July 15 Oldman River Walk & Wade

Akasha, George and hit the Oldman river for a day of cutty and bull trout fishing.

July 12 Crowsnest River Walk & Wade

Akasha took Scott, his wife Deone, his brother and his father for a walk & wade on the Crowsnest river today. The Crow is Akasha's home water so he does all our Crowsnest trips on the Crowsnest.

The day started..

August 5th Update

Hey so sorry about the lack of fishing reports. In short I've been on almost everyday since the last update in July, the guide reports on the website weren't updating properly so I'm just waiting to transfer the info from my notes to the fishing reports page here.

-The river has finally dropped to typical summer levels
-The weather has stabalized and the long range forecast looks good
-The Bow river is fishing very well again with dries, streamers and nymphs...its a good time to be on the Bow


July 11th Bow river Float trip (Mac - Cars)

I picked Graham and George up at 7:00am today so we could try and get some early morning dry fly action. Graham does at least a half a dozen trips a year with me, but this was George's first time fishing with us. Right out of the gates I could tell it was going to be a good day as George was an experienced fly fisherman like Graham is.

I started the guys on dry stonefly patterns as the bottom end has fished well for dries. After the guys hit every pocket and seam I wanted on the first 2 banks without so much as a snout to speak of we switched up to streamers. On the first bank Graham hooked up and landed a healthy lochlevin brown. We spent a lot of time working water from the bank as well as the boat. I switched George up to an indicator to try nymphing. George took a nice clean rainbow about 18" off a gravel bar and Graham hooked up with several fish that ended up giving him the slip.

They had to work for their fish in the morning and afternoon, but both guys were hooking fish. They hooked alot of fish that didn't make it to the net. Graham was moving fish on the streamers and George was hooking fish on stonefly nymphs, caddis larvae, and san juan's. Getting Graham out on the water is always a great day and I really wanted these guys to experience the way the river has fished later in the evening so we took our time getting down into the braids. The last island we stopped to fish at around 8:00pm Graham hooked up 7 rainbows and landed 4 of them on the streamer and George landed a healthy brown on a caddis pupae.

Once the sun had dropped below the high banks I headed into the braids. We busted out the stoneflies dries and were not disappointed. Graham landed a 24" rainbow on a caddis emerger dropper, and George landed a goreous and thick 21" rainbow right after. They hooked fish after fish and were seconds away from double headers an numerous occasions. This was one of the first nights that I was also seeing fish feeding on the surface regularily as well. By the time we got off the river it was quarter after eleven. I dropped the guys off after midnight and didn't get home until 1:00am. Long day but an enjoyable one, and well worth it.

July 10th Lower Bow River Float (Mac - Cars)

Joel from Colorado and Chris from New Jersey were in town for Stampede and to fish the Bow river with us. Given the dry fly activity I'd seen the last few days I wanted to fish the bottom end. A Big rain and hail storm through the night had brought the river up and dropped the visibility to less then a foot down at MacKinnon Flats where we put in.

Right out of the gates Joel hooked a gorgeous 23.5" rainbow on a dry fly still within 50 yards of the boat launch. We weren't seeing any other fish coming up so after a few banks I had Chris switch over to a nymph. Chris started getting a few hits and the wind was making casting dries difficult so Joel opted to try streamers. Much like the other days while the storm was blowing in the fishing was tough but once the system got in the fishing picked up. Chris got his first fly rod fish which was a gorgeous 22" rainbow.

Nymphing continued to produce well as both guys were taking fish on stonefly nymphs and caddis larvae patterns. Joel and Chris had to be back in town to meet their friend so we didn't fish the evening but both Joel and Chris had hooked alot of fish and were very happy to have experienced the bow for what it is none for. I know they'll be back as they promised they would.

July 9th Lower Bow Float (22X - Mac)

Grant from Grand Cache was in town for Stampede and was able to get out on the Bow with us. After the incredible dry fly fishing we'd had I wanted to start the day on stonefly dries again. After a half hour of watching Grant hit all the seems and pockets I wanted without so much as a snout coming up for a look it was time to change. Much like on Monday the river fished tough while a system was blowing in. Grant had to work for his frist 2 fish. The fish were not on the feed at all but stripping streamers he was able to entice a nice rainbow and a brown to eat. Again neither fish had anything in them when I pumped their throat.

