May Report Crowsnest /Oldman River

Well , conditions change every couple of days with these May blizzards ...The Crowsnest looks beautiful and blue right now and a bit higher ...wade with caution .. I will check out the hatches tomorrow for possible blue wings , probable midges and some times a brown caddis hatch in this lousy spring weather... This snow will melt soon when the sun comes out this August ..and the river will get some colour.. keep in touch .. Gary T. caught a good Lake trout in the Crowsnest river in the lower section again (5-6# lbs. )Suzie has been tying streamers and fishing them this winter , they look like crap, but fish bite them (because they can,t stand the colours) ... she has caught some nice rainbows lately ...and Kirby just stands around muttering about DRY FLY Fishing and bothering people .. The Oldman R. is muddy by Ft. Macleod and upsteam to Pincher creek ....clouded above that ... and muddy coming into the reservoir ..then clear in the closed section ...not much for hatches in this cold weather... The Bow R. looked great around Canmore the other day also .. Suzy ,Gary ,Kirby ,dogs and I visited the Palmer Ranch Springs, and the wind blew , the sleet sleeted and then for a grand final'e .. a horizontal blizzard of dollar size flakes ... I could barely see the end of my rod for an hour, and fishing a white line as usual .... for near an hour I covered that water with various flies and techniques ... the white noise of wind, waves and big wet snowflakes .It was eventually hypnotizing .. lost in casting a white line into a blasting tunnel of snow .. when the blizzard died I saw the first trout in an hour slowly wag it's way under my now visible line.... 15 feet out ... the white noise repressed .... and soon I hear the beep of the Suburban horn , Suzie is done ..broke off a big one, on one of her crappy streamers , the heater is on ,and she ready for home . The boys are back... Gary Taje landed a classic Palmers Ranch chromer ...and he had a Queen Charolette island grin.. watch out for spawning reds .... Al B.

Crowsnest River Fishing Report /April 28 th

The River has cleared up a bit with this cold weather ( visability was 4-5 ft .) , but with the full moon, miniscule midges plagued the water .. size #28 would be too big..making it tough fishing ... but I did catch fish on a #18 midge pattern fished deep on both the Crow and the Oldman. A few skwalla adults skittered about with out being ate . We did not see many May flies hatching even with the bad weather , but it is still April and it,s going to change soon .. Visibility was good this week .. Suzy and I will be fishing the Upper Bow River tommorow in the snow ...guess we picked the wrong week to have a holiday! The streets of Calgary will get a good wash with this weather but that will probably blow out the lower Bow ...maybe we will check it out around Cochrane and report back Saturday .. good luck out there ! Conditions will change soon .... Al B.

Peace River and back

Heading north from Coleman at 6:00 am to the Mighty Peace River by Ft. St. John .... I was fueled for the 1300 kilometer drive by caffeine . Unfortunatly the last good cup of coffee was bought in Bragg Creek just two hours north of our Cafe' .. It,s amazing what people think is good coffee these day,s ... but I was forced to drive on... pulling into Ft. St. John at 9:00 pm. A couple of times I almost poured a coffee out the window but drank it down and cranked up Jimi Hendrix just to keep my eye,s open... After working on this compressor rebuild for a week I got my act together and drove up stream in search of clean water ... I am certainly spoiled, living in the mountians and I am not impresssed with the northern bush and rivers that have been flowing mud since modern industry rapped the north .. but I heard of the legendary clear water that flows from the Bennett Dam in B.C. After 45 minutes of driving , the Mighty Peace River was in veiw ...clear and blue , it was big, jet boat big ! So decending the valley I was soon standing on it,s banks or should I say shores . Ted Dansen (guy from Cheer,s) once said , "having sex with Whoopey Goldburg was like throwing a weiner down a hallway ". well thats how I felt casting a fly rod at that much flowing water... fairly insignificant .. and I didn't put on waders when I got out of the truck , my first thought was of the Alberta Didymo algae on my wading boots ... for the first time in years I had travelled to a potentially Didymo free enviroment . ... I fished up stream not able to reach good water without wading , so what did I dredge up on my heavy steamers but Didymo !! Hey I'm a tourist up here ! But what a beautiful place on this planet... I would love take a week and float that valley . Across from me was an island made up of just cliff face 80 feet high, that split the Peace in two ...each half of the river was far bigger than the Thompson River . Work was over a week later and on the radio they announced that Premier Cambell will have that part of the Mighty Peace River and all it,s farm land damed for hydro power .. So you have two years to go experience the mighty river ... Rainbows, Dolly Varden , Artic Grayling , Pike ,Walleye ,Goldeye and more . I suggest you contact Darren Thiel at BACK COUNTRY Outdoor Shop 250-785-1461 for info ..he is quite enthusiastic about his fishery ... GOOD BYE .. MIGHTY PEACE

