Throwing Strikes in the Wind

 

" I ain't ever had a job, I just always played baseball".
- Satchel Paige

One of my favourite trout rivers is a five hour drive south of my home. The time spent crossing over the flat barren land is well worth it as the river offers incredible dry fly fishing. It has great hatches and I can usually find large fish feeding on the surface. There are individual fish along the banks or in other likely haunts, and sometimes pods right out in open water. It is quite a sight watching large numbers of trout feeding frenetically on the surface. I often go there in the Fall hoping for a strong hatch of Olives to pull the fish to the surface.

The river runs through open arid terrain and the region experiences more than its fair share of wind which accelerates down off of the great continental divide just to the west and races across the plains. One year on the drive there a motorcyclist travelling in the opposite direction was listing severely in order to compensate for the stiff cross winds. This brought a smile to my face. Although my four wheels were more stable than his two, I had to keep a firm grip on the steering wheel in order to counter unexpected blasts. Sometimes tractor trailers get blown over here. Travelling this route can be a rough ride...think movie scenes depicting re-entry into earth's atmosphere.

When driving there in the Fall, usually in October, the morning sports report always reminds me it is World Series time. I have always enjoyed baseball, especially playoff games with the classic pitcher versus batter duals.

I remember one year arriving at the river and in a hurried attempt to erect my tent in the wind it went airborne like a kite. It was quite comical and embarrassing, especially amongst the conclave of condo sized RVs that surrounded me. I decided to wait for the calm of nightfall to complete the task. Instead, while sitting at a picnic table I built a tapered leader with several spools of leader material that I had recently purchased. Following, I geared up ritualistically, tugged my hat down tight and started walking the river bank in search of what I came for.

As is often the case on this wonderful stretch of water, it didn't take long to locate rising trout. My fly presentation, however, left a lot to be desired. I missed several great opportunities to catch large fish due to my inability to control where my fly landed. It was frustrating to spot noses poking through the surface and not be able to get my fly consistently in the strike zone. I caught some wonderful trout but missed many more. If I was a big league pitcher the sportscasters would be announcing I was "wild" or had absolutely  "no control". My manager would be cursing and alerting the bull pen. What it all came down to was I just wasn't able to consistently throw strikes!

That night I listened to the magical call of coyotes filtered through the drone of RV generators. My RV neighbours had their satellite dishes pointing skyward and TVs on loud. Baseball had also captured their imaginations. While lying in my tent I reviewed the day and came to the conclusion I have fished in worse conditions in the past and performed quite well. Usually I have some semblance of control over the fly no matter how adverse the situation. I am used to wind. The terrain that surrounds my favourite river at home has giant wind generators sprouting from it.

I had tried using the wind to my advantage but with little success. Even driving my line forward with more zest and speed by single and then double hauling didn't help much. Side casting low to the water also didn't help. It seemed that no matter what tactic I tried I was inconsistent in reaching my target. Something was different. My leader was clearly the weak link in the chain. It often collapsed or folded, and seemed softer or limper than the material I usually use. The wind was simply pushing it around. It was wimpy and so was I. Although I had bought the same brand of leader material I usually use and fish with success, I realised that it was a new product line. It wasn't like the old material. My struggles continued all weekend.

I returned home an unconfident angler. During the week I bought several spools of the old familiar stiffer material and built myself a new knotted leader. The following weekend I returned to the same river. As usual the wind was blowing and the trout were rising. I took the mound and dug in my spikes. This time, however, I had great control and the trout responded to my more accurate fly presentation. Arm, rod, line, and leader were performing, if I may say, artfully. Finally the energy I was exerting was being transferred consistently through to the fly. I imagined the same sportscasters announcing that this week I was in the "zone" and had "great control". My confidence was back. I was throwing strikes again!

Locating and casting to surface feeding trout is a wonderful activity. It is so visual and my favorite type of fly fishing. I often search for and travel to creeks and rivers that provide this type of angling opportunity. The world becomes very small and focused when you spot a mature trout rising consistently. You forget about upstream, downstream, yesterday, or tomorrow. When a trout is surface feeding on a dense hatch its attention, like yours, is intensely focused and narrow, and you can usually wade or walk fairly close to it if careful. A river surface disturbed by wind aids you in moving in tight. The fish will remain relatively stationary as long as food continues to glide consistently overhead and if it isn't disturbed by something. Casting accuracy and sometimes timing are important in these situations.

