I've been waiting for the wind to die down for a couple of weeks in order to fish a local tailwater river. It has been unseasonably hot in southwestern Alberta; in the 30C temperature range...Caribbean like. I've driven the 30 minutes to the river a couple of times to check out the conditions and to see if there are any hatches. The water clarity has been bad probably due to the relentless winds which churn up the reservoir. The water is cloudy (milky looking) with visibility of only about 3 or 4 feet. It is usually low and clear in September. At this time of year we often experience some low fronts (clouds) and accompanying Blue Wing Olive (baetis) activity that can produce some of the best top water action of the year. I'm still waiting for all the "stars to align". Yesterday afternoon the wind eased up a bit and it felt like it might even calm down in the evening. I decided to gamble and make the drive to fish the milky river. I went hoping for a late day hatch as it had been sunny all day. I got lucky. A hatch did occur; mostly olives, size 20. Very tiny stuff. I also saw what looked like fly ants; again tiny. When the hatch got going, fish came up. Some were on emergers (sub-surface feeding) but some very good fish were eating duns in the slower areas. I managed to hook four great fish and landed two. All were rainbows. Two took me into my backing. The largest landed was right around 20 inches. All were hooked in a foot or two of water and took off for deeper territory like bonefish. It is why I'm persistent with this river; challenging angling and long runs. Bonefish in southwestern Alberta! Before you go out, check the tides, start tying some Crazy Charlies and of course as a back-up small Olives. I'll post some photos soon.
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| Lower Oldman River Rainbow Trout |
Wildlife Along River
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