Long Shadows and Frigid Water Temperatures

Karen and I were able to get out for 6 hours today! We were supposed to be in a meeting today that was cancelled. All our gear is in the garage and it can be loaded into the car in just 5 minutes. We checked the weather forecast and were quite shocked to see the low last night was close to -10C in places. Burr. I wonder what the water temperatures are going to be? We decided top head east of Red Deer. We didn't arrive until late morning. That was perfect because the air temperature was just above freezing. As we walked to the water we laughed at our long shadows. The sun is now quite low on the horizon as we head towards the shortest daylight of the year. We also do not shift back to standard time this year in Alberta. That will make mornings rather dark. 

Well the sounder told us that the water temperature is just above 40F. That is cold. There was not a lot of activity in the water either. Eventually I caught 2 beautiful tiger trout on Tokaryk 2.0s. Followed by several browns. Karen tangled with mostly rainbows today. We downsized our Tokaryks today to size 12, balanced. That seemed to make a difference. Stripping flashbacks, and leeches got no action for me today. Fly fishing in less than 10 feet of water is where we found feeding trout!

Keep in mind that some bodies of water will turn over soon! Not all will. Once the top layer of water gets to about 38F, it is more dense than the water below and the water will mix or turn over. At times, wind will help with this process too!

Karen and I wondered if today was our last stillwater day of the year. I hope not! Get your warm winter jacket on and get out one last time!

Get your fly tying gear dusted off. Fly Tying Mondays will be gearing up for the third Monday in November! More details soon!

Wow that is cccold water!

 

Walleye on the Red Deer River

Have you ever caught walleye on a fly? It is an excellent challenge. Karen and I hit the Red Deer River this morning with our fly rods. We rooted around until we found some walleye. We tied on a white balanced fly (size 4) and jigged it through some likely looking walleye spots! The takes are subtle. A little bounce of the strike indicator is a hit! We also fly fished with a fly called a Candy Corn. The walleye liked Dave Green's neat two tone orange Candy Corn as well.

It was cold this morning! Lots of layers made us comfortable. Karen wore her trusty Muck boots and I put on my waders. It was quite overcast as well this morning. For some reason, we seem to have better success on cloudy days.

We even had a curious bull moose pop out of the willows to pay us a visit!

 

A Chinook Arch Over Sylvan Lake

What a great day to be outside. A chinook arch stretched across the western sky! It was there all day. Actually it pulled off mid afternoon but shortly after, it reformed. It was very cool to watch! Karen and I decided to stay close to home today and we were glad we did. We had a second cup of coffee this morning. It was cold, a frosty -5C. Then we loaded up the gear and pram then headed to Palm Bay to launch. We headed to the west end of the lake. It took us a bit of moving around to find the most active area with lake whitefish. We probed with blood worm patterns. We finally settled on 10 feet of water. We also added a red butt zucchini to our train of flies. The whitefish smashed the zucchini when they saw it. We could have stayed until dark but family obligations pointed us home. That was just fine after a wonderful day on the water.

A Well Chewed Red Butt Zucchini!

Perfect Water Temperature

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