Walleye on the Red Deer River During a Warm Winter Afternoon

Colin, Bruce and Doug got out to the tailwater of the Red Deer River last week before the warm air was pushed out with bone chilling cold arctic air. The guys were targeting walleye. As you can see, the guys were quite successful. You can certainly fly fish for other species too! Rocky mountain whitefish, brown trout and pike are definitely around! Well done guys!

 

Dave Whitlock and Jim Vincent Have Passed Away

Fly fishing Legend, Dave Whitlock has passed away from a sudden stroke! He contributed so much to fly fishing. I loved his art! Take a moment to read about Dave:

Passing of Dave Whitlock

Jim Vincent and his wife founded RIO. He loved spey fly fishing! You can read about Jim below. He will be missed.

Passing of Jim Vincent

 

Fly Tying Mondays Are Off to a Great Start-Shrimp Fly Patterns

Finally after a long COVID prolonged hiatus we have Fly Tying Mondays back up and running! Thanks to Adam Karras, we have a new location. Reliance Oilfield Learning Centre is going to be a great new location! There were 14 of us tonight. It was so good to shake hands with friends and to just hang out tying flies.

Tonight we looked at shrimp flies. We tied three shrimp like flies and looked at a 4th. All the details of the flies we tied are below.

You can purchase brill on line from Canadian Llama Company!

Next week, it is all about tying pheasant tails. We will look at tying flashbacks, basic pheasant tails and Frenchies.

Dust off your tying materials everyone. We are looking forward to seeing you soon!

Special Note: Fly Tying Saturday on February 11th with Phil Rowley-details to follow!

Early and Late Season Throat Samples from this 2022 Fly Fishing Season!

Bubba Gump Shrimp-Bob Vanderwater originator

Thread: Olive 8/0

Hook: Jig Hook size 12-16

Bead: Head Turner 7/64ths, gold; try an orange 7/64ths head turner bead in early season!

Tail: Olive or Black Marabou

Body: Olive Brill

Hot Spot: Hot Orange, Sunburst or Fluro Yellow Brill

Mirage Soft Hackle Shrimp-Phil Rowley Originator

Thread: Olive 8/0

Hook: Daiichi 1760 size 12-16

Tail: Pearl Crystal Flash

Rib: Orange, Yellow, Gold wire, small

Body: Mirage opal tinsel with olive ostrich rib

Shellback: Scud back, olive 1/4 inch

Beard: Olive hen hackle 

M and M Leech (tied olive) Phil Rowley Originator

Thread: Olive 8/0

Hook: Scud Hook-C49s Mustad, 1120 Daiichi 12-14

Bead: 7/64ths copper

Tail: Marabou, olice

Flash: Red

Rib: Red crystal flash (one)

Body: Mirage opal tinsel, medium with olive ostrich herl rib

SLF (Scud Like Fly)-Phil Rowley originator

Thread: Olive 8/0

Hook: 3906B-12-16

Bead: Copper, 7/64ths

Tail: CDC, olive

Body: Brill, olive 5 mm

Collar: CDC, olive and olive hen hackle

 

Fly Tying Mondays Start on November 28th at 7 pm at Reliance Oilfield Learning Centre

Our first face to face fly tying session is Monday November 28th. I am very excited to get our tying sessions up and running again. I am looking forward to seeing everyone again. I hope we have some new tyers too! Beginners are more than welcome to attend!

Dust off the tying materials. See you soon!

November 28th- Shrimp Patterns (bring olive 8/0thread)

December 5th- Pheasant Tail Patterns

December 12th- Stimulators

December 18th-Damsels

What do you need to bring:

1. $4

2. Tying Vice

3. Sissors

4. Basic threads (black, olive and red), usually 8/0

5. Whip Finishing tool

6. Crazy glue/ favourite resin

7. Hackle Pliers, velcro brush, dubbing twister, hair stacker (are needed at times)

 

A Beautiful Afternoon of Walleye Fly Fishing on the Red Deer River

Finally the mercury was going to crawl above freezing but at a price. Wind, gusty wind! After getting out for a 90 minute nordic ski, I quickly changed and headed to the Red Deer River below the Dickson Dam. The wind was gusting and I hoped that the wind would not greatly affect the fly fishing below the dam. I was lucky enough that the high hills kept the wind way down. I tied on both a candy corm and a silver minnow pattern. It did not take long to connect with a walleye! The action was excellent for the three hours I fly fished. The sun reflecting off of the Red Deer River kept me comfortable. I was wearing a lot of layers as well. 

Today was a bonus day out on the water. Keep an eye on the weather forecast, you maybe still able to get your fly rods out for a few more hours.

Keep in mind that the Dickson Dam draws water down from the bottom of Gleniffer Lake. The water is warmer for this time of the year (cooler in the summer) and this will help keep the first 4 or 5 km below the dam, ice free.

...also a heads up! There is construction happening at the Dickson Dam Spillway. That may cause the water below the dam to become discoloured.

