What a day in the Crowsnest Pass. Bright blue sky, warm temperatures, lots of fish and yes, wind although today quite manageable. Larry and I hit Highway 2 at 6 am and were at our first fishing spot on the Oldman River by 9 am even with our usual Timmies stop in Claresholm. Amazingly, the wind was just a breeze. We got into lots of fish right away because the rainbows were on a midge hatch. When the wind intensified, we headed further into the Pass to the Crowsnest River. We wondered if all the warm temperatures cleared out one of our favourite runs of ice. In a word, yes! The dangerous ice shelves we encountered just 4 days ago were gone where we wanted to fish. We quickly clamoured down to the Crownest River and had a wonderful day. We caught lots of rainbows, cuttbows, rocky mountain whitefish and several impressive bull trout!
We had a bald eagle cruise the river just above us. I caught myself enjoying this beautiful raptor flying just above us on several occasions over the course of the day.
All of the fish we caught were in fantastic condition. The river was clear and low. Our best flies were the San Juan Worm and a stonefly pattern that was made with hares ear dubbing and tied up like a prince nymph!
We ended our fishing day back on the Oldman where we picked up more rainbows. By supper time we had enough and two tired flyfishers climbed back to the jetta. It was 18 C. We started the day with a lot of layers but by the end of the day, all you needed was a long sleeved shirt.
One of things Larry and I have learned about the Crowsnest Pass is do not worry about the wind unless it is blowing 80 plus kph! There are places to get out of the wind, you just have to "have a plan!" Use Goggle Earth to take a look at the rivers you want to fish!
Today was one of those days to be appreciated. The long drive home seemed to be longer than in the morning but the smiles on our sun tanned faces said it all!
Sending a bull trout back to his hiding spot!
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