Once the storm blew in and settled in the fishing picked right up. Grant landed 7 of the 10 fish he hooked on caddis larvae patterns and stonefly nymphs and had lots of other fish take that he wasn't able to stay tight on. Later in the evening Grant had 5 fish come up and eat a dry stonefly but wasn't able to land any of them. Its been interesting how bady the fish have been off while the storm is moving in, but then how incredible the fishing was once the storm settled in. If only we could control the weather...

July 8th Bow River Float Trip

Dan B. and Fr. Jack joined us for an evening on the Bow after Dan finished work. Fr. Jack's from Lousiana has fished with us several times over the last 5 years when he comes to Calgary to visit Dan. We fished from Legacy Island down to Carseland, getting on the water at 5:00 in the evening. Right off the start Dan had 2 fish explode on his adult stonefly pattern. (I wanted to float the bottom end as the fish have been eating more and more stonefly nymphs the further down the river you get from Calgary. Stonefly hatches work their way upriver so I was hoping we'd see more adults down at the bottom end.

The fish were eating dries early. Fr.Jack had a fish explode on his adult stonefly pattern and break him off on a big jump. Once the sun dropped in the sky though things got a little crazy. Despite not seeing adult stones on the water the fish were all over adult stone patterns. Dan even took over on the oars for me once and I got a beautiful brown that rolled on my stonefly and put up a very impressive fight. He was the only brown of the day and a very deep and healthy fish. That was good enough for me and I was back on the oars. Dan and Fr. Jack landed fish after fish and hadn numerous missed takes that would've made for several double headers. When you row off the river after 11:00 at night everyone else is at home in bed, and they just missed out on some of the best dry fly fishing you could ever hope for. Big dries, big fish, big explosions, big fun.

July 7th Bow River Float Trip (Fish Creek - Mac)

Gary Lawson from the UK joined us for a day of flaoting and fly fishing the Bow. This was Gary's first time to Canada and he was in for a treat. The day started off with hot weather and average fishing. Gary's first 2 fish were his first 2 wild trout as well as the biggest rainbow and brown he had ever caught. Both nice fish over 20".

With the heat we had a big hail storm roll in half way through the day. The sky got really dark and we had huge thunder heads roll in. While the storm was blowing in the fishing shut off. Then we were hit by 5 minutes of hail, another 10 of rain, 30 more minutes of heavey wind before the weatehr settled in and the fishing picked right up. Gary landed half a dozen nice trout but hooked more then either of us wanted to count. Unfortunately Gary's used to float fishing with bait back in the UK so instinctively he was throwing slack at the indicator when it went under. You've got a very narrow window of time to set the hook and we were missing it. Oh well Gary had his best day of fishing so mission accomplished.

July 5th Bow River Float Trip (Police - Mac)

Sam and Dan B. floated the bow river with us this Saturday afternoon. This was Sam's first day of fly fishing and he was some excited. We hit the river around 2:00 in the afternoon. The day was hot but the fishing was luke warm to start things off, but they didn't stay that way. Dan landed some nice fish while Sam was stillgetting the hang od setting on subtle takes. Sam did an unbelievable job of picking up on the casting, definetely a natural. Few people I've taken out have caught on so well, to the point that they could fish as easily from the banks as from the boat within just a few hours.

I wanted to fish the evening and see if the fishing picked up as the sun dropped. And pick up it did. As the sun dropped in the sky the fishing picked up. The fish were definitely on stonefly nymphs. The further down river we went the more the fish were keying in on the stonefly nymphs.

Sam was doing great but kept getting short strikes that he was having trouble hooking. We passed a seem that I wanted Sam to get his flies into. He made the perfect cast and got a great drift through it. Dan cast into the seam right after Sam and proceeded to hook and land his 6th or 8th rainbow, with many others hooked and lost. Sam's woes were soon over though as he landed his first fly rod caught fish of his life after a very exciting an emphatic fight. Sam was so excited it was awesome. Watching someone catch there first fish and get that excited is the reason I guide...I love it it was great. Dan hooked several more rainbows after that to finish off another impressive day on the water

June 30th

I defended my thesis today. School is fianlly done. My Master's thesis looked at the visual system with respect to accuracy, and how manipulations of attentional focus effect outcome aaccuracy during fly casting.

School is fianlly done...its all about the fish now.

Tight Loops & Lines
<><

June 29th Bow River Float Trip (Police - Mac)

Tim and Kelli from Utah joined us on the river today.

