Wild Weather Great Fishing!

   Mother Nature continues to throw us curve balls here in SW Alberta, and despite blasts of heavy rain and hail the fishing is great! Al and I have been busy guiding and our clients are walking away from the river; happy, tired, and smelling of fish :). The high country cutthroat have been very content on account of the drakes and BWO's popping off in the afternoon, providing them with some much needed nutrients after. No one can argue with watching a fat, orange belly cutty rise like a ghost off the bottom of an emerald green mountain stream to take a size 14 drake emerger.
  The Castle and Oldman are fishing well, the rains we received on Friday colored up the Oldman pretty good, but it is dropping and clearing quickly. Despite the cold and dreary conditions my clients and I stuck out the weather and were rewarded by a nice drake hatch. The fish didn't mind the lack of clarity, they had little trouble finding a tasty drake snack sticking to the surface.

 Bulls are beginning to move up the systems and a patient, keen eye peering into canyon stretches of the Oldman and Castle will be rewarded with opportunities to catch the big bull trout this area is known for! We certainly had fun going toe to toe with some ancient char last week!

 The Crow has been fishing fairly well through the day, searching with medium to small sized mayfly and caddis patterns may pull some fish up. Although the most reliable way to tie into those hard fighting Crowsnest Rainbow's has been nymphing in the runs and oxygenated riffles. Try fishing size 12-22 beadhead mayfly and midge patterns to fool those wily fish through the day. The evening hatches have provided some decent fishing, Blue Wings during cloudy showers around 6 or 7pm have provided us with our favorite way to fish rainbows on the Crow, small dries to sipping fish!

  I hope you, the reader, will have the opportunity to find yourself stream side, somewhere here in the Crowsnest, enjoying the same quality fishing I have been privy too! If you do, come into the shop, grab yourself a great cup of joe and share your adventures down here with us!We are also offering a Finicky Fish Clinic throughout this week and have our G.Loomis Rods on -20% off...check it out!

Tight lines!
John