Early Season Fly Fishing in the West Country

Ice is just off of most of our west country pot hole lakes. Karen, Rick and I have been out having a great time sampling the early season fly fishing! Look at the fish finder below. The water temperature was a frigid 41 F just below the surface. The fishing yesterday was slow in the morning but once the water temperature got to 43 F, the fish became active. We sampled several trout that were feeding on tiny, size 24 chironomids. Rick and I had to laugh! Our best fly yesterday was a Tokaryk Special 2.0 although later in the afternoon, we found trout actively feeding on size 16 chironomids in a different location. We still fly fished with Tokaryk Specials but we added a chironomid dropper that got us several trout!

Today, Karen and I made a return visit! The water was a balmy 46F and by the end of the afternoon, it had edged up 2 more degrees F. Karen and I just fished with size 16 chironomids all day. We connected with browns, rainbows and tigers all day. We messed with our depths here and there but anywhere from 8 to 10 feet below a strike indicator got us into trout! Our best fly, was a variant of "Up in Smoke" chironomid size 16. 

The birds were a serious distraction while out on the lake. Sandhill Cranes, loons, eagles and osprey along with many shoreline birds made the lake feel alive.

The last two days were cool. We all brought our layers and that helped us be comfortable. It was a lot of fun out on the water. The last several trips have allowed us to shake down our gear and get everything set up just right!

Get out there when you can. The season is definitely off to a great start!

Size 24 chironomids, can you find the water boatman and backswimmer?

Bigger chironomids later in the day!

Lots of colourful tigers!

Leeches and chironomids. What a combination!

 

Windy Sunday at Fish and Game (West Lake)

What a windy Sunday! Wind gusts up to 60 kph! Well Karen, Hal, Adam and I headed to the Fish and Game lake called West Lake. Sadly the lake is quite low but the rainbows are still doing great. The 6 or 7 aerators are doing a great job keeping the lake well oxygenated.  The water was 50F. After launching, Karen and I headed to a spot with less wind. Karen fished with a Tokaryk Special and she landed an excellent rainbow. A throat sample included several large leeches, some tiny boatmen and scuds.I  was stripping Blue Flash Damsels and caught a few but quickly changed to a basic black leech after seeing the rainbows were eating leeches, scuds and the occasional damsel fly nymph! It didn't take long to connect with a dandy rainbow on my black leech streamer. Karen tagged another rainbow on a Vampire Leech. Hal was doing great with Tokaryk Specials and Adam started landing rainbows after he switched to cast and retrieve! The leeches as you can see were large. I was stripping a 4 inch black leech and the larger rainbows showed a lot of interest in them. Looks like the wind is hanging around for a few days. I hope you were able to get out this weekend.

That is a lot of calories in this throat sample.

Hal was on fire!

A bald eagle looking for an easy meal!

 

Excellent Start to the Central Alberta Fly Fishing Season

Karen, Doug and I along with a host of other members of our club have been able to get the fly fishing season started here in Central Alberta. Several of our gang have enjoyed fly fishing some reservoirs east of Red Deer the last two days. The fly fishing has been excellent. Throat samples have been very typical of early season fly fishing. Daphnia, scuds, tiny chironomids and water boatmen have been on the menu of the trout! I see that the fish stocking is well underway in Alberta. As usual you can follow fish stocking in Alberta RIGHT HERE!

So what flies have we been using? Tokaryk Special 2.0, Pumpkin Heads, Black Balanced Leeches, Glen's Leech, RL Boatmen, and Blue Flash Damsels. Karen and I had a great day yesterday stripping Blue Flash Damsels on an intermediate line. The trout were aggressive and that made for connecting with a lot! Many decent ones too! At the moment, the feeding fish are not deep!

Karen, Doug and I have started to use a slightly different lake floating line. The Phil Rowley Ambassador Series lines are excellent. They include a split ring that allows you to easily make and connect your own leaders. I like how the line turns over and loads. Today I was casting RL Boatmen flies with it with it! I loved the way the line was casting.

Well the weekend is almost here! Get your kit ready to go. Choose a lake and have a blast!

Blue Flash Damsel

I have been very happy with this line!

Daphnia and small shrimp!

Tiny chironomids and Daphnia

A sizeable tiger trout caught on a Blue Flash Damsel

I love brown trout!