Guide Reports

• Sept 2 Bow River Reserve Float

  Kevin and his friend Rob joined us on the Reserve today. Kevin floated the reserve a few years ago with us but this was Rob's first float with us. The Reserve wasn't epic, but consistent today. Half a dozen hopper eats, one hopper double header which was pretty sweet. Only one streamer fish, which is abnormally low for the reserve as typically it is a streamer mecca. As many indicator fish as you'd like (including far too many whitefish eh Rob;)
  
  One of my favorite parts of floating the reserve with new people is watching them fight fish down here. Rob was blown away with how strong these fish are which is a pretty standard reaction from experienced fisherman such as he was. For some reason these fish are pound for pound as scrappy as you're going to find rainbows anywhere.
  
  Without question caddis made the day and the evening as snouts were out and the fish were sipping caddis pretty consistently! We had one caddis double header and landed a number of 18-20" fish, but there were a few fish that gave us the slip that were much larger (22-23" range) which are incredible fish on a tiny dry.
  
  

  
  

• Sept 1 Bow River Float Trip

  Well after fishing right till dark last night with caddis popping all afternoon and evening and fishing sipping everywhere on them I was pumped about today...and then the wind hit. Dan and Mike had to deal with cold weather and excessive wind that made casting dries borderline impossible. We switched over to indicators and didn't do much better with nymphs either but then Dan got a nice chunky 19" rainbow so we stopped for an early lunch with the hope that the wind might lay down a bit....that glimmer of hope quickly disappeared.
  
  After lunch we did get a nice 21.5" rainbow on a hopper that I'm sure is the same buck we got yesterday on a caddis (that's not actually very common on the bow). Within minutes of the sun coming out and the hoppers starting to chirp and move about the sun was gone and replaced by cold wind and light rain that didn't last long...but the wind did.
  
  Dan got another 20+" rainbow and then a gorgeous 24" brown that was a pig...this fish made the day which was fortunate because the weather clearly had not.
  

  
  

• Aug 30 Bow River Float Trip

  Once again Rick and his 8 year old grandson Jacob and son in law Curtis were out with us on the bow, I love these guys. The day started off really well again as both Rick and Curtis had landed their first fish within sight of the boat launch. We had been giving Jacob the gears pretty good that morning and being the last guy to hook a fish didn’t help matters for him but hooking up with the 1st rainbow of the day quickly brought him back to being the king of his boat like castle.
  
  The river fished really well today for these guys, with nymphs but I was surprised with the species we saw over the course of the day. For the first time in months we’re starting to see whitefish show up in the fish counts again and outside of the whitefish it was all browns. Normally his wouldn’t be that irregular on a nice day but we floated the city down to Police which is normally dominated by browns where catching a rainbow is a rarity not the norm like most other stretches...oh well its not as if anyone was complaining and let me tell you if there’s someone to have caught a bunch of big whitefish an 8 year old fits the bill. He’s caught rainbows browns and whitefish with us this year, pretty impressive if you ask me.
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• Aug 28 Bow River Float Trip

  Allen and his son joined us today after Allen purchased one of our gift certificates from the WISE awards charity banquet. They traveled down from Edmonton last night to float the bow for the first time in their life. Fortunately the river did not disappoint today as it fished exceptionally well for the guys. We just nymphed today but they had no desire to change what was working as the fish were on today and eating in a big way. Bright red wire and copper johns were staples as was the caddis emerger.
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• Aug 27 Bow River Float Trips

  Both Naoto and Mike were out today with guests as this morning I found out the power steering pump had gone on my truck so I had to get that replaced, so Mike stepped in for me.
  
  As my luck would have it the river did what I’ve grown to expect and fished absolutely amazingly! Both Naoto and Mike got their guests a 25+” brown and hooked upwards of 50 fish, many on dries...how happy am I to not have been on the water today...
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

• Aug 22-26 Reserve Trips

  We hosted a Florida group for the week down at River Ranche this week. The 1st day Tom Naoto and Mike took the guests out and I took dean down below the lodge to show him that water as that is still virtually unexplored water for us down there. Our day wasn’t impressive other then the 37” pike that drilled Dean’s streamer twice, and a nice rainbow that swam from 30’ away to smoke Dean’s streamer, but the other 3 boats up above had a day that was nothing short of epic. They did the stretch of river floating into the lodge (which is an incredible streamer stretch) and it fished amazingly for them. With 40-50 fish hooked in each boat the Florida group got to see River Ranche at its best.
  r>Day 2 was just as impressive and on day 3 they did the Blackfoot Cultural Heritage center which everyone said they absolutely loved and wouldn’t do this trip without that day. Day 4 the river fished much tougher and they we got blown off the face of the earth on day 5. I had Bill and John with me who both hooked up fish on streamers above the put in (I drug the boat up and we floated down the bank 50 yards above the boat launch). Bill probably didn’t fish more then 30% of the day with the wind blowing the way it had and yet he still hooked the biggest fish and the most fish for the day, but John still hooked fish through all that wind throughout the day. All in all a great week.
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• Aug 21 Bow River Float Trip

  Vincent joined us again and this time had his girlfriend Cliona and her father Tom (both of whom had fished with us last year as well) and this time her brother as well. Vincent and Cliona started the morning in my boat and Naoto had Tom and his son. Right out of the gates the river was on fire, Naoto’s boat hit ad missed a double header and Vincent landed a fish right away. Things stayed steady for the first hour or so but then slowed going into lunch.
  
  After lunch Tom came in my boat with Cliona and again things started off on fire. Tom hooked and landed a fish right away and then the afternoon for our boat was a hooking frenzy. Tom and Cliona landed one fish after another boating probably a dozen fish in the last hr and a half alone. Needless to say we gave Vincent a hard time for jumping ship on us...that’ll learn ya ;)
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• Aug 20 Bow River Reserve Trip

  Today we had 3 boats out on the lower bow but I took Mike down to the Reserve to show him that water so he could guide on it next week. Nymphing produced fished consistently, we even had one ru we did 5 times hooking at least one fish on every pass. We got 2 really nice fish on streamers but the excitement of the day was without question the hopper fishing.
  
  After fishing hoppers on a few ideal looking banks without any responses we decided to try another tactic given the hundreds of hoppers we could see on the banks. I started twitching, popping and moving the hopper quite aggressively and the fish responded with the same type of aggression. Several fish would boil on an unmoving fly without ever hitting it but if we twitched and popped it right after they would come back and slash at it and usually ate it eventually. I had some fish boil 4 or 5 times before they finally smashed the hopper...what a riot!
  
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• August 18 Bow River Float Trip

  Rick joined us for the 3rd time this season and this time brought a co worker with him, Danny who had never fly fished before, as his grandson was at reading camp. Danny was a quick study and had the casting down before we hit the 22X bridge. As soon as we had passed the bridge Rick and Danny both hooked up with nice rainbows that gave them the shakes and swam off before reaching the net. Rick’s first fish would’ve had Jacob in stitches (his 8 yr old grandson who had floated the last 2 times with him) as it was soooo big it slipped through the holes in the net. That’s a big fish...in about 5 years ;) We laughed about that a number of times today knowing Jacob would’ve found that hysterical.
  
  The first 2 hrs of the day we had cloud cover and it was glorious. The fish were eating and we were landing fish, but then the cloud cover burnt off and it got smoking hot in a hurry. The guys still hooked fish throughout the day but landing fish in the heat got hard in a hurry. I went through fly after fly trying to find something these fish would hit and hold on to but bites were well spaced and hard to come by, and to make matter worse when they did we were having difficulty keeping them buttoned. This was an extremely enjoyable float given the company but the toughest fishing I’d experienced this year. We only landed 4 of the 2 dozen fish we hooked up and I’m sad to say I wasn’t able to net any of Danny’s fish. His first fish of the day had been a really nice rainbow that we had within a few feet of the net but they kept giving him the slip.
  
  Danny was pretty accepting of this as he was as easy going and enjoyable a guest you could ever ask for but I just don’t relax until everyone is into fish. That’s the first time I can remember taking someone out who didn’t boat one of the fish they hooked, and its so frustrating for me when the people (like Danny) are doing what you need them to do and the fish still get the upper hand. I need an advil...

  
  

• August 17 Bow River Float Trip

  Today we were joined by Jason and his teenage son Matthew. Jason has fished with us before back in June, but this was Matthew`s first time. The half day trip started at about 4 pm. The fishing started off fast with two giant sized whitefish within the first few hundred meters of the trip. Unfortunately the weather didn`t cooperate. The winds picked up and the temperature dropped basically shutting down the fishing for about an hour and a half. Luckily though the wind died down and the fishing was right back to where it was before.
  
  We found a great run and drifted through it four times. It proved to be quite a good producer with Matthew catching his first ever fish on fly rod, a beautiful bow river brown. Great job Matthew! We almost had a double header that time, but the fish Jason had on managed to give the slip. None the less, before we were done with the run it produced another big whitefish for Jason. Jason did quite well this trip, he landed a pig of a brown at 22”, two rainbows and a brown. Matthew also did a great job and caught a super color brown at 20.5” right before dark. Just a warning Matthew, fly fishing is addictive!
  
  

  
  

• Aug 16 Bow River Float Trip

  We were happy to have Vincent out again this year and he had Cory with him again. The weather was incredibly hot today as without question this was one of our hottest days of the summer if not the hottest. The heat had the fish in the deeper faster runs, as well as shallow fast moving water that was highly oxygenated. Despite the hot weather though the water temps were still very good at 62 degrees.
  
