Central Alberta Fly Tying Club

Saturday, August 15, 2026

Water Temperatures in Central Alberta

When I poured myself a cup of coffee this morning, it was 3C at the Red Deer Regional Airport. Hmm, that made me smile. Overnight temperatures are definitely dropping to a point where our local lake water will slowly cool down at night. I am always concerned with water temperatures. Yesterday Karen and I drove out to a local lake to fly fish. Well we were not really sure we would fly fish if the water temperature was too high. The first thing we did was get out a thermometer and check water temperature. It was 67F on the surface. We decided to fly fish but no fish would be out of the water for more than 5 seconds for a quick picture. We also beefed up our tippet a bit so any caught trout were landed in a timely fashion. We kept our expectations low and we were pleasantly surprised with our success. The interesting thing was we were catching trout 3 to 5 feet below the surface. That surprised both of us. I talked to a fish biologist yesterday who said trout will adapt to water temperatures (to a point). The trout we caught yesterday didn't swim away, they bolted away with a feisty kick! We stopped fly fishing at 1 pm. The surface temperatures were edging on too high for our liking so we called it a day!

Do carry a thermometer in your kit.

If you are hitting your favourite lake, go early and monitor water temperature. My good friend Phil Rowley did an interesting water temperature check. Phil monitored water temperature at different depths. Some lakes definitely had a thermocline where water temperatures dropped a lot, in other lakes, the water temperature was almost uniform throughout the water column. Phil steered away from the lakes with the uniform water temperature, they were way too warm.

We also found a moderate chironomid hatch too. That was fun!

This time of the year I like to anticipate the water boatmen/ backswimmer activity. These little morsels are loved by both the trout and fly fishermen. Better get at the vice and stock up on your backswimmers and boatmen flies.

Monday, August 10, 2026

Fly Fishing for Golden Trout at Michelle Lakes and ...Climbing the Local Peaks

Many of the photographs came from Graham, Edwin and Oliver Vanderwater

Click on the photos to make them larger

Michelle Lakes are beautiful. Lower Michelle Lakes has the rare and beautifully coloured golden trout swimming within its depths. The golden trout were stocked into Lower Michelle Lake in the late 1950s. There is a self sustaining population that has withstood the harsh environment of a tarn at 7000 feet above sea level. The golden trout are not large. They can be from 4 inches to 12 inches in size. Anything larger would be a trophy! Golden trout originated from the Kern River in California. There are only 4 locations in Canada with golden trout and they all are in Alberta.

The entire area is stunning. It is an amazing area to camp. Bear lockers have been installed for your food.

A crazy series of events led Karen, myself, my son and two grandkids to spend 5 days camping at Michelle Lakes. You can definitely hike in by grunting up Owen Creek or hiking through the Sunset Pass area in Jasper National Park. We decided to helicopter in. Rockies Heli Canada is now under new ownership at Cline River. They are very professional and safety conscience. The 15 minute helicopter ride is spectacular. You go by several glaciers and some amazing waterfalls.

We set up camp at the Lower Michelle Lake although there are beautiful spots to camp along the Upper Michelle Lake. Keep in mind that you are above tree line. No wood for fires. There is no pit toilet that we could find so you have to dig your own if needed. If you go, track the weather. Don't go if the weather is lousy. Wait for your window of opportunity. Also ask if there are other parties that helicoptered in. There is lots of room but you don't want it too crowded.

Well Karen and I loved the fly fishing. The back drop to the fly fishing is so beautiful, it is a big distraction. You will miss takes because you are constantly looking around. Keep in mind that the lake is only open for fishing from August through October. Besides ice is still on until the first of August! We also had the opportunity to have our grandkids catch and release these beautifully coloured trout!

What flies were working? Well tiny stuff! We used tiny brassies (red and black), tiny ice minnows (size 16) and small Bubba Gump Shrimp (size 16). Size 18 chironomids will also work as will Glen's Leeches but tiny (size 16-18). We also caught golden trout on foam beetles, Royal Wulffs (size 12-14) and Griffiths Gnats (size 16). If you go, don't expect to catch big numbers although that can happen.

Well the climbing in this area of the White Goat Wilderness is amazing too. Our grandkids and their friend climbed many of the local peaks, as did my son. The views from the summits are spectacular. The twins have endless energy. When they were not peak bagging, they were boot skiing on big snow patches and of course fly fishing. Our grandkids thought the helicopter ride was breath taking. They took a ton of pictures. I managed to climb a ridge too on my birthday! That was special.

For Karen and I, sharing a special place with my son and our grandkids was awesome. They loved their experience and were very appreciative.

Is it worth it! Darn right! Good timing is everything though and we lucked out with 5 days of beautiful weather although we did have some smoke come in with the west wind a few times.

We live in a beautiful part of Canada! We need to protect this amazing area. It is so unique and special!