Rocky Mountain Whitefish on the Red Deer River

Rocky Mountain Whitefish are usually not on the radar of fly fisherman. Karen and I love to chase rockies, especially on the Red Deer River. Today we decided to spend a few hours trying to catch whites. We had a blast too! The river flows are near perfect! We wandered to a run where we have found rockies in the past. We rigged up with Wiggle Worms and Rainbow Warriors. We have had a lot of success with that combination before. We fly fished through the run extensively and caught nothing. Hmm, what to do. We decided that maybe our flies are not deep enough so we decided to add split shot. We usually set our strike indicator at about 2 to 2.5 times the depth of the water. We went a bit deeper. Well we started to connect with rockies after we added the third and fourth split shot onto our leader. Finally we were in the zone. Lots of mending helps the flies sink down too! 

Where do you find rocky mountain whitefish?  Riffle water and a riffle with a drop. The surprise of the day occurred when Karen decided to fly fish with Lance Egan's Blow Torch. The whitefish certainly liked to chase this fly. Often, all you need is a Wiggle Worm and a size 16,  Rainbow Warrior.

Blow Torch (Lance Egan)

Karen did connect on a decent brown trout today. It shook off but browns will certain respond to these nymphs. 

Rocky Mountain Whitefish are definitely worthy adversaries, give it a try!

The Golden Stone hatch on the RDR must have been decent this year!

 

Back to Birch Lake

Karen and I enjoy fly fishing Birch Lake. Today we made a return visit. The water temperature was a bit high but still within the acceptable range. The challenge of Birch Lake is getting on the water. There is a nasty hill to negotiate. We finally bought a frame with wheels that is used for moving kayaks around. It worked great getting our pram down to the water. You can buy these frames on Amazon or go to Canadian Tire ($60-$75).

We were set up quite quickly. We tried several places on the lake that had drop offs. These drop offs were quite productive for us. We used Tokaryk Specials, Ice Minnows and Flashbacks (size 14). Our typical depth was "Bernie Water." That is 12 feet of water for those of you who never fly fished with our late friend Bernie Peet. The surprise of the day was a throat sample with lots of tiny pin fry (minnows). Small ice minnows helped us connect with a lot of rainbows. Karen landed a decent brookie early in the day. We called it a day late in the afternoon. When we got to the boat launch, we knew we had to haul our gear back up that darn hill. Luckily we had our new kayak frame with wheels. It is still a grunt up the hill with our pram but it sure beat carrying it!

 

Fly Fishing Using an Electric Mountain Bike

In the space of the last 10 days, I have encountered two trips where mountain bikes were used to get to the water that was fly fished. Electric mountain bikes can be a great mode of transportation. Do a little research with Google Earth and you can find some gems to fly fish by using pedal power. Well done Colin and Bruce! I bet you two were hungry after that fabulous adventure!

 

Do You Use Flashbacks during the Boatman/ Backswimmer Activity in the Fall?

I love Flashbacks. I probably tie more Flashbacks than any other fly. It is so versatile. It can represent everything from mayfly nymphs, tiny pin fry to water boatmen. As you can see from the above photo, I use a red bead and biots during the boatman/backswimmer action. There are times, that this modified Flashback is more effective than many more traditional boatman/backswimmer patterns. I often fly fish with two at a time, spaced about 20 inches apart. The trout love it when that distinctive fly plops on the water. Strip, strip, pause; strip, strip, pause, etc. I love the takes.

 

LR Boatman and Rinse and Repeat-2 Excellent Backswimmer Patterns

LR Boatman (Les Robinson)

Rinse and Repeat (Phil Rowley)

I have just finished tying a handful of 2 backswimmer patterns that I enjoy fly fishing late in August and through the fall. Les Robinson came up with the LR Boatman.  It is easy to tie and the trout respond favourably to it! The Rinse and Repeat, is a Phil Rowley pattern that includes a red bead so it can be fished below the surface. I always have a handful of these 2 patterns in my fly box. Notice that on the Rinse and Repeat pattern, there is a dab of UV resin on the tip of the legs. It makes the legs quite animated in the water! Phil likes using black sulky to make the distinctive black stripe of a backswimmer, I just use a fine magic marker!

 

Tying a Tom Thumb

This super simple fly maybe my achilles heel. The Tom Thumb has one tying material, deer hair and it is the very first fly I learned to tie thanks to Dr. Bill Young. This fly made me get obsessed with fly tying.

The Tom Thumb dry fly can be a real fish catcher. I know several fly fishers who regularly use it on their favourite river during a caddis hatch and when the sedges are moving on a lake; you can go through a bag of these imposters. 

Well what is it that causes a one material dry fly problems to tie? For me, it is proportions. How much deer hair do you use and how do you get the shellback and wing perfect! That takes practice, especially when you're tying size 14 and perhaps size 16 Tom Thumbs. 

Take a look at the short video below to watch Phil Rowley tie this fly! He makes it look easy. 

 

More Cutthroat Action

Hal and Colin got out yesterday to chase westslope cutts. Looks like they had an excellent day! From what the guys said, there were no real hatches going on. Most of their success was nymphing. I am not surprised. The guys did enjoy a beautiful sunny day with very little wind! Hal enjoyed seeing some new water. That is always interesting! Water is low and gin clear. That also ups the challenge, especially when the cutthroat have seen a lot of fly fisherman. Going to smaller nymphs, finer tippet and stealth always ups your chances of catching a beautifully coloured cutthroat! Well done guys. 

Enjoy the weekend! It is going to be hot. Get out early to fly fish. Take a thermometer and call it a day if the water gets too warm! Keep'em wet and use a net. I have seen way too many pictures on social media of trout lying on rocks. Mostly we have to gently educate those who do that.

Oppps!

 

Lance Egan's Blow Torch

Lance Egan is an expert Euro Nympher and I have learned a lot from his videos. One pattern that I enjoy fly fishing with, is called a "Blow Torch." I like the orange/red tag and the CDC collar. When cutthroat are not rising, I have had excellent success with this fly. I tie them on jig hooks with a slotted tungsten bead. I use a single strand of mirage opal tinsel flashabou for the rib. The body can be a variety of colours. I like olive, black/olive and purple (ice dub). Easy to tie and they are fish catchers. These nymphs look quite buggy once they are wet and the trout definitely respond to them!

 

The "Canyon!"

There are several beautiful canyons that can easily be fly fished this time of the year! The water is gin clear unless thunderstorms make the shale walls turn the river into mud!

My buddy Colin and his close friend Bruce hit the "Canyon Section" a few days ago. They had great conditions and they caught cutts on wire worms, PMDs, Bastard Adams and BWOs. Sounds like an awesome day!

They ran into wild horses during the course of their day and when in the Canyon, you can have company watching!

Did you ever have the feeling that you were being watched?