Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Practising


Fishing in Alberta. All I need now is the beer!

Nice stretch.

Fresh bear print jeading down stream in front of
me. Didn't see him. Heard a lot of stories this year
of bear (grizzly's) making their way in and around
Nordegg and Caroline with no rain and nothing green
to eat (berries, etc).

Getting tight.

Decided I needed some practise today so headed west. I heard a salmon fly hatch was on at Prairie and the Clearwater. Went to the Clearwater off HWY 22 south of Rocky. A bit high and starting to milk up with run off. Pouring rain. Saw and caught nothing. Hit Stauffer next. New section one bridge up from DU bridge. I have experienced so far this year and also heard around that people are spooking fish on Stauffer this year but not many being caught. I had a great night chasing little browns (12-16") on dries on very still clear water. Hit three or four hatches. Always seemed to be a good number of mayfly around. Again, no big fish anywhere. Actually caught a little brookie just before I left. Maybe 6-8 fish in all. Only missed one. Used a few new flies (green wavy body with big elk hair hackle was killer) and a number of different duns. Here are a few pictures. Trees are growing in, water is low, and the fishing is getting tight. Next the weeds roll in and the river gets funny. Beautiful night. Picked up a defender shot gun on the way out. Ready for the back country if the weather ever cooperates and the snow melts. See you boys soon!

1 comment:

Liam's dad said...

Practising the Barry grab on those fish for the picture. Because I couldn't see much of the paw part of the print and only the claws this could also be a cougar? Paul....what do you think?