Sunday, Bloody Sunday!





portal to south

I had family visiting all week. It was the first time this summer my wading boots completely dried out. I finally got a chance to fish Sunday afternoon but only for 4 or 5 hours. I spent most of my time driving and then river walking. The actual fishing time seemed minimal. I checked out a tailwater river south of where I live. There was a lot of traffic on the road and smoke on the southern horizon. I thought there must he fires in Montana, Idaho or BC. Haying was going on in the fields. Hawks were perched on bales. As I drove through what I call the Portal to the South, grasshoppers hit my windshield. Things looked promising.



haying

When I arrived at the river I checked out a spot near where I park. I often get a response from a fish there. On my second or third cast a large rainbow chased my grasshopper a short distance then gave up. I casted back to the spot where I initially raised it and he surfaced again and took it. After the initial run he seemed to get lazy. I eased up and well, he got off. That was the only fish all afternoon that came up for a large terrestrial pattern.

I hiked downstream a distance and like a hawk perched on a high point: a bluff. I spotted a buttery coloured trout occasionally rising to PMDs in the gentle flow of a side channel just up from where it entered a deep and sizable pool. I watched this soft section for awhile and figured out an angling strategy before dropping down the 20 foot bank well upstream of the fish. I then circled behind it. Everything was going well when an Oarsman in a blue raft with two anglers (possibly friends but more likely clients) called out from a distance that he was "coming through". I glanced back over my left shoulder and told him to go behind me as I was on to a good fish. He yelled, "what do you want me to do...I'm coming through here!" Shortly after I looked back again and the raft was almost on me. I reacted quickly and waded out of the way. As they drifted by I said, " thanks a lot, now my fish is gone". He said that he had no option. I said he did "have an option". I told him that they could have simply got out of the raft in the 1 foot deep water just upstream of me and walked/guided it behind me at the head of the pool. Then they could have jump back in and resumed their float. He said he "didn't want to do that" and I replied "no kidding, instead you pushed me off the water I was fishing". By then the raft was in the deep pool just below me and drifting away. The oarsman ended the discussion with,"F-You". Surprisingly I did not return the F-Word ( I must be maturing). The two anglers with him said nothing the whole time.




side channel

 bluff, main flow and side channel

I waited awhile, saw no fish and decided to use the adrenaline pumping through me to hike further downstream. The next pool had people fishing it and so I walked further. The pool after that, my favourite spotting pool on the river, also had people on it plus the ominous blue raft. I checked my watch and thought this was going to be a tough day. I started thinking about applying for Russian citizenship and moving to Kamchatka: good fishing, few people...

I headed back upstream. I returned to the pool I was on earlier and went through the same routine: sitting and surveying from the bluff. I spotted an impressive rainbow sipping on PMD's just below where I saw the other fish...again in the soft flow. It was swaying back and forth in order to get a consistent meal. When I dropped down to fish it I spooked the buttery trout I saw earlier. It was just 10 feet away a little higher in the side channel. I had failed to spot it while watching the other fish feed. I fished to the rainbow with a size 18 PMD tied parachute style. After several casts I hooked up and he turned and went straight downstream at a bonefish pace and kept going. It was fun to watch. He jumped at the tail of the deep pool. Fish are like people, some simply have more spirit than others. He was a good one. I had him on for some time and kept pressuring him, and then slack. The hook came out.



side channel soft water and main flow in foreground

Soon it was time to head back to my car. All the pools upstream had anglers in them. I have never seen the river this crowded; usually I see nobody. There were three fellows in wet suits doing some sort of stream analysis...maybe biologists. There was a family pick-nicking on the bank. There were several trucks parked on ranch land next to the river.

Although I didn't take the river temperature it was cool. The flow was typical for August. The water clearer than I have experienced in the past. It was perfect water for sight fishing. I spotted several large fishing feeding on PMD's in a back eddy along a cliff wall that I had no chance of fishing without a boat or repelling gear. Grasshoppers casted nearby drew no attention. PMD's were the main bug and all the fish I saw feeding (surface) were on them. There were many grasshoppers along the banks but with no wind I saw none in the water. I saw some flying ants.

Although it was a tough afternoon it was good to get my wading boots wet again. If I go back it won't be on Sunday, Bloody Sunday! It will be mid week.

Post Lost Creek Fire

I met him this July (2012) on a stretch of the Crowsnest river (Crow) I haven't been on in 8 yrs. He was in his late 60's maybe even 70's. I estimated his age by how he waded which was cautiously and often supported by a wading stick. It is hard to tell the age of someone in full fly fishing gear: waders; sunglasses; bandana; floppy hat. He did have the distinct look of someone who has fly fished for a long time. Don't ask me the specifics of this look, it is more a Gestalt thing.

His back was to me. I called out from some distance so as not to spook him which I did any way. We ended up speaking for one half hour about the Crow.

He said he had been out for 6 hours and that there were no insects. I agreed things were slow. I had only been on the water for one half hour and spent much of this time hiking to the pool I met him on. I was going to wait there for an hour or two to see if I could spot some nice fish rise before darkness. It was already 7:30 pm. The night before this strategy worked well on a different section as a moderate PMD hatch occurred at 8:30 and two very nice trout slid over to a shallow bank where insects get funnelled and started to feed rhythmically. I told him to "hang in" for the next hour or so as I explained I saw fish the night before. He didn't seem convinced.