You don't need long drifts for this type of angling and therefore you don't need a lot of slack in your leader. The fly needs to be cast just a couple of feet upstream of a feeding fish. A stiff monofilament leader gives you the control and therefore accuracy you need to do this in adverse conditions (wind). Just add on two or three feet of regular soft tippet and that should give you just enough slack to go at  the fish and get just enough natural drift. If the fly is convincing and it appears at the right moment, then you have a chance of a hook-up. If your accuracy and drift are good but timing is off, then slide the fly away once it passes safely downstream of the trout and try again. With repeated pitches you eventually should get it right. The key is to throw strikes and in big wind a stiff leader helps you do that.

This past weekend it was blowing hard on a nearby river. Here are a couple of fish picked up while throwing dries and some strikes.

Trout Spotting Under a Prairie Sky

"Man makes plans, and God laughs"

--Yiddish Proverb

I only had four or five hours to fish on Saturday and decided to head to a location at least 45 minutes away. I went as the sky was fairly clear and I was hoping to spot trout. The two pools I wanted to fish are below bluffs and are about a 30 minute hike from where I park. I knew I would have only a couple of hours to actually fish. Not a lot of time but I know the spot fairly well and felt that with the mid day high sun I might see some good fish from the cliffs, and maybe connect with one. I had been on the river last week in the evening and knew the water was just about as clear as it ever gets, and that the flow was good for dry fly angling. You see, I had a plan.

cottonwood trail to pools



trout spotting from above

So off I went. Normally I'm pretty good at obeying speed limits but I flew at warp speed once I was off the main highway and onto the rural prairie roads. I kept imagining a fellow with a heavy Scottish accent saying, "Captain the Dilithium crystals just can't take it anymore at this speed" (Star Trek). Hawks eyed me whizzing by from their hay bale perches. There were two trucks parked at the river and I could see anglers wading nearby. I thought, "Hopefully no one went way downstream?" I geared up and quickly hiked the faint trail to where I wanted to fish. At the first pool it took me a little while to start seeing fish even from up high. There is "looking" and then there is actual "seeing". The two aren't the same. Sometimes you "look" for your car keys but fail to "see" them right in front of you on the kitchen table. It is easy to look but harder to see. I seem to be able to make the shift to "seeing" when I stop moving and do even better if I kneel or sit down. Eventually I spotted three trout. Two were roaming around in fairly deep water but every once in awhile one would rise and eat from the surface in a soft spot where food was collecting. It looked good. I was confident I had a chance to fool one. I dropped down from the bluff and fished it from an upstream position. After one cast I started second guessing my strategy and was considering circling downstream to cast to it from behind. In the middle of that "thought" the fish took my offering and I landed him...a rainbow.



18" rainbow on dry

I walked to the next pool and watched the water from up high as I went. I located another nice fish on the bank between pools. It was sipping on the occasional PMD in very shallow, slow water. I hiked down the embankment and fished it from behind. I hooked but did not land it. Another nice rainbow.

At the second pool I spotted a good fish rise in a subtle, slow flow with a narrow bubble line. Then the trout disappeared. From my perch I watched the area for 20 or 30 minutes. Some high white clouds appeared which made spotting more challenging. Eventually a head poked up and it started feeding fairly consistently. I fished to it upstream. Another rainbow. After that it was time to go home.



20" rainbow on small dry fly

Not all angling outings work out as hoped. Most don't. Today it did...I made a plan and God smiled on me.

Roaming & Trout Spotting

 "These good times are like money in the bank. We were born lookin' for rainbows...Let's go fishin', Frank... If anyone asks you what it's all about, wink and grin and tell 'em trout."

 

-- from Let's Go Fishin' Frank, by Danny O'Keefe

One week ago a good friend was visiting and we roamed around and tossed flies on several rivers in the SW corner of Alberta. It was tough angling. It seemed like the recent floods have simply punched the life out of many streams.The Crowsnest river, on the days I walked it, had few mayflies and I didn't even see one large sipper. Unusual for July. The PMD hatch simply didn't develop. There were large and mid-sized stone flies on some sections of the river and you could prospect with a dry but even that was very slow going.

river side flood damage

My favourite local hatch river, the lower Oldman, was beyond silty: think chocolate milk! In the past two weeks, I have seen little improvement in it. The visibility is less than one foot and I don't see it clearing anytime soon.

