Excellent Water Boatmen Patterns Designed by Les Robinson

The Fall season is upon us and that means water boatmen and backswimmers will be on our local lakes shortly! There have been reports of some boatmen showing up already in Central Alberta pothole lakes.

I was talking with Kent and Amanda Govett, owners of Canadian Llama Company, earlier this week. They are a great place to purchase fly tying hooks, beads and a wide variety of fly tying materials. They are a Canadian company and their service is fantastic!

I noticed that Les Robinson has made some modifications on his tried and true Water Boatman patterns. The modifications are using newly designed Pro Tyer Hooks  and 2 tone tungsten half beads that can be purchased on line at the Canadian Llama Company!

These are excellent patterns. Give them a try!

Whitefish on the Fly on the Red Deer River

The whitefish on the Red Deer River are lots of fun! Sometimes we get too wound up about brown trout and trout in general and forget to fly fish for all species in the Red Deer River. Find a riffle-drop run and chances are you will tangle with a whitefish or several. Get you size 16 nymph down, use split shot or even "drop shot" (put the split shot at the bottom and add tags of line above with you flies attached). The whitefish on the Red Deer River can be very large and are great fighters!

Today we went to target walleye but they did not want to play so we switched up to targeting whites on the fly. Great fun and right out your back door!

Bruce Tilbrook and his Grandkids having a Great Time Hopper Fly Fishing

 

Bruce Tilbrook loves to fly fish spring creeks in Central Alberta for brown trout! Every once in a while, he is able to get out with his grandkids. They love the opportunity to spend time with Bruce and try their hand at fly fishing. Hopper season is a great time to get out with the grandkids. The trout absolutely love to smash big meals. You can tell that Bruce's granddaughter is having a great time!

The Crown Jewel of the Rockies, Lake O'Hara!

by Doug Pullen

If staying at a 5 star back country lodge is on your bucket list, then Lake O’Hara Lodge should be considered. Located just west of Lake Louise in Yoho National Park, this venue allows a person to be literally off the grid. There is no TV or radio to distract you from the pristine beauty that Lake O’Hara offers. As a fly fisher, the fly fishing experience has taken me into some very beautiful and special places with O’Hara being one of my special places. Our annual trek to O’Hara provides many options for hiking with numerous trails offering spectacular mountain vistas and lots of wild flowers. There is also good cutthroat fishing in some of the lakes that are fed with glacial water. Hatches of mayflies, caddis and some tiny stoneflies are available to the fish. Like many alpine lakes, there are times when the dry fly action is outstanding but I found that most of the action was below the surface: challenging and rewarding at the same time. I look forward to my next Lake O’Hara experience.

Frost, Fog and West Slope Cutthroat

The smoke finally cleared, at least for a day or two. My neighbour, Colin, and I decided to make a mad dash out to the west country and chase west slope cutthroat trout! We left early. The drive out was foggy and when we started to hike the thermometer read -1C. Burr. It was perfect for walking for an hour and a half! Frost was covering all the foliage in the meadows we walked by. We even encountered a bull with a bad attitude!

When we set up to fly fish, it was still rather cold. The sun was not yet on the water. The cutthroat were not active. Once we found some sun covered water, Colin and I were catching cutthroat!

We found several beauties today. By noon, we switched to dry fly fishing. The dry fly fishing was decent once the air warmed up considerably!

It looks like the window for cutthroat trout fishing is getting smaller as the evening and night temperatures drop down to around freezing. Afternoon dry fly fishing is still excellent. Nymphing is a great strategy earlier in the day while waiting for the temperatures to warm.

The shadows are getting longer. Better get out there!

Goldeye on the Fly

Goldeye on the fly is excellent sport! Betty and Steve have been enjoying fly fishing for goldeye on the Red Deer River. Goldeye will readily rise to a well presented dry fly! The will also eat nymphs and streamers. They are abundant in the Red Deer River. I have been out chasing goldeye on the fly as well! The evening bite is usually excellent but they are a great fish to target almost all day. All you have to do is get out along the bike trails in Red Deer. It will not take long to find the tell tale rise forms of goldeye. Look around the boat launch at Little Chief Park, by the water plant across from Bower Ponds, by Three Mile Bend as well as Riverbend. Goldeye are a great fish to practice your casting skills. Foam chernobyls, a parachute Adams, PMDs, caddis imitations will be all you need. One one drawback to goldeye is that they are toothy and can beat up a fly in a hurray!

Thanks Steve and Betty for the photos!