  Today was the boys hooked a decent number of fish, it was just the landing of the fish that was an issue ;) We fished hoppers for about ½ an hour and had 2 eats right away but pulled the fly away from one and snapped a fly off in the other before it got far too windy to deal with dries until later in the evening again.
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• Aug 15 Bow River Float Trip

  On my day O.F.F. today I took out my good friends Patrick and Michelle. Patrick does our website design and has fished with us before but this was Michelle’s first time fly fishing. She thought she’d just read the 2 books she brought along “just incase” but right from the get go she was hooked. Michelle was talking smack to Pat after each hit she had and then dialed that up several notches when she landed her first fish a 19” rainbow...pretty sweet. The water was dropping and the river fished fairly tough but both Pat and Michelle got a bunch of fish and I even got to make a cast to a rising bow.
  
  I say a cast because it was the 1st cast I’d made with the 5wt demo rod Echo sent me and the caddis drifted maybe 2’ before getting gently sipped under by the fish. While I walked back towards the boat to hand the rod off this fish proceeded to head straight into my backing...suddenly the rod went limp and I thought I must’ve broke the fish off putting too much pressure on him until I watched my fly line taking off across the water still attached to the fish with the backing knot having snapped...1 cast all day and it cost me a fly line...lol...go figure.
  

  
  

• August 14 Bow River Float Trip

  As you might know, we offer educational courses “Fly Fishing 101” for those interested. Basically the educational trips are an introduction to fly fishing with all the instruction taking place on the water; the best way to learn! Today`s float was one of those trips. We had two good students with us, Marty and his 9 year old son Martin. They did a great job and learned lots! Martin picked it up fast and landed the first two fish of the day. Father Marty started off a bit slower but continued to pick up steam throughout the day. He accomplished a Bow River Grand Slam which included a nice rainbow, a 21” brown, and a gigantic bow river bone (a.k.a. Whitefish). Altogether Marty and Martin hooked up with over 20 fish and brought 10 of those in for pictures. What a great way to learn! Keep up the good work guys.

  
  

• Aug 11 Bow River Float Trip

  Today we had a big group out as Shell had 12 boats on the water with us through Troutfitter's. We had an exceptional group of guides that made this day a lot of fun and a good day for all our guests. They wanted to float the bottom end so that they could stop for lunch at the north Bow Lodge. I was excited to not have to cook for a day and see what amazing dish would be prepared for us and it was amazing but the irony of it all was we had pulled pork sandwiches which I make fairly regularly on the water. We did have apple pie though...I don't make pies ;)
  
  The bottom end actually fished much better then we expected as we were into lots of small fish but a few big fish before we even stopped for lunch. With 12 boats everyone spread out pretty quickly but it was great to see that guys were pulling over netting fish on a regular basis. We even got into a pod of big rainbows going to town on Trico's and Stephane hooked up on one of them.
  
  The afternoon saw a lot of small fish hooked and even some landed ;) Naoto's guys hooked 40 fish and landed 10 of them we hooked a few less then that and alnded about the same and most of the boats seemed to be in around the same ball park. Thanks so much to Naoto, Dean, Tom W, Bill W, Mike V, Tom B, Mark M, Brian L, Sam C, Jason, and Barry all the guides that worked as hard as they did to make sure the day went so well

  
  

• Aug 8 Bow River Float Trip

  Jackie and John joined us for their first fly fishing experience today as we floated from Police down to Mac. The day started off overcast with even drizzling, the perfect weather for bow river fish, but not necessarily the favorite weather of all fishermen. I told Jackie and John on the drive out that everyone talks about great fishing in the rain, and that can sometimes be very true (and has often been for us this summer). However when its not good fishing, it's really not because not only is the fishing slow but you're also getting wet!
  
  The first 20 minutes made me nervous. Jackie and John both caught on very quickly and were doing everything right but weren't hooking fish. Then it was like a switch flipped; John hooked one fish, then another after another. Jackie was getting the hits but was just being too nice to the fish with her hook sets. We quickly remedied that and she started hooking fish stride for stride with John. The overcast weather and even light rain was paying its dividends when suddenly the worst thing that could happen did...it got sunny! As soon as the sun came out, the fishing slowed right down. We had 3 or 4 fast paced hours in the overcast where fish were on worms, caddis larvae and mayfly nymphs (Every fish I pumped had these in good numbers in their throat during the overcast hours). After lunch the sun came out and it was hot, a beautiful day for most people, just not for the fishing today. The fish were fewer and further between once the sun came out and the fish I pumped were empty now.
  
  A huge thunderhead was forming behind us as we hit the highwood so we didn't do any stopping after that point. We did manage however hook a bunch of little fish and 2 decent fish before we hit the takeout. Surprisingly the massive and scary looking thunderhead dissipated and we didn't even see a drop of rain out of it....go figure!
  
  
  

  
  

• Aug 7 Mountain River Update

  Ok so I've spent the last 5 days in the mountains now which is not the greatest for those of you trying to email or call me but the rivers have been fishing so well its been nutty. Green drake hatches of epic proportions have been the main staple but caddis, pmd's, midges, and ants have all worked wonders at times and the bulls are nuts. So many stories to tell you but so little time. Its midnight and I'm on the bow in the morning so I need to crash but I'll get JD trip details now that I'm back asap so he can post reports for you.
  
  Until then take a day O.F.F
  
  Tight Loops & Lines
  Josh<><
  
  

  
  

• Aug 5 Mountain Rivers Update

  Ok so I've just spent the last 3 days in the mountains and regardless of which river we've been fishing its been good. The biggest bull, cutty and rainbow I've sen out of Southern AB's mountain streams have been landed in the last 3 days. Green drakes, brown drakes, midges, pmd's, caddis, and ants have all been on at one time or another. I'm on my way back in to the mountains right now but I promise I'll get reports up soon.
  
  Oh and the bow fished unreal as the water first cleared after the huge rainstorm on the 2nd that muddied the water...no big surprise. Late season colored water is always a good thing. While I was in the mountains Naoto was guiding the bow and they went 12 for 57, so things are pretty much on.
  
  Hope we see you on the water.
  Josh<><

  
  

• July 30th “big bull, big bull, big bull!”

  One of my greatest fly fishing experiences ever! A 30+” Bull choking down a 14” cutty that I hooked on a dry...truly unforgettable!!
  
  Hi, my name is JD and I’m going to be giving Josh a hand with his fishing reports for the rest of this season. Josh and I have known each other for a little over a year now and seem to have become good friends. I’m sure our healthy mutual obsession with fly fishing and the outdoors has helped with that!
  
  Josh and I actually got out fishing together this Friday. A somewhat rare experience with our busy summer schedules. The trip started for me on Thursday afternoon when I received a call at work from Josh telling me that I absolutely had to take a day off and come fishing with him cause the Bulls were stacked up and hungry. Of course you can’t tell any self respecting fisherman that and not expect them to plead with their boss to let them have the day off. The pleading was simple for me given my boss’s love for fly fishing. The conversation lasted about 30 seconds and ended with a deal that if we managed to catch an Alberta record Bull, I could have an extra day off.
  
  So Friday morning came and Josh and I headed off early. The drive out the mountains with the sun coming up was beautiful as anything you could imagine. We saw lots of big mulies and were greeted by some friendly bighorn sheep when we finally arrived at our fishing destination. Josh came prepared with some monster bull trout flies that he specially tied up for our trip. I swear that some of these flies outsize the average fish I manage to catch! As we put them to work the fishing started off a little slow. Josh still managed to hook into a 26” Bull which was a great start to the morning and landed another little Bull that took a fly almost half its size. About mid morning we managed to spot a nice Bull sitting in a shallow trough. Josh being a good friend passed his rod off to me and climbed up the rocks to get a better view. With his help from above I managed to get the fly right in front of this monster bull’s nose. The bull initially had little interest in the red & white and would only slightly turn to take a better look. A little fly presentation magic with some coaching from Josh changed the bull’s interest as he chased that fly right up to my feet. Still no hook-up happened and we lost sight of the bull as he headed off for deeper water.
  
  Seeing that the bulls were being a little bit lazy and the cutties were rising we decided to change it up to some lighter flies. It didn’t take but a few casts to get into the first cutty of the day and they just kept coming after that. It seemed cadis were the taste of the day, but they’d take just about anything you would put in front of them. I’m pretty sure I had cutties on Cadis, PMD’s, Stones, Stimies, Green Drakes, and one greenish blue hi-vis parachute that I don’t know what you would call it. All I remember is I used moose hair for its tail when I tied it. The fishing was going awesome and Josh was getting some good underwater footage of the cutty action. Then the bulls awakened!
  
  It seemed to happen just after the day warmed up and the light haze in the sky was burnt off. I hooked into about a 14” cutty that decided it was a better idea to run out of the fast water into the shallows and across a deep trough stacked with bulls. Next thing I knew the fight on the end of my line got a lot tougher and Josh was shouting over the current “big bull, big bull, big bull!” Lucky enough for us the Bull wanted to show off his dinner and came cruising right in front of the camera for a shot. Josh kept filming and we got it all on film. Eventually the Bull figured out he was actually going to be the one in the net so he let go and headed back to his lounge in the deep trough. I can’t describe the excitement of the moment. I’ve heard of things like that happening with big bulls and pike, but have never experienced it first hand and then to have caught it all on film is just incredible. It was truly one of the most amazing fly fishing experiences of my life.
  
  The day definitely didn’t end there though. Seeing that the bulls were alive and aggressive, Josh ditched the camera and headed down stream to look for some bulls. It sure did take him long to hook into a behemoth of a bull trout. Not that I stare at Josh when he’s not looking, but I happened to see him hook into this fish. As I saw his rod load I instantly knew this was the one we were after and the one that might get me that extra day off. Instinctively I was already reeling in as fast as I could and doing the wader dash for the camera on shore. By the time I caught up to Josh downstream the behemoth had moved into the fast water and Josh was chasing after it. It came to surface once, just long enough for me to get a good look, but not long enough to get the camera on it. I would be willing to take a lie detector for this one, this is no fisherman tale, the fish was easily 36”+! I thought I was looking at an Alaska Salmon this fish was so huge! As fate would have it though, the characteristic headshake managed to toss the hook and behemoth lives on! I however managed to get the camera on Josh just as this happened and caught the entire reaction that followed. To give you some idea, it looked like a diehard roughrider fan at the last Grey Cup who just realised there was too many men on the field.
  