The lower Castle river, on the one day I fished it, was clear but seemed void of life: trout and bugs. I spotted a Toad stream side: tough little guy. I don`t know how he survived the recent torrent.

toad

sight fished rainbow, caught by author on dry fly

There was some life on a river further south and it was fairly clear. And we had some luck with a Cutthroat stream up in the mountains. We just kept moving around and searching.



beautiful cutthroat, caught by Joe F on dry fly

big rainbow caught sight fishing, by Joe F on dry fly



clear sky and great terrain for trout spotting

Our persistence paid off on some days in what so far has been a very tough season for the dry fly angler. The pictures capture our successes but what you don`t see is all the long hours we put in every day; the many miles covered on foot; the time spent in the mid-day heat standing on high cliffs and the grassland benches searching the water below for a few good fish; and the long faces and frustration after some very challenging days. We did catch some fish; and several very special ones. There were no gimmes this week. My friend, Joe, a versatile angler, caught trout on all the rivers we fished. There were a few angling moments where it all came together. And other moments like the drive home one day from the plains to the foothills where for a split second my eye caught a Pinto Mare and her Colt illuminated in a green field by the warm, soft setting sun during what painters and photographers call the Magic Hour...an image I'll never forget.




crowsnest river rainbow, caught by Joe F, prospecting with dry fly

The most fascinating angling days for me were when we got to sight fish to several large trout. It was classic trout spotting, watching them cycle and fishing dries in very shallow water...so visual!

An excellent DVD on this type of angling is: Sight Fishing Trout Rivers by Jensen Fly Fishing. It is full of information and the video footage is beautiful.



rainbow caught sight fishing with dry fly in shallows by author



trout spotting from cliff

rainbow trout, caught by Joe F

Oldman and Crowsnest River Report, June 18, 2013

Spring and early Summer:  " It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine"
-Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

I was on local rivers this weekend and Monday night. Saturday afternoon I spent a couple of hours on the Crowsnest river looking for risers. I spotted none in spite of covering some territory. I returned one evening this week after some rain and hail, and it fished well in the low light and humidity. It felt like summer. There was a rumbling storm in the distance, some surface disturbances and a few takes on a dry fly. They were solid "Crow" fish with a lot of pull in them.

crowsnest river rainbow

I spent late morning and mid-day on Sunday checking out the Lower Oldman river. Usually at this time of year it is high, fast and turbid. This year, mid-June, it is quite fishable. I have never experienced that in the 12 years I've fished it. Usually you have to wait until mid-July for it to drop and clear for any sort of consistent dry fly angling. No two angling seasons are ever the same.

The visibility on the lower Oldman was 2 to 3 feet. When I arrived at the river there was some cloud cover and quite a few bugs were on the water: mainly mid-sized yellow stones, some size 12 mayflies and in the afternoon just a few PMD's appeared. I caught some fish on dries casting to boils and spotted the odd trout sporadically eating on top. The ones I landed were mid-sized fish....one was a bit better. The largest fish I intended to photograph but it wasn't cooperative; so no fish pics from the Oldman. Things were looking very promising but when the full sun appeared in the afternoon it became a ghost town...no more surface action except one small Brown trout feeding in the shadow of the bridge. Some other anglers were around. One fellow was practicing Spey casting and dreaming of Steelhead. Boat trailers were also around so a few people were drifting the river. I walked downstream quite far when the sun squelched the angling to investigate how recent run-off has re-shaped the river. I spotted an upright picnic table in the middle of the river on a shoal. Here is a snap of it. I'll eat lunch there sometime this summer. Maybe use it as a casting platform!

picnic table, oldman river

The Lower Oldman looks real promising. I might check it out again after work later this week if it stays warm and fish it late (in low light).

Because it's the beginning of summer, angling memories are just waiting to happen.

