Top 15 Canadian Moments of 2012 - #8 - "Worse than Poaching!"

Fortress Lake, mid to late June, has a chironomid hatch as good as it gets. When noted Stillwater author Phil Rowley pumped several hundred chironomids out of one stomach sample, he shook his head,"that's the most packed I've ever seen. Anywhere."  It is thick and the big, fat brook trout are big, fat brook trout because of it.
It's a big reason why Fisheries have found brookies at Fortress put on 1 1/2 to 2 1/4 pounds in their third year.
We see quite a few folks that have never fished the mighty chironomid hatches before and it does take some coaxing to get skeptics to have a go at the preferred method of indicator, long leader, and a small stick looking fly that looks more like someone jokingly wrapped some thread on it as took the time to actually call it a tied fly... an art form. But it works.
One particular trip this season, two fellows were catching fish but the results differed from others. I suggested to come with me in their boat, me in mine, and set up nearby. I went through the entire approach and dropped anchor off a usually good shoal. Literally, they dropped anchor 20 yards away. I set up my line and flipped it out. 30 seconds. Fish. Fought, landed, released, cast. 30 seconds. Fish. Repeat. Repeat. After each fish I suggested maybe trying where I'm fishing - take my spot for all I care. Nothing. More fish.
"Here, take my rod". They rowed over and tied off on my boat. The fellow in the front took my rod and flipped it out. I began to set up the other fellow's line with the chironomid set up. BAM! Fish. Released, I returned to rigging the other line. BAM! Fish. Released, I continued. BAM! Fish. Three fish in the time it took to rig up an indicator, swivel, and tie on a fly.

We disengaged and I simply rowed 15 yards away and again dropped anchor.
Well, for the next 2 1/2 hrs it was perpetual. Every 30 seconds they had fish. And I'm talking double header, double, double, single, double. I sat there shaking my head, them theirs. For something they'd never tried before they were getting pretty good at it. A few times we had triple headers when I cast. It was a foregone conclusion so I didn't fish too much more.
But the clincher was, upon yet another double, the fellow in the bow of the boat looked at the other and said,"This is worse than poaching!"

In watching, it was a game of "no, you net my fish first," followed by "hey, hurry up and let that one go so you can take my picture!"

A great moment. Wonderful to see. Awesome.

Top 15 Canadian Moments 2012 - #9 - Into the Dark

At #9...
When you have finite time to fish, you tend to think when & where based on the weather & water conditions. Some days are so good or so bad you can't decide (there again, if things are that poor, there's sometimes better things to do - like edit video, pictures, or type an article). But, you play the best-guessing game and have a go at your selected water.
When fishing brown trout, the daytime isn't always the best. Some folks swear that evening or dawn is best. I don't agree with that as a carte-blanche, but at the peak of summer or on a bright, hot, still, sticky day things can get slow for bug hatches and browns tend to get shy here in Alberta, lest you sight-fish, then that's perfect opportunity! So, at times, when time is short and nothing is likely happening, you pick the evening stand-by. That's what we did one evening of a hot day.
Kevin & I got into the boat and made our way to our preferred reach and literally waited. The big mayflies were going to come off, we simply had to wait. And wait. And wait. Being so hot and bright, it was going to be post sundown most certainly this day before anything would happen.
As we sat, I mentioned to him that the previous night there had been a big slurp under an overhanging spruce tree but we didn't have a shot at it as my guest picked off the tree rather than the fish. It had been rising quite nicely and - as so often goes - he who casts 'iffy' catches trees while the fish are rising, and he who can cast very well doesn't cast because, generally, there are no fish rising.
And, there we were. No fish rising. We chatted. We waited.
Kev finally had enough, hopped out for a quick pee and then grabbed his rod. "Where?" he asked.
"Put it 2 feet above the spruce bow, drift it 5 feet. 2 - 3 feet off the bank", I suggested.
He did.

All was happy after that. The bugs came and the fishing got silly. In some spots there were a few  good browns rising in ear shot, some surprisingly close to the boat. As we came down one long bend there was a brown rising off a log. Try as he might, Kev couldn't get the right cast to it.
It certainly didn't help that he was going be sound. It was pitch black. I was 4 feet behind him, rowing, holding us in position and could just make out his light hat. That's all I saw. The water was black, the bank black, and you could only hear birds back across the river. I held us in an eddy and lightly stroked us closer up to the seam coming off the log. The fish rose a few times under my oar as I reached the top of the inseam. Still rising, the popping right below us, right in front of Kevin.
Kevin still couldn't see but made many attempts at getting the drift in.
After about 3 dozen casts, in what he thought was the same timing of the drift, he heard a popping take. And he set.
The fish hadn't taken the fly. The fly was stuck in the tip of the log. As it turns out, he said every drift would have been off by a foot or two. I pushed us up gently, trying to not spook the fish while getting Kev close enough to dislodge the fly. In the pitch black, he followed his fly line to the leader to the tippet with his hand.

