Fly Fishing with a Long Time Friend

The weather was no where near perfect but it was our only shot to get out for a while so what the heck, we went. The eastern slopes have some awesome cutthroat rivers to enjoy. Well a steady drizzle and then rain was not going to dampen our spirits at all. The cutts were willing and we had a great time. Lots of midges, golden stones and the odd green drake even showed up during the showery weather. What worked? Size 14 to 16 flashbacks, golden stone imitations and a size 12 or 14 parachute adams kept us busy!

The best part of the day, hanging out with my buddy Jay. Good times. The truck was covered with mud from our trip back home. No biggie.

Tormented, ...but Fun

 I saw this brown trout quietly sipping bugs on the surface on one of our local brown trout streams. There was actually two of them but the chances of catching him during the day was slim. I came back at dusk and sure enough, there he was sipping brown drakes. You could hear that familiar popping sound as he devoured the big mayflies. I quietly got myself in a good spot to cast. I knew I would probably get one shot. The cast was perfect and sure enough, the brown took my brown drake imposter. I hooked up but the brown shook off during our tustle. It was a very cool moment because I had to bid my time and wait for my chance. It did not turn into perfection because I had no brown in my net.

As I looked upstream, there was another brown. I repeated the entire process. I hooked up and again lost the bruiser. Double darn. A good cast, a take and a brief tangle with two big browns will have to do until I return.

Brown drakes are still hatching and hexagenia are starting up too.

I found a great curve with lots of fish, including some big browns.

Putting in Your Time Can Pay with BIG Browns!

 ...all photos courtesy of Steve Luethi

Putting in your time on our local brown trout waters can pay big dividends when it comes to successfully netting a personal best monster. Steve has been putting his time in on our brown trout streams. He has been waiting to tangle with some bruiser browns. As you can see, he has had a load of success. His caddis pupa imitation under a dry fly has yielded several beauties. Steve even walked into a hexagenia hatch. He had several hook ups but the browns managed to shake off. Sounds like my luck with the brown drakes I was fishing on the other night!

No question about it, do your homework. Troy was out the night Steve netted his 25 inch brown. I bet that was an exciting moment. Celebrate!

Brown Drakes and a Big Brown

This big brown was fooled by a brown drake pattern on the Red Deer River. As you can see, it was almost dark. That is a very typical time for the brown drakes to pop! Well done Byron!

Naming of Heritage Ranch Pond as Mitchell Pond

Red Deer City Council approved the naming of the pond at Heritage Ranch to Mitchell Pond! Barry Mitchell and his family contributed over 40 years to working to conserve our freshwater here in Central Alberta as well as numerous other areas of the province. Barry passed away this year and this will be a great memorial to honour his work as well as to remind us to continue to to keep our moving waters pristine.

Cutthroats on the Eastern Slopes

Rumours suggested that the low water in the west country was a big concern. I suspect by August that maybe the case but today Larry and I had a blast chasing cutthroat on a west country river. The river was not gin clear and it had risen a bit in the last 24 hours but the cutties were hungry. Small nymphs and golden stone imitations did great. In particular a hares ear nymph with goose biots (like a prince nymph) fished great! We also had some success with dry flies like H and L Variants, Parachute Adams and BWOs. We caught lots of 14 to 16 inch cutthroat and several in the 18 inch category and half a dozen honest 20 plus inch cutthroat! Wow what a day!

Enjoy the long weekend. Be safe out there!

One piece of good news is that the paving on Highway 11 looks 99 percent done. That will allow traffic to flow freely finally!

It was nice to bump into Michael Dell today. He was fly fishing with his trusty Andersen Bamboo Rod!

Beautiful Brookies, and Rainbows too!

 Darren Peterson sent along these pictures from Sulphur Laker in northern Alberta.  Darren reported catching lots of brookies and rainbows in the 13-15" range and a few beauties in the 16-19" range.  Darren and his buddy fished both leeches and chironomids with good success.  Seems like every lake up there with trout has an Eagle nest on it.  If the fishing slowed Darren and his buddy was quite entertained by the nesting raptors on the lake!

"Action" from the Parkland Region of Manitoba

Fly fishing can be lots of fun to photograph. I try to have my camera out and ready to go. Celebrating a big fish with a "grip and grin" picture is often what we do. Take some time to photograph the action. Sometimes the action picture paints a better memory of the "moment" that is now etched in your brain! My buddy John Kent teases me by calling me "Creepy Bob", meaning I always have the camera out. I love facial expressions while a fly fisherman tries to land his/her trophy!

Here is a small collection of some of the action from the last 3 weeks in Manitoba. Every once in a while you catch a great moment!

The moment of success!

Doug tangling with another tiger trout!

This father and son team connected with over 50 trout at Patterson Lake this day. I stop counting the number of double headers they had. It was cool to watch!

I love the expression on the face of both Don and Craig in the image above.

Sending a beautiful brown trout back.

Ken happily celebrating his friend's, Gord, tussle with another rainbow!

Brown Drakes are Around!

The brown drakes are now starting to hatch in Central Alberta. The fish in the Red Deer River love them. The hatch usually happens in the dusk part of the evening. These are big mayflies that are a great meal for our fish!

This brown drake decided to emerge right on my front window. There were brown drake spinners all around the house the other night. Keep an eye on your favourite trout streams in Central Alberta for these big bugs!

...yes I know, wash the front window!

Nice Lady Fish Brandon

Brandon tied up a deceiver during one of our fly tying classes and he put it to good use on Little Corn Island. Way to go Brandon!

Rick with a Beauty of a Rainbow

Rick came out for a week to the Parkland Region of Manitoba. He caught several impressive trout!

Adapt and Overcome!

The wind has plenty to say when you decide where to fish in the Parkland Region of Manitoba. Some days; miserable rainy windy days mean that if you still want to fly fish, you better have Plan B. Larry and I scouted the shores of Patterson Lake and we figured out where to walk and wade if the weather did not allow us to launch our boats. We are still amazed at our success right along the shoreline. Lots of deflections, points, tulles, wind lanes are reachable from shore and that means the trout can be there too. Looking at a bathometric map can help lots too! Karen, Larry and I spent 4 hours wandering the shoreline. We were amazed at our success.