Trout in Frog Water

"It is good for the soul to follow through on your eccentric interests and mad inclinations"
 --Thomas Moore

missouri river

The trout were ultra picky. It was driving me crazy. Summer temperatures, 80F, in early May. One day it hit 87F. The full sun didn't help. It made things real challenging in the shallow, flat water I was on. And it was suppressing the Springtime hatches. But there were a few bugs on the water: some Midges in the morning and tiny size 20 Olives in the afternoon. Occasionally even an "easy on the eyes" big March Brown drifted by. There was hope.

missouri river

The trout were shy to rise and when they did feed it was subtle. They were mainly on emergers but occasionally some broke the meniscus. I thought they might be small as they didn't displace much water when they surfaced. I continued to watch as I've fished long enough to know some very large trout can feed like a Guppy.

It was tough to get close to them mid day. The low angled morning and late afternoon light allowed me to see better and get tighter. What I saw, I liked. Wading was also challenging. Take a step in the flat water and a wake travelled 50 yards.

missouri r, pelican pt.

I tried a variety of small fly patterns. Stuff that I usually connect with was often ignored. The rises were often irregular. There were no easy greedy rhythmic feeders. Many of the natural bugs that floated along with my impressions also received little attention. And then every once in a while a large trout would tip up and eat. They wanted what they wanted and I was trying to figure it out. I tossed cripples, spinners, hackle stackers, half hackles, no hackles... I thought about drag and tried different presentation angles...5x, then 6x tippet....then a black beetle, and on and on it went....multiple patterns, many fly changes.

creative river access from interstate hwy

Every night and early morning I tied different patterns and went back to the spot. Nothing was easy. I got blown off the water on two days, picked up my gear and drove two hours south to Dillon to fish a small public spring creek called Poindexter Slough. When the wind subsided I returned. My expensive waders started leaking like the Titanic. I was carrying an extra ten pounds of sloshing weight on my right leg. One day I lost three spools of tippet, then the next day my nymph/emerger box mysteriously disappeared. I haven't done that in years. It also seemed I was making every conceivable angling mistake: frequent line tangles, blown knots, snapping leaders. I pulled a fly prematurely out of a very big mouth.

Sometimes I timed my strike well but the tiny fly simply slipped out with no contact whatsoever, or I nicked a fish but unfortunately no hook-up. These are some of the tribulations of small fly angling. At times I lost complete confidence in my flies. In fishing, like other areas of life, confidence is often fickle. One afternoon I hooked a very large brown that I had been targeting. Late in the fight he circled me twice. As I was getting prepared to net him the 6x gave way and off he swam. I screamed, "No" and almost tossed my rod in the river.

It was mesmerising, shallow water angling. Some of the best and most challenging, slow water sight fishing I have ever experienced. The trout, mainly browns, were feeding in one to two feet of water. I spent the last four days mid stream in full sun stalking them on my knees. I even waded on my knees along the silt bottom to get closer and solve drag problems. The flies I tied became sparser and sparser. Eventually, they were simply a hook with a bit of thread, a slightly built up thorax region, two microfibbets for tails, and simple wings, tied upright or flush. A downstream and across presentation  (fly first) seemed to work best... sometimes! The odd cloud helped. I kept whispering to myself  "hang in there, browns are simply different cats." I did hang in there and made some connections.

missouri river brown trout

Hours on the river passed like minutes. Only the failing light alerted me it was time to reel in, return to the campground, fuel my body and sleep. I had to remind myself there would be another day, a tomorrow.

My last day there I fished a different location in the morning. Then I returned to where I had spent most of the week. A car was parked there and I saw an angler returning to his vehicle from the river. I asked the sixty year old plus fellow in the fully loaded Simms vest if he had been the only one down at the river? He replied there had been another fellow earlier but he had left. He told me where he had fished and that he had caught a couple. Then he said he changed spots and described a different location where he saw the odd riser. It was the location I had spent most of the week on. He said the fish there weren't interested in his flies and he wasn't even sure they were trout. He called the spot, "Frog Water ". We both laughed.