  The day didn’t end in disappointment though. The cutty action kept hopping right until we had to leave and the weather stayed perfect. We even managed to have another bull chase in a cutty that was on the line! All in all it was one of the best fly fishing experiences of my life and I can’t wait until next time Josh gives me a call at work!
  
  Until then, keep your line tight!
  
  JD
  
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• July 25 Update

  Ok so I apologize for being behind on reports as always....but there's good news as well as good reason for it. I'd been on the water everyday for the last 2 weeks and as if having 3-5 boats out everyday of Stampede week wasn't enough I also had Fly Max Films here for 5 days shooting another Fly Nation episode (where I got 10 hrs combined sleep in 4 days...such a crazy schedule but we got the footage to make it all worth while...wait till you see this stuff!!!).
  
  Ok so that's the reason behind it but the good news is I've got help. I'll let JD introduce himself here right away as he will be helping me with the posting of the fishing reports so that they'll stay far more up to date. Oh yeah and the fishing has been great. Water's dropping rain's a thing of the past and so the fish are in deeper faster water as opposed to the banks unless you're doing the early morning floats which have still been very productive. Updates are coming... ;)
  
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• July 14 Bow River Float Trip

  Darcy and TransCanada Turbines were out with us again this morning this time with a father son duo in my boat and Darcy and Ed in Mike's boat. The overcast weather was just what we were looking for so we started the day with hopper droppers. Normally when you have a father son due its the kids that hook the most fish or the biggest fish but dear old dad had karma on his side. He hooked one fish after another while his son continued to ride Darcy about not hooking fish.
  
  Dad stayed quiet and it paid dividends for him. The best fish of the day was a gorgeous 23" brown he took on the dropper only inches from the bank out of 8" of water. Darcy and Ed were having a slightly slower day in the landing department despite hooking a number of fish. They switched over to streamers and hooked a nice rainbow they lost and then Ed landed a nice brown right in the boat launch we were taking out at. Better late the never right ;)

  
  

• July 13 Bow River Float Trip

  Clay and John were about as easy going guests as I have ever fished with! All they wanted was to have a good time, and any fish caught would be a bonus!
  
  Once again the weather was awful...it poured rain almost the entire float, but it seemed nothing could put down the fish that day! Everywhere you looked there were fish on the surface! Just like the previous days, we were more than able to get fish to eat caddis, haha, but again we had a hard time keeping fish on! We jumped fish after fish, managing to land a few in between as well!
  
  Half way through the float, John's hands were just about frozen from the unforgiving wind and rain, so we decided to row out. I tried my best to keep them on the water, but they were cold and the weather showed no sign of letting up! But in 4 hours of fishing, we had 27 fish eat caddis, landing half a dozen of them. Both John and Clay caught their biggest trout on the fly! Not too bad for 4 hours in the pouring rain!
  
  Naoto Aoki
  
  

  
  

• July 12 Bow River Float

  The dry fly fishing had been fantastic the previous few days! Anytime clouds rolled in, the fish were sippin!... so when Peter and I hit the river that morning with clouds all around, I was pumped! Anyone who has ever fished with me, knows...I'm all about the dry fly fishing!
  
  Within a few hundred feet from the launch we had big browns sippin' away on caddis. In the first hour of the day we had 14 eats from good fish, but only managed to jump two. We rolled into a long straight away with fish going off all around us, but just as if someone flicked a switch, they were back down. Just as quickly a huge storm cell rolled in and we had to hide under a bridge for cover. Pouring rain, golf ball size hail, lightning all around, and strong winds kept us under cover for the better part of two hours!
  
  Once the storm passed us by, the water had turned to mud. We managed to hook up with a couple fish on streamers after that, landing one rainbow, but conditions were pretty tough. The wind never let up the rest of the day making it tough on Peter's casting! Mother nature can be cruel!
  
  Naoto Aoki
  

  
  

• July 11 Bow River Float

  I had family in town for a wedding so I wasn't on the water today but Naoto had Gary and Ed on the water again. They had perfect overcast conditions and took full advantage of it as they had 49 eats on the dry, mostly caddis...and they didn't even have to get up at 4:00am. Gotta love the cloud cover and drizzle.
  

  
  

• July 10 Bow River Float Trip

  Gary returned to Calgary again to float the bow with us after a 2 year hiatus. Last time Gary was here he floated with his son, but this time he was with his long time fishing buddy Ed. In order to capitalize on the early morning golden stone fishing I picked the boys up at 4:30am from their hotel.
  
  The early morning start was worth the discomfort as Gary had landed his first fish in the seam 50 yards above the put-in that I drug the boat up to, and Ed had landed his first bow river fish a gorgeous 23" brown by the time we had reached the boat launch we put in at, pretty sweet start. The fish were very clearly keyed in on golden stones as we were getting eats in most of the spots you'd expect a fish to be sitting tight to a bank or structure.
  
  At one point Gary landed a nice 22" brown and as I released it he flipped his line upstream and another brown smoked the dry that was every bit as long and almost a carbon copy of the first. Ed then proceeded to roll another fish in this same seam no bigger then the boat. We then got out on an island and worked a collection of buckets that are inaccessible from the bank. Ed rolled a big fish that we missed so I switched his fly and on the next cast the fish crushed it again, with the same result. I switched flies a 4rd time and amazingly we got another hit out of the brown but we may or may not have pulled the fly away from him...lol ;)
  
  What a morning and what a day, close to 2 dozen eats on stone dries...
  

  
  

• July 9 Mountain Walk & Wade

  Dean and his son Ryley joined us again this year for a walk & wade on the Oldman. Last year Dean and his son had an epic spring trip on the bow and then an equally, and likely even more epic, trip with us on the Oldman last summer so I knew I had my work cutout for me as expectations would be high.
  
  When we first arrived there were vehicles and people everywhere which was frustrating at first until we realized none of them were there to fish it was a group looking into possible sacred 1st Nations grounds nearby.
  
  The day was warm and sunny with bluebird skies and bright white clouds, but the were not nearly as many bugs in the air or on the water compared to what we had seen as of late. In a day that started much slower then the previous trip things soon turned around. I found 2 amazing cutties coming up in rhythm in a spot where we could sit above them and watch them feed. Dean had Ryley start casting first and it wasn't long before he landed the one and hooked the other.
  
  Next we went below the falls and the guys proceeded to hook more cutties but the real highlight for the guys was the bulls that both Ryley and Dean landed. Just like last year they had a big bull chase in one of Ryley's cutthroat. Golden stones and green drakes were the dries of choice and they made this day another unforgettable one

  
  

• July 8 Overnight Bow Float

  Day 2 of Joe and Mary Lou's overnight float turned out to be an epic one. While I took down camp early and made breakfast they fished but didn't touch a fish, this surprised me but I wasn't willing to be worried by it. A mile down river Mary Lou tagged a gorgeous fish and Joe lost one in the same run so I rowed all the way back up and we did it again. Mary Lou connected a 2nd time and this time Joe landed a fish as well s I rowed up and did it a 3rd time. This time we hooked fish but didn't land one so we kept floating. Mary Lou landed another fish still before we pulled in for lunch below the eagels nest.
  
  After lunch things got nutty, I have no idea how many fish they ended up hooking or landing because within a mile of the lunch spot they had double digit numbers of fish hooked and in the mansion run we probably hooked 20 plus fish and landed at least half a dozen of those...it was fantastic. This was the best fishing Joe or Mary Lou had ever had on the Bow and exactly what we wanted them to experience. Stonefly nymphs, little mayfly nymphs and leeches were all unstoppable irresistible forces to the trout this afternoon, although things did slow down substantially once we past the highwood. We didn't hook a fish under 16" either and most were well over 20 including the 22" (with a 13.5" girth) brown that Mary Lou landed that had a tag on it.
  
  Hooking so many fish you have no idea how many dozens were hooked and how many dozen you landed is a pretty good problem to have though right....

  
  

• July 7 Overnight Bow Float

  Mary Lou and Joe joined us the last 2 days for an overnight float and campout on the bow. The day started off blue skies and sunny (not exactly what we were hoping for) but about 25 minutes in a huge cloud pushed in and gave us the cloud cover we wanted. I anchored the boat and started walking the bank looking for snouts. While I was doing this Joe had a fish take the stonefly dry just down behind me.
  
  Right away I found 2 fish sipping and brought Mary Lou up to cast to the fish. She got an eat on the caddis and then Joe came up and leap frogged Mary Lou and got into a pod of rising fish going absolutely nuts. It was super cool just to see that many fish feeding that aggressively but a down stream wind made the cast difficult. Joe got 3 eats but we weren't able to hook any of those fish and then it ended as soon as it started. We found one more solitary fish that was still willing to feed in the sunshine, but this big brown was definitely not interested in caddis but did not hesitate to crush the PMD I tied on Joe's line but somehow the fly didn't stick..oh well.
  
  As we floated Joe caught a rocky which I hadn't seen in a while and then a nice rainbow. Nymphing was actually very productive as both Mary Lou and Joe continued to hook fish in the sun sub surface. Once we hit the island I set up camp and made dinner while they fished and Mary Lou hooked into 2 more rainbows one of which was a pig that got off just before she got it in the net. They were so tired after supper that they didn't even go back out and fish before they crashed...although that may also have had something to do with the fact that there were millions of mosquitoes ravaging us and the only safe"ish" place was in the thick of the smoke from the fire. I was actually burning wet wood and even throwing grass on the fire to make smoke and try and keep the biting buggers @ bay...I lost weight that night from loss of blood I think

  
  

• July 6th Mountain Walk & Wade

  Jason and Joanne headed out to the mountains with us today for their 2nd day. The day began with blue bird skies and nice warm sunshine, but not that many bugs hatching. This trend quickly changed though as the bugs began to pop in full force. There were PMD's, Green drakes, midges, and large numbers of golden stones everywhere. We were watching adult stones dropping eggs on the water and skittering around before they dropped spent on the surface, only to be snatched up by a waiting trout.
  
