Butler's Bug-An Excellent Dragon Fly Imitation

I had a day at Ironside Pond where I wished I had a few of these in the corner of my fly box. Take a look!

 

Cormorant Flies to Kick Off the 2024-2025 Fly Tying Season

Hot Spot Cormorant (Dave McPhail)

Hook: Hanak 230 #10

Thread: Orange 8/0

Butt: Chartreuse Glo Bright

Body: Peacock herl, black 

Rib: Silver wire, small

Wing: Marabou Cheeks: Goose Biots

Hi Everyone!

Another excellent start to the new fly tying season with the Central Alberta Fly Tyers. Tonight we tied Cormorants. They are a staple in the United Kingdom and it was time that we added several cormorants to our fly tying box. They can be fished on a washing line as droppers or stripped. They look like bait fish but they can also represent a chironomid. What a versatile pattern! The 4 cormorant patterns came from  inspirations from both Davie McPhail and Lyndsay Simpson.

Next week, Dr. Bill Young is our instructor.  I wonder what he has up his sleeve? 

See you next week!

The Gang is Focussed! 

Traffic Light Cormorant

Hook: Hanak 230 #10

Thread: Black: 8/0

Body: Peacock herl, black

Rib: Red Holographic tinsel covered by pearl mylar, medium

Wing: Marabou, black

Cormorant Fry (Davie McPhail)

Hook: Hanak 230 #10

Thread: Orange 8/0

Body: Red Holographic tinsel covered with Mirage Opal Tinsel

Collar: Red Ice Dub

Wing: Marabou, black

Eyes: Small

Competition Cormorant (Lindsay Simpson)

Hook: Hanak 230 #10

Thread: White and orange 8/0- hot spot head

Body: White thread covered by pearl tinsel

Rib: Stretch Flex, light brown

Wing: Marabou, black

 

The Dam Man Changes My Day Big Time ... for the Good!

I had a very interesting morning fly fishing for walleye on the Red Deer River just below the Dickson Dam. With the warm air still hanging around, I decided to head back to chase walleye. Why not, the fly fishing has been excellent.

After setting up, I made my first few casts and connected with walleye right away. It was quite overcast and very little wind. 

...AND THEN the horn sounds at the penstocks which usually means the dam man is increasing the flow. In a few minutes, the Red Deer River starts to rise and I have to move my gear bag away from the rapidly rising water along the shore. From past experiences, when this happens, the fish on the Red Deer River adjust where they are hanging out!

Well the eddy line I am working is now flowing quite fast. I wonder what the walleye will do? The walleye seemed to move alongside the fast water and several started to feed. I had to figure out how to keep my balanced silver minnow in the zone. I added some split shot and moved my strike indicator a bit deeper. It took a bit of trial and error to get the depth right. I also had to high stick so my line did not swing my fly out away from my intended path.  As always I am jigging my balanced silver minnow as it drifts along. I do not over jig it! The next 90 minutes was steady hook ups and I am sure I had a big smile on my face!

Eventually, the speed of the flow slowed and soon came to a stop. The fly fishing also slowed dramatically so I headed home for a late lunch.

Today the Dam Man was my friend. I have had other experiences where opening the spillway abruptly ended my day of fly fishing. Today I had a great day thanks to the Dam Man.

 

Dr. Bill Chases Salmon in the Yukon

Dr. Bill has family in the Yukon and they love the outdoors, just like Bill! Well on a very recent visit, Bill had the opportunity to swing flies with his spey rod for coho! As you can see, Bill connected with several coho! Those bear prints look incredibly fresh too. I would be keeping my head on a swivel! Dr. Bill just like our family loves nordic skiing and Whitehorse Ski Trails were up and running. Of course Bill enjoyed some early season skiing at the first nordic ski area to open in Canada! Way to go Bill. Carpe Diem!

 

Walleye

I had the opportunity to spend a few hours below the Dickson Dam rooting around looking for walleye. It was an overcast day with a bit of wind. Perfect. The walleye were definitely active. My balanced silver minnow was definitely working. Well I lasted close to three hours. I was dressed for the weather but the wind was cutting right through my double jacket system. Once the cloud cover pulled off, I called it a day. I did manage to connect with several larger walleye! That made me smile in between shivers.

 

Oh Oh the Water Temperature!

