Cutthroat Along the Eastern Slopes

I have heard lots of reports from our gang who are fly fishing along the eastern slopes. The cutthroat rivers are looking good. The flows are near seasonal rates too! Find your favourite dry flies and get out there if you can. Our rivers will be busy this August long weekend but find a time and spent a few days wandering around. Those dusty roads can be a gold mine to fly fishers.

Karen and I have been out too!

Arm yourselves with Parachute Adams, PMDs, BWOs, hoppers, Golden Stones and a few flashbacks. If it is overcast you might find a hatch of Green Drakes.

Enjoy the August long weekend. It is going to be a hot one!

Remember safety first. Always be bear aware (take bear spray) and avoid any contact! Cross streams with care. Don't take any unnecessary chances.

Bruce netting one of many he caught!

Green Drake Nymph

Colin having a great time!

 

Herder's Ranch with a Handful of Grandkids

Dr. Bill, Karen and I took a handful of our grandkids out to Herder's Ranch a few weeks back to fly fish for gigantic rainbows. I was a bit concerned about water temperature but Colby Herder assured me that the water temperature was just fine. The pond is constantly feed by a spring creek and the water temperature stayed around 62F. Our grandkids worked on their casting and tangling with big rainbows. There are rainbows, browns, tigers and brookies in the pond. My one grandson landed a very nice tiger trout! It was a blast to say the least. Any larger fish were not handled by the kids because they were too large and we did not want them out of the water for anything but a quick picture. Dr. Bill, Karen and I took care of a lot of tangles, coaching the kids and tying on flies. We used minnow patterns, Vampire Leeches, chironomids (Hog Magnets and some basic small black chironomids) and humpy dry flies with a lot of success. After 7-8 hours at the pond, our grandkids called it a day. The grandparents all hit the sack that night early! We were worn out!

 

 

Brown Drakes

Several weeks ago, I got a text from a friend. It had one word, "Drakes." I loaded up that evening and when I got to the river, it was an amazing sight to see. Thousands of spinners bouncing up and down just over the water and duns popping up everywhere. The trout were on it too! I quickly rigged up and hustled down to the river. Before I started to fly fish, I just took a moment to watch the amazing number of brown drakes. It was nature at its best. Brown drakes are large and our local trout know a good thing when they see it! It took me a while to hook a trout! Several trout were sipping the brown drakes down. It was close to dusk.

I did have a flashback of past brown drake hatches right in town on the Red Deer River. I have caught my largest Red Deer River browns on a brown drake pattern. Close to dusk or on overcast days, you can experience a brown drake hatch! It is one of those hatches that you will love.

Brown Drake spinners