  Below the falls the fish were feeding in force and both Joanne and Jason were into cutties and even had a bull chase a cutthroat. They both agreed that this was the most impressive river they've ever fished scenery wise and yet the fish they caught were equally impressive as Jason got his biggest cutty as did Joanne. In the evening green drakes started to hatch and we took a few more fish up above on drakes as well. At one point a found a huge bull well over 3' long but by the time I ran and got Joanne and brought her back there the bull was gone. We waited a few minutes and the bull reappeared but with a giant tail sticking out of his mouth. He had eaten probably a 2-3lb whitefish from the looks of the size of the tail. We were only seconds too late...oh what a fish that was..

  
  

• July 5th Bow River Float Trip

  Jason was back from Chicago again this year and this time it was Joanne, his wife that accompanied him, (last year his daughter was his fishing partner). The day started off overcast and looked perfect on the weather front for another amazing caddis day like the last few. We started the day casting to a pod of rising browns but gusty weather made accurate casts difficult in a spot where accuracy was crucial. Joanne did manage to get several good drifts to one big brown at the back of the pod though and managed to get him to eat 3 different flies, we just weren't able to hook up on any of them. By this point the sun had pocked out from the clouds and the sunny skies put down the feeding fish so we jumped back in the boat.
  
  Nymphing was productive with leeches, caddis emergers, and golden stone nymphs, but the wind and chop made dry fly fishing difficult much of the rest of the day. When the cloud cover was here the fish were sipping though.

  
  

• July 4th Bow River Float Trip

  I had two good friends with me on the river today, Anita and her son Hudson (or Hud the Stud as I've nicknamed him). I've been wanting to get these two out on the water all spring so it was great to be able to make it happen today. We drifted the city stretch with the hopes of fishing some fish keyed in on adult stones, or the caddis they've so eagerly been sipping as of late.
  
  The day started off with Hud the Stud hooking up 2 nice fish that got off, and then as the cloud cover rolled in and the rain started so too did the sipping. Snouts started appearing in rhythm and there were PMD's blanketing the water but they wouldn't touch the pmd adults or emerger patterns. We kept moving and ran in Naoto who had another guest out for us today that had similar hook rates (they were 1 for 16...we were 1 for 12 at that point). We took a nice 22" brown that Anita spotted coming up that eagerly ate a caddis and we had to chase a few hundred yards downstream from the bank to net, and then Hud landed his 1sy rocky mountain whitefish, another species he was excited to cross off the list.
  
  Our hooking percentage went way up from there as Hud landed a rainbow at the same time that Anita landed a nice bow, but the highlight of the day was without question a pod of aggressively feeding fish that Hud hooked the biggest of on a caddis emerger, only to have the fish go straight into his backing. Hud and I scrambled down the bank chasing this fish for 3 or 4 minutes before I ran back up and grabbed the boat, rowed down and picked Hud up and chased after the fish. At the point we finally had fly line back on the reel and the fish was now under the boat I started to pull over to the bank only to have the fish go straight into his backing again. The 3rd time we brought the fish in close to the boat and I pulled over to net the fish it took off again and I had to have Hud chase after it down the bank again. When I finally netted the fish it was 50 yards below the boat and close to a mile form where he had hooked it. As I netted the fish it became very apparent why this fish had been so difficult to land, it was a gorgeous beast stretching the tape to the 25" mark and the girth and kype appropriate for a fish of such stature....@ A BOY HUD the STUD!!!!! I'm telling you this year the best way to catch the biggest fish is to bring your kids or grand kids...its also the best way to get young kids hooked on this sport for life

  
  

• July 3rd Bow River Float Trip

  Today we did a super early start down on the bottom end to try and take advantage of the golden stones (and so I could make it to a wedding in the afternoon). Kash, Dan & I floated the bottom end from Legacy Island to Caresland so we could try the channels. With the stones Dean and I saw in the city 2 days ago I figured the bottom end would be in full swing as stonefly hatches start at the bottom of the river and work there way up.
  
  I picked the boys up at 4:15 and we were off to the races, chompin at the bit. We were so excited to fish the golden stones the fact that I hadn't made it to bed wasn't even registering yet...eventually it would but I'd be off the river by then ;) There was such anticipation when we hit the water that the wind was stolen from our sails as we fished the first 2 banks without either Kash or Dan moving a fish...and then Dan hooked up a nice fish on the dry, and another and then another. Kash tried nymphing for a bit a hooked a fish almost immediately and then when we stopped at an island to get out and fish I only had 1 bump on the dry, Dan landed one fish in a run that we watched a egg laying adult drift over untouched only 30 seconds before he hooked the fish on the dry, and then we found out Kash had hooked 11 on the nymphs in the same amount of time.
  
  
  As we floated it became very apparent that being on the water before sun up was not nearly as important as cloud cover. Much of the morning was gorgeous and sunny but when it was it was also tough going trying to get fish to take a dry, but they would clobber nymphs. When the clouds rolled in it was a whole other story. When we had cloud cover the fish were eager to come up and take a dry but as we found very quickly there were many patterns they ignored and a select few they keyed in on and would take aggressively (see, sometimes aggression is good).

  
  

• July 5th Bow River Report

  Caddis hatch was epic yesterday and still strong today in the cloud cover but gale force winds made it tough for people to cast. Hudson who was with me yesterday landed a pig!!!! of a 25" brown on a caddis emerger that blew our minds at how hard it fought and how far downstream it took us. Full trip reports to come but suffice to say that the river is on right now ;)
  
  Tight Loops & Lines
  
  Josh<><
  

  
  

• July 1st Bow River Float Trip

  Dean and I hit the water this afternoon to see how the bow is fishing. It had been overcast all morning while both of us were working and as soon as we got on the water at 4:00pm the clouds blew off it it got sunny (good for people in the city not so good for the fishing). The water has cleaned and is a gorgeous green that looked perfect for stripping streamers but streamer fishing turned out to be slow. I moved 3 fish and only hooked up 1 of them on streamers so we switched over to a hopper dropper rig with a stonefly to see if we could get any interest, which we didn't at first.
  
  We did try and indicator set up briefly to see if nymphs were back on again and I hooked up 2 fish as did Dean, including this rainbow he landed. The most important part of this float though was that the stones are here!!!!! We saw adults stones running across the water and a fish absolutely smash it...it was so sweet and exactly what we've been waiting for. Talked with a few of the boys and it sounded like the early morning with the cloud cover was good so guess what we'll be doing....
  
  My favorite time of year is here!
  
  <><

  
  

• June 30 Website Issues....Unfreakin Beleiveable

  OK so for anyone who has been tying to look at the website the last 4 days would've noticed it wasn't there. Thank you NETFIRMS!!!!! They did a server migration on Sunday and apparently not losing my website was overlooked on the who can we completely screw list. For 4 days I've been calling and trying to get this fixed and no one has even been able to identify what the problem was let alone have any idea how to fix it, or have the common courtesy to call me back as requested and explain what had happened and how it would be fixed.
  
  That being said after a few hours in my buddies office Pat was able to launch a cached version of the site on his server so we're back online!!!!! Thank you Pat. Unfortunately all the pictures are now gone (and all the June trip reports I did) but those can be reloaded at some point here, at least the website is up again. The river has cleared up again and is very fishable. Mountain streams are also clear, they're high but clean and fishing well.
  
  For anyone who has been trying to get a hold of us (and I know that many of you have based on emails) I sincerely apologize for the issues and can only say this...Today's Tip: "Don't use netfirms!" (deliberately lowercase)
  <><

  
  

• June 29th Mountain River Walk & Wade

  This morning Naoto, Julie and I headed to South Western Alberta to see what type of shape our mountain streams were in. The Highwood, the Sheep, Willow Creek and every stream we crossed on our way south was muddy and high, our optimism was diminishing quickly. To our excitement the first clean river we came to was when we hit the Oldman, it was still very high but had 4’ of vis so it was very fishable.
  
  Typical cutty fishing as we didn’t see many fish on the surface in the early morning but as soon as the sun started to climb higher and the day heated up so too did the fishing. Julie took the first fish of the day (on Naoto’s rod just seconds after he handed it to her ;) a nice cutbow on a PMD emerger. I started fishing a hopper dropper type setup with a large stonefly pattern as the dry and took fish on small and large droppers but we only found one stonefly pattern they would eat, the others they wouldn’t even look at.
  I gave Naoto one of the patterns but in a smaller size and they wouldn’t look at it either. Once I lost the pattern when a fish sawed me off on a rock I thought I was done. I tried beetles, green drake emergers, general attractors and other stone patterns but none even drew the interest of a fish, until I found another one of those flies in a box I had given to Julie...we were back in the game.
  
  The first cutty I landed was being chased by a 30” bull trout so during this whole time I was messing around with dry fly patterns Julie was intent on getting her first ever bull trout and that she did. She had hooked and lost a bull within seconds of starting to target them but then sealed the deal later on with a nice 25” fish. She got her first cutbow, cutthroat, and bull trout already today and it was still early.
  We made our way upstream and found more and more consistency in bringing fish to the surface as the day went on producing many fish in the 16-19” range which are nice but still fairly typical fish for here. The Oldman is too high to cross almost anywhere right now, which is limiting, however there is more than enough visibility and bugs hatching (golden stones, drakes, PMD’s, caddis, sallies, midges).
  
