Going to Winnipeg... er... almost... plus central Ab...

A couple of years ago we did a crazy weekend blitz of Twin Lakes in MB for tiger trout. Pretty cool. We vowed to go back last year but between final preps for the completion of Fortress Lake renos and late ice out last year, and being sheer exhausted last fall, we never made it east. Well, with the warm weather and lack of precip the past month or two, lakes have really picked up and many across the country are open very early. Last year, on May 6, 20% of Patterson Lake in Manitoba was ice free. It was 20% ice free on April 12 this year and has been wide open for several days. With the reports on the Manitoba Fly Fishing Forum and a friend whom we hope to run into this weeken, AJ & I have the VW loaded and are on our way. We'll leave Wed am before first light and hope to be on Patterson Wed evening. If all goes well, maybe we'll be lucky enough to find a trout or two to video. If we have internet access, we'll post from the hotel. If not, see you next week!

And if you haven't heard of the Manitoba Parkland, our friend Andrew sent us this photo from one of the lakes out that way from last weekend. Apparently a few such fish were caught.

For information on the Manitoba Parkland region stocked / aerated lakes program, check out FLIPPR's website:
http://www.flippr.ca/

Keep in mind that many central Alberta lakes will be completely ice free now - it's worth checking out Fiesta (which has some 18 - 20" fish); Mitchell (some nice trout); maybe room for a few boats on Beaver and a couple on Ironside. With the skwala stones hatching, stream fly fishers will do quite well so long as the weather is warm. As things cool off later in the week, look at the Crow, Oldman, Bow, Stauffer for blue winged olive mayflies and midges hatching - the cool, wet weather is perfect for hatch chasing on these waters. We also saw our first march brown mayfly of the year yesterday - so they may kick in too. All thanks to this wonderful early season weather.

Have a great week!