Tag Archives: eastern slopes of rockies

Dragsters On The Flats

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pelican

lower oldman river

I managed to hit a local tailwater river after work the other evening. It is one of the few waterways in my region that has insect life. Some PMD’s were hatching and spinners falling. The river was low so it was perfect for searching for rising trout and trying to spot some good ones.

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cutthroat

Most of the larger trout appeared to be on emergers. I fished a pattern that floated but had a dangling body (Klinkhammer style): deer hair wing tied forward for flotation; thorax dubbed a PMD yellow/cream color; rust colored body with gold wire ribbing to add weight so part of the fly broke through surface; an amber/golden shuck for the tail (zelon/antron). I spread some saliva on the body and tail to help it protrude through the meniscus.

dime

The fish were on it. I spotted several nice ones while searching the shallow flats in a foot or less of water, and a few took me into my backing. Trout hooked in skinny water take off like a dragster. Here’s a couple photos of one of the fine trout I caught.

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cutthroat on size 16 pmd

95F in the Shade

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stm (1)

prairie river

 

I hit three rivers this weekend. It wasn’t because I was feeling energetic. It was because things were slow due to the intense heat, so I kept searching for productive water. Give yourself enough time and pump enough gas into the tank, and you’ll probably find a spot that is producing. Trout fishing is rarely ever easy: too cold; too hot; too much wind; too much sun; water too high; water too low; water too turbid; too many anglers; not enough bugs; wrong flies; and the beat goes on.

potato field

riverside potato field on prairies

stm (2)

oldman tailwater

One of the prairie rivers I fish seemed abandoned. It turned big time off. Last weekend was excellent. This weekend was dead. It was a ghost town. The trout apparently left the main floor and headed for the cool of the basement. They must have been deep. I never saw a decent fish. Heck, I never saw a fish! I was so hot my cheese sandwich grilled in my backpack.

net shot

crowsnest rainbow on dry

crow side (1)

crowsnest river side channel, no bugs, no fish

So I drove to a nearby tailwater that always runs very cold. It looked promising but… no bugs. The PMD’s didn’t show when I was there. Maybe they were congregating high up in the mountains which is where I should have been. A Cutthroat stream would have made more sense than heading out on the flats where in the shimmering heat I think I spotted a camel near a place called Standoff…or was that a llama? Anyway, it was tall and had a long neck, and my head was hot. On the tailwater I prospected with a big dry fly, walked a mile and caught a few.

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crowsnest river bow on dry fly

Then the next morning I got up early and fished the Crowsnest river which is right by my house. It fished alright…not great but ok. It was the best of the rivers I had been on. I caught a few sippers in a big back flow. Challenging fish that had spectacles on (tinted due to the bright sun). They inspected every fly in great detail. The hatch was in the weak to moderate range. It got under way at 10:30 am but fizzled in an hour or two. The only place I could find surface feeding trout was where bugs were collecting in slow back eddies, etc. No risers were spotted anywhere else such as along banks, in the big pools, along current lines, etc.

big baxk flow

crowsnest back flow

The Crowsnest (Crow) river has some of the best looking rainbow trout found anywhere…all fins intact…all wild fish. The Crow is really just a stream but it holds some fine fish for its size. I don’t mind mentioning it as it is so well known. I wrote a little story about it several years ago in an old blog….if interested google: Flyfishing the Crowsnest River, Small Fly Paradise.

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crowsnest river rainbow on dry fly

Up Sheep Creek Road

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pothole rd

sheep creek rd

Sheep Creek road; North Picabo road; Kimpton bridge road; Spring Coulee road…and the list goes on and on. What they all have in common is they are dirt roads; back roads. Follow them and like the North Star or Southern Cross guide an ancient mariner, they deliver you to rising trout. All are in the middle of Nowhereville and Nowhereville is always a good place to be if you are into trout. Here are some photos taken while casting dries somewhere up Sheep Creek road.

bow

rainbow trout caught on micro may fly, size 20

leaf

river side cottonwood shade

tent

travelling light

vista

boot

run water

sock

sheep creek rd, wet sock on dashboard reflection

 

brown glow

brown trout on dry

tree row

l brown

brown trout on dry fly

 

Home Water

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crocus close

crocus

“I once gave up fishing. It was the most terrifying weekend of my life”.