  Next up we went and hit the Livingstone river on the way back. We only fished it for about an hr and with the sun being down below the mountains the fish were not really on but I did raise 3 fish to the stone, landing one of them, and Naoto took a fish or 2 on the streamer. The water was clear and at a lower level then the Oldman so I’m confident the Livingstone would’ve fished just as well in the heat of the day as the Oldman had.
  
  The last stop was to get Julie her 2nd grayling and again she succeeded. I missed 3 tiny grayling that ate a dry midge I was fishing, then hooked one that was so small I drug him through the water on the hook set (from 70’ feet away) which was less than impressive to say the least, but we accomplished what we came for with Julie landing another grayling.
  

  
  

• June 12th Bow River Fly Nation Shoot

  Today was the last day the boys were in town and we tried to knock off a bunch of the non-fishing stuff like interviews, scenery and casting shots, but we still got a chance to fish.
  
  Tim & Nick have some really cool gear that make for some crazy shots on the river, it takes a long time to set it up but I know you’ll appreciate it when you see the finished product. We had Tim climbing to the top of cliffs, and running down the bank to get some crazy camera positions.
  
  The blazing sunshine felt nice but as is typical the first day of hot and bright sun often puts fish down which it did. On one brown trout that I was landing we even had a rod blow up and Tim captured the whole thing on camera it was pretty fun, and looks really cool shot in slow motion.
  
  I can’t remember the last time I laughed this hard on the water we had such a riot today and one thing I give any of you a heads up on, watch your licorice very carefully with Puj around ;)
  

  
  

• June 11th Bow River Fly Nation Shoot

  Well the rain has stopped the water has cleared and the anticipation of a great shoot with dry fly activity is in the air. Given the number of good fish we moved or hooked yesterday we were excited about the day. We started off with the streamers again but my focus was to locate lips...I wanted to find these guys feeding fish to film. I pulled into a bank right below where Puj lost the giant brown the day before to watch. Within minutes we saw a rainbow feeding where the big brown had been the previous day. The boys got some great footage of the fish sipping mayflies from the surface ever so softly, but before Puj even had a chance to start casting to the fish he had moved out.
  
  I climbed the bank to see if I could spot that fish or any other fish sitting up on the ledge before the drop off. As I snuck up the bank I froze as a 24” browns snout appeared to engulf a caddis. In the time I called Tim and Tim came in with the camera I watched this pig (more then likely the fish Puj hooked the day before) sip 6 times. We then spent the next 45 minutes just getting footage of this fish and another brown eating naturals...wait to you guys see this stuff it looks unreal! The giant brown would sip in slow motion carefully pulling one single bug out of the mix of hundreds littering the surface, while the 21”ish fish was slashing and smashing bugs as they went by often moving 4-5’ just to eat a bug.
  
  Once these 2 fish stopped feeding we pushed on and I was fully expecting to see snouts dotting each bank but the fish on the surface had disappeared. We went back to streamer fishing and Puj landed a bunch of nice fish, rainbows and browns, holding tight to the bank, but to my surprise and disappointment we were not finding any more snouts. We talked to a few guys I knew on the banks who had done well nymphing but no one else had seen a single fish on the surface all day, glad we found those fish where we did, when we did because its making for some crazy footage.....just wait to you guys see the new Fly Nation stuff, its sick!
  
  
  

  
  

• June 10th Fly Max Films Fly Nation Bow Shoot

  Nick Pujic and Tim Myers picked me up from the airport in Calgary(@ 1am) on my way back from Washington and we headed back to my place to lay out the plans for the next 3 days of filming on the bow. It has rained every day since I left so the river was up and had a fair bit of color to it. Nick had business to deal with in the morning so we hit the water for an afternoon float.
  
  As soon as we hit the water I pulled the boat upstream to get to an inside seam I wanted these guys to fish before we started floating down. Within the first 5 minutes Puj had hooked up and had a little 17” post spawn rainbow in the net. Puj pulled a 2nd rainbow out of the seam before we started to float down river and start pounding the banks. Not a bad start when you have 2 fish in the boat before you even get below our put in. Next up Tim tagged a fish we lost and then Puj got broken off by a pig that I’m sure was the 24” brown that frequents that pocket, especially in high dirty water. This fish was a tank but given the tippet we were using for streamer fishing there must’ve been a nick in the line, which is pretty difficult to avoid when casting to heavy structure along the banks.
  
  Tim then landed a nice rainbow in an eddy, then out did himself by landing only the 2nd bull trout I’ve ever seen through the city stretch...not big but cool just the same, @ a boy Tim.
  
  Bombing the banks was effective today and resulted in double digit numbers of hook-ups in a short half day float. It was raining enough that we couldn’t have the cameras out so we used today more as a measuring stick for what to do the next 2 days where they were calling for better weather. Good day though, today left me very optimistic about the next two days.
  

  
  

• June 7th -9th Echo Rod Repping Trip

  Well a new chapter opened for my this week as I traveled to Washington and Oregon to meet with Tim and the Rajeff Sports group. I am now the Rep for Echo rods and spent 3 days with Tim, Jarrod and Jamie, casting all the families of rods, going through catalogues and without question the most interesting part was getting to break rods. I’ve been using Echo rods as boat rods as well as all my personal saltwater rods for the past half a dozen years so I know how well they fish but I was blown away at how strong they were. I’ve put my rods through the paces and some pretty severe scenarios but they’ve always handled it with ease, and yet I was still blown away to find out how hard it was to break them when you were trying.
  First on the chopping block was a 4wt and you’d think it would be easy to blow one of these up and yet it took 14lbs of dead lifting force to break it. Now understand what this means....picture attaching your line to a 14lb anchor then lifting it off the ground with your 4wt. The 5wt was stronger and the 8wt I couldn’t even break on my own...its was nuts, man I love these rods.
  
  Tim was good enough to schedule a break in the learning process to get me out on the water with Tom Larimer of Larimer outfitters on the Clackamas river, which was really cool to float the river that my boats were originally named after. Tom is a world class spey caster and despite my previous reservations about “spray” casting Tim was right if I’m going to be repping their 2 handed rods I need to be able to cast and understand them.
  
  Tim and I each had a smack from a smolt but no steelhead...oh well, more importantly though I had now been introduced to the dark art of spray casting;) I spent 3 more hrs that night in the dark and rain casting all the Echo 2 handed rods in Tim’s casting pond by the light of 2 yard lamps. I brought my camera out then forgot to take a shot of the 40 some rods we had out and set up at the same time along Tim’s casting pond...would’ve been a great picture glad a missed that one...and feel shame.
  

  
  

• June 6th Bow River Walk & Wade

  My good friend Rebekka from TB joined me for a walk & wade on the Bow today, it was a warm and sunny day for a change, but the fish didn't appear to be to found of this. We ran into a good freind George in the parking lot and he headed down to the river with us.
  
  We started the day trying to get Bekks a fish on a dry, and found a nice brown tight to the bank where he had been the last few days, but he had no interest in feeding on the surface for naturals or our imitations. We decided to take a hike a few miles downstream and try a few classic seams that Bekks could run an indicator through and see if we could get some trout.
  First pass through the corner seam I was pretty confident she was going to hook a fish...apparently the fish sensed my confidence and went out of their way to make me look bad as Bekks fished it exactly how I would've and didn't touch a fish. We changed flies and she went through it again...same result. Changed flies again, and I went through the seam behind her with a caddis & emerger dropper rig with the exact same result.
  
  Then things took a change for the better, we had some cloud cover roll in and within minutes Bekks hooked a fish that gave her the slip. We moved up the bank to an seam on an eddy and on her first cast she hit another fish, and another on her 2nd cast in there....cloud cover helped! I took Bekks down into the eddy to get a shorter cast into the seam. Bekks hooked 3 more fish including one that went straight out into the fast current and in turn her backing before Bekks sealed the deal and landed a nice post spawn rainbow. At a girl Bekks! Unfortunately I had to take off right after this as I still had to pack for my 3 day trip out to Washington, and Portland with Echo and the Rajeff Sports boys.
  
  

  
  

• June 3rd Bow River Float Trip

  Jason and Ian joined us today for their first ever bow river float trip. Unfortunately the weather was less than impressive today, rained at times but mostly just cool and overcast. Ian picked up the 1st fish of the day which was the 1st rocky I've seen in weeks. The guys did well to hook into double digit numbers of fish today with the weather we had. Each time the day seemed to warm up we would tie into a fish or two, then it would start blowing again or the temperature would plummet and there would be more shivering then anything.
  
  I only saw one pod of fish on the surface all day and it was within a 5minute window when it had warmed up but another boat drifted right over them and it was done. The river was up, and was slightly more coloured, however I think the temperature was the prime culprit responsible for the lack of surface activity.
  
  

  
  

• June 2nd Bow River Walk & Wade

  After Naoto gave me the gears about missing out on everything due to office work yesterday, I wanted to sneak down to the river and see if I could find some snouts sipping. I had to spend another day in the office but did manage to sneak down to the river for an hour or two in the evening. I parked and walked about 3 miles before I got to the spot I wanted to fish. On the way down to the river I did come across a number of pheasants strutting around on the river bank, such an impressive bird.
  When I finally made it to the bank I wanted to fish I found 3 trout sipping right up against the bank. I put the caddis over top of them and waited for the explosion...nothing. I made another drift with the same result only to watch the fish come up and eat something else right beside my fly...cheeky. I changed to an emerger pattern which I was sure would seal the deal and yet resulted in the same refusals. After days of watching everyone else catch every fish that rose now I couldn’t get an eat myself. There were still BWO on the water so I tried an olive emerger, with the same result. I tried a olive adult and took a 18” fish, the smallest of the 3. The big fish 22/23” ish fish would look at the flies but refuse one after another. I tried 3 other caddis patterns and took the other fish out of the pod but still couldn’t anything more than a refusal out of the bigger fish, and then he pushed out to deeper water and was gone.
  I moved up river to the flat I intended to spend the evening at. Initial inspection gave the impression there wasn’t a fish to be seen but then I saw what I was looking for, it was subtle and would’ve been easy to miss but it was an eat. I sat backed and watched as I could tell t his was a very large fish and didn’t want to risk putting the wrong fly over his head in such shallow and flat water. The only bugs I was seeing were tiny black midges, so I put on a #20 hatching midge pattern. I let the fish get into its feeding rhythm then drifted the tiny cdc dry into his feeding lane and saw a giant jaw and snout emerge to suck down my fly...and I missed him, I’m not sure how but I did. I was sure I had burnt the fish but only seconds later he ate again. I sat back and waited for him to eat at least 3 more naturals before I would cast again. It was almost 10 minutes before I saw 3 more eats but when I did I sent the tiny little midge back over the fish only to have the same result...this time I think I flossed his teeth with the hatching midge, but it didn’t stick.
  
