branches, logs; under a bridge; in the shadow of a big rock; tucked in a tight weed bed channel; etc. These locations mean safety. The river I was recently on has Brown trout but not much cover. It’s a wide open prairie river.
The Brown trout below was spotted feeding on tiny Pale Duns and Emergers, size 18 and 20 in open relatively flat water where the little mayflies were collecting. Seemingly no cover except the low light and rain and drizzle which dimpled the river’s surface. That was its shield of safety. The dark inclement weather above was its cover. Its complete attention to feeding and the low light conditions allowed me to get close to it without being noticed. In bright light the fish would have never been surface feeding in the location it was in.
It was caught on a size 18 Pale Dun. A parachute pattern with a black post which showed-up on the grey surface and differentiated it from the hundreds of other small natural/real Pale Duns. The black post helped me see where it landed and if it was in front of the cycling/feeding trout. It was a rare (for this summer) decent hatch and with all the natural mayflies on the surface (a lot of competition) I was lucky that even with repeated casts, it ate my impression.
Good luck-bad luck
“Bob, I don’t trust air that I can’t see” — A NYC angler on the Ausable river, Adirondack Park, 1983
Walked a good part of the day on a freestone river in heavy wildfire smoke. It’s burning to the west of me. I had tied some quick dry flies for the outing. Mid-afternoon I hooked and chased a beautiful Cutthroat trout a long way downstream. In spite of several obstacles I got lucky and landed it. Shortly after I broke a rod tip. I was okay with that. The tip can be replaced and I had just landed a stunning wild fish in clear fast water. Felt my good luck outweighed my bad luck. The broken rod ended the day as I was an hour upstream from my vehicle. After the thrilling catch the walk back was effortless…
The Last Old Places
There are two streams that I fish that remain clear when it rains; even after a deluge. In contrast, the dozen or so other rivers that I frequent become seriously turbid even with moderate precipitation; they silt-up. The ones that remain remarkably clear are up in the mountains where all the terrain around them is intact. Where most of the land is probably is as it was 200 years ago.
The forest that these rivers run through are thick and diverse, and intact. And the forest floor is covered in leaves, moss, fungi, an endless variety of plants, degrading wood and numerous other types of rich organic material, and a complex intertwined root system below it all. When you hike to the river through the forest the ground is soft and spongy. It holds water well. It absorbs and filters the rainfall and melting snow. The forest floor is a vegetative buffer for the stream. The (riverside) riparian zone is also intact. It is treed, has brush and willows, moss covers some of the ground and again a healthy root system exists holding much of the soil/ banks together, even in high water and run-off.
When I wade these two rivers I see little or no silt. The river beds are clean. I can see every stone, pebble, every single detail…no sediment covers/blankets the bottom. On the other rivers it is thick in many places; they look like they need to be vacuumed.
These two pristine rivers hold Cutthroat trout. A regional native fish. They are colorful, untamed and robust. They are extremely healthy just like the rivers they inhabit. Their population generally isn’t high. These freestone rivers tend to be fast and turbulent and there are only so many pockets and pools for them to hold in. It is a challenging environment and their feeding season is brief. In spite of this some miraculously manage to survive and even thrive, and these rivers can hold some real gems. Here’s one of those miracles that I came across a few days ago. It was holding in a crystalline flow in one of the Last Old Places…
rain, springtime green, and some river gold
It was their shoulders, the top of their heads or noses that were breaking the surface. Rarely did I see a mouth gulp or sip the Olives or Pale mayflies. They were mainly on Emergers. It made for challenging angling. I stuck to one fly. No dropper. Low riding and surface piercing patterns: a soggy Usual, Klinks, some soft hackles. Many drifts were ignored/ rejected. Luckily many chances and with that some success.
Everything was green. And the warm sun mixed in with the occasional shower/spring storm made for some amazing lighting on the land and water. It was spellbinding. And the daily weather transitions often kick-started or augmented the hatches.
What was suppose to be a fairly long trip turned into a short five day one as my car engine indicator light came on and stayed on. Kind of unnerving. I was advised to put duct tape over the light so as it wouldn’t bother me and to keep on trucking and fishing. In spite of that “sound advice” I decided to make a premature run for home. I didn’t want to get stranded on some muddy back road, with poor or no cell coverage in the middle of nowhere. Frustrating as heck as the river was alive. It was buzzing. And the wind was never an issue. And because of that I got to explore and fish the lower river more.
