The New Fly Fisher Show from the Parkland Region of Manitoba

New Fly Fisher host Phil Rowley spends a few days during the Fall in the Parkland Region of Manitoba! Well worth the 22 minutes to watch!

Great Start to a New Fly Tying Season

It was time to unearth the fly tying tools and get another fly tying season off the ground. We did it in grand style too! What a turn out, 31 strong. It was nice to see several new faces. The best part of the evening was catching up with the gang and getting the fly tying vice back to work. 

Tonight we worked on three flies: a wiggle worm, a zug bug and lastly a balanced flashback were our challenges tonight. The wiggle worm was a good warm up fly and then the zug bug made everybody start thinking about getting the right proportions to their flies and finally the balanced flashback was a challenge that made everybody hold their jaw just right to get the job done!

All three flies can be used in both lakes and rivers.

Thanks Doug Pullen for helping with the photos and delivering fly tying materials.

Next week Brandon Fawcett is our guest tyer! I wonder if Brandon has a salt water fly or two on his mind! See you then!

Bob Vanderwater was the guest tyer!

Wiggle Worm

Thread: Red 8/0

Hook: Mustad C49S Sizes 8 or 10

Weight: lead or lead substitute 

Body: Wiggle Worm, Red

Zug Bug

Thread: Red 8/0

Hook: 3906B sizes 10-14

Tail: Sword fibers from a peacock feather

Body: Peacock herl

Rib: Silver holographic tinsel, medium

Collar: Partridge

Wing Case: Mallard flank died wood duck or wood duck

Balanced Flashback Pheasant Tail

Thread: Red 8/0

Hook: Daiichi 4640 sizes 14-16

Bead: 7/64th gold tungsten

Extension for balanced fly: 1/2 inch finishing nail

Tail: Pheasant Tail

Body: Pheasant Tail

Shellback: Opal Mylar, medium

Thorax: Peacock herl

Collar: Partridge

The gang at work concentrating!

Gearing Up for the Fly Tying Season

Hi Everybody!

Well the fly tying season kicks off on Monday, November 30th at West Park Middle School starting at  7 pm. We generally are all finished up at 9 pm. Remember that each session costs $3.00 per person. That covers the costs of the fly tying materials for the evening per person!

New fly tyers are always welcome!

What do you need to have along with you? Here are the basics:

• a fly tying vice
• sharp pair of scissors (you can cheap sharp ones at Michaels for about $8
• whip finishing tool
• a bobbin or two (to hold tying thread)
• fly tying thread: I suggest back, red, olive, orange (8/0) and the same colours in 6/0; you at times will need other colours but these are the basic colours that will get you by!
• some crazy glue (brushable type, can get at Michaels)
• dubbing twister
• hair stacker
• velcro brush

There are other materials that you may occasionally need but these will get you by! You can gather most of these materials locally (TC Outfitters, Sportsmen's Den or Wolverine (by Costco).

Our first tying session will be doing some basic nymphs that can be used on both lakes and rivers.

Slide Show of the 2015 Fly Fishing Season

Hi Everybody!

I sorted through a lot of pictures that were sent my way and have put together a slide show of the 2015 fly fishing season. Grab a coffee and enjoy. There are several amazing photos that were e-mailed to me. Those images certainly made it easy to pull together the slide show!

Fly Tying season is right around the corner. I will send out more about that in a week or so!

See you soon!

Bob

Beautiful Saturday Morning on the Red Deer River

Steve Leuthi photo 

 Steve Leuthi photo

The glass 7 weight rod definitely had a full flex while the switch rod and spey rod laid out their line. The flies got plenty of attention from the walleye on such an unusually warm Saturday morning a few days from Remembrance Day! Rick's switch rod finally felt a tug, the "stink" is off of the rod. 

Lots of fisherman were out today. A perfect day to escape the job jar!

Steve Leuthi photo

Steve Leuthi photo

More Walleye on the Fly

It was a frigid start to a beautiful sunny day. Pepper and I set off on our usual morning jog with the mercury hovering around -7C. As we passed Bower Ponds, I realized that the ponds were completely frozen. There it was, an icy blanket that will stay until sometime next April. We continued our trek through Heritage Ranch and the pond there was also firmly encased in ice. I had the afternoon to fly fish so Tiki, Pepper and I headed back to the tailwater below Dickson Dam to swing clousers for walleye. While Tiki and Pepper look for mice,  I was casting my 13 foot 6 inch Sage 1.

While gearing up, I could see two bald eagles soaring over the far bank. I could hear lots of geese off in the distance as well as a group of ravens trying to hassle the eagles. The thermometer was now a balmy 7C. Sunny and relatively warm. Great start.

As I wandered down to the water, I meet up with two fisherman. They had not had any luck but I could tell they were enjoying the afternoon in the sun.

I waded out to the spot I wanted to start and it was just a few casts before my line tightened up with a walleye. Past experiences reminded me to let my clouser swing slowly and at the same time keep the line tight with a slow retrive. Well the walleye were hanging out in the usual spots and they we quite willing to strike my offering. My last two trips to walleye fly fish yielded decent results but this afternoon was the best yet.

You get cold standing in the water. Every once in a while, I had to retreat to shore to warm up a bit.

The afternoon flew by. The walleye were active for most of my visit. We finally loaded up the truck and headed down Highway 54. We passed a slough that had several hundred geese walking on top of the ice. They looked annoyed. Not me, I had an awesome afternoon!

The geese certainly made quite a ruckus as they travelled by the Red Deer River.

There were two bald eagles soaring on the far bank for most of the afternoon. I managed to capture an image with one of the raptors.

Aeration Update

Take a look right here to see how the ACA is handling the legal issues as it relates to aerators!

...from Red Deer Advocate. (click on article to make it larger!)