To Blog or Not to Blog ?????????

HAMELET .....To Blog ... or Not to Blog ! That is the Question ! Whether ' tis Nobler in the World Wide Web to suffer the Slings and Arrows of outrageously abundant information ... Or to take Casts against a Sea of Natures Variables . And by Casting , Conquer them ....... To Cast to Sleep , to Cast some more ..... and between sleeps we tye , with the hope to end the heartache of natures thousand natural shifts -that fish are heir to ... 'Tis a Consumtion ! ..... Devoutly to be Fish'd ; ... To Cast ... to Sleep , Perchance to Dream - Aye- There's the Rub .. Muscilin for my line .... For in that Cast of Death ! No dreams may come , Til we have untangled this motal coil,- Tis a triangle taper.... Alas we must give pause; theres the respect that makes "calamity" of long lines .... For Who would beor the Whips and Scones of Immoral Timing . The Obsessors Wrong ; the proud Mans contumely , the pangs of Despis'd Love , the Rods delay .. The insolense of office , and the spurns that lack of patience are merit of th' unworthy takes.. when his quietus make ; To tye with bare bodkin ; What fly would fardels bear ? To Grunt and Swear Under Weary Rod , but of that , the Dread of Cast Learned only after Death! Still it's th' undiscovered country from whose bourn no angler returns , puzzles the will ... and makes us rather bear those casts we have that fly to others that we Know Not Of ?. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all ... and Thus the native hue of Lengthy Trout ! .... Line is sickled o'er sipping fish with vague casts , I thought ? ... an enterprize of great pitch and moment. With this regard their currents turn awry my offerings and loose the name of action ..G. Loomis... I Think ! ....soft you know . The fair Oncorhychus and floating nymph .... Whisper Creek in thy orisons ... BE All My SINS REMEMB'ERD .. ! OPHELIA ..... Good My Lord ...FISH ON!!!

nice winter rainbow

january

Well...Here we are...the freeze has subsided and there is open water...As is typical (it seems) the big ones are slow to respond, but respond they do..streamers and nymphs..the boys did well on tiny midges the other day and I lucked into some co-operative rainbows on size 6 streamers ...The Crowsnest is fishing well and with the last week of warm weather it's fairly easy to walk and wade. The beavers have not taken a siesta, nor have the otters...Al and Gary went out for late night Ling cod, a few hearty souls were up to the same and did well. The Cafe and flyshop is open Wednesday thru Sunday from 8-5 ,and if you need any info etc,please call toll free 1-877-363-3258 or at the shop 403 -563-8510.

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.