The Upcoming 2011-2012 Fly Tying Season

• Hi Everybody!
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• The fly fishing season is winding down and its time to get the Central Alberta Fly Tying Club organized for another year.
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• The plan is to get rolling on Monday November 28th at 7 pm. We will be again back to West Park Middle School (right across from Red Deer College) in the library!
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• The plan is to have tying sessions every Monday until the end of March with an added all day fly tying session on Saturday January 7th with Phil Rowley. At this momemt, the Theme is FUN with Foam. With the cost of hackle and its poor availability, its time we examined alternative ways to tie flies that work.
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To get the ball rolling, we need to get members of our club to led a session or two. There is an incredible amount of knowledge withing the club that over the years we have shared with our gang at the vice on Monday nights. We want to encourage newcomers to join us as well.

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• We will also have a new camera and projector that the Central Alberta Chapter of Trout Unlimited is going to purchase that will add a great deal to our Monday evenings.
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• Please contact me by e-mail if you are willing to run a fly tying session on Monday nights. We usually share two or three patterns. All your expenses will be covered. That includes materials like hooks, dubbing, feathers, etc.
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• Finally, if you have have some pictures you would like to share with the group, please e-mail them to me. I am doing a slide show for the first session that will include images from our club trip to Manitoba and pictures from our cutthroat trips this year as well a a trip to chase coho on the west coast.

• Pass the word. We're gearing up for another educational year of fly tying.
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• Looking forward to hearing from you!
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• Bob

Fly Fishing for Salmon on Vancouver Island

Roy's Dad stalking a salmon!

Roy and I headed over to Vancouver island to chase coho salmon during the first week in September. It was a memorable trip that included perfect weather, fabulous camping and fly fishing for not only coho, but springs, jack springs, pinks and dolly varden. Roy and I are do it yourself types so we coordinated with his dad and a few of his Vancouver Island buddies. We flew over to Comox and by supper time, we had camp set up north of Campbell River. I was worried that there would be lots of fly fishers. That was not the case although one day the river we fished, the river got busy and so we moved out to fish in the estuary of the river. The pink salmon were still heading up river in good numbers so we did fly fish for these hard fighting salmon! Every afternoon we fished in the estuary for coho! Coho are hard fighters that will take a rather small fly considering their size. Almost all of the coho that we caught, were sight fished. These fish will rip off 100 yards of line in a blink of an eye. They leap out of the water many times when hooked up.

A typical day had everything to do with what the tides were doing. At day break were fished in the river where we encountered pinks, springs and coho. By late morning, we headed back to camp for a late brunch, fly tying and a break. The afternoon fishing started as the tide was ebbing. The aggressive feeding coho would come into the estuary to feed and they would leave as the tide came down.

The evening camp fire had lots of fun stories and laughs. The only part we did not like was how fast the week flew by.

Coho

Roy and his Dad.

Roy with a 9 pound coho that gave Roy's arms a real workout!

A nice coho caught in the estuary.

Another great scrap with a coho.

This coho had me in my backing at least 6 different times before bring it to hand.

This spring salmon was a real surprise. I could see this monster and was surprised to get a hook up and actually land it!

2011 Fish Stocking Report

Hi Everybody!

If you are interested in what waters have been stocked this year, take a look right here:

2011 Fish Stocking Report

Bob