August 7, 2007,
I had a very enjoyable day fishing the Bow River with my sister, Carolyn, and her husband, Rick who stopped in on their way back home to Regina. Conditions were perfect; it has cooled down significantly, skies were overcast most of the day, the Bow has really cleared up, and there seemed to be fewer weeds floating loose in the river. The fish were really active today and we had a lot of really good sized fish on and landed a couple of browns and several rainbows. San Juan worms and caddis larva took a lot of fish today.ay to end a very enjoyable four days. If you enjoy fishing for cutthroat trout in a spectacular setting, the Elk is a river you will want to check out. Keep reading →
August 21
Austin is in town from Yellowknife, NWT, and was joined by his son Sean and Matt. I lived in Yellowknife for many years as well so it was great to catch up on what is happening in the north. Neither Sean nor Matt had fly fished before so we thought it might be fun to introduce them to the sport on a smaller piece of water so we headed to the Oldman River. The fishing was very slow with only a bull trout landed on the Oldman so we headed down to the Crowsnest River hoping for an evening caddis hatch. We weren't disappointed as there was a very busy hatch that saw the guys casting to many rising fish. All three caught fish and we headed back to the 4Runner as the sun was setting over the mountains to the west. Keep reading →
August 2 - August 5, 2007
I spent these four days as one of seven or eight guides for the first of two Royal Canadian Pacific Fly Fishing Adventures planned for this summer. I had the pleasure of spending the time guiding Norman, who was on a fishing vacation with his wife and several friends. Our first day, on the Bow River was like several days we've had lately; hot and slow, with the addition of very strong winds for much of the drift. Only two rainbows were landed. Keep reading →
Well this time we're going to include one from August, so it's technically a fishing trips blog entry about August and July....
July 29, 2007,
Another slow, 30+ degree day on the Bow River as two of us guided a group of four from McKinnon Flats to Carseland. Today we threw pretty much everything we had in our fly boxes and between the two boats we landed only four or five fish. Streamers seemed to be the only thing working for us and Dave landed this nice 21 to 22 inch brown trout using a Bow River bugger. Keep reading →
July 21, 2007,
Danny and Brandon are in town from Georgia for a couple of weeks of training and wanted to give fly fishing a try while they were here. We decided to head out to the Oldman River which is a great location for first time fly fishers. The river and scenery are spectacular, the fish are usually eager to take dry flies, and by the end of the day, most fishers are doing a good job of reading the water on this smaller river and have a pretty good sense of where the fish are holding. Despite having to deal with fairly strong winds most of the day, both Danny and Brandon looked comfortable with the fly rods early on. They landed a few Rocky Mountain whitefish, and a number of rainbow trout and cutthroat trout. As we headed back to the 4Runner at sunset, we had an opportunity to watch a mountain goat and it's young forage on a mountain side. It was a great end to a wonderful day on the Oldman River. Keep reading →
July 13, 2007,
Mike and his sons, Mike, Colin, and Mark, are in town from Minnesota for a few days and they were all eager to get on the Bow for a day of fly fishing. A couple of browns and many rainbows were landed, mostly on size 10 peacock and black wooly buggers and large golden stonefly nymphs. Many of the fish landed were in the 16 to 19 inch range but some 20+ inch fish were also brought to the boat. We had a great day on the river and all were impressed with the fight in our remarkable rainbow trout. Keep reading →
July 10, 2007
Walt was back today with his colleague, Kelly, for another half day drift that took us from Fish Creek to Policeman's Flats. The weather was much better today and we weren't battling the strong winds that bothered us all day yesterday. Like yesterday, however, the fishing was really slow right off the start and we didn't land our first fish until well into the drift. We changed flies constantly throughout the day looking for something that would attract some attention. The fishing finally picked up on the final stretch of river with Walt landing a decent sized brown and two small fish on a copper John, all within a short stretch of river. We decided to anchor the boat and try fishing some deep water along a cut bank. A size 16 copper John was cast just inches from the bank and after a good fight, Kelly landed this 22 inch brown. The Bow disappointed most of the day but it's fish like this that keep us coming back. Keep reading →
July 4, 2007,
Got down to the Bow for an hour and a half this evening. Started off throwing nymphs but about 10 minutes into it I saw a nice fish sipping caddis off the water's surface. A quick change to an elk hair caddis and a couple of casts later I hooked and landed a nice 19" rainbow. Not much action the rest of the time out but did get one more rainbow that moved me a good 50 metres down the riverbank. No photos as the camera battery was dead. The Bow is still running high and fast but is looking pretty good. Keep reading →
June 30 to July 2, 2007
The Canada Day long weekend was spent in the Crowsnest Pass fishing with John and also with Scotty and Lynn who have returned again from Florida for a week of fishing the streams of south-west Alberta. True to form, the Crowsnest Pass was windy and it blew all day Saturday and Sunday and it really didn't calm down until later in the evening. On both days the best fishing for us occurred after 8:00 P.M. during the caddis hatch. On Saturday evening the fish were very active feeders and a little slower but still steady on Sunday. As expected, the fish really keyed in on elk hair caddis and pretty well ignored everything else including caddis emerger droppers. Many rainbow and cutthroat trout were landed both days. On Sunday we stopped for an hour at the Oldman River on the way back to Calgary. The water is now crystal clear and it was a lot of fun watching trout come up to take dry flies. A royal wulff with a beadhead dropper proved to be very effective with most fish taking the wulff. The water in both rivers has dropped over the past week and are in great condition. Keep reading →