  Oh I was mad, I was so sure that was it I had burnt this brute and it was all over. I reeled in and sat back to watch in misery and disappointment but my disappointment was replaced with optimism as I saw a tiny boil that was indicative of the same huge fish sucking under another bug without so much as breaking the surface. Only very large fish go to this much trouble to feed without giving away their position. It took 20 minutes before this fish had started feeding again and probably close to another 15 before he had eaten 3 more naturals but finally it happened. Batter up...there’s no way I could miss this fish a 3rd time...could I? I knew that the stars must have been aligned just to have the opportunity for a third cast, and I knew that even more certainty I wouldn’t get another chance after this.
  The third time turned out to be the charm as for the first time I watched the giant brown’s entire head slip out of the water as it inhaled the tiny dry fly, and to my relief the line stayed tight as the fish dropped back below the surface. There was a brief instant where this brute didn’t yet know he was hooked, but that instant very quickly came to an end as the pig headed straight for the heavy water. My fly line was now just a memory and the backing was disappearing at an alarming rate. I knew the fish was hooked well and I knew equally well that landing this fish from the same position was an impossibility so I tried to get my fly boxes back in my camera bag so I could follow this fish. As I lifted the camera bag to throw it over my shoulder I found out a zipper was left open and tippet and fly boxes spilled out across the rocks. With the fish running I tried to keep the rod up with my right hand while fumbling around with my left hand to try and get everything back in the bag and zipped up. To my absolute horror the worst thing that could’ve happened did, just before taking all the backing the fish turned and darted back up stream. With over a 10yards of backing and the entire fly line out with it the rod remained bent due to the tension from the water but the fish got the slack he needed to spit the hook. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so devastated over a fish. Without question that was the largest fish I’ve ever hooked on a dry. Conservatively I’m sure this fish would stretch the tape somewhere between the 26 and 28” mark...and on a #20 midge pattern....man.
  
  I waited 2 more hrs for another fish to come up but not another fish did. Sadly fisherman walked in right above me and other walked in right below me and boxed me in (for those who are not aware coming in below someone on shore is perfectly acceptable but walking in above someone fishing dries would not be considered proper etiquette as it is expected that anyone fishing dries is working their way upstream. Similarly you wouldn’t walk in downstream of someone swinging streamers downstream and across. I figured I might as well end my night on a low point anyway...man

  
  

• June 1st Bow River Walk & Wade

  Every now and then a fly fisher has a day on the water that can only be described as "epic"... that's exactly what June 2nd was! By the time I made the drive from Banff to Calgary, it was 11am, and instantly it was obvious, this was going to be a day to remember... there were big trout sippin' caddis every where you looked!
  
  I called Josh and for reasons unknown to me, he decided not to fish that day! Haha, what a great decision! I couldn't even begin to tell you how many fish I landed that in the following 11 hours, but it was amazing! The biggest of the day was a 24 inch brown, that on my favorite 3wt was almost all that I could handle! That fish was jacked up and I had to do some chasin down river! Of course, I was considerate when I called Nugent that night and told him that he didn't miss out on much at all! Haha that's a lie... it was the most amazing caddis hatch I've ever seen and I made sure he heard all about it haha!
  
  Naoto Aoki
  
  
  

  
  

• May 31st Bow River Float Trip

  The water came up 2' with all the snow and rain (on the 27th) but has dropped 16" in the last 36hrs and has cleared incredibly. It somehow always seem to work out that the river will fish amazing when I'm guiding then when I get a day of to fish it will be slow....fortunately that was not the case today.
  
  Naoto Aoki and I hit the bow with high hopes that were very quickly satisfied. Streamers were on today and we moved a tonne of fish off the banks. We hooked and lost so many fish it was hilarious. At one point Naoto turns and looks at me laughing about the fact that we do this for a living and have just lost a half a dozen big fish in a row to short strikes or thrown hooks..it was awesome. Browns were all over the black streamers but wouldn't touch the white and then the rainbows were all over the white streamers and wouldn't touch the black, it was pretty funny actually.
  
  During the brief 2 hr period of warmth bugs started hatching and fish started sipping BWO's & caddis. I picked a small brown out of the first pod of fish we stopped and fished and then when we stopped a 2nd time further down stream to walk a bank we saw several good fish feeding. I took the outside of the seam casting from mid river and Naoto cast from the bank. I got a nice rainbow and a nice brown on BWO emergers but neither of us were able to hook the 3rd fish that had been sipping despite several attempts.
  
  I then went upstream and Naoto went down...I should've gone down too. I saw no snouts, Naoto saw several and hooked an absolutely gorgeous 24" brown sipping ever so subtly, and that was one of the smaller fish in this group. Before I could get a picture of Naoto's fish it thrashed and took off and then as quickly as the sipping started it was done. What a day though....amazing!
  
  Tight Loops & Lines
  <><

  
  

• May 29th Bow River Float Trip

  What a day! Rick and his 8 year old grandson Jacob floated with us today and were in for a day I'm sure they will remember for the rest of their lives. Jacob and Rick had fly fished once before last year so we started the day with a quick refresher then were on our way.
  
  Jacob remembered the program and was casting like a champ but it was Rick who started us off with the first fish, a rainbow. Jacob hooked up next a had a hard fighting fish that got the best of us but he did a a great job of setting up when the fish took. Nymphing was producing fish through the morning but it was at lunch that things started to get exciting.
  
  While I cooked lunch Rick was casting to browns all around him that was smashing caddis as they drifted by. Rick had one brown that was about 19" long that kept rising less then 10' from where he was standing...so yes a foot off his rod tip. After fishing nymphs and indicators on his first trip and the first morning, and suddenly casting a single dry fly was a whole new ball game. Rick was ready to play ball though and hooked up the fish right in front of him before breaking for lunch....and the tippet;)
  
  After lunch Rick landed a few other gorgeous browns but the really big news was Jacob tied into a big rainbow that he landed this time....the excitement was written all over his face...ok and his grandfathers..ok mine too.
  
  The day was far from done though as one of the most exceptional dry fly fishing moments I've ever seen was about to occur. I spotted several good fish feeding ultra aggressively along a bank and pulled the boat in below them. Rick and I snuck up behind them and watched a massive rainbow absolutely crushing any caddis that drifted by. We watched this pig chasing down skittering caddis as they ran across the water unable to escape the wrath of these fish. I even watched this 24-25" rainbow pluck a caddis out of the air that was already 3" above the water...amazing! Just as amazing was watching Rick hook up this pig. The bow crushed his caddis and tore off to the heavy water where the tippet snapped.

  
  

• Next up was a gorgeous brown sipping in a more refined manner then the voracious rainbow counterpart. These fish were feeding so aggressively they would not be put down, splashing false casts didn't make them miss a beat and presentation was about as important as the color of shirt you were wearing.. I watched snouts popping up through coils of fly lines to eat a fly, it was the type of day we all dream of. Rick landed the gorgeous 22" brown while I spotted from the bank. My focus was now on getting Jacob a big fish on a dry.
  
  It didn't take us long either. I walked up the bank with Jake and snuck him down into position behind a big brown gulping caddis like ti was his last meal on earth. First drift over this fish Jake drilled em and was hooked up. There is a remote possibility that we didn't let that fish run, but who's keeping track of details like that right;) Jake's 8 and he cast, drifted into and hooked up on a monster brown on his first try with a dry fly....I was impressed....he was shaking with excitement...ok so was I.
  
  The light was fading a Jake had school the next day so we had 1 last fish to tackle...the brute of the pod that had a mission to destroy and caddis that went by for the last 30 minutes. Jake and I crawled in behind the pig getting into position to make the cast. It was a super tough drift as the fish was right in a corner where a boulder was creating a deflection and seem the fish was feeding in behind. I helped Jake with the cast but he was still holding the rod the entire time and it was Jacob that was doing the tough parts. Jake missed the first few takes but the 3rd time was the charm and when Jacob setup on that pig I know both Rick and my hearts were right in our throat and stayed there until he landed the brute, an exceptional 24" brown. This kids 8 and he landed a 24" brown on a dry fly....you have any idea how many decades I fished before I landed a 24" brown on a dry fly!!?
  
  It was getting late and Jake had school in the morning so I rowed out...Jake was to humble to let everyone know what he had just accomplished so I was sure to tell every boat we passed on the way out what he had just done...is it weird that I was as proud as his grandfather? What a day...

  
  

• May 27th Bow River Float Trip

  Well the weather straight up sucked today! The forecast called for 20-50mm (3+") of rain. The boats we had scheduled with locals we canceled, however the Virginia boys were only here for one last day and desperately wanted to fish again after the day they had yesterday so I took them out after their morning meeting downtown.
  
  I moved the pickup time for their 1/2 day trip up several hrs given the forecast and its fortunate we did. We put in at fish creek and it was raining already. The water was up slightly from the day before but had far more color in it with only 8-10" of visibility right up against the bank due to what fish creek was dumping in. Today would have to be about streamers.
  
