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.