Winter on the North Fork Road-Looking for Cutthroat

Nothing about today went according to our plan but it sure was a spectacular day. We looked at the weather forecast and decided that today was a perfect opportunity to hit one of our favourite cutthroat rivers.   The weather in Nordegg was going to climb to 12C. Well the best laid plans needed to be adjusted! As we drove down the North Fork Road, the mercury bounced all over the place and the volume of snow just kept building. The road was icy but we took our time. We were not even sure we were going to even wet a line. As we pulled into our designated stop, the mercury hovered around -10C. Hmm what to do. We carried on and in a short 3km, the mercury rose to -3C. We found a place to park, rig up and go find some cutthroat trout! Well we set up nymph rods and we pulled out wiggle worms and a tiny size 20 Poison Tung (Charlie Craven). We found a dandy looking run and on the first drift I caught a cutthroat, a nice one too. We caught several as a matter of fact and when the action slowed we started to explore. We picked up several more cutties as we probed likely looking spots! We trudged through lots of snow as the sun shone brightly and the mercury climbed above 0C. As the day wore on, we found a spot with a Blue Wing Olive hatch and several trout were sipping on these tiny mayflies. Karen gladly switched to a dry fly line and caught several cutts on BWOs. That was fun to watch! We worked our way back to the truck as the action slowed. I was wondering what the North Fork Road was going to be like on the drive home. In a word or two: muddy and icy! We pulled out front of the house just at dark. After unloading, I was off to the car wash. The truck was caked in mud! 

We did not get to fly fish where we had planned but that was alright. We brought lots of cutties to hand. Wiggle worms, Poison Tung Studs(size 20), small Flashbacks (size 16), Griffiths Gnats (size18) and Rainbow Warriors (size 16) were quite productive. BWO dry flies (size 18) we also quite effective when we found a hatch!

We talked about ditching our plans for the day and head to the Red Deer River! We were both glad we stayed the course. It was a fabulous day!

Just a reminder that the bridge over the Ram River on the North Fork Road at km 24 will be closed from October 27th to November 1st for resurfacing! You will not be able to get through. You will have to travel to Nordegg, then down the Forestry Trunk Road to get back on the North Fork Road!