Kids Can Fish Program Hosted by Red Deer Fish and Game Club-Saturday June 20th-Bower Ponds

What a great idea. The Red Deer Fish and Game Community has partnered with several groups in order to stock Bower Ponds with 1100 catchable rainbow trout. The Red Deer Fish and Game Club will be hosting a program called "Kids Can Fish" on Saturday June 20th. It is an opportunity to teach kids to fish. What a great way to gets kids outside with their family. The Kids Can Fish Program is for everyone! I hope you can make it! 

...you might need a raincoat, no matter!

Today school groups help stock Bower Ponds. The Smoky Trout Farm truck delivered 750 rainbows to add to the first stocking about 2 weeks ago. That was fun to watch!

 

Cycling Trout

Karen and I always keep an eye out for trout that have a "beat" on our local waters. They often feed along the edges. Today we encountered several "cycling" trout that worked up and down a stretch of water, aka "their beat!" We both love to get our presentation right along their feeding path and often we get a hook up. If you look at the shoreline in the picture above, there is a break in the weeds. That is a spot we love to cast into and wait! I am always amazed that trout will eat your fly just 18 inches to 2 feet below you strike indicator along a weed line. While out fly fishing the other day, I saw a fellow in a boat sitting right along the weeds. The trout were cruising right where he was sitting in his boat. It may have been better to set up so he could work the weed line he was parked along! I love to "set a trap" and catch a trout working the edges!

 

Chironomid Hatch on Sylvan Lake

It isn't very often that we motor into perfect fly fishing conditions at Sylvan Lake, but today; Karen and I had just that. The water temperature was 55F, there was a light west wind, both chironomids and mayflies were hatching and the lake whitefish were quite active. You could see them on the sounder chasing emerging bugs. We set up in 10 feet of water and fished 8 to 9 feet below our strike indicators. The hits today were hard. We could see chironomid shucks everywhere on the surface of the lake. We used a zucchini chironomid size 12 and 14. The lake whites were all over it today! It is not always like that but today was nothing short of incredible. Boat traffic on the lake for the most part was thankfully respectful. My late friend Bernie loved to fly fish at Sylvan Lake. I paused several times to think about my friend!

Red Butt Zucchini Chironomid

Zucchini Chironomid

Body material for a Zucchini

Lake whitefish chasing mayfly larva and chironomids.