Swinging Flies to Jingle Bells

Posted on December 15, 2014 by troutondries.com

The Winter Solstice is just around the corner and I’m still swinging flies and catching trout. I purchased a two-handed switch rod and have been practicing Spey casting the last couple of weekends. It’s going to be my winter project. The casting movement is certainly much easier on the shoulder especially when fishing a big wide open windy river.

sw alberta brown trout

I was hoping to get away to somewhere exotic like Patagonia (check out First Cast Fly Fishing) or NZ this winter for some dry fly angling but I don’t think that I’ll get the time needed for a DIY trip. So, swinging flies it is.

sw alberta tailwater river

All I need is the temperature to be somewhere around zero and it’s quite comfortable out there, even with the sun just barely arcing above the horizon. From noon until 4:30 works well. The fish seem opportunistic then. I keep the menu real simple: a small leech like pattern (black, dark brown or olive) with black rubber legs. Maybe it’s the wiggle; maybe not.

Three weeks ago some trout were feeding in the riffles and hanging out in shallow drop offs. They were quite active. Lately most have been down deeper. I hauled one up the other day in cold weather and it had mittens on its fins.

brown trout

Since I’m not heading to the southern hemisphere I’ve been researching winter steelhead opportunities. There is an intriguing river ten hours from my home. It’s a bit of a hike but maybe I’ll get a chance to put a big bend in the two-hander. In the meantime I’ll keep practicing my technique.

rainbow trout

road home to the rockies

A Brown on the Swing

Posted on November 25, 2014 by troutondries.com

“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails”.

Dolly Parton

There was a wind warning today. I saw part of my neighbour’s eaves trough tumble down the road. At least I think it was his? I should check mine!

On the eastern slopes of the divide in SW Alberta it’s always windy and if you don’t fish in the wind, well, you’re not going to get out very often. So I decided to go and just deal with it. I’d be casting a streamer and figured if it got real bad I’d just flip the fly and feed line or roll cast a lot. My plan was to fish a section of the river that is braided so I’d could find some protective areas behind islands and gravel bars.

late november brown trout

If there is anything good about the wind around here, it’s generally predictable: easterly. The other good thing is that in the summer time it blows terrestrials (grasshoppers, beetles, etc.) into the water. None of that today as we have transitioned to winter.

rainbow trout

I thought that if things became unbearable out there I would pretend I had travelled a long, long way to the Rio Gallegos in southern Patagonia where sea run brown trout and gale force winds rule the river, and you deal with it by tugging down on your Beret and just keep casting! My shoulder still aches. I’m well past the 100 pitch mark in my 9 inning angling career.

rainbow trout

I caught several Rainbow trout and coincidently, one Brown (not sea run but resident), which was the prize of the day. I was standing on the bank four feet above the water and swung my fly through a fairly shallow side channel with an even flow. As the fly tightened to the bank a brown trout glided out from some wood structure and nabbed it. I saw the whole thing from my elevated position. It made the day. I fished until dusk and then headed home guided by the North Star, or was that the Southern Cross?

sw alberta brown trout

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Hope That Dog Doesn’t Bark Tonight

Posted on September 30, 2014 by troutondries.com

“The dogs with the loudest bark are the ones that are most afraid”.

Norman Reedus

“Wow, the river is higher than I expected! Maybe up a foot or two. I knew it was up but I didn’t think it would look like this. I don’t see any bugs. Usually there are some around at this time of day. Maybe the bigger flow squelched the morning hatch. Sudden changes aren’t usually good, especially when it’s extra water being released. I’ll take consistency any day. I’ll always take low and clear. Then you can tease them up even if there are no bugs around. Spotting trout is going to be challenging. They could all be down bottom feeding. I’ll have to cover a lot of ground just to locate one good fish. I’m not into walking a lot. I didn’t sleep much last night. I’m bushed. Dam neighbour’s dog barked from 2:30 to 6:00 am, and then my alarm went off. If that happens again tonight, I’ll call the Municipality. I’ll make a complaint. They get a dog and then tie it up in the backyard and ignore it. They don’t walk it. They don’t pay attention to it. They put it out back and tie it up. I don’t get it. It just sits there all day. It barks at anything and everything. It just needs some attention and care. It needs a walk, or a run. That’s all it needs. Ok, there’s a fish. He’s a good one; a big back on him. He’s moving around. Where did he go? Ok, there he’s over there. It’s the same guy. He’s really moving around. I better get something out in front of him fast before he moves off to deeper water; before he disappears on me. I need to get a fly in front of him. With these conditions I might not see another one all day. This is my shot. Man, I’m tired. My heart’s racing. I hope that dog doesn’t bark tonight”.

