The Central Alberta Fly Tying Club meets during winter months. Weekly tying sessions begin at 6:30pm. Call Bob Vanderwater 403. 347. 3802 or email rdvanderwater@gmail.com
My 6 year old grandson wanted to know what the flies were in this small container. I told him water boatmen. He went and found his bug book and found the page. It was a very cool moment!
I have heard from two reliable sources that the beginnings of boatmen and backswimmers has started. I even saw a throat sample (thanks Adam). With the exceptionally warm weather as of late, I wonder how this will go but as the water cools, this activity is always one of my favourite.
The throat sample above was a few short days ago! (Thanks Adam)
The samples below of both boatmen and backswimmers is to help you tie your imposters!
In our house, family trumps everything. Karen and I have been staying close to home to help and lend much needed support to our family! We did, however, have an opportunity to head west to do some cutthroat fly fishing and camping. We had one night so we tossed in the tent, fly fishing gear and the Coleman Stove. We crawled out of bed at 5:30 am and dashed. We both needed a break!
Once at our camping spot, we set up our tent and then loaded up our packs to hike and hopefully find some west slope cutthroat to cast to! The water flows were still a bit high and the water off colour! No matter, we were going to be on the water. Yahoo!
The fly fishing was fabulous. Karen and I happily covered lots of water and we shook hands with so many cutthroat. It was a welcome break.
The best part of the fly fishing was it was mainly a dry fly game. Chernobyls, PMDs, Ants, and a variety of mayflies were on the menu and the constant changes kept us on our toes. Karen and I loved fly fishing with two dry flies at a time. That was fun.The weather was perfect. Big blue sky for two days. Yep, we loved it!
Our mini break recharged our batteries. As everyone knows, life can be full of twists and turns! Fly fishing was a welcome distraction!
Hoppers were everywhere!
Cutts Love an Orange Crush Chernobyl
Yep, we nymphed early in the day until the dry fly action started!
I even broke out my bamboo rod. My bamboo rod reminded me to slow down and enjoy the moment!
We have lost another one of the fly tying legends, A.K. Best. A.K. was in his early 90s. I learned a lot from his fly tying techniques and especially his design of several flies. A.K loved tying with natural materials. His books were an incredible reference as well. AK Best and John Gierach were good friends and often they fly fished together. We will still be able to use A.K.'s books as references. Below is a link to a Fly Tyer Magazine article about A.K.'s best flies:
Hiking, fly fishing, backcountry camping and exploring with my grandkids and their parents is something that Karen and I have been looking forward to for a long time. We shouldered our packs and headed into the Egypt Lake area in Banff National Park. We climbed up over Healy Pass and once at Egypt Lake we set up camp for 4 days. We loved fly fishing creeks and lakes in the area for brook trout and cutthroat trout as well as climbing Pharoah Peak and just enjoying the spectacular scenery! It was great fun fly fishing and hiking with our grandkids. Their parents have had them in the backcountry a lot! They love the outdoors that includes picking up a fly rod! There are 5 or 6 lakes in the Egypt Lake area that have trout! It is a fun place to explore. It was also cool to run into a student I taught in the 1980s out hiking with his daughter! yes, they were fly fishing too!
We had weather of all sorts. Thunderstorms, heavy wind, frost on day 3 and showers as we hiked out! Being well prepared is important! Lots of warm layers and decent rain gear is a necessity!
For Karen and I, it is the best of times. We are lucky we still love climbing over high mountain passes with a full pack of camping and fly fishing gear. We hope to get our other grandkids out there soon! One thing I have learned, 70 is just a number!
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