Off to the Oldman and Crow to Get the Season Rolling

Larry and I finally got down to the Crowsnest Pass area a few days back. It was the earliest we have ever been down to southern Alberta to fly fish but reports indicated that there was open water. We knew the Oldman River below the dam was open as it usually is on this tail water. We stopped at one of the bridges on the Oldman and the wind was blowing like a run away freight train. We got into some fish but the crazy wind sent us to the Crowsnest River.

Well we hoped to fish below Lundbreck but the ice shelves were just plain dangerous and eventually the Crow was encased in ice. We heard that the Burmis area had decent fishing but we ended up downstream of 507 bridge. We were able to get into some nice rainbows but we again experienced ice shelves. Ice shelves are dangerous so we avoided them.

We headed back to the Oldman River and the fly fishing was pretty good. The wind had died down a lot and the sun was shining on our backs. We lost more than we caught! It was nice to shake the rust off and stretch the fly lines once again.

The warm weather ahead should have the areas open to fishing being decent to fly fish.

There are midges hatching and some trout and rocky mountain white fish were taking advantage of these emergences.

We had our best luck with a San Juan Worm tied with Squirmy Legs. This is a very cool material that moves in a very life like fashion in the water. Tie these San Juan Worms with a lead substitute underbody that is covered with red thread and then tie in the squirmy legs, wrap down the shank of the hook and tie off with a tail. You could even add a hot spot using a different coloured thread in the underbody!

Do not use any glue what so ever on this material. It will disintegrate the material. What I love about the material is its stretchy component but it is not the most durable material. Tie lots of them in your favourite San Juan sizes. The trout love them!

As you can see, these ice shelves are not safe to walk on. It was time to look for water that was a bit safer to fly fish!

The Oldman River was ice free and good to go. Hold on to your hat though! 

A beautiful cutbow caught on the Oldman River!

Barry Mitchell Has Passed Away

photos courtesy of Don Andersen

Barry Mitchell of Red Deer, Alberta passed away. 

Many of you know Barry from his days publishing the Alberta Fishing Guide magazine and many others from his book “Alberta’s Trout Highway”.

Barry’s interest in our Province’s fishery extended well beyond his writings. He was one of the founding Directors of the Central Alberta Trout Organization formed in the early 80’s serving in many capacities including President. He worked tirelessly on stream remediation projects throughout Central Alberta, he conceived and implemented the Alberta Streamwatch program to provide increased enforcement on the East Slopes streams. Barry pushed Govt. to rewrite the East Slopes angling regulations which successfully improved the fishery.

The list of fishery related issues where Barry was involved is near endless. 

The family is hosting an informal, come-and-go funeral reception for him on Friday, March 6 from 2 to 5 pm at Eventide Funeral Chapel in Red Deer (4820 45 St.). There is no official service happening. An obituary will be published in the Red Deer Advocate soon. 

On a personal level, Barry was a very close friend and we shared camps many times throughout Alberta.

In Barry, I not only lost a friend but the fish did as well.

We all will miss him.

Barry's Obituary

Regards,

Don

Cripple Flies with Doug Pullen

Hi Everybody!

We have grown to expect a fantastic presentation from Doug Pullen and tonight was no exception. Doug gave a great overview of cripple flies that trout love to feast on. The overflow crowd tonight of 29 fly tyers learned a great deal about cripples. Doug also introduced us to a mayfly cripple, a caddis cripple and a midge cripple. Below is a summary of Doug's presentation. Thanks Doug for the fantastic presentation!

Next week is all about damsel flies. We will be tying some excellent patterns, all you need is some olive 8/0 thread and your tying tools! See you then!

Cripples

The best advice that could be given to an angler would be to spend more time watching fish and less time trying to perfect a long distance cast. Anyone who wants to get proficient at hunting fish needs to begin by observing them.  Open your eyes and understand what the fish is doing before you make your first cast.  Observation is key.

Tonight’s presentation focusses on a condition that all winged insects face from time to time. When an insect is on the water’s surface and can’t leave the water’s surface, it is said that the insect is crippled. A cripple can be defined as any insect that is unable to fly away from the water. This includes trapped emergers, blown-down duns and crippled spinners. Even land-born insects that land on the water can be considered cripples because they do not have the ability to escape once one of their wings are stuck in the surface film. 

