winding down

This summer has been more than a little wild,challenging and fun. The July floods played havoc with the Oldman system,essentially creating a whole new upper section thru the Livingstone and thru the Gap. Water levels were in constant flux until the end of July ,even the Crow stayed higher than normal. The Trout seemed to have their focus on the bottom and right from the beginning seemed leery of rising. Yep the 2013 season of finicky trout,yep even the piggy Cutthroats! This meant anglers had to to a lot more walking to find their missing sweet spots, focus on their casting/mending ,drifting, and generally rely on their intuition. August blossomed into full on dry's and the season returned to it's hot dry usual self. September has proved to be my favorite again with the challenge of Blue wing Olives ,few hatches (except the darned midges),but lo and behold Green Drakes continued to battle for position against the terrestrials.
The shop was also in full bloom with the distinguished minions running the show and going great guns! Lot's of high energy ,inventiveness  and hard work..I'm extremely proud of our Staff. Al and Johnny had their hands full with what continues to be a very busy guiding year..hard sluggin with so many testy trout! We met and guided so many really good people ,enjoyed their company on the river and chats in the shop..Thank you for your support and great attitude!
So all the very best ..we will be closed for part of October and early November..yep fishin'...then open Wed-Sun 8-5...thanks again! Susan

Sept BWO

welcome BWO Boys...these crazy southerners have been flyfishing the Crowsnest area for what? 10 years?longer..thru sleet, hail ,snow..and now big full on fall blue skies.Will the Blue wings co-operate? Can Richard put away his nymphs ,droppers and stay one fly on the surface? Are the substantial changes in courses of the Oldman system going to see a lose of hair? All the best to all you fall fishermen! Susan

Just a quick reminder Mill and Hidden creeks are now closed....Water levels are low in all systems (Oldman ,Crow and Castle) Watch for lingering Stones,Green Drakes and the determined BWO. Lots of midges ,so patience is a must. September is a perfect month to be fishing this area as many returning clients and friends are aware. Shop is open 7 days/week 8-5...look for end of season sales .....and tales! All the best, Susan

Dog Days of August

    If my memory serves me correctly, the "dog days" of August during my childhood in Eastern Canada brought quite a slow pace to fishing and life in general. Early mornings on the river was the norm, and mid day was reserved for watching my uncles sip beer, tell fishing stories, while I plunged into the local swimming hole....

      Luckily that's not the case here in Southern Alberta! Clear skies and summer heat is waking our hoppers up from cool weather slumber, and the fish are partaking in the celebration! While some folks turn their nose up at the thought of casting foam flies to trout, I personally spend a good portion of my winter sleeping hours dreaming of this time of year! Hit those banks hard! Twitch.... Twitch... Slam!! and SET!!!

   After so much instability in temps, precipitation and insects we are welcoming the conditions we have experienced in the past week and a half with open arms down here! With more great weather on the horizon I'm very much looking forward to the next five days of guiding! On the topic of guiding I have to give a shout out to the fish gods, whom have been very kind to Al and I this year! We have had some terrific folks to share the water with, whom really have had some great days out there. One of the highlights of my season was watching a client hook and land a 21 inch brown that weighed out at a whopping 4 and 1/2 pounds! Further more what really impressed me was his reluctance to take this fish out of the water for a picture! He held the wise old brown just below the surface and angled the fish's belly so his pal could snap a picture that captured the brilliant; yellows, oranges, and reds that brought images of changing maple leaves in Autumn to my mind.

   As I prep for the next week of guiding I am readying my little pointing puppy and myself for the opening of partridge hunting season at the the end of this next stint! With hunting season just about on the doorstep, it also means our fishing season is almost halfway over! Yikes!!! So if you are considering making your way down to this beautiful part of the province, do it before it's too late and the leaves begin to fall, and wisps of Autumn snow warn that winter is just around the corner!

