Brown Drakes

My neighbour Colin sent me the above picture a day or two ago. I smiled because I had encountered a brown drake on my front door window the same day! I went down to our basement to find my dry fly "mayfly box of flies." Today I had a chance to get out to see what I could find. As I started to fly fish, it was dull and overcast. Perfect! I saw several rises and the trout were sipping brown drake spinners. It took some persistence, stealth and accurate casting to hook up. The drizzle soon turned to rain and the few brown drakes that popped were gone.

I love fly fishing for brown trout when the brown drakes are on. It can be a fun hatch right in downtown Red Deer and there are definitely some rivers that have excellent brown drake hatches. I usually see these hatches near sunset but not always. A low light day or just before a storm, brown drakes can pop. I have also seen brown drakes emerge in the morning! You just have to be observant and persistant!

Big browns can get quite bold during the brown drake hatch. Keep an eye on your favourite local waters.

 

The Challenges of High Water Temperatures

Today was June 16th and that means all of our Eastern Slopes rivers are open for the season. Today was also the opener at Swan Lake, west of Caroline. Karen, Larry, Ken and I headed out to Swan Lake. It is a very interesting fishery because it has lake trout, pike and brown trout. We all arrived around 8 am and were on the water shortly after that.

Once we set up, three Conservation Officers came over to ensure we had everything in order. They checked for fishing licenses, boating certificates and the regulation safety gear (whistle, flashlight, throw rope, and bailer). We had everything in order and after a friendly chat we set up to try and catch some lakers.

Conservation Officers checking everyone at the lake.

Well, I turned on my sounder and immediately frowned when I saw the water temperature was close to 62F. That is too warm for lakers to be in shallow water. We did try to find lakers in 13-14 feet of water but we had no luck. We were using blobs and surprisingly we caught several pike. Hmmm! There were callabaetis spinners everywhere on the water in large numbers.

We looked for deeper transitions, and fished out in 35 feet of water and dangled. No luck. We did find some pods of fish 12-14 feet in 35 feet of water. Surely we would hook up, no dice.

By later afternoon, surface temperatures were edging towards 65 F. 

We headed back to Red Deer late in the afternoon, a bit disappointed but not too surprised. Was it water temperature or the big blue sky or was it post cold front from the day before? My guess was the higher water temperature. You definitely can catch lakers by fishing deeper with a full sink line. We tried but had no hook ups. There were lots of other boats on the water, I wonder how they made out?

Last year we had an amazing two days but the water temperature was way down. I certainly hope the water doesn't get too warm. 

Sometimes we forget to look up and enjoy where we are. Today we loved being on the water. Eagles, swans, loons, grebes and a whole host of other bird life made the lake feel so alive. Not every day falls exactly into place. We still made the best of it!

 

Giving Back to Our Rivers and Community-Piper Creek Community Gardens Tree Planting Project

Freshwater Conservation Canada lead by biologist Leslie Peterson along with the City of Red Deer brought 60 trees and shrubs to the Piper Creek Community Gardens to plant today. It has been a long term project to restore Piper Creek to a more natural state! Culverts have been removed, banks stabilized and we have planted saskatoons, wolf willow and several species of tress over the last several years. The trees we planted were obtained from a federal program called 2 billion trees. We had a group of 10 volunteers, 2 staff from Freshwater Conservation Canada and Ken Lehman from the City of Red Deer!

I am very impressed at how the Piper Creek Community Garden has developed and Piper Creek area is quite scenic!

We also had a large group of goats eating the grass. 

A big thanks to Adam, Karen and Doug for joining me today. It is a project that has given us the opportunity to give back to our environment and community! We even did some electro fishing today. That was interesting to help with!

 

Rocky Mountain Whitefish on the Red Deer River

Karen and I decided to target rocky mountain whitefish on the Red Deer River this afternoon before the thunderstorms rolled in! The river is in perfect condition to fly fish for rockies. We fly fished with wiggle worms, Rainbow Warriors (size 14 and 16) and Frenchies (size 12 and 16). We drifted our flies just 4 to 5 below a strike indicator. We look for seams where two currents come together, deeper water and at times, slower water on the edge of faster water!

Tomorrow is tree planting day at the  Agricultural Area just south of the Red Deer Landfill on Piper Creek on Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm. You can sign up right here:

https://www.freshwaterconservationcanada.org/event-details/piper-creek-tree-planting-e-fishing-event

 

Walleye on the Red Deer River

Today is overcast and drizzly! I wish we would get a proper all day rain here in Central Alberta. The last few years have been dry. Overcast dull days are my favourite for targeting walleye! 

I had a few hours to myself today so I headed to the Red Deer River to look for walleye! I usually don't have a lot of success early in the season but today, I definitely did! I tied up a silver minnow (silver minnow semi seal dubbing with a rabbit strip tied up balanced) that today worked well as did a Candy Corn (thanks Dave Green) and Todd Oishi's Vampire Leech! I like to slowly drift a silver minnow below a strike indicator (often 8-9 feet down) and occasionally jig it. The hits look like a bump but the walleye are there. Hits are not usually hard! It is finesse indicator fly fishing because you are trying to get a walleye to strike. I like the challenge although walleye are not hard fighters.