June 28 Bow River Float Trip (Glenmore - Police)

Mark and his friend Steve both joined us today for their first time fly fishing. Steve got on the board first with a nice bow river brown. This Saturday was extremely hot and the fishing was fairly tough but the boys still hooked fish. Mark's a good friend of mine that I've been trying to get out on the river for years now. We finally managed to get him out there and in the first few hours Mark was hooking up like crazy...problem was we were hooking pretty much everything but the fish, it was getting almost comical, and there was absolutely nothing he was doing wrong, just some tough luck. Both Steve and Mark caught on very quickly and were casting extremely well.

As the day went on the fishing did get better but it wasn't phenominal by any stretch of the imagination. The weather was extremely hot which makes for tougher fishing.

June 25 Bow River Float (Glenmore - Fish Creek)

George and I hit the Bow late this afternoon after an incredible day on the Oldman yesterday. Much like on Monday the banks were prime and had big fish holding tight to them.

We had a riot stripping streamers for browns and even a rainbow but the highlight of the day was a gorgeous brown just before dark on a hopper(stonefly) dropper rig right at the take out.

June 24th Oldman River Walk & Wade

George and I hit the Upper Oldman today to see how the water looked. The river just opened up on the 16th of this montn and this was my first trip down there to see how it was.

As per usual with cutties the first hour of the day was less then spectacular, but the day very quickly picked up once the sun started to warm things up....cutties love the sun. There was the odd stonefly shuck out on the rocks but not too many yet. Fishing a stonefly nymph was as close as you could get to a sure thing. Cast after cast produced a hooked or landed cutthroat. George had a huge bull trout chase and try and eat one of the cutties he landed. The cutties were not interested in the adult stones yet, but they were coming up to eat beetle's and ant's.

After catching probably close to 3 dozen fish in an hour or 2 we decided to do some exploring and check out a bunch of new access points and parts of the river we'd never seen or fished before. We found some exceptional summer water that I can't wait to fish later in the season. As always a phenpominal day on the Oldman.

June 23 Bow River Float (Glenmore - Fish Creek)

The Bow has finally cleared up! There's now a foot of visibility. The snow is still in the mountains as all the rian we had in Calgary through May and early June was primarily still snow up in the mountains.

Akasha and I hit the water today to see how it would fish. The water was high and still very colored but with a foot of visibility it was more then fishable and the banks looked ideal. We stripped streamers with very interesting results. We would have slow stretches without a hit or chase for nearly a mile then we'd go less then a mile with a dozen fish chasing our streamers off the banks. Akasha had the hot hand today as he often seems to with early season streamers. Greta to be able to fish the bow again.

July 15 Oldman River Walk & Wade

Akasha, George and hit the Oldman river for a day of cutty and bull trout fishing.

July 12 Crowsnest River Walk & Wade

Akasha took Scott, his wife Deone, his brother and his father for a walk & wade on the Crowsnest river today. The Crow is Akasha's home water so he does all our Crowsnest trips on the Crowsnest.

The day started..

June 22nd Fly Fishing 101 School

We ran another Fly Fishing 101 School today. We had a few people that had to back out last minute which isn't good for us, but it was for the people still in the course. After the classroom session and slide show presentation we spent the remaining 3 and ahalf hours outside. Everyone did very well with the knot tying and the casting lessons were great. We had first time casters and an experienced fly fisherman there that all improved their casting greatly.

Now that the river is cleaning up we'll be back on the river everyday and we'll have to wait until the season is over to run another school

June 20th Pike on the Fly

Bart and his florida fishing buddy joined us for another pike on the fly trip today. The water had cleared up substantially from even the previous day which in theory I thought would be beneficial. The pike were not as active today as the two of them only landed the same number of fish as Bart had on his own the prvious day. Near the end of the day Bart landed a nice pike around 8lbs though that made the day for him, as well as hooking another fish in that 8-10 lbs range earlier.

Overall a good day on the water

June 19th Pike on the Fly

Bart from Florida joined us today fro a pike on the fly trip as the river is still blown out. The water had cleared up slightly from yesterday and the fishing had picked up as well. Bart landed 15 pike and hooked up at least 2 fish that got off for every fish he landed today. This was Bart's first trip for pike and he enjoyed it so much we're going to do it again tommorow when his fishing buddy will join him

June 18th Pike on the Fly

We finally did it...Akasha and I made it out on the water for pike on the fly. The day was hot and the water was actually really colored due to some work they were doing on a culvert. The pike were not overly aggressive but we hooked fish. Akasha got his first pike on a fly rod and several others as did I. Nice to get finally get out for pike on the fly with Akasha.