  To my surprise and disappointment I had crossed the river 3 times, taking them down good streamer banks, without moving a fish yet...cold and wet is one thing, cold wet and not catching fish is a whole other story. My frustrations were soon alleviated as 3/4 of a mile from the put in we finally moved a fish, and another and another. We had 4 fish grab streamers before we were able to keep one buttoned and land it. We actually hooked 8 fish in a 100 yard stretch of bank landing 2 of them, one thick brown that exploded on the fly and a post spawn rainbow.
  
  With the rain now turning to snow I wasn't sure what the river would continue to fish like so I rowed across the river and pulled the boys and the boat 1/4 a mile back up river so we could fish that bank again and see if we could pick up one of the fish we missed. So that was a big waste of time, however at least fishing it a 2nd time and not having so much as a follow satisfied that little voice that would've been in my head all day saying "wonder what that bank may've fished like had we done it again"...I'd rather know then have to wonder.
  
  Snow turned to heavy snow and heavy snow turned into giant wet flakes and a whiteout. You know its a bad sign when it actually feels warmer when you're in a snow storm. At one point I had over 2" of snow covering myself and the boat. Gotta love Calgary weather.

  
  

• May 26th Bow River Float Trip

  With how incredibly the city has been fishing we floated Glenmore to Fish Creek again, today with Craig and Jim. The boys were up from Virginia and ready to take advantage of the caddis hatches.
  
  The first 15 minutes we didn't see fish moving so I pulled over on a high bank and watched for snouts. Within minutes we started seeing lips sipping caddis and we waited until they got into a rhythm and pushed in tighter to the bank before I walked the boat out into the current and held it sideways so the guys could both take shots. The boys popped off 4 fish in the first few minutes on caddis, as other boats floated by nymphing to no avail. One by one we picked off fish at the back of the pod and then kept moving up working our way towards the bigger fish in the pod.
  
  While I cooked lunch the boys managed to hook a nice brown coming up for caddis. It wasn't exactly warm out, but each time I felt less need to shiver the fishing would also seem to pick up but then another front would roll in and the temperature would drop along with the action.
  
  The afternoon slowed down though and Craig started bombing a big bugger out which did move a few fish and take a nice brown, but the morning was certainly the more active portion of the day.

  
  

• May 24th Bow River Float Trip

  We had Gerry and his grandson out on the river today and we floated from Glenmore down to Fish Creek. Its one of those days where everything is a blur, but what isn't blurring is the number of fish eating caddis on the surface right now...its amazing...what a day, what a DAY!

  
  

• May 23 Bow River Float Trip

  Today Dean and I took out George from Wholesale Sports and the Superfly boys in town, Buddy and Rick from Atlanta and Edmonton. Buddy is the National account manager for Superfly so Dean and I wanted to make sure we showed him what the bow had to offer. The way the day started the trip was looking as if it was going to memorable alright but not for the reasons we were hoping.
  
  The water had cleared considerably since Dean and I had drifted on Friday so we started Buddy and Rick nymphing and George started off bombing the banks with streamers. I had Buddy in my boat and Dean had Rick and George. We drifted the first mile of river without so much as a twitch from a fish, then we stopped and had the guys out of the boat working a prime run without so much as a sniff. Not a twitch and no sniffs..things were not starting off on the right foot.
  
  Dean and I changed up everyone's rigs...twice and on the 3rd set of flies Rick got a fish on his 1st cast. This should've been extremely exciting for everyone other then the fact that it was far from your typical bow river fish at only about 12". At least it was a step in the right direction.
  
  Back in the boats and still no fish. I pulled into an inside corner to get Buddy out to fish it and as we were sitting in the boat I saw a few snouts pop out to sip down a caddis. Dean pulled in a few minutes behind which may or may not have put these fish down;) (see Dean I didn't tell everyone it was you...oops well a hadn't before that point). Rick George and Buddy tried nymphing the seam with no luck so I grabbed a dry fly rod for Buddy. As I walked over to him and handed him the dry fly rod a fish smoked the dry caddis while I was reeling in Buddy's other rod. I told Buddy that I had to get an assist on that fish. It wasn't long before Buddy then landed his first bow river brown, a gorgeous and chunky brown.
  
  This was only the beginning of what happened to be nothing less then an epic caddis hatch. Rick and Buddy hooked one good fish after another on this corner. We were about to leave 4 times and each time more fish started rising again and each time they seemed to hook every fish we saw coming up.
  
  When we stopped for lunch Dean and I started cooking Dean's Chilli while the boys were casting on a flat that was absolutely lit up with rising fish from 18-25". Again every time we tried to leave more fish would come up and we found ourselves casting to the popping snouts. The fish were feeding so aggressively I was able to film these trout eating within a few inches of the bank...full screen caddis eats one after another, it was amazing! What was funny is one exceptionally large brown, that had refused Rick's offering's over and over again, would actually come up and look at natural caddis and then refuse them unless they were moving. Skittering caddis trying to dry their wings would be eaten with no hesitation and dead drifting caddis the fish would come up underneath but then refuse. Tough fish to catch when he won't even fall for unmoving naturals. (& no skating a caddis over him did not work either for those of you thinking that).
  
  After spending far to much time in the last 2 spots we had to make time as it was getting dark. Keep in mind I said it was getting dark...not dark yet and we weren't done yet. I took Buddy up a bank were I very quickly found another snout sneaking its way above the surface to pull another skittering caddis under. Buddy made short work of the rainbow and after a quick pic we were back in the boat trying to make up time again.
  
  As we drifted by a pocket I saw a disturbance that I knew had to be a big fish coming up to eat. I pulled the boat over to watch and it wasn't long before we were watching lips poke up ever so gently to sip caddis. Buddy and I snuck into position below the feeding fish and Buddy made his cast. Twice the fish ate and twice he missed him so I insisted on a fly inspection. Buddies fly was there but the hook was not...makes it tougher, more sporting however much tougher. Fortunately without a hook on the fly he hadn't stung the fish so a pattern and fly change (one with a hook this time) resulted in a perfect hook up. That browns lips just barely and ever so subtly slipped above the surface to suck down his caddis, Buddy setup on the fish and in no time at all had the fish of the day in the net. A few pics of the fish of the day as the sun dropped below the horizon and it was finished...what a day. Rick and Buddy probably hooked over 3 dozen fish today on dries...what a day, what a day!
  

  
  

• May 21 Bow River Float

  Dean and I floated today to see what the river looked like. The water was still very colored with only about 8" to a foot of vis. We stripped streamers and bombed the banks but there wasn't a whole lot going on. We got a few rainbows which is funny because I would've expected almost exclusively browns with the big streamers in dirty water and the fact that the rainbows should be gone on their spawning run still. The rainbows actually appear to have spawned in the main stem of the bow itself, or possibly have just returned as they were awfully beat-up looking. I hooked 1 brown about 5 yards above the boat launch which is always a nice way to finish the day, but we'll be postponing our Saturday trips to let the water continue to clear.

  
  

• May 20 Bow River Update

  First day home and we had to cancel the trip Jason was going to guide for us as the river was a dirty mess and we were able to postpone the trip easily as it was locals. It rained for almost a week before I got home here so the river's a bit of a mess but it shouldn't be too long before it clears

  
  

• May 16-18 Placencia, Belize

  The second leg of our split trip brought us down to Placencia in southern Belize where we would focus on targeting the elusive Permit. Eloy was are guide here and he would not be outdone by Tayo. This was my first trip to Placencia and I must say I love it. The speed of the village was as attractive as the type of fishing. In the middle of deep blue water appeared these amazing coral flats only a foot to 3' deep that were some times miles long, yet rarely more then 50 yards wide. The permit come up on the coral flats to feed while having the deep water near by to retreat to.
  
  The type of fishing was so appealing to me. We'd get to a flat and Eloy would either hope out right away with one of us, or he'd pole until we saw a permit tailing, then Eloy and one of us would wade into position to take a shot. I loved the stalking aspect so much however once again mother nature was not helping us. The day we arrived we were told it had not rained in over 3 weeks in Placencia, well in the 3 days we were there it made up for it. Heavy winds and cloud cover made spotting fish in the water next to impossible...ok impossible. We could see tailing fish though so we would just keep looking until we spotted a tail then move in for a shot. Eloy found so many permit, but shot after shot would all too often result in spooking fish as we had no idea that the 1 tail we could see was often only 1 of many (as you couldn't see in the water) and you'd spook the others.
  
  Other shots everything looked perfect and the fish would ignore the fly as if it never existed (and these were crab patterns Eloy had exceptional levels of confidence in as his clear favorites from proven effectiveness). It was hard watching how frustrated Eloy was getting yet trying to hide over the fact that we couldn't see the fish, and the ones we got good shots at were showing no interest. What impressed me is when we got back to the resort each night and the other boats had seen 2 permit all day and only had 1 shot, and yet Kash and I with Eloy saw well over 40 one day, about 40 the second day, and just over 30 the third, with double digit numbers of shots each day. Every fisherman in the resort was asking for and getting Eloy's contact info from us as he was clearly aware of which flats would hold permit in these adverse conditions. One of the really great things about being in the boat with Eloy too is his knowledge of the history of the area and hearing about all the conservation and educational efforts he has been involved with that has earned him invitations to countries around Central America to pass on this wealth of knowledge.
  
  Eloy kept wondering when the wind and rain would stop and I assured him I had the answer to that question: 7:20am on Wed. the 19th, the time we boarded the plane to head home. Every time I mentioned this Eloy would burst out laughing and yet it turned out to be exactly what happened. Hopefully at least Eloy was able to enjoy it. Sadly on the flight out we saw areas such as the village of Dangriga which had been devastated with flooding from the storms we had seen each day we were there, I wish everyone there all the best in trying to cleanup after the flooding resides.