 

Ramping Up the Winter Fly Tying Season with Phil Rowley

Phil Rowley and I have been trying to find a spot on our calendars to film some flies for Phil's You Tube Channel. Well our wives finally got this all organized and the roads between Sherwood Park and Red Deer were passable. We both decided to try some different equipment that hopefully will improve our final products. So far, I am liking the results. We managed to film 23 flies for his You Tube Channel. That will keep both of us busy in the coming months. We hope to release the first few flies early next week! It was a work weekend sprinkled in with some Premier League Soccer and CFL Play-Off Football as well as lots of visiting!

 

Fly Tying Mondays Start November 28th at 7 pm at Reliance Oilfield Services Learning Centre

 

Hi Everyone!

Fly Tying Mondays will begin again face to face after a two year lay-off (COVID) on Monday November 28th at 7 pm.

Adam Karras at Reliance Oilfield Services has offered us the use of his Learning Centre! It has AV projectors, tables, chairs, coffee and washrooms. The room will hold 40 fly tyers.

I have posted the dates of fly tying below!

I am looking for presenters. I am hoping that some of you will volunteer to run a tying session. All you have to do is bring the materials for the two or three flies you are tying. The group will reimburse your costs for the materials and hooks. You do not need to be an expert!

Our cost for the evening will be $4 per person, young adults are free!

I have posted a map for you to see where Reliance Oilfield Services is located! Basically drive to Hwy 11 intersection with Burnt Lake Trail, turn down Burnt Lake trail going south and make a left at Belich Drive!

I am excited to get our fly tying group back up and running! See you soon. I will have more details to send out shortly!

November 28th-Bob Vanderwater

December 5th

December 12th

December 19th

Christmas Holidays

January 9th-Rick Miyauchi

January 16th-Dr. Bill Young-Pike Flies

January 23rd-Ralf Kuntzemann

January 30th

February 11th-Saturday-Phil Rowley

February 13th-Doug Pullen

February 20th-Family Day-no tying session

February 27th

March 6th-Ralf Kuntzemann

March 13th-Larry Prowse

March 20th

March 27th

Winter Has Set in, Time to Get Ready for Fly Tying Mondays

Winter in Central Alberta has set in with a vengeance. My boats were still in the garage and I had to act fast before the big snowfall came. My fellow fly fisher and generous neighbour, Colin, came across the street and used his snowblower to clear a path to my camping trailer. I had to pull the trailer onto the street and then Colin backed my boat trailer loaded with the 17 foot G3 into the backyard. I changed the leg oil on my 40 hp Yamaha just to be safe. Then my camping trailer was repositioned.

My pram had to come off of the Golf station wagon and all of the batteries hauled to the basement, placed on wood (not cement) with my chargers ready to set up to trickle charge.

The next two days steady snow set in!

Time for Fly Tying Mondays. The goal is to get started on Monday November 28th. I still have a few details to sort out. I will be posting a tying calendar on the blog in the next day or so. I will be needing lots of help. I will be asking for tying presenters. You do not have to be an expert. More about that very soon! The general plan is to meet for fly tying and perhaps doing a few zoom sessions for my out of town friends. Stay tuned!

Burr! A Cold Snowy Afternoon at Dickson

I pulled into the parking lot area at Dickson about 12:30 pm and laughed. It was empty. It was -1C, windy and snowing when I arrived so I really was not surprised. I was dressed for the frigid weather so I was in great shape! I just wandered down the side of Dickson Trout Pond with my size 14 Tokaryk Special (tied balanced) and a size 14 Brill Shrimp added as a dropper. I set my indicator to about 4 feet and I let the moderate wave action do the rest of the work once I cast over the weed line along the shore. The trout were definitely cruising along the weed lines looking for just about anything to eat. I suspect their main food items are shrimp and forage fish! I connected with several dandy rainbows and tiger trout! The snow really started to amp up about mid afternoon. Every once in a while, I had to clear the ice from the guides on my fly rod. I searched for a spot not too far away from my truck just in case I needed to warm up and I also tried to find a spot where the wind was not in my face! I lasted about 3 hours. My fingers began to complain. I had already had a fantastic afternoon so I wandered back to my truck for the 35 minute drive back to Red Deer.

Today was a bonus day. Extremely cold snowy weather is settling in! When I was packing up, I wondered if today was my last lake session of the season. We'll see!

I am in the process of getting Fly Tying Mondays ready to go. I will make some important announcements about that in the coming days. It looks like we may have a new venue for tying on Mondays thanks to the kindness of a fellow fly fisher. Stay tuned. I am excited about meeting with everyone again face to face on Monday evenings.

Can you see the Tokaryk Special in the lip of the rainbows?

Frozen Guides!

Two jackets, a hoodie, long johns, and waders made me quite comfortable.

This brown was caught today at Cow Lake by Touy! There were a few diehards there! Well done Touy!