He told me he had fished the Crow for 18 years and that since the Lost Creek Fire of 2003 the PMD hatch has never been the same. He said the fishing prior had always been amazing, and he figured that that would go on forever. He wanted it to go on forever. He reminisced about the good old hatch days and I listened. He spoke about black ash flowing down the river during the fire and seemed convinced this had affected bug production.

I said I had fished the Crow for 11 years and that my first season on it was the summer of 2001 in July and that PMD hatch had been a very good one. I felt that since then the hatch had never been as strong, even 2002 the year before the fire
.
There we were knee deep in the Crow trying to figure it out!

We spoke about our mutual interest in fishing small mayflies and also about dry fly rivers elsewhere, including ones in Montana where he fished regularly. I told him about my favourite river south of the border. He said he would check it out.

Eventually we parted ways. He slowly moved downstream to fish closer to the B&B he was staying at. I focused on the pool we had been standing in. I spotted no rising fish in the next hour or so. Thunder began to rumble. A serious storm was coming my way. While walking back to my car I spotted a good fish rising to a PMD and landed it before heading home. Success... post Lost Creek Fire!

Dog Days Report, August 19, 2012

I fished the Oldman River tailwater section again. The thermometer in my pack said 96F. Hot! The water temperature was 58F in the shallow riffles late afternoon. Cool! That's a great temperature (water) for trout. The water flow is around 35 m3, perfect for dry fly angling and wading the river. I managed some good sized rainbows and an 18 inch Brown on a size 20 PMD dry in the tail of a slow, glassy pool while Osprey circled above. The Dog Days of summer are here. Trout are still sipping on tiny mayflies and someone threw a no-hitter in Major League Baseball this week. Imagine that!

size 20 PMD, white polypro wing, with trailing shuck

Beefy Tailwater Cutt, August 18, 2012

I managed several nice fish on a local tailwater mid-afternoon in the 30c heat and bright sunshine. All fish were spotted and then caught on dries. PMD's continue to be the main hatch. They are now size 18 and smaller. The hatch has weakened in the past week, especially in the afternoon but a significant amount started to emerge at 6 pm. The largest fish was a 20 inch beefy Cutthroat caught on a beetle. Other fish were hooked on a PMD pattern, size 18 and 20....small flies, beefy fish!

foam beetle

Crowsnest River Fishing, August 11, 2012

cutthroat adipose fin

I've been on the Crow the last 2 evenings. The dry fly fishing has been tough. August can be tough. In spite of the weak PMD hatch I managed to locate a couple nice trout eating dries. I missed one feeding in a difficult location but landed the other. The fish in the back eddies are mainly on emergers but I did spot a few eating PMD duns. The PMD's are much smaller now probably size 18 and under. And the fish eating them are more discerning especially in the slow sections. The river is low and you have to be real careful when wading the flat water. Slow down and look hard. You have to hunt for them. The odd one out there is still sipping. Challenging angling... long leaders.

There are grasshoppers around.

Seagulls and Trout Eating Mayflies, August 6, 2012

cutthroat tail

The PMD hatch continues to be good on a local tailwater river. Some trout are sipping in the slower sections of the river such as in back eddies and just off of the runs and riffles, often in very shallow water. This year I've noticed a lot of Seagulls in the eddies and they are munching mainly on mayflies along with the trout. The trout don't seem to mind. If I see Gulls I figure the fishing will be good. I continue to catch good fish mid-afternoon even in bright sun by focusing on the spots where the bugs are collecting. You have to pay close attention as many rises are subtle. I love this type of angling: big fish, small fly hatch, subtle rises and shallow water. If summer storm clouds roll in late afternoon the angling even gets better. For the small fly enthusiast living in the south western corner of Alberta this is the river where it is presently happening!
Here are some pics of beautiful trout fins.

rainbow dorsal fin

Big Rainbow, Small Dry, August 4, 2012

I fished a local tailwater yesterday through the afternoon in full sun and heat. The water temperature was perfect. I did a lot of walking to spot rising fish but managed several. As the afternoon progressed the PMD hatch got better and better. The best fish was 20 inches on a size 18 PMD cripple pattern, deer hair wing. I found an Owl Bird House upside down in some branches at river's edge. It was probably deposited there during run-off. I untangled and up righted it. Here are some pics:



20in Bow

Owl Bird House

Lower Oldman River, Overcast and PMD's, August 2, 2012

After work I zoomed down to a local tailwater that has been having a solid PMD hatch through late July and so far early August. It rained today and was mainly overcast and I was expecting and even better hatch with the inclement weather. The hatch was amazing and probably had gone on most of the day even though I only got to the river at 6:30 pm. Some Olives were also on the water. Fish were up and showing themselves. Most were on emergers and just showing their backs and tails. Some occasionally sipped from the surface. I picked up some fish on dries by moving down to some flat water sections well below the riffles/runs.The PMD's continue to be large for August, size 14 and 16. The river is producing more cutthroats this year than in the past and also more brown trout. Variety is good.