As his had reached his fly stuck on the log, he felt the fish rise to take a mayfly, the head popping into the palm of his outreached hand.

He never caught that fish. It took a 5 minute break from rising after the encounter. But, when will you ever have that experience again?

Top 15 of Canadian 2012 - #10 - The Simplest

Back in July Amelia & I were once again home together and able to book a day off to fish together. As I wrote in the blog post about the day, it had been some time since we visited this little alpine lake.

Now, this blog post won't go into too much detail as the trip was covered well in that blog post.
The fishing was wonderful, everything you'd expect from a postcard (remember those?) afternoon. I'd hiked in my boots and chosen not to wear my sandals. I waded wet & barefoot and covered maybe 150m of shoreline. Lots of fish, sure. The sun felt so good. The water so refreshing. As we came upon the mossy clearing of the lake, the wet moss in the sun felt sooo good.

But there were two moments that set themselves apart that day and they comprise #10 on the Top 15 list.

First - the barefoot lunch. After catching a whack of fish - and it was an addict's dream as wee fish after fish came past and the sight-fishing wonderful -  Amelia & I sat and had lunch. No biggie as the world turns, but the 1/2 hr we took to sit and eat little ciabatta bun sandwiches, twinkling your toes in the cool, wet moss with your wife on day off in the mountains, not a care in the world... those are pretty good moments in time. Just the fact we can, sometimes, is the gift.

Not to undermine that moment...

Later that evening, another moment equalled that lunch moment. We simply enjoyed doing something we'd not done together in years. We van camped. Simple As. No bugs, no clouds, a sky full of stars, no wind, and a moon that barely skirted the horizon. The doors all open, the music playing. Warm. And we fell asleep in each other's arms.

Simple.

Top 15 of Canadian 2012 - #11 - Superfine Hoppers

In mid August, Amelia & I found ourselves with a day off - we had a couple together this past August - a joy! The weather was perfect for almost anything. Hot, high cloud, sunny breaks, following up a recent cold spell. Really, it didn't matter what trout species, what stream, what region of the province we fished, it was going to be good fishing.
About 1/2 hour before we were going to leave home, the doorbell rang. Amelia opened the door to find the delivery man with two boxes with our names. Those wonderful triangular, 3 foot cardboard Orvis boxes. New Rods! Oh Boy!
We had purchased 2 new rods for our waters here in Alberta. Two 4 wt, 9 foot Superfine Touch rods. We'd had the pleasure of casting the rods with the Hydros Superfine fly line at the Orvis Guide Rendezvous in the spring and made ourselves promise to but a pair for ourselves. They were in our mitts - Sweet As!
Yes, we took them with.

And they were exactly what we'd been waiting for. They are the perfect central Alberta trout stream fly rod. While the new Helios 2 is a cat's-ass all around rod, the 4 wt Superfine rods are the rod I would fish 90% of my time in my home region. No questions asked. They are a touch softer than the old Scott G-Series rods; a touch stiffer than the old style Superfine full flex rod from 15 years back; definitely more finesse than the original Helios 4 wt, mid-flex rods we have. We've loved the Helios rods unconditionally the past 3 or 4 or so years they've been out and our 4 wts are what we used exclusively in that time - both at home and New Zealand.

But... you know when you arrive at home? Well, for home, we have our new home rods.
See if you can spot the #11 moment of the 2012 Canada season in the "Supperfine Hoppers" video we did for Orvis after that first day on a local brown trout stream. It was magical.

Top 15 of Canadian 2012 - #12 - "Blind-X"