June 15th - 17th Cold Lake Pike on the Fly

I made the 6hr drive Northeast to visit my brother in Coldlake. The first day we fished Marie lake that evening. I saw more trophy pike swimming through the shallows then I have at any other lake. I was fortunate enough to land a real trophy pike that would push 25lbs. The pike wasn't really long but it was amazingly thick across the shoulders and deep. I was so glad to have the 9wt when I hooked that fish instead of an 8wt. The pike fishing was great and my brother even landed a nice walleye.

I also found out that a wakeboard tower makes an ideal casting platform, I could spot fish and being 12' above the water allows you to shoot an entire fly line with ease even with a 5/0 pike fly on it. It was great to see my brother and his family as well as to land a pike that big on the fly, and there were many fish I saw that size and possibly even larger.

June 14th Beaverpond Brookies

The Bow isn't flooding which is positive, however its still too high and muddy to be fishable for some time yet. Before leaving for a pike trip I went out and hit up a few brookie ponds.

The ponds are so small that each time you hook a fish you have to be careful not to spook the rest of the fish in the pond, but if you play the fish carefully it can be incredible. Each fish I was able to get ou of the main pool and then just sat and waited for the fish to settle down for a bit. By taking this cautious approach I was able to pull a dozen brookies between 13" and 18" instead of just 4 or 5 fish. I grew up learning to fly fish for brookies so they hold a special rank with me. In my mind they're the most gorgeous trout there is

June 6th Bow River Conditions Update

With all the rain we've had through May the river is still extremely high and blown out. The sheep river and the highwood (both tributaries of the Bow) caused flooding, although the Bow itself hasn't flooded yet which is good. We haven't had any snow melt yet, just rain and ground runoff. Not sure how high the river will get if the snow starts melting as well. Let's hope we don't have the floods of 2005 on our hands.

May 31st - June 5th Vancouver Island

May 27th - 31st Ottawa

May 20th - 27th Florida Keys & Miami

May 19th Alpine lake trip

Norman and his wife Cindy joined us for a trip today fishing alpine lakes since the bow was now unfishable. We staretd the morning on Gap lake fishign fro brown trout. Cindy was on the board first with a very colorful 11" brown trout. We watched an eagle and an osprey sitting on their nest watching them fish. Norman hooked his own brown trout not longer after...and lets just say it was horizontally challenged, ok it was small, it out in the open now. Norman had a bunch fish chase and hit his streamer but we couldn't hook any of them. After about an hour or so I pulled the pin on Gap and went to chase some beaverpond brookies.

Once again Cindy was the first one to point a point on the board with a gorgeous 13" brookie. For small beaverpond brookies these are tanks. The size and colors of the brookies had Norman anxious to hook his own. It was long before he did...again and again. Nomran hooked 4 or 5 brookies, each one bigger then any brook trout he had ever caught before. The coloration of these fish is spectacular.

To round out the evening we went to chase some arctic grayling. The grayling were visible actively cruising the shallows. Unfortunately these fish were not interested in eating as they had other things on their mind...these fish were in prespawn mode.

All in all it was a good day, Norman was exstatic with his brookies and rightly so

May 18th Fly Fishing 101 School

We ran our Fly Fishing 101 School today. We had 10 people in the class teaching them about casting, knot tying, entomology, fly selection, and equipment. The wind started blowing 20 minutes into the casting session but we were able to get everyone behind a building that broke the wind for them. Its great watching new people learn about the wonderful sport of fly fishing.

The school is the perfect opportunity to show people that this fly fishing gig just isn't as sophistimicated as people want them to believe. Turns out its pretty easy and a whole lot of fun.

On a less positive note this hot weather has casued the river to blow out earlier then usuaul

May 17 Bow River Float Trip (Fish Creek - Police)

James Tenute and 2 of his friends from Eastern Canada joined us on the river for a half day float trip. We had exceptionally good weather for mid May, it was more like late August. The sun was bright and hot, the sky clear and beautifully blue without a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately the unseasonably hot weather turned out to be more favorale to sun tanning then it did for fishing. The boys landed a nice trout fairly early in the trip but the rest of the fish managed to get off.

May 16 Bow River Float (Glenmore - Fish Creek)

Akasha and I floated the bow this afternoon. We mainly stripped streamers. Nymphs were producing most consistently the last 2 days but we wanted to experiment and see what else the fish were willing to eat. Akasha landed a gorgeous brown for early spring, as well as a few other healthy fish. I then got to listen to Akasha ride me as each of the fish I hooked got off. We had a lot of fish chase and slash at the streamers that didn't eat in the end.

