Flyfishing Tales - Summer 2007

[troutman]

I'd love to hear about and see your pictures from your flyfishing adventures this summer. If your fishing spot is "top secret" just call it Frenchman's Creek.

June 2 was my first day out fishing this season. We were camping with friends at Bow Valley. My friend G. just bought himself the gear this past winter and wanted to try out his equipment. I took him over to Gap Lake (between Exshaw and Canmore).

I really wasn't expecting to catch fish - I just wanted to get G. used to his gear, and practice casting. We had on dry flies to work on his casting. On the west side of the lake there is a scree rock slope. We climbed on to some boulders in the water and started casting about. Within 5-6 casts, this beauty took my Royal Wullf:



G. had to wade into the water to help me net this brown trout. It was at least 16", and I may not catch a nicer trout this summer. We let the fish go, and were only able to fish a little longer before going back to camp.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Beautiful fish, you lucky SOB.

I just cancelled my 2 weeks of July vacation in the Flathead. Looks like another year will go by without my flyrod seeing the water.

BTW...Royal Wulff is my second favorite fly for fishing in NW Montana. Elk Hair Caddis is money, but I love the royal too.

[troutman]

Royal Wulff

Hook TMC 100, Mustad 94845 #8-14
Thread black 6/0 prewaxed
Tail natural brown bucktail
Butt pea herl
Body red floss
Shoulder pea herl
Wings white calf body hair
Hackle coachman brown hackle

[Fuzzy McGillicuddy]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

Beautiful fish, you lucky SOB.

I just cancelled my 2 weeks of July vacation in the Flathead. Looks like another year will go by without my flyrod seeing the water.

BTW...Royal Wulff is my second favorite fly for fishing in NW Montana. Elk Hair Caddis is money, but I love the royal too.

I was thinking of doing some camping this summer in the Flathead area. I don't know much about the place. Is there good flyfishing in the area?

[Tron_fdc]

Is that a thumb I spy in the gills Troutman?

[J pold]

I haven’t been out yet this season…which is unfortunate but I hopefully I will be a regular contributor to this thread

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Is that a thumb I spy in the gills Troutman?

Not mine - the novice G. (I showed him how to revive and release the fish). You can't keep Brown Trout from Gap Lake; only brook trout.

The regs for our convenience:

http://www.albertaoutdoorsmen.ca/fishingregs/es1.html

No fish were harmed in the making of this picture.

[Tron_fdc]

I learned my gill lesson the hard way too. My dad is a pretty avid fly fisherman and he used to take me up to the high altitude lakes in Kananaskis all the time when I was a kid. I recall getting stern lectures on how to properly handle fish....and the upset looks I got when I pulled out my barbed 3 prong spinners.

How is the bow right now BTW? Is it clear enough to catch anything besides dishwashers?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

I learned my gill lesson the hard way too. My dad is a pretty avid fly fisherman and he used to take me up to the high altitude lakes in Kananaskis all the time when I was a kid. I recall getting stern lectures on how to properly handle fish....and the upset looks I got when I pulled out my barbed 3 prong spinners.

How is the bow right now BTW? Is it clear enough to catch anything besides dishwashers?

The Bow is washed out around Exshaw, but did not look too bad in CGY today when I drove over it - it is higher than normal.

http://www.bowrivertroutfitters.com/

June 1, 2007
Current Report
Flows on the Bow are rising and the river has some color. Fishing has been fair to good with some fish rising to caddis in the afternoons and evenings. Hopefully, we will get a week or two before runoff starts to kick in, but it looks like it 's going to be upon us very soon, the Bow at Banff has doubled in volumn. The river just opened today from Bearspaw Reservoir to the weir at the zoo.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy McGillicuddy

I was thinking of doing some camping this summer in the Flathead area. I don't know much about the place. Is there good flyfishing in the area?

It used to be phenomenal....but it's improving from a low point. A lot of management mistakes have been made in Montana in the last 30 years.

It's very tough to get to some of the best places. You also have to worry about how high the water is at any given point. It's still probably too early to be fishing the Flathead drainage with much success because the runoff is still in full swing. Of course, I'm not actually there right now so I can't be certain that is the case, just going off past history. The Kootenai river below Lake Koocanusa is great, but it's best to float it and fish from a drift boat.

The Middle Fork of the Flathead both above and below Hungry Horse Reservoir is another great spot. Again...water levels will be a concern...as will bears. If the water isn't too high the bull trout have started making inroads up there again and they are a really fun fish to catch.

[troutman]

A new Alberta flyfishing forum:

http://www.setbb.com/albertaflyfish/...albertaflyfish

Welcome to the new Alberta Fly Fishing Forum. It appears there is a need for a new free forum, so here it is. Have fun. To view all the 14 forums on this board, you must sign in. Visitors may only visit the "fly fishing forum" and the "new to fly fishing forum" without registering. All that do register will be entered in to the free stillwater fishing trip with Phil and me.

Cheers,
Doc