-Anonymous

Skwala! Not many around but enough to get some trout looking up. Bugs are always appreciated as this is a blog about dry fly fishing, and I need them if I’m going to have material; something to write about. I’ve been going out a few evenings after work looking for rising trout and also checking things out on weekends. It has been an early Spring in SW Alberta but my home rivers have been quiet. Usually I’m into surface feeding fish at the beginning of April. We are in the third week and things still aren’t under way in spite of the Crocuses being up; calves spotted streamside; campers running the highways; neighbours aerating their lawns; some midge flies in the air in the evening and even some olives riding the currents in the afternoon. It was the Skwala (a stonefly) that got the attention of a few trout on a local tailwater river this Saturday and I managed to hook several mid-sized fish. Here is a picture of the best one of the bunch.

tailwater

oldman river tailwater section

 

standoff

riverside standoff

 

oldmanbow

rainbow trout on dry fly

 

deer

deer on crowsnest river

 

crocus

crocus

 

On the Way to Trout Streams

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“Oh, I wish I lived in a caravan! ‘ said Jimmy longingly. ‘ How lovely it must be to live in a house that has wheels and can go down lanes and through towns, and stand still in fields at night!”

– Enid Blyton, Mr Gilliano’s Circus

 

Some western scenes while driving or walking to some of my favorite trout streams somewhere out in the fields…

cabin cloud

sw alberta cabin

 

chile

Patagonia, chile

 

idaho path

field path to river, idaho

 

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coleman, alberta

 

horse

chairs

coleman, alberta

 

little relig (2)

near waterton, alberta

 

shreddies

shreddies

 

little relig (1)

a little religion, sw alberta

 

rodeo

rodeo stands

 

idaho field

Idaho field

 

goats

glenwood goats, alberta

 

Creekside Grass

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Most of the streams I fish flow through arid sun baked terrain. The edges however are often lined with tall grass growth. They shoot skyward with the summer warmth, stream moisture and nutrients. These edges are places of life: waterfowl, insects, eggs, feathers, even the odd golden retriever…

Trout prowl the aquatic side of these edges. I often sit hidden in the grass and watch the water for movement; for trout. If you sit still long enough the flowing water and swaying grass become mesmerizing. Then a soft rise or flash of a feeding trout  wakes you up.

Here are some pictures of soothing creekside grass taken along the rivers I fish.

grass banks (1)

 

idahograss

creekside grass

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smelling creekside grass

 

feather

feather found in streamside grass

 

big head

trout caught next to creek grass

 

sea oats

butterflyingrass

found along grass bank

 

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creekside trail

 

eggs in grass

goose eggs in creekside grass

 

grassshadow

Between Casts

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The wading boots are hanging in the shed. Instead, I’ve been hiking on weekends. Next week I’ll toss flies again. The local ski hill is closed for the season and it’s only Feb 16th; no snow; go figure. They’ve tons of it back east; none here…yet.

best

side horse

antler2

i4 donk

 

 

A Winter Brown Trout

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“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe”.

-Voltaire

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brown trout

MID-WEEK I CHECKED THE WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEKEND. It predicted temperatures around zero or slightly above for Saturday and Sunday. Next I looked at the wind chart as mild temperatures usually mean a big blow along the eastern slopes. That’s what was in the cards: a wind warning. Saturday looked a bit sunnier and seemed like my best opportunity to fish. Besides on Sunday there were two good football games scheduled.