On the drive home from this place I always say to myself: “It’s the best hatch river I’ve ever been on”. It’s also incredibly beautiful.
Road trip: Bwo’s, Blue Jays and Bat flips
“The Blue Jays won the bat flip contest hands down. Some of the best ones I’ve seen since Jose Bautista was at the plate. They showed-up, stood tall, faced the payroll Goliaths of the league and slugged it out inning by inning…best attitude, team spirit, comradery and most enthusiastic, loud and appreciative fans…all players winners in my mind…the most entertaining team I’ve seen in a long time “. — Bob
Road trip. Fishing, not Baseball. Last one for the trout season. It’s been sunny and blowing for weeks along the eastern slopes. The two conditions often go together in Autumn. The upcoming weather prediction was for 2 or 3 days of calm and overcast skies. A perfect set-up for a late season Blue Winged Olive (BWO) hatch. So I decided to take advantage of the incoming low front and drove due south in full sun and high wind, and woke up next morning under a heavy sky and best of all calm.
The riverside campground where I stayed in mid-canyon was empty. Harper was left off leash as there was no one around to bother. She chased squirrels and some deer, and nosed the fire pits. Fortunately no skunks showed up when it got dark. Most mornings it was 32f or slightly above. In the afternoon it was 40s or low 50s f. There were a few anglers around and some floaters. The fly shops were open but quiet. A great time to look at angling stuff. Local restaurants were closed.
The night is long at this time of year and daylight short, and dry fly opportunities brief. One or two hours in the afternoon, maybe slightly more, depending on the intensity of the hatch. My first day I experienced a weak hatch. The second day it drizzled a bit, was colder and the sky ominous looking. The hatch was strong. The river section I was on came alive, and I connected with size 18 and 20 parachute BWO dries. Rising trout on November 4th. It was a good day. So good I flipped my fly rod in the air.
Some images…
Road trip images
Visible flies
” Black: the absence of light; the absorption of light”.
The clouds rolled in. Just for one day. So I took advantage of it as the dry fly season is winding down in my region. Soon local Brown trout will be on redds. Maybe some already are. With the overcast sky I was hoping some trout could be found rising to Olive and Mahogany mayflies. There were quite a few bugs on the water in the afternoon but unfortunately it was windy. I didn’t see a lot of fish surfacing but did find one decent one feeding just off of the edge of a current line. It ate a size 18 Olive tied with a black wing. The black wing allowed me to see the small fly from some distance even in the low light, high glare conditions. I was able to get the tiny impression on target.
When fishing wide open places I tie at least one third of my small dries/emergers with a black wing or post. I can’t fish what I can’t see. Flies that become invisible once casted are useless. When tying dry flies for rivers that tend to produce a lot of small bugs I pay attention to size, color, attitude (how it sits) in the water but just as importantly, or more so, visibility. I need to see where the fly lands to know if my cast is accurate; I need to see it tracking (drift) to the fish; and I need to see the trout’s response if I’m going to fish effectively. Put simply, I need to see it…
When I glance over various online fly tying forums I see many exquisitely crafted fly patterns (beyond my skill level) but many would be hard or impossible to see on a lot of the rivers that I fish. Maybe these tyers fish a lot of small water with streamside foliage and shadows that darken the water and therefore their dry fly patterns, even small ones, contrast well and show-up. A lot of the tailwater rivers I fish are not like that. They are broad and flow in wide open terrain and their hatches are generally small mayflies and caddis. And the dry fly fishing is usually best on overcast days which often means a grey, silvery surface and eye straining glare. That’s when a black wing or post can be helpful.
Surprisingly it’s hard to find fly shops even in big broad river destinations that have small fly patterns in their bins with black wings or posts. Most have some High Vis patterns in fluorescent colors but my eyes simply don’t pick them up as well in extreme glare as solid black.
Here’s an Autumn colored Brown trout that I caught on a size 18 Olive pattern with a black polypropylene wing.
trout on dries 