  Anyways, enough about fall and snow on the horizon! I'm off to go fish hoppers in the sun, and wet wade while it's still 25 degrees down here :)

Tight lines!

John
  

Better Weather Happy Trout!!!

The rivers and weather are stabilizing after the precipitation we've received over the past couple of weeks. Consistent, warm daytime temps, with mixed sun, clouds, and scattered showers has created great conditions for the tail-end of the Drake hatch. Reports from the North and South Country of some pretty wicked fishing have all of us in the shop pretty itchy to get up there ourselves!

While I haven't made it up there myself, I have been spending my time guiding clients on the Crow. I haven't experienced any crazy drake hatches on the river myself, we have been pulling good fish on terrestrials, streamers, and nymphs. While my clients have been working the runs and pools, I have been sneaking through the tall stalks of grass looking for sippers!
Our efforts have been rewarded and translated into some absolutely awesome eats, and have produced some of the bigger fish I have come across this year!
Tender feet, a low profile, and patients will be rewarded on the Crow in Spades if you give it a try!

Additionally, last night as I admired the setting sun behind mighty Crowsnest mountain I was reminded of the tremendous beauty of the area, and how lucky I am to call this place home for the summer.

Come into the shop for pattern advice and local knowledge, and have some laughs with us! By the way, all G. Loomis rods and Fish Pond gear is 20% off!!!! Come and get it while you can!

Cheers to summer fishing and sunsets!

John

Wild Weather Great Fishing!

   Mother Nature continues to throw us curve balls here in SW Alberta, and despite blasts of heavy rain and hail the fishing is great! Al and I have been busy guiding and our clients are walking away from the river; happy, tired, and smelling of fish :). The high country cutthroat have been very content on account of the drakes and BWO's popping off in the afternoon, providing them with some much needed nutrients after. No one can argue with watching a fat, orange belly cutty rise like a ghost off the bottom of an emerald green mountain stream to take a size 14 drake emerger.
  The Castle and Oldman are fishing well, the rains we received on Friday colored up the Oldman pretty good, but it is dropping and clearing quickly. Despite the cold and dreary conditions my clients and I stuck out the weather and were rewarded by a nice drake hatch. The fish didn't mind the lack of clarity, they had little trouble finding a tasty drake snack sticking to the surface.

 Bulls are beginning to move up the systems and a patient, keen eye peering into canyon stretches of the Oldman and Castle will be rewarded with opportunities to catch the big bull trout this area is known for! We certainly had fun going toe to toe with some ancient char last week!

 The Crow has been fishing fairly well through the day, searching with medium to small sized mayfly and caddis patterns may pull some fish up. Although the most reliable way to tie into those hard fighting Crowsnest Rainbow's has been nymphing in the runs and oxygenated riffles. Try fishing size 12-22 beadhead mayfly and midge patterns to fool those wily fish through the day. The evening hatches have provided some decent fishing, Blue Wings during cloudy showers around 6 or 7pm have provided us with our favorite way to fish rainbows on the Crow, small dries to sipping fish!

  I hope you, the reader, will have the opportunity to find yourself stream side, somewhere here in the Crowsnest, enjoying the same quality fishing I have been privy too! If you do, come into the shop, grab yourself a great cup of joe and share your adventures down here with us!We are also offering a Finicky Fish Clinic throughout this week and have our G.Loomis Rods on -20% off...check it out!

Tight lines!
John

july 20

OK! Good to go...rivers all in really nice shape..Crow as lovely and finicky as she can be..waters dropping rapidly in the Castle system ,fishing very good,clear, crossable,hungry cutties1 Main oldman dropping, he still needs to settleinto the new channels ,so expect a bit colour to the water, viz approx. 3'...Livingstone same ,all tribs in excellent shape and fishing really well...yes the big guys have survived!!Elk getting slowly back to normal, still a bit of colour,Michelle fast ,clear ,totally new.....yep it's time to shake off the old and explore.....this is awesome! Susan