Looking for us? Back from salmon/coho fishing ,and Al will be hunting the Oldman for CDC to keep the shop stocked with "Little Green Men". Same fly that worked so well the other day with sippers on the Crowsnest! Gotta love dries in November! Shop will open Dec.10 Thurs.thru Mon.

An evening on the Oldman River

The Oldman River sure looks great , clear and green ...To wade across it may be difficult , but was worth the effort on Friday night .. I am blessed to have another great trout dog and friend , Winston ( nick named "little big dog" ) . He first hit the wintery water of the Crowsnest (when the ice broke) at the age of 3 months. Now he picks his route across like an expert . When in doubt , follow my dog , I tell clients . Standing part way into the rapid he gave me " the look" when I command him " Winston come". The fast water took him away ,and with hand signals I incouraged him to not turn back and show him my direction . After a big shake , Winston burns some donuts in excitment . Being a little heavier in my old age often pays off in crossing heavy water ... I fished my way to a place where a fast run forms a narrow shute . It would be doubtful that any body has fished this spot this year . I have been watching the water flows drop daily , averaging a cubic metre per second decline each day . I probably was first to get across .. With no foot prints in the sand I figured this was untouched water and big trout were slamming green drakes ..The fast shute was joined at a right angle by the slower end of another fast bit of drake water . There they rose to the fly . I had been trying out different fly patterns while fishing on the way to here . I fished likely looking patterns like a green tri-wing sedge , olive stimulator , a big "simple caddis" was still on my line . None had caught me a fish but some got a tail slap other wise known as the " fish finger ". I cast the big deer hair caddis across the fast shute into the converging slower run with a reach cast and all the extra stuff I could add to get a good drift ..all I got was a fist full of fish fingers after dozens of good drifts. Enough of fly experimentation , I tied on my favourite drake pattern from the shops collection . The biggest fish of the bunch rose in the middle , up thirty feet from the confluence .. but I started close with my olive offering as good fish were right in the edge of the rollers and the confluence mix . They occasionally slapped the surface , spraying water into the wind . Whether actualy taking the bug or drowning it,s hard to tell ? it happens so fast and you can hear the smack . It,s got to be the most exciting dry fly fishing in the Rockies . The first fish I chose to take in the rollers (the closest ) took more than five minutes to land , it used the fast water and I used side pressure and on that 4x tippet and many runs later a surprizingly large rainbow came to hand .... 22 inches with out the kipe . A thick , solid , 3+ pound rainbow ..well how big was that big cuthroat looking one out in the middle ??. I did not get to find out .. after pulling out a few more decent rainbows casting my way up to that biggest trout ...he was put down , only coming up once to slap my bug and give me the finger .. Fair enough...near dark I followed my dog out , he never forgets a route ... If you are reading this you are probably not here and missing some great fishing... Al B.

June 26 th . high tech report

We had some rain last week and I got almost two inches in my bucket ( high tech ) so all rivers got pumped up a bit and they are are slowly going down and with good clarity 5 - 10 ft. . So I figured out that I get comments back on the Blog .. excuse me all , for not replying . Suzy and I are old school and not great with computers and tech stuff .. I will be checking in the future I just have to figure out how to add a photo or two ...Before I get back too my choice of three channels on the TUBE .. Here is a quick report ... Water temps. are still cold in the head water streams( 50*F ) in the afternoon , and bug hatches are generally sparse .. I got into a good green drake hatch while guiding in a Castle R. tributary yesterday but it was short lived . But the hatch was right on time and we got into it from start to finish and all was good . I floated the lower canyon today , and there was barely a bug to be seen (a few PMD's ) .. but it was fished well by my two dry fly guys .. and each tagged dozens of trout .. Be carefull ! the Castle is still like " Big Water" in the canyon as it gets squeezed through . Water temps. on the Crowsnest R. are higher than head waters streams 56 *F in the morning .. producing good hatches .. something new going on every day .. the Crowsnest Cafe' and Fly Shop is open 7 days a week 8am - 6pm .. Fish tales at the Rum Runner Pub in Coleman at 6:05 Spawn On ... Al B.

This is an amazing June ! We should be pumping our basements and watching helplessly as river banks change ....so Pale morning duns , march browns ,yellow sally's , salmon flies , stone flies , and any and all midges...ON TOP !!! Finally!!.. It's just sooo nice to fish dry Crow is a wee bit high clear.. Castle med high glacial colour.. and Oldman med high and clear... TREAD CAREFULLY ... YAHOO it's SUMMERTIME!! Suzy Q