A few years back we put together a short video "Q-The-X", looking at a tiny spring creek in west-central Alberta. Things have changed in that spring as the nearby river has braided closer. During high water of early summer the channel is now part of the river for 6 weeks. The 3 springs that join up to form the body of the main creek are consistent as always and the trout are still there, though there are fewer these days as the high water allows for movement to the main river.
I was guiding a long time guest for a few days in September. The weather had been amazing but completely crapped out this day. Howling winds, cloud, and some showers joined the 20C temperature drop.We needed to find shelter from the wind and a treed back drop to allow us to spot fish. The X was the place to be!
We made our way to the lower end, a couple of hits and a fish landed before we came upon the run just below where the creek turned sharply into the trees - ergo, we had our wind protection and glare-cutting trees providing a dark reflection. Of course, just before that glorious point, we had to fish the tailout of that run. Total glare. We were simply prospecting. Meh. That's not what The X is about, so I hopped up on the bank to have a look. I had to swing far & wide to get a sliver of spotting window and called out to him to cast to the V between bank-side logs. He made a good cast and the hopper sat on the slow water.
"Pop it a couple of times," I called. He did so. Nothing. The fly was about 4 feet off the logs and I suggested a couple more twitches.
In the narrow window of spotting window, I saw a dark shape turn 90 degrees and come straight out. "Here comes a decent fish", I called. He was totally blind to it all - the grey glare a nightmare from his vantage. But he trusted my call.
The brown slowly panned towards the fly but was almost having none of it. It stalled its approach. "Give another twitch". He did. The fish continued its approach. "Two more!" I excitedly called out. The first twitch got the trout moving and just as the second twitch began, the brown's lips broke the surface and sucked in the hopper.
The sight-fishing moment was amazing. It was simply a lucky moment in time played out on instinct and a hunch. My guest was really happy, I was thrilled. It wasn't the biggest brown but it was a moment and engagement that made the day truly special.

Top 15 of Canadian 2012 - #13 - The Hungy Hopper

We continue the countdown of top moments at #13. It's the Hungry Hopper.

Amelia & I don't get a lot of opportunity to fish together once things really get rolling in our season. In 2012 we had a few staff up at Fortress Lake Retreat take care of a moderate, consistent month of August. While there's a ton to do to support the Retreat from the home office & supplies stores, we were able to sneak a few trips in together.

One such day opportunity came later in August. We weren't sure what reach of what stream to do, it was as though we were stunned we had time to fish. We decided to go off our regular route and hit a  stream we'd not fished previously and a reach we'd never heard anything about. It was not by happen chance that we wound up on the section we did after asking access permission. A little satellite reconnaissance and we found the perfect sight-fishing set of banks. We walked the stream and were treated to a steady diet of browns in the 14 to 22" range. It was magical - not a breath of wind, and not a cloud in the sky. We simply spotted trout holding in the water or spotted rise forms upstream as we walked. And most fish - all they needed was a hopper landing somewhere within 10 feet of them - up, side, or down stream of their lie.

As we came around one amazing bend, looking upstream, I spotted a gorgeous brown rising at the top end. It was slurrrping shamelessly. Its wake... impressive. It was Amelia's turn too, so I was getting excited behind the camera to shoot the event. But then she moved a little slower, suggesting she saw a good fish rise just above her in what looked to be 10" of water in a shallow trough under overhanging grasses. Sluurrrp went the upper brown. Painful, that girl, sometimes... just cast to that big fatty up top already! But no... she waited. Her lower fish rose again. I didn't think much of it, more hopped up on my hopper happy fatty at the top end. I framed it on video, the two fish rising in unison. Her cast was perfect - a foot above the lower fish, the hopper draping off the grasses and into the trough. SSSSUUUUCCK.

I'll go on record as being wrong... again. The take - amazing. Hookset? Spectacular. It was one of those - set the hook and watch the world explode moments. All you saw was thrashing white with a dark tail wiggling from the froth... kind of like that alien popping out of dude's chest in the first Alien movie. You can't not see it, you know?

And then the fight was on. It went upstream - a huge wake and an arcing fly line. I was so convinced the upper fish was a monster that on video you hear me telling Amelia to horse her fish back as to not spook the tank upstream. It rose once while she fought her fish. That was the last we saw of it as her fish owned the 4 wt a moment. And she did horse it, I guarantee you, I'll give her that. And it was a spectacular fish from start to finish. As it came to net with it's big, rubbery tail, maybe hers was worth sacrificing that top fish after all. It was in that 25 or 26" range.

Top 15 CANADIAN moments 2012 #14 - Jets

Ok, so as of looking through our 2012 season, it became clear, this is going to have to be a bit longer review! We've narrowed it to a TOP 15 moments of Canada and then we'll get into our New Zealand hi-lights. So, check that last post in at #15...