Here are some snaps of hard earned brown and rainbow trout caught on size 20 flies in "Frog Water".

missouri river rainbow trout

missouri river brown trout

old rainbow with frayed dorsal fin

Crossing the Big Void for Risers

 

 

 

I grew up in southern Quebec where the countryside is full of trees: maple forests, birch...thick stands are everywhere. It rains a lot there and it's humid so things root and quickly grow skyward. Rural roads are fringed with trees. Homes have trees around them. Even the parks in downtown Montreal are full of trees. Small streams and creeks are often canopied by broad branches. Trees are always around you. They are company and make the world seem smaller, more intimate. Trees create boundary lines and delineated spaces within a larger space.

When I drive south of Lethbridge into Montana I always feel uneasy. No matter where I look it is just stark open space. Treeless. Like a big void. There are few boundary lines, especially in the Winter time when it all seems so colourless and lifeless and the grey land blends with the muted sky, and a horizon doesn't even seem to exist. When I'm out there I feel that I might just disappear; that the space will somehow inhale me. I look for pronghorn antelope or coyote just to see if things can survive without being swallowed up by all the nothingness.

I feel relieved when I approach the town of Great Falls, Montana because I see structure: homes, large buildings, and of course trees. I pass through and drive further south along the meandering Missouri river edged by comforting cottonwoods and mountains in the distance, and feel even more confident. I have made the crossing intact.

This past weekend I drove south of Lethbridge to get an early start on the angling season. I braved the crossing and the cold as I knew trout would probably be rising on the other side. And they were. When the wind took a break and the water calmed, trout surfaced for midges. And I caught a few. I caught trout in mid March when Winter refused to give way to Spring. I caught them on minute size 20 dry flies on a river over two football fields wide. I caught them after braving the big void.

midge fly

walking the plank to an island

 

midge hatch

if they don't rise for small dries, I shoot them

 

flat water side channel

Brown Trout from Past Seasons

fall tailwater brown, caught on beetle 

 

The first stream I ever fly fished had predominately Brown and Rainbow trout in it. The Rainbows were stocked. The Browns were also stocked yearly but they were more likely to survive or "hold over" and some even reproduced. That is what I fished for: wild trout. They were the prized catch. Some actually grew very large considering the size of the stream and that it was Eastern acidic water, and somewhat nutrient poor. Landing a few good sized Browns made my season.

Most of the Western rivers I now fish are dominated by Rainbows but it is always nice to land a few good Browns. They still make my season. They are special.

All of the fish below were spotted and caught on the surface with small stuff except two... they were enticed by a hopper.



tailwater brown, caught on pmd

 

spring creek brown, caught on hopper

 

tailwater side channel brown

 

oldman river brown, caught by joe f.

oldman river brown, caught by author

Midges Saved the Day

high plains hwy

missouri river rainbow

 

I spent last weekend on the Missouri River. I was on a budget so I slept in my vehicle and brought snacks. The river fished well. November can be a good time on the Missouri. If the wind lays low then some great surface action can be had. On Saturday it didn't blow too hard and the fish were on Olives in the afternoon. I caught several on dries. On Sunday I got an early start, around 9:00 am. The fish were up and already very active on midges, mainly emergers. Fall is considered Baetis(Olive) time (afternoon hatch) for the dry fly angler but experience has taught me that the midge fishing can even be better. The key is that it tends to be very calm in the morning and with the river surface being glass-like, trout are often found actively feeding on midges...a tailwater staple. That is exactly what I experienced on Sunday morning. By noon the wind was full throttle and the Baetis hatch never really developed and therefore I spotted few surface fish. With the morning midge activity I caught nice fish on midge dries but had more success using an emerger pattern fished just inches under a Griffith's Gnat (dry). The rainbows were concentrating on the rising swimming emergers. I had to angle my cast downstream at a bulging fish and skate or wake the tiny dry with dangling emerger in front of the fish to get a response. Often they surged at the emerger and inhaled it. Midges saved the day.

missouri river

The whole river valley was full of  life: Ring-Necked Pheasants, Hawks, a Bald Eagle, many Coots in the side channels, Beaver, Muskrat, Deer and Antelope, and of course bulging and sipping Trout. I saw several good sized brown trout on redds. In mid afternoon the temperature hit mid 50's F. It was a great way to spend an early November weekend.  I caught my first trout of the 2012 season on a dry fly in early April and possibly my last this past weekend: November. The small fly season can truly be a long one. The key is river selection (water type). Here are some pictures of the trip.

 

butte near cascade montana