It was a frigid start to a beautiful sunny day. Pepper and I set off on our usual morning jog with the mercury hovering around -7C. As we passed Bower Ponds, I realized that the ponds were completely frozen. There it was, an icy blanket that will stay until sometime next April. We continued our trek through Heritage Ranch and the pond there was also firmly encased in ice. I had the afternoon to fly fish so Tiki, Pepper and I headed back to the tailwater below Dickson Dam to swing clousers for walleye. While Tiki and Pepper look for mice, I was casting my 13 foot 6 inch Sage 1.
While gearing up, I could see two bald eagles soaring over the far bank. I could hear lots of geese off in the distance as well as a group of ravens trying to hassle the eagles. The thermometer was now a balmy 7C. Sunny and relatively warm. Great start.
As I wandered down to the water, I meet up with two fisherman. They had not had any luck but I could tell they were enjoying the afternoon in the sun.
I waded out to the spot I wanted to start and it was just a few casts before my line tightened up with a walleye. Past experiences reminded me to let my clouser swing slowly and at the same time keep the line tight with a slow retrive. Well the walleye were hanging out in the usual spots and they we quite willing to strike my offering. My last two trips to walleye fly fish yielded decent results but this afternoon was the best yet.
You get cold standing in the water. Every once in a while, I had to retreat to shore to warm up a bit.
The afternoon flew by. The walleye were active for most of my visit. We finally loaded up the truck and headed down Highway 54. We passed a slough that had several hundred geese walking on top of the ice. They looked annoyed. Not me, I had an awesome afternoon!
The geese certainly made quite a ruckus as they travelled by the Red Deer River.
There were two bald eagles soaring on the far bank for most of the afternoon. I managed to capture an image with one of the raptors.
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