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side channel

I never really watch a complete NFL game. I just kind of listen to it, do other things and then pay close attention when there is a big play. I’ve learnt that the Championship games are often better than the Super Bowl. Last year the Seattle versus San Francisco game was a classic. In comparison the Super Bowl was anti-climatic.

bridge river

So, Saturday it would be. I was into it as I hadn’t been out since before Christmas as the weather had been arctic like.

reeel

side channel

I went to my local tailwater river as it doesn’t ice over, and swung flies real slow near the bottom while the wind whistled in my ears. The fish weren’t active. I’d often get a slight “tap” but with no hook up. I did best by swinging my fly back to the spot where I had found some life. Sometimes I had to pass the fly through several times before getting another “hit” and the occasional hook up. I caught some rainbows this way.

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rainbow trout

In a side channel I got my first good aggressive strike but no hook up. I kept tossing my fly through the same spot hoping for a repeat hit. After a dozen or so swings, “fish on”; I had made a connection. This one didn’t make the standard run. Instead it tugged a lot, shook its head, stayed deep and zig-zagged. I thought ” brown trout”.

brown full

brown trout

When winter fly fishing you gotta have faith.

ice brown

brown trout

 

Blur Photos

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It has been too cold around here to put on felt sole boots. I’ve traded them in for snowshoes this weekend. Here are some pictures taken while driving to and chugging along the snow trail.

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wind generator in the valley

skiis (1)

x-country tracks

 

skiis (2)

snowshoe tracks

 

corral wheels (2)

ribs along the trail

 

cnpvalley (1)

high above valley

 

corral wheels (1)

portable corral

 

cnpvalley (2)

portable corral

 

entance (1)

entrance gate to acreage

 

“Go And Catch a Trout”

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“At one stage I fished the Yellow Breeches Creek, along which I lived, almost eight evenings a week.”

Charles K. Fox – This Wonderful World of Trout

beetle thumb

photo r dewey

GETTING GOOD PHOTOS OF TROUT IS ALWAYS CHALLENGING especially when you fish alone, which is what I do most of the time. Fish aren’t cooperative. After you land one you have to do a number of things in order to get a picture. All seem easy but aren’t, especially when you’re kneeling in moving water, and often in imperfect weather conditions. You have to gently control the fish; keep it in the water and unhook it; dig your camera out of a deep pocket; turn it on without dropping it into the river; focus the shot; ensure there is no water on the lens (I still have trouble with that one); check where the sun is in order to avoid shadow; etc. And you want to do all of this fast so that you can safely release the trout. I have had many great fish bolt on me before I got all of the aforementioned tasks done, and therefore missed a wanted image.

riv sheep

photo r dewey

I was lucky this past August to have a photographer with me for part of an afternoon. I felt no pressure when I was directed to, “Go and catch a trout…I’m all set up to shoot”.

back shot

photo r dewey

 

running

photo r dewey

Although SW Alberta has great rivers, quite a few people fish here (angling pressure) and the trout are wild, wary and usually not easy. The river that I was sight fishing is especially challenging. It is a quality not quantity fishery. It runs through wide open terrain where it is often sunny and there are few places for an angler to hide. The trout are spooky; some even seem clairvoyant. In order to have a “crack” at a great fish you generally have to do things well. In mid summer when the water is low and clear the resident rainbows simply don’t tolerate mistakes and catching one on a dry-fly in my mind is always an accomplishment. Usually each good fish takes some time.

girth 2

photo r dewey

Well, shortly after being directed to, “Go and catch a trout”, I caught one! If you fish a lot you know that it doesn’t usually work out this way. I was lucky, things just came together. Having a photographer nearby made getting some nice shots so much easier. It simplified things. I just had to focus on safely handling the trout.

fish me

photo r dewey

What I like best about some of the images taken is that they show the girth of the trout. That’s something I have trouble capturing when I’m taking pictures by myself. The rainbow is quite representative of the ones I catch there. I have caught more large trout on small dries there than on any other river along the continental divide, either side of the Medicine Line. The place is an ace.

1 shed

photo r dewey

 

girthbest

phoro r dewey