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
The Central Alberta Fly Tying Club is homeless. After several years at Reliance Oilfield Services Learning Centre, we need a new home. I am appealing to everyone out there to help our club find a new place to run our weekly Monday night tying sessions. We are typically looking for a place for 2.5 hours from 6:16 to just past 8:30 pm. We have never had to rent a facility because of the costs. If you have an idea, send me a note (Bob Vanderwater 403-347-3802). We are not fussy either. A church basement, an unused space, a community centre, etc. Lets put our heads together and get this figured out everyone!
Our grandkids were off of school today. It is Truth and Reconciliation Day. There is a lot to think about on this day.
We took advantage of this day outside of the classroom to take 3 of our grandkids fishing at Herder's Ranch! It is a pay to play facility on a farm just outside of Sylvan Lake. It is an excellent place to teach our grandkids about fly fishing. They practiced casting, tangling with fish and taking care to properly release the fish. We had a great time. We set up fly rods with Vampire Leeches and later in the afternoon we used mainly flashback pheasant tails. The kids caught several dozen trout. Karen and I fished a bit but we focussed on the grandkids' success.
Colby Herder spent the morning with us before farm chores consumed the rest of his day. He has a special set up that is fun to visit twice a year!
We do not let the grandkids lift the larger trout.
There is nothing better than a day with grandkids outside. They will slowly become confident with their own fly rods. The smiles on their faces and their joy today made both Karen and I smile.
Just when you think you have it all figured out, things change. That was just the case yesterday! Karen and I had a box full of boatman and backswimmer patterns BUT those bugs decided to take the day off yesterday for us. We both had to be patient. Now patience is not my strong suit. I had three rods all rigged up. A floater, a hover line and an intermediate line. Karen rigged up just a floating line and she was fly fishing with a Tokaryk Special 2.0 all day and yes, she easily out fished me. We caught a few trout early and the throat samples consistently had daphnia. One throat sample had immature damsels, small blood worms, shrimp and daphnia. Yep that is typical fall groceries for a trout! My head said stay with boatman and backswimmers. Notta. Nothing. It just wasn't happening. Meanwhile Karen was connecting on several decent trout!
Well I finally got the message that maybe I needed to follow suit and so I did! My catch rate definitely went up. There was the odd fish chasing boatman around but they were mainly straining daphnia. We could have fished with blobs but we seem to do better with Tokaryk Specials in this circumstance.
The water temperature is now heading towards the low 50s F. Perfect. The trout should be actively feeding.
I have reputation for moving around a lot on a lake. Yesterday was no different. We kept probing and moving. Later in the afternoon, the fly fishing really picked up and we managed to connect on several dandy trout! ...yes all on Tokaryk Specials just 4 feet below our strike indicator.
I did catch trout with a Blue Flash Damsel and stripping boatman but the Tokaryk Special was way better in our boat.
The last two days have been fun! The boatman and backswimmers continue to be on the menu of local trout! I love to cast and retrieve either flashbacks (size 14) or "Rinse and Repeat" patterns. Karen prefers to hang 2 flashbacks about 2-3 feet below a strike indicator and let the trout come to her flies although Karen will set up where she sees trout!
I have used a clear intermediate line, a hover line and a floating line. They have all worked for me. Two days ago, the intermediate line was better for me and today I had better success with a hover line. The conditions seemed almost identical. An intermediate line sinks at 2 inches per second and a hover line sinks at about 1 inch per second! Water temperature was 57F with light wind. The strikes when you cast and retrieve are hard!
The action is not continuous but when it is happening your fly line is going to go tight a lot! Today it was mostly water boatman. They were landing in our boat constantly! When the boatman hit the water, it is like someone rang the dinner bell. The only frustrating moments occur when you see a trout moving just below the surface but you are not exactly sure in what direction! I like to cast and retrieve so I guess wrong lots and Karen's idea of waiting for the trout to come by her flashbacks works great.
Kinglette Lake is on the edge of Kootenay Plains on our eastern slopes. Kinglette Lake is a small tarn and its a catch and release fishery. Kinglette Lake has a small population of Westslope Cutthroat trout that are a challenge to catch! The biggest obstacle is just getting there. It is a 6 plus km hike BUT you have 800 plus metres of climbing, a lot of it on loose scree slopes. Walking poles help a lot! The climbing is a grind but while you are catching your breath, there is the tremendous view of the North Saskatchewan River Valley well below your feet. Once at the lake, you quickly realize that there are few spots to cast from shore with a fly rod. You can camp at Kinglette. There is a pit toilet and bear lockers at the lake.
The cutts are well educated. They refuse so many flies. We ended up catching the cutts on tiny chironomids. Yes, we were down to size 18-20 chironomids. We did observe cased caddis along the shore. You definitely can use tiny dry flies to get a take. A size 18 griffiths gnat will get the attention of the cutts. Long leaders and thin tippet is the order of the day!
Karen and I loved the walk out. The views were amazing.