Dry Fly Time

I left the fly shop the other day after closing with Winston the dog . We hit the Crowsnest River for a couple hours ,still using the same nymph combo from the other day . I touched a couple of trout but observed two rises on a slow foam line and switched to a flymph or floating nymph in the size #18 midge catagory ..Seems like those two trout were onto me already and I did not rise them to a fly. Winston was having some concerns and charged the woods barking a few times , we were downwind of whatever ?? and I could not smell the whatever ? so it wasn,t a spring bear, which don,t usually smell any better after months of napping . After a bit of trying,I got keen on catching my first dry fly trout in 2010. Winston and I walked upstream , heading for a cliff pool with a big foamy slow back current , thinking "where the foam collects the food collects".If there was a steady riser ,this was the best winter dry fly spot for this mile of river..I bypassed the runs in between... Reaching the cliff pool the foam was thick and coffee coloured and looked just like the creme'fresh on the espresso we try to recreate daily at the cafe'. We got this new espresso machine ( I AM NOW HOOKED ON IT ).I scanned the pool of coffee creme'...the current was so slow, the thick foam just jiggled a bit as it circled round , there was definitely a suspicious jiggle in the foam coming off the rock point .I stood watching the 40 foot round bowl of espresso for a rise.. I realized then that I had "no lead" or indicator on this new rod.. (TFO TiCrX) for the first time since I pulled it off the rack at the shop in December, I had on just a dry fly...I kept an eye on the suspicious creme' ,especially where it came off this rock point .. ..Not to disturb the possible riser I cast off to the side into the clear water of the main seam as it pushed along the cliff wall . I cast a while admiring the Z-axis type action of this 5wt. The TFO bounced 70 foot casts up against the wall and would have gone further if there was room or need ..The creme' jiggled just off he rock point , I had my riser ! and waited , not taking my eyes off that spot. The trout jiggled the foam again and I had my target pin pointed and a presentation straight up the back current from where I stood ... Forty feet of line , leader and tippet straightened out four feet over the water and hung briefly then dropped softly into the coffee creme'...cutting a straight line an inch deep into the bowl of espresso .. there was a quiet fizz of tiny bubbles breaking and the dry fly was gone ...about four seconds past and the creme' jiggled ... I set!.... the line went tight and solid , a feeling like only a hefty trout or snag can do . Creme' from the tight line had flung into the air followed by a tail slap that flung a wad of it against the rock face ...seconds later my trout shot out of the center of that perfect bowl ...it was like a fly fishing addict/espresso junkies dream .. the lined ripped through the foam until the tussle was over and a thick 20 inch Crowsnest rainbow came to hand ... the serenity of the pool was trashed for that single trout rising in the pool and myself , I looked up stream to the next pool .. the sun was low and light fading .. that was a good moment, I thought, I'm done ,that first dry fly fish of late winter .. if you can call sinking a #18 dry fly into an inch of brown foam dry fly fishing .... my patient retriever and I made our way back to the truck . Well that was three weeks ago now and more fish have been caught on a dry since .. expect to see little winter stones mostly black #18 and #16 and olive#16 of coarse some midges ..some Skwalas soon ..I am off to fish the mighty Peace River .. back in 3 weeks . Suzy will be in the shop to help you out .. Al B.

great day

We are so spoiled..The Crowsnest river is running low , cold and productive.As is per usual this time of year, nymphs are by far more productive, but even the most novice tied streamer..which I am just learning to tie has done very well..good time for any one who wants to learn.. weather dependent . little precipitation has helped and I am sure more will come. All in all this winter flyfishing has been well terrrific! all the best Susan