Tag Archives: fly fishing sw alberta

small flies

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It’s September and it’s still all about small flies on the tailwater rivers I’ve been fishing all summer long. The occasional trout will grab a big fly like a grasshopper or dragonfly but most of the surface feeding is on the small stuff: PMD’s mainly, some size 18 and 20’s. This hatch is waning.

It has been mostly blue skies lately. No complaints as warm weather is always welcomed. Fishing is better on days with a mixed sky. Trout feed more actively when clouds block the sun and then vanish when the full light returns. Lately I spend as much time watching the sky as I do the river. Here’s a few trout spotted in early September.

size 18 Pmd’s

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low light browns

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“I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity”–Oprah

roman, brown trout on small dry fly, best of the weekend

Early August. Sunny, dry and hot. Summer finally arrived. A browning lawn, line-ups at the local ice cream shop…With the heat the top water fly fishing slowed down. Then this past weekend a prediction of a cool low front and rain moving in, and best of all, not much wind. Opportunity!? With the changing weather a visiting friend and I walked the well warn path along a favorite river, searched and found some rising fish. In the low light conditions we even located some great brown trout. As always, weather can either be an angler’s friend or foe. This past weekend it was our ally. We were present. We were observant. We were persistent. And we had a bit of luck…our small dry flies held on some great trout. Some photos…

photo by roman

 

successful dry fly during weekend, size 18 pmd, parachute

 

 

brown on size 18 pmd dry

 

brown trout caught by roman, photo by roman

 

brown on size 18 pmd dry, photo by roman

 

abby, drying off

 

deceased riverside pike…tail

 

roman, another great brown on dry fly

Late July- Low and Slow

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“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different”– Kurt Vonnegut

Dry fly fishing has become a morning and evening affair due to sunny days, summer heat and some breezy afternoons. The water level on the Crowsnest river is low and slow and perfect for walk/wading and searching for rising trout. It’s nice to walk the water on a warm summer night and look for a fine trout. Here’s a good one which was spotted sipping just off of a bank in shallow water the other evening. It was fooled by a size 18 pmd dry fly: simple pale yellow thread body, light dun cdc for a wing and visibility, and a bit of dubbing up front to accentuate the thorax….really, a bit of nothing on a hook. The small fly held….ridiculous! A good trout landed and released. An evening I get to keep.

“I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep…”–Kurt Vonnegut

 

 

 

 

summer, june 30th

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Summer. Warm. Long days. Great light for trout spotting. Trout are looking up. Main hatches on the tailwater river I’ve been on: little yellow stoneflies; pmd’s; some larger caddis. Here are a few trout taken sight fishing with dries this long weekend…

rainbow on caddis dry fly, size 12
caddis amber
brown trout on dry fly size 16 yellow stone
brown trout on dry fly

small yellow flies

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Local rivers are settling. Water temperatures are rising into the right zone and with that insects are making a strong appearance and trout are becoming much more active. I’m seeing a lot of the small stoneflies, especially hatches of Yellow Sallies. Here is a recent tie for the faster riffle sections: size 16.

And a tie for slower river sections, size 16.

Pale Morning duns are also starting. Like the Sallies they are light yellow/ cream in color. Some have a slight orange or pale green tint to them. I prefer this hatch as they ride the river surface for a fairly long time before taking flight. Trout can relax and sip on them.

The small fly hatches, unlike the big flies, tend to go on for weeks on end and some for months. They tend to be consistent and dependable. Last year  I fished Pale Duns from late June into late September on one of the local tailwater rivers. That’s reliability!

Catching a large rising trout on a small fly is always a real challenge and quite special when a connection is made and one landed. Here are a few taken on small dries…