End of April Report

April might just be my new favorite time to fly fish the Crows Nest River ,or has it just been a long winter . The snow is been falling on and off for the last week and a half . In mid April , a few day's of stellar weather brought some higher dirty water from that lower elevation snow melt. With this colder weather water levels have remained up ,but the water has cleared nicely. Today I fished the Crow in sub zero conditions with lots of ice on the guides ...trout rose in some of the usual spots as March Browns and a very small black midge were on the water in good numbers. I had caught two nice rainbows before I busted the very tip off my fly rod while trying to break rather thick ice off of it . Thats a new one for me ! (my favorite Loomis) It has been a different kind of day on the Crow every time I fished it this month. Bug hatches ,flow , clarity , weather , etc. ... it's been interesting . Bugs To Look Out For...Size #16 black stone ,size #12 black stone ,size #16 March Brown ,size#18 Blue wing , size #14 tent wing caddis , #22 Tan micro caddis , Skwalla stones if the sun ever comes back out and any midge any time and hope they are bigger than a size #28.. Nymph accordingly ... If I was a bird watcher , I would get out there as the snow cover has sent birds to the river for food and migration is on full time. Watch Out for Trout Sitting on Reds.... a few early spawners are sitting in some fast shallow tail outs.. IN THAT .... PERFECT CROSSING WATER ..EGGS HATCH IN JULY INTO EARLY AUGUST ...WADERS PLEASE BE OBSERVANT