Duffy's got some questions

Duffy googled "full moon fly fishing" and got my blog. He was floating the Gunnison River and his group camped for the night, awkened by rising trout on a black night shaded by a canyon wall ...they were going nuts on caddis .He woke up his buddy and they caught fish "till their arms were tired "(quote ) all the fish were Browns . His questions are Do trout feed more often at night during the full moon phase ? and What about caddis hatches ? Should I plan my trip around the moon phase ??? Before I answer you Duffy let it be known , I believe there is nothing black and white in the world of fly fishing ... there are to many variables ... for example, I had read in some magazine years ago about the golden stone flies hatching at night , crawling to the banks to safety ( written in California )... Where I was guiding in Banff at the time on the Upper Bow River (a Brown trout fishery ) . We worshiped the hottest sunniest days in mid summer to bring on a Golden Stone hatch, miday in the middle of a fast run , Browns smacking them as they topped a roller , it was the best! and rare on a sunny day. I assumed the variable for the Stonefly might be the water temp. ..our glacial river was never warm and always a cure for a hangover . Nothing is black and white in the fishing world and the trout know what to do and when to do it . It,s their world and we just stand above it and make our best assumption and or maybe try to replay a similar scenerio . So was it the caddis hatch or the nights light , maybe the water is cooler and perfect at night , I don,t know the Gunnison ? Tough to answer .. I have moved south, I like to fish the Crows Nest river in high run off and catch fish in the mud , it pisses off my friends who insist it can,t be done . So one evening I go down to where Todd Creek comes into the Crow. A travelling sedge hatch is in full swing and trout are cruising in slow muddy water. Only two inches of visibility,. Picking up on the caddises vibe or scent ? tracking caddis and sucking them down . The trout were right in the surface, bulging the water as they tracked down the caddis . the water was so dirty you could not see the trout , but follow the bulge you could guess their route and cast ahead and skate the fly too them . It was good fun . Beside me I noticed fish swimming up Todd creek doing the same .Todd creek comes out of cattle country and is twice as dirty ,so I should give it a try ... Trout know what to do and when and were to do it . I fished the bulges in the water and landed my fly perfectly on the biggest swelling bulge of the evening . The timing couldn't have been more perfect to hook that beavers nose as it broke the surface . My fly was gone with the bang of a tail . Not really an answer ? well there isn't one Next ... Do I think moon light has an effect on trout fishing ? definately , but not always . On browns more so than other trout definately ? but not so much on some rivers . From river to river I see different behaviors in trout . The Upper Bow river Browns were so tough during a long full moon phase ... One thing I do know for sure is sometimes they sleep in the day and they get locked into that night shift just like the sunny high pressure scenerio common with full moonphase gets locked in for a week , added torture for fishing guides . If we nymphed long and hard on those tough moon phase days, we would pull in a bewildered brown, like dragging in a wet rag . When you release the nymph from it's lip it would stay at you're feet .You have to nudge it do deeper water . It was pretty much asleep . I would fish any piece of trout holding water with a touch of shade or cutbank facing the right way looking for a trout not on night shift. Those Browns hated the sun so much I would prey for that single cloud to move and cover the sun, and when it did that clients fly had better be in the air ready to land . There would often be a immediate sip on the surface and it was over for the dry flier as the cloud passed. On my southern Alberta steams some moon phases are tough some are not ??? but I never catch sleeping trout.. we have numerous trout species and downhere and the Browns jump . I have some thoughts on that after twenty years guiding. So Duffy if you are planning your float on the Gunnison again, maybe ask yourself , how was the fishing during the daylight hours of that memorable trip ??? A QUICK RIVER REPORT A bit of rain brought up the Waterton and Castle while it barely hit the Crow , and the Oldman level continued to go down but it,s still cold water and not many hatches reported on the Oldman , while the Crow is quite buggy. .... all streams down here are open ... and the Crowsnest Cafe' and Flyshop is open 8-6 everyday untill October ... If you get a fly in your soup thats an extra $2.oo

Bug report for June 16 th. opening

Just a qick fishing report ... Depending on weather ... Blue wing olives #20 , PMD's #16 ..sulphur Duns #14 ... were hatching when Suzy ,Gary, dogs and I hit the Crow after closing the shop on Tuesday. It was threatening rain , perfect .. Swallows worked the suface of water ,and they buzzed around our drifting flies , pulling out at the last second , kind of worrisome , as they would get so close you want to pull your fly away from them . I just tried to fish , and just after thinking to myself that I have never seen one make the mistake of taking a fly , Suzy catches one . The swallow came in easy and crashed into the grass at her feet . I was across the river willing to help, but the hook was just into the feathers at the base of the wing and neck , she got it out , and off went the bird ... Back to work with it,s squadron , birds dodged our lines and leaders mid air at full throttle , amazing creatures ! I caught one of those Bow river steelhead strain rainbows , and it fought like a fish twice it,s size . Upstream there was a decent fish rising on my side , by the time I got to casting range the setting sun peaked out bellow the clouds, and it stoped rising immediately .. I cast a few times in it,s zone and gave it a rest ,it was a big trout.... Keeping an eye on it,s feeding spot a cast else where . The sun vanished breifly behind the cloud and the trout came up again... the sun peaked bellow the cloud and it stoped before I could get a fly to it. Definately brown trout behavior .. Gary had caught one here the week before along with a 4 lb. lake trout . I put on a little nymph . I did not not catch the big trout but a 17 incher ( Rainbow ) that had a deep loonie size bite out of it,s neck . Most likely the bite came from a mink . The fish still fought hard , I felt badly for it . So the sun was out the last two days .. somewhere, some one on this river was in the right spot and saw an explosion of Salmon Flies (size big ) and little olive stones (# 10 ) may be a Golden or two .. The Crows Nest River has never looked this good in early June .. Clear and wadeable .. All rivers are looking good for the opening of the season , June 16 th. CROWSNEST CAFE and FLY SHOP now OPEN 7 DAYS a WEEK ...8:00 am to 6:00 pm .. Untill we go Steelheading ... Watch out for reds , mostly in the tailouts .... Spawn on .. Al B.