I got a text from Rick saying that West Lake was fishing well and fire orange blobs were working well. A few days back, we used biscuit blobs but today, the best colour definitely was orange. 

The water temperature at West Lake (Fish and Game Pond at the Habitat Land) was getting down to that point where it will freeze over very soon. Another chinook was hovering over Central Alberta but the wind was bone chilling! Karen, Doug and I had to bundle up. Karen wore my extra winter coat just to stay warm. 

We found some active fish. Once we got the rainbows to the net, we just popped them off and sent them on their way. Nobody wanted to get their hands wet. The freezing temperatures made wet hands frigid in seconds. 

Rick did remind us that casting and retrieving blobs is also a great strategy not just hanging blobs below an indicator.

 

Bonus Day on the Water

Chinook! Looks like we have a bonus day out on the water. As I drove out to the lake to meet my buddy Doug, the thermometer climbed to 14C on my truck and the chinook arch filled the western sky. That is crazy for November. Well Doug already had the boat launched so we tied on blobs, specifically Biscutt Blobs. We were both into rainbow trout right away! The interesting thing for me was using blobs in shallow water. We used our blobs from 4 feet to 10 feet below a strike indicator. We had a lot of success in the morning although the hook ups in the afternoon definitely slowed.

What were the rainbows eating? Not surprisingly the trout were dining on daphnia, tiny immature damsels and shrimp. 

As I headed home, the mercury climbed to 16C. Crazy weather but the pleasant temperature allowed Doug and I a bonus day of fly fishing! 

 

Adjusting to the Conditions

What a difference a day makes. I headed to the Red Deer River this morning and the conditions were perfect for fly fishing for walleye. It was overcast with some wind that made the water choppy and not too spooky! The walleye were quite cooperative as well. As you can see from the photo above, I was distracted by tundra swans, mallards and other duck species as I headed to the Red Deer River that were on Gleniffer Lake. Gleniffer Lake is of course a reservoir that provides water downstream of the Dickson Dam. 

After about 90 minutes the conditions changed to bright sun and no wind. The bite stopped! ...typical of walleye. I started to fish some holes and did catch a few. I started to fish slow so I would not spook the walleye. That helped as well. Walleye are not big fans of big blue sky and glass calm water as I found out! I usually just don't target walleye on days like that!

Those overcast, low light days to me are the best especially if there is a bit of wind so the surface is not glass!

 

Balanced Silver Minnow

The Balanced Silver Minnow has been a winner for me when I am targeting fish that eat forage! For the Red Deer River, I tie them in size 6 or size 4. I use marabou or rabbit for the tail, silver minnow dubbing for the body and 4 mm eyes. I have added a few photos so you can see how I build them!

Don't forget to tie the rabbit strip upside down so the fly hangs properly as it drifts along!

Make a dubbing loop!

 

Walleye on the RDR and a Special Visitor

I wasn't planning on fly fishing the Red Deer River today but I'm glad I did. My fly fishing day began at Dickson Trout Pond. It was completely ice free and I wanted to spend a few hours there so I could see what was going on. In a word, nothing!  Well I did get some exercise walking the causeway trying to hook up. After a few hours of being skunked, I decided to head back to just below the Dickson Dam. I had my walleye box along so I decided to give it a go!

I pulled on my Muck Boots then tied on my trusty balanced minnow pattern and drifted it slowly in an eddy about 9 feet below a strike indicator while making small jigs by pulling the line. The conditions were excellent. Quite overcast and very little wind was the order of the afternoon! It was not too long before I connected with a sizeable walleye. That turned my fortunes around. I hooked up again and landed a 5 pound walleye then I was broke off by a dandy walleye heading towards 7-8 pounds. Darn. Then something cool happened.

There was a commotion across the river. I thought it was a beaver but then it pulled its upper body way out of the water and I could see it was a river otter. It was huge too. I bet those walleye make for excellent dining for the otter. Before I could get a good shot with my phone, it was gone. 

Well the walleye fly fishing was excellent for the next 2.5 hours. I did change to a candy corn balanced fly and I had excellent results with it too!

I think the key to the walleye fly fishing on the Red Deer River is to fish slowly and set on any bobble on your strike indicator, even if you are late with the hook set.

This morning Karen and I walked along the trails and we saw just about every pond frozen. Lake water temperatures have dipped below 40F. Get out if you can. We have some warm weather coming later this week! Lakes will be frozen over very soon!