The water quality is good, but there's just not quite enough visibility for the fish to be on the surface yet.

May 15th Bow River Float Trip (Glenmore - Fish Cre

Had Dan B, from Calgary, out after he finished work for a half day float trip on the Bow river. The river fished muched lke it did yesterday, not fats and furious by anymeans but consistent. Dan got 3 very healthy trout to hand with several others that won the battle. The browns are super thick and healthy, this is a very good sign

May 14th Bow River Float (17th Ave - Glenmore)

My father joined my on the Bow today. The water is still very cold but its more then fishable. Dad landed some nice browns, a really healthy rainbow, and a rocky. We only had a few hours on the water but they were good one's. Really impressed to see how healthy the browns are, and surprised to see the rainbow looked as good as it did. Winter was good to the fish which is good for us.

May 11th & 12th (Miami)

After my short stint in Miami back in January I couldn't wait to get back there and try for the peacock's again as well as chase the tarpon and many other sport fish in the area.

Day 1: Today I walked the canals of Miami in search of peacock's. I caught 3 fish within minutes of setting up, including one fish that broke me off before I manged to coax him into hitting another fly allowing me to retreive my 1st fly. While fishing for peacock's I saw some Jack's crashing bait up against the far shorline, but always beyond casting distance...almost always that was. I managed to hook a nice Jack that pushed that 6wt harder then a 6wt was meant to be flexed. The Jack won this round.

Day 2: Today I fished the lake at the University of Miami. I hooked a huge peacock bass the biggest I've seen yet. While trying to set the camera up on a timer I lost the fishing capturing nothing but me bent over the water with the fish thrashing from my grip back into the water. I caught a bunch of talapia, a few barracuda, and a little Jack as well as hooking and losing a snook.

I then met with Captain Mark and we headed out on Biscayne Bay to chase tarpon at night under the bridges. I had and absolute riot. Despite it being night the bridge lights made all of the fishing sight casting. I hooked and landed my 1st 2 tarpon before losing my next 5 including one the ran side ways between the pillings that just about cost me a fly line. Captain Mark put me on the tarpon and did everything you'd want a guide to do...I had a fantastic time, watching tarpon eat a fly and then explode out of the water is such a gas

May 10th (Ottawa)

After finishing the 1st completed draft of my thesis I left for Ottawa to visit my sister and her family (her husband Dave and my nephew Isaac). The Ottawa river has Long nose gar which I've wanted to catch for some time now, however the river was blown out, high, muddy and cold with the snow melt.

The Rideau river had some very large carp that I tried chasing. The 2nd fish I cast at I hooked which must have been close to 25lbs. The fight was rather short lived as the last run the carp made snapped 2X like it was tying thread. 200 casts later I realised carp were far spookier and fickle then my initial impression. These fish would spook just from twitching a fly that had already been cast in their anticipated path. I hooked 2 carp and didn't land either but was very impressed with those fish. Carp are nothing like our suckers, they are skittish like no fish I've seen, they made bonefish look lackadaisical. They're big, strong, fast and have a sense of smell like a permit, and much like a permit if you moved the fly they would spook. It was exclusively sight casting as you had to see the fish in order to try and get the fly in their path were it may get intercepted. More often then not the carp would change directions so many times that you could hardly pattern their movement enough to get a cast in front of them. All in all they were a more then worthy adversary that I wish we had out here.

While chasing the carp I did pick up a few small mouth, a large mouth,some panfish, crappie, perch, and even pike...just not the fish I was really after.

Jan. 21st (Miami)

On the way back from a Mission trip in Peru I had a layover in Miami. I had always wanted to chase Peacock bass and I finally got my chance. Originally the plan had been to do a night trip for tarpon, however the weather did not permit that with the high winds and cold front that had rolled through. Walking the canals of Miami I got a chance to hook into several peacock bass. They're a fantastic fish, they didn't start moving at all until the sun finally popped out but when it did I was hooking them steadily until I had to run and grab my plane home.

The peacock's didn't ever seem to eat the fly they would charge it and start half an inch short or run at it as if they were trying to spook the fly off

Welcome to the 2008 Season

Another season is underway. The 2008 season started later for us this year given the fact that Josh was completing is Master's Thesis on the visual characteristics of expert fly casters at the University of Calgary. This is Out Fly Fishing outfitters 6th season in operation and promises to be one of the best and busiest.

We look forward to seeing everyone out on the water.
Tight Loops & Lines
<><