I had to remind some fishermen today that walleye and trout are Catch and Release on the Red Deer River. As always it is YOUR responsibility to know the regulations. You can check My Wild Alberta or drop over to Sportsman's Den and get a copy of the regulations!

Looks like showers will be around Central Alberta the next few days. 

Please join us as we plant trees at the Agricultural Area just south of the Red Deer Landfill on Piper Creek on Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm. You can sign up right here:

https://www.freshwaterconservationcanada.org/event-details/piper-creek-tree-planting-e-fishing-event

 

Another Great Day on the Water

As soon as I get up on a fishing day, I check the predicted weather in case we have to change our plan. An east wind blowing at 16 kph with some gusts was the predicted weather. Hmm, our day at Sylvan Lake should be just fine. Our initial plan was to look for walleye. Catching them on flies is definitely doable but not today. We headed east on Sylvan Lake from Sunbreakers Boat Launch! 

We had to pay the $20 to launch and park. We took a good look at the low water at Sunbreakers and we realized that my 1756 G3 would easily launch there. We had to be cautious motoring out of Sunbreakers because of the low water but we found a route and off we went on windless Sylvan. We headed to a point and set up to try to catch a walleye. Rick and I used full sink type 7 lines and a booby but we did not hook up. Karen meantime set up to catch lake whites and she was on fish right away! 

The wind quickly was amping up from the east so Rick and I switched to bloodworms and later chironomids. Soon after, when we all were looking for lake whites, Karen hooks up with a pike. She landed a mid sized pike on a blood worm. Later in the afternoon, Rick landed a pike on a bloodworm as well. We decided to move around searching but we ended back up on a point that had a sharp drop off. That was a good choice because we were into fish for the next several hours. The wind even settled mid afternoon. I switched to chironomids about 2 in the afternoon. I was constantly getting takes on a black and red ice cream cone and a Bloody Elvis Chironomid. Rick caught a monster whitefish on a chironomid while Karen hooked up lots with her trusty blood worm!

Ironically when we motored back to Sunbreakers Boat Launch, Sylvan Lake turned to glass.

We had an excellent day. We loved spending the day out on the boat. We will be back for another crack at walleye!

Bleeding Elvis Chironomid

On a Blood Worm? ...yep

A basic Black and Red Ice Cream Cone Chironomid

 

Tree Planting Day on Piper Creek Saturday June 14th at Agriculture Area Near Red Deer Landfill

On Saturday June 14th from 10 am to 3 pm we will be planting trees and doing some electro fishing on Piper Creek at the agriculture area just south of the Red Deer Landfill. It is a chance for everyone to give back to our land and creeks. Please come for an hour or two hours; what ever time you can give! All the details are below on the link and there is a place to sign up too so we know you are coming! We hope to see you there! This event is for everyone!

you can sign up right here:

https://www.freshwaterconservationcanada.org/event-details/piper-creek-tree-planting-e-fishing-event

 

Sunday Afternoon at Dickson

 It was busy along the shore today at Dickson. Little to no wind on a sunny but smokey afternoon. By the time Karen and I got there it was noon and the parking lot was full. Most people were bank fishers.

We launched the pram and looked for some mid lake structure to fly fish! That ended up being an excellent strategy. The water was 64 F and still looking great. Our best fly was a Tokaryk Special and a Glen's Leech. We did catch some on chromies and olive and copper chironomids.

Throat samples were all over the map. Daphnia, chironomids, leeches and cased caddis.

I did strip flashbacks for a while and connected with several trout! We did see lots of adult damsels and dragon flies and a few caddis just off of the surface.

Take a look at the throat samples. They certainly help you decide what flies to present. We fished mainly in 12 to 13 feet of water setting our depth around 10 feet!

Mid lake humps can have active fish feeding!

Cased Caddis!

Kananaskis Lakes

What a day! The weather and the scenery were amazing in Kananaskis Country today. We were lucky too because we beat the road closures for the G7 Summit Conferences that will shut down the main access to K-Country for almost 8 days starting next week! The F-18s were flying over the lakes and the police presence was everywhere on the roads in preparation for many world leaders to meet at Kananaskis Village next week!

Well Rick, Karen and I loaded up our truck and took the 1756 G3 on its first trek of the season. We spent the day at Lower Kananaskis Lake. We had a decent day out on the water. Rick landed a legitimate 30 inch rainbow that I measured. The rainbow Karen is holding above is the trophy that is back swimming in the lake. Rick caught it on a chironomid! That was a great moment!

We caught rainbows, a cutthroat, a sucker and I lost a rather large bull trout at the end of the day! Oh well, next time! Karen even caught a rainbow that jumped right into the boat!

Today was a blast. The scenery, fun on the boat with Karen and Rick, as well as connecting with some dandy trout, (ok a sucker is not a trout) made for one of those days not easily forgotten!

What a view!

Dandy Cutthroat

Now that is a full Moby Net