On to #14

If you've followed anything on forums, blogs, and the like, I've been quite adamantly opposed to jet boats in the wrong situations. I suppose this forces me to look at the bigger picture and check what constitutes the 'wrong' situations. Really, any time that a jet boat can't go about its business without potential of killing someone or ruining another river user's enjoyment of a peaceful day, or having a directly negative environmental impact would be the key points to where jets shouldn't be.  Used properly, on larger or wider reaches of rivers, there should be no issue if they honor other river users. For the larger rivers in the province that don't have a high fly fishing following, jet boats simply aren't an issue. Add us fly fishers into the mix and you'd think that the world was ending with each passing of a boat. Most of us can own that we're a little too sensitive. That said, most jet boaters can admit that they simply be doing what they're doing when taking someone else's life in their hands when traveling 90mph in tight reaches of the Red Deer, or doing laps of non-motorized craft when it's patently obvious they're irritating the river's other users.

I recall when I hosted the old Fly Fish Alberta Forum the jet boat thread that had literally 250 replies in 36 hours as jet boat users and fly fishers came to an amazing, heated argument. I simply gave notice that folks needed to clean up their act within the day or the RCMP would be given all information - the threats were that bad - from both sides.

So it was that Amelia & I were invited to jet a big river by a guest this fall. We'd fished it previously, but we wanted to enjoy another experience. So there we were, at the end of the day, having had such a fun time of fishing together, that I looked at Amelia sitting in a passenger seat, hair blowing in the wind of the jet boat. Having fun. Me? Loved the day. That moment of clarity, that you don't have to go looking for conflicts between users, to simply enjoy a moment - while keeping an eye out for the possibility of coming upon another user and honoring them - was an enjoyable moment.

We had the river to ourselves. Had we not, there was so much room to avoid anyone else that it wouldn't have made any negative impact, save for the minute of noise. I asked myself if I was on the shore and the boat went past if I would have been upset? A quick answer - not at all. You don't go to a big river known to have jet boats on it and expect there to be none, then get upset when there are. It was something I'd come to grips with about 7 years ago, and having the chance to see it from the other side simply cemented it.

Thanks Marv, for a great day. We loved it!

10 Favorite Moments of 2012 - #10

Our 2012 season is slightly adjusted from most folks'. We look at the end of the Canadian season as the end of our calendar year as we head to New Zealand in late November - December through late February each year.

There were a lot of great moments this past season - both at home and in NZ.

Let's kick this off at #10

If you haven't been, you ought to go. The Manitoba Parklands. If you've been following this blog, you'll have seen our spring trip to Manitoba. Spring is pretty much as idiot proof fishing as there can be, and from ice out through the end of June, if you know how to hang bugs below bobbers, you are going to catch fish. There's a ton of other ways to catch the big trout of the lakes out that way, and pretty much anyone who spends a few days out that way is going to hook into a big trout.

But for me, the neatest moment - specific moment in time - of that trip was... a tie. I have to say that Amelia's first truly massive rainbow and Andrew's second fish were moments that I'm not going to forget. Neither was sexy or special unto themselves. Honest. We parked beside the highway. We launched - pushing 15 yards off shore and cast back to the shoulder of the highway errrrr... edge of the lake. There it was. Floating line, bobber. 3 or 4 feet to a leech. Wait. Twitch retrieve every minute or two. Wait. Keep it close to the reeds. Wait. DOWN BETTY goes the bobber.  The fights were awesome.

The joy on all our faces was amazing.

Yes, the fish were big. The lakes were empty. Every fish was big, stupid, and fought hard.
The main reason this makes the list of top 10 simply has to do with the fact that this kind of fishery exists anywhere. The fact that the FLIPPR program has worked so well, that folks like Bob Sheedy, Bob Morenski and the Dakota Fly Fishers have been able to get it to where it is - is amazing work for a sheer lack of resources at the outset.

The moment of taking a photo of Andrew literally fighting a 7 pound rainbow beside my van, and AJ holding some 14 or 16 pound beast caught 15 yards from our van parked beside the highway tells you all you need to know. It's special in so much it exists. By no means would I compare the fishing experience to a back country mountain river or stream, and the setting is certainly no Fortress Lake, but for what it is, where it is, is simply stunning. And the best part is that you don't need to hire a guide, know any special method to catch these fish... the local guys camped at Patterson Lake will help you with everything you need to get going. It's meant as a fisherman's fishing destination. Add in a little Googling of how to fish chironomids for the month of June and you're off to the races.

Helios 2

It is that nice. We were part of the field testing crew and have been fishing a prototype since early spring. We fished it on our Manitoba Parkland trip back in the spring for those leviathan rainbows. We fished it at Fortress for thos huge brook trout. We fished it on the Bow for those amazing browns and rainbows. We fished it during the hex hatches, golden stones, pmds, caddis. And it fishes small streams with streamers like nothing you've ever fished when you couple it with an Orvis PowerTaper line.