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.

Summer Heat, July 28,29, 2012

I have been on several rivers in the past couple of days. Summer temperatures have arrived along with full sunshine which makes things challenging. I fished a river with brown trout in it and caught several fish on grasshoppers. They weren't large but catching them is always special as there is not a lot of brown trout water around here. Here are some pictures.

I have also been fishing a local tailwater river as the water temperature is cold and there has been hatch activity. I caught some large rainbows, cutthroats and cuttbows (hybrids) on pmd dries and emergers. Most of the fish seen were selectively feeding on emergers. I sight casted with a size 18 emerger resembling a pheasant tail nymph in body color with gold ribbing, a rust/orange zelon tail, and puff of brown cdc for emerging wing (clipped). The fish responded to it. Those that were sipping occasionally were hooked on a size 16 pmd, tied parachute style with either white or black polypro post/wing for visibility depending on the lighting. A black wing shows up great on a large, broad rivers when the surface due to light conditions looks metal grey. I learnt this fishing the Missouri river in Montana and also read about it in a great book called: Small Fly Adventures in the West, by Neale Streeks. It is the best small fly angling book I've read.
The tailwater angling was challenging, technical fishing: sight casting small flies to some large fish showing themselves in full sun..lots of fun, and no split shot! Here are some tailwater trout photos.

tailwater cutthroat