Some landscape and trout pictures from past two weekends walking the coulees…

rush hour traffic to river, prairie style

rainbow trout on dry fly

big trout can bend hooks

rainbow trout on dry fly

road home

Stillness, Prairie Scenes and Trout

Posted on September 13, 2014 by troutondries.com

“How we spend or days is, of course, how we spend our lives”.

Annie Dillard

river shelter

“Jeez, it looks like I’m not going to have a lot of time to fish this October. I better make the most of the weekends this month: September. The first week is already almost done. It’s done, done, done….done like dinner. The month is going fast. So I better get out there. The forecast is calling for good weather tomorrow and Sunday. Nothing but blue skies! How rare. Not much luck in that department all through the latter part of August. It will be perfect for sight fishing. Perfect for spotting trout, especially when the sun climbs high. Their dark backs will show up in the shallows. If it’s a little breezy I might spot a few good ones moving around. They’ll be looking for what the wind has delivered. They are always easier to see when they prowl. Motion gives them away. You just have to be patient and watch. You use the sun to your advantage and wait and watch. Forget casting. When you feel like tossing something out there just to do something, or because you feel you won’t catch unless your fly is on the water, just say “No”. You have to fish with your eyes, not your arm. Stillness is your best weapon. Forget about all the equipment and technology: the breathable waders, the fast action graphite rod, WF fly line, a long leader and all the rest. That’s all fine and good but stillness is where it’s at. You can’t worry about getting skunked. Worry about that and you start casting everywhere. Then you spook fish. You spook the real good ones. You cast right over fish you should have seen. You even wade right on top of them and see them bolt. I’ve been there. I still go there sometimes when I get impatient. When I’m in a hurry. When it’s not happening for me. It’s not a good place. Stillness is better. I better get out there this weekend. It has already snowed once. Winter is coming. It think it’s coming early this year. It’s knocking at my door. I kind of feel it’s stalking me. Once it hits it will be a long wait until next season. No, I better get out there. I’ll go and spend a day”.

walk to river

rainbow on dry fly

river in distance

rainbow on dry fly

harvest time on prairies: convoy

rainbow trout on dry fly

it’s windy on the eastern slopes, photo r. dewey

Blur in the Coulee

Posted on September 4, 2014 by troutondries.com

“It’s down there. Down there somewhere in that coulee. The mother of all trout. A brand new Sage One rod for the first person who spots it. You spot it and I’ll catch it. I’ve got this cricket on my line. A black cricket. Look at those spindly rubber legs. It will be irresistible to the one with the big fins. It will fool him. I know it will fool him. It has fooled me. Come on let’s go way down into the coulee. It’s not as far as it looks. A Sage One. Hear that! A Sage One for the first person who spots him. I’ll flick a cricket at big fins. Well see what he says about that. I’ll flick a cricket with a shiny belly. I just have to get the right drift. It’s all about the right drift. If I get the right drift then all hell will break loose.”

(fiction)

morning sun burst

rainbow trout on dry fly

water blur

rainbow trout on dry fly

I’ve had my share of difficulty in past weeks keeping the camera lens clear of water beads (splashy fish); thus the blur effect.

High Water, Dropper Required

Posted on July 16, 2014 by troutondries.com

I was out-of-town for awhile and have been at work this past week so I kind of feel out of touch with the rivers in my area. I did get out a few times in the evening after work and fished until dark. My local river has been fishing poorly. Usually post run-off it is dynamite (rising fish) but not this year, so far. Last year was a similar experience. On the weekend I checked the flow rate (cubic meter stuff) on several of my favorite rivers out on the plains and in the foothills. The numbers were high. I then drove around to have an actual look. One tailwater was really off-color. The other tailwater was half off-color. It was clear on the spillway side of the river and dirty on the other side where water is released from the bottom of the dam. Fishing it looked a little dicey so I drove above the sizeable reservoir to where it is simply a large freestone river. There it was high but the clarity slightly better. I decided to fish the edges and reachable slow spots with a dry fly and a dropper. I couldn’t negotiate (wade) much of the river. The angling was slow but I managed several small fish and then eventually one good brown trout which I got a photo of. All fish were taken subsurface, on a dropper. Usually at this time of the year I see some stoneflies and pmd’s but I saw no noticeable insect life. There are not many sight fishing opportunities on these rivers at present due to high water. I’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for levels to drop and keep my fingers crossed for continued heat and little rain. In the meantime I may have to go up into the mountains to find some low, clear streams and search for cutthroats.