Fishermen who fly fish for trout overlook cripples more often than any other food source. That’s unfortunate, because cripples are likely to be the most keyed-on of all aquatic foods.  To become a better angler and increase the number of fish you hook, learn everything you can about cripples.
If you were to open up most fly fishermen’s fly boxes, chances are there are no cripple patterns present. Most people are trying to match the hatch with popular nymphal, emerger and dry fly patterns.  But often times when surface activity is present, a cripple pattern if presented to the fish, would likely bring on a strike. 

Trout are opportunistic predators. A crippled insect is an easy meal, trapped and unable to fly away. Trout will take advantage to eating cripples because they use less energy as opposed to going after an insect that is capable of flying away:  the trout has to act more quickly to get the fly as opposed to eating the crippled fly in a more casual and relaxed fashion.  Fishing a fly that appears to be easy prey can be devastatingly effective.  

An insect can become injured in many ways. It can fail to complete a transitional stage, lack of robustness of the insect, the emerging insect may be too weak to fight through the water’s surface film tension, its wings can be forced into the surface film by wind or rain, or it can be attacked by a predator. Trout, like all predators are instinctively programed to eat weak or injured prey and will focus on them over healthy insects. Even trout that are not actively feeding are always on the lookout for an easy meal and few are easier than cripples. Trout feeding on cripples will often pass up healthy duns, but trout feeding on duns will seldom pass on cripples.

Some insects can be stuck in their nymphal shuck and as such are crippled in the film. . These are sometimes referred to as stillborn. Sometimes the insects are blown over on their sides due to wind or rain. Once their wings are caught in the water, they become crippled and can’t fly away. When mayfly and midges get blown over, they basically show one wing in the film which is what the trout focus on.  Caddis flies emerge more quickly and are stronger flies than mayflies. This does not mean, however, that they are immune to the effects of wind or rain. Short-winged caddis emergers with trailing pupal shucks mimic natural insects struggling to overcome wind/rain-produced resistance to emergence. Drowned adult caddis lie inert on the surface with water-soaked wings that failed to lift them away.

Other insects like ants, bees, grasshoppers, etc.:  once their wings get wet and get caught in the film, they also cannot free themselves and therefore become crippled and cannot fly away.
There are very few true cripple mayfly patterns on the market. Most cripple patterns that you find are actually emerger flies. Flies like the Bob Quigley and Rene Harrop patterns with their straight bodies and the ones developed by Kelly Galloup with curved bodies are true Mayfly cripple flies patterns.
Traditional Japanese Tenkara flies with their hackle pointing forward over the eye make great cripple patterns.

 Cripple flies are patterns that float in, and often extend below the water’s surface film. Soft hackles have made use of this principal since the beginning of fly fishing. Soft hackles can be used to represent a sunken insect that has drowned or an emerging insect stuck in the shuck.

At the start of a hatch, it’s often a good idea to put on a cripple pattern. Fish may refuse a dun but they will always eat a cripple, as long as it is the correct size, colour and shape. This is especially true on waters that are heavily fished.  The reason for this is that the fish know that a dun can fly away but a cripple is not able to escape. 

BWO Mayfly Cripple

Hook: TMC 100 size #12 (curved shank)

Thread: Olive 70 UTC

Tail: Dark Dun hackle fibers

Abdomen: Superfine dubbing (BWO and a little brown for a mottled effect)

Wing: Dun Z-Lon or Para Post

Hackle: Dark Dun neck feather

Missing Link Caddis Cripple

Hook: TMC 100 size #12

Body: Olive UTC 70 thread

Rib: Mirage Opal Mylar small

Thorax: Peacock Ice Dubbing

Legs: Tan Antron Yarn

Wing: Elk Hair

Hackle: Grizzly neck feather

Getting ready to install the wing and supporting hackle of the Caddis Cripple!

Crippled Midge

Hook: Daiichi 1110 size #16

Trailing Shuck: Olive Z-Lon with 1 strand of Pearl Krystal Flash

Abdomen: Olive 70 UTC thread

Rib: fine gold wire

Thorax: Black UTC 70 thread

Wing: 2 Cream CDC feathers

Hackle: Dun saddle feather

CDC is an outstanding material to be used as a wing!

As usual, Doug gave out some prizes! Doug had a draw but the winner had to answer some skill testing questions about cripples in order to secure the prize. All the prize winners were paying attention. You can see some of the prizes below.