  
  

• May 9-14 San Pedro, Belize

  It was a long time coming but I'm back in beautiful Belize. Akasha and I spent the first 6 days of our trip in the town of San Pedro, on Ambergris Caye, Belize. Tayo was our guide for our time in Ambergris Caye, a significant improvement over my previous trip to Ambergris Caye. My last trip here our guides were nice, knew their fish and fishery, but they were just lazy, they put in short days and were not willing to be flexible to accommodate tides or better fishing times.
  
  Tayo couldn't have been further from this stereotype. I'd love to say that the fishing was amazing but it wasn't, fishing was tough. To be honest when the fishing is exceptional its much harder to evaluate their true worth. Tayo had ample opportunity to prove his true worth as 4 of the 6 days the tarpon flats were not even fishable due to wind. Tayo was never willing to give up so he took us through mangrove channels and creeks that didn't look passable with a small kayak let alone a 20'+ panga, and yet he was never willing to let a small matter such a that phase him.
  
  Our first stop, the first day Tayo had Kash into his first Bonefish, a shad, a jack, and several other bones. The next place we stopped he got Kash a nice little snook. I was very impressed with Tayo from day 1.

  
  

• Another great part about Tayo was his willingness to stay dedicated to the fish we were after. He took us to catch bonefish if it ever got really slow but we appreciated that he did everything he could to put us on tarpon, the fish we were interested in targeting. We did manage to land: snook, bonefish, baby baby tarpon, bonefish, 2 types of snapper, shad, barracuda, catfish and jack crevalle. We did jump 3 tarpon on the flats the 1 day they were fishable including a nice fish that Kash hooked only to have the last 3 sections of his rod fly off and slide down the line to where the tarpon was tail walking across the flat. Even had a group of 4 permit stop and look at my fly only to take off just as quickly.
  
  Kash and I biked up the beach a few nights and chased bonefish tailing in water so skinny their backs were out. We were able to catch bonefish at will with Tayo in the boat had we wanted to but hunting these tailing fish from shore or the shallow flat was really enjoyable. These fish tended to be larger then most of the bones we saw from the boat and were much spookier and more challenging which was still nice though.

  
  

• The highlight of the trip for me was the last day when we found a pod of tarpon in the 40-50 pound range in a tiny tight quarters mangrove lagoon (big for tarpon this far back in the mangroves). I had a number of great shots to these fish and they ignored the fly each time, despite showing them several different flies. They went deep into the back corner of the lagoon crossing a wall of hundreds of snapper milling around sunken log and mangrove roots. There were hundreds of snapper from small to behemoth and the tarpon were now hiding somewhere in behind them under the mangroves. Once in a while one would slide out and I'd get a shot but they seemed utterly uninterested in anything until one fish finally gave chase. As I stripped the fish sped up until there was no more room left to strip...the leader was inside the rod guides and the tarpon had emerged from under the magroves only to be a giant snook. There was a 20+ pound snook staring at my fly less then 8' from the boat. You could almost here his thoughts as he stared at the fly less then an inch from his yap going "man I wan to eat that...but that's a boat...but man I want to eat that...but that's definitely a boat." Needless to say the snook made the right decision in the end but it was a cool experience just the same. Hooking any of the 3 snook we saw in that size range or any of the 10 + tarpon in that tiny little opening would've been an absolute rodeo.
  
  
  In 6 days with Tayo we spent more time on the water then the previous 9 days I spent with guides last trip. He put us on fish, and found fish when others were not, but no guide can make fish eat that don't want to eat. I look forward to bringing our groups down to Belize to fish with Tayo and his brothers as I know firsthand how dedicated they are to making sure people get fish. Can't wait to go back...
  
  For more pictures of the trip check out our Facebook page: Out Fly Fishing outfitters: bowrivercanada.com or here's the direct link: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000971754382&ref=pymk#!/pages/Out-Fly-Fishing-outfitters-bowrivercanadacom/47790722022?ref=t

  
  

• May 5th Ottawa, Ontario

  Well today I was holidays not guiding however I did get to enjoy one of the most meaningful and enjoyable days of fishing I've had. I was afforded the privilege of taking my 2 nephews fishing today, Isaac who is 3 and Nathaniel who is 1. This was Nathaniel's first time fishing but Isaac's 3rd trip with me.
  
  We went down to the canal with my sister and her husband and the boys. It took only a few minutes before Zac was reeling in his first fish! It didn't stop there either. One fish after another my little dude reeled em in! Bluegill, pumpkinseed fish, crappie, perch, even a largemouth bass! If it swam he took care of it, he even just about had a 15+ pound carp eat his jig which would've been hilarious on his little Scooby Doo rod.
  
  It was such a great day as the whole family was in on the action. Dave and my sister Theresa were right in the with the boys helping them cast and hold the fish. What cracked me up is how Zac was a little teneative at first when it came to touching the fish but Nathaniel didn't even hesitate, he just reached out and grabbed them!. At one point Nathaniel even tried 2 stick his tongue in a pumpkinseed fish's mouth...way too funny.
  
  I'm not going to lie of all the thousands of people I've taught to fish these are 2 of the most satisfying. No offense ;)

  
  

• April 21st Bow River Float Trip

  Mike and I did a half day float today and the river has clearly slowed down from the unbelievable dry fly fishing we had been having only a few days ago. We spent the afternoon searching for snouts and only found 1 picture worthy fish, not what we had hoped for but one of the possibilities you deal with in spring with the feast or famine type trends...today was not a feast day;)
  

  
  

• April 19th Bow River Float Trip

  We put 3 boats on the water today as Dean and myself were joined by a few of the Pieroway boys. JD was floating with me and this was his first bow river float, as most of his trips have been down in Montana. The trip started alright as one of the boats had hooked up a fish within 40 yards of the boat launch. JD got into a whitefish early but 3 hrs in I don't think any of the boats had a trout landed yet only rockies.
  
  When we got out and worked water it didn't produce fish like we would've expected for this time of year. We stopped several times and I walked the bank searching for snouts, but there was only 1 time that I saw any fish working and there was only one of those that was feeding in any type of rhythm. We set up on the brown but he stopped feeding on the surface and started working sub surface and soon after moved away from the bank into deeper water where we couldn't see him anymore.
  
  The river was far from spectacular today but it pick up in the afternoon producing several nice browns for JD from the boat. JD got his 1st bow river brown a nice fish that he very quickly bettered with a larger brown a few miles downstream.

  
  

• April 17th Bow River Walk & Wade

  After the exceptional fishing I had yesterday in just under 2hrs on the water I was anxious to get back on the water today, but that wasn't possible until late this afternoon as all morning I was in a gym coaching as I had the ID camp for the College Basketball team I coach today. Once again I took a dry fly rod down to the river and made the 30 minute hike to where I found fish yesterday. Walking through the trees down to the river I was being swarmed by BWO spinners...this only added to the anticipation.
  
  When I hit the river I was in a very contemplative state, trying to process everything from the mornings ID camp and all the potential recruits. This worked out very well as I was happy to simply sit and watch for lips. Each time I saw a snout I snuck into position and made a cast from a downstream position. I was more then pleased when the first 3 snouts I found I was able to get them to eat and to hand, but my short lived streak was about to end quickly. I continued to work my way up the bank each time saw another set of lips slip out and suck down another bug. The first few fish ate the midge pattern from yesterday but the next fish was seemed from from impressed by the midge.
  
  With the number of BWO's appearing on the surface I changed over to a BWO emerger pattern. The emerger got the fishes attention the first drift over it. I was amazed at how many fish I kept finding gently sipping midges and olives from the surface, yet no pods of fish simply singles tucked tight to structure and the bank. The number of fish that ate and I pulled the fly right out of there mouth made up for my short lived streak of hooking each fish I found. As the evening progressed so did my ability to patiently wait for the fish to actually take the fly before I set the whole and who would've guessed it but it worked ;)
  
  Just when I thought the number of snouts appearing was beginning to diminish I came upon a pod of fish with 8-10 fish feeding in rhythm. This was one of those days you can only dream of as I think I managed to hook each fish that was coming up in the pod. Again I thought the night must be done when I walked around another bend and found another pod of fish going to town. These fish were slightly more fickle as some seemed to be very keyed in on midges while the fish right next to them would be keyed in on BWO adults and another BWO emergers, but really it was a welcome challenge and similar results with this pod as the last. When it was all said and done I don't think I fished more then 3 hrs and hooked well over 3 dozen fish....my 100% catch rate was left far from intact but its hard to complain when you have an absolutely unreal evening on dries.

  
  

• May 26 Update

  Ok so the river has fished unfreakin believable this week for caddis and I apologize for the lateness of the reports but I was out of the country for 3 weeks (fishing in Ontario then Belize) and have been on the water everyday but one since I got back. Reports and pictures are coming but I'm not sure how long the fishing will stay like this as we're supposed to get major amounts of rain tonight and tomorrow, continuing Friday and Saturday.
  
  I hope many of you got to fish Sunday through Tuesday as it was some of the best dry fly caddis fishing I've ever seen. EPIC!!!!
  
  Tight Loops & Lines
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• April 16th Bow River Walk & Wade

  So driving back from Cranbrook I was getting rather tired so i pulled over and slept in the back of Hotel Suburbia down in the Crowsnest Pass so I could try the crow in the morning. Turns out it got freezing cold that night and I did as much shivering as I did sleeping, so I was out at first light to fish the Crow. It was still just around zero and the fish were not moving much but I did hook 3 and land 1 rainbow in about an hr before heading back to the truck and back into Calgary as I had to coach that night.
  
  On the way back into town I stopped on the bow for a bit and fished for about an hour and a half. I just took a dry fly rod and walked the bank as I spoke with a number of guys that had not seen much in the way of rising fish given the vast blankets of midges on the water. I decided to try the windy side of the river and just cover ground. My theory was with this many bugs on the water there's little point waiting to see if the fish are going to come up. With this many bugs blanketing the water I figured you'll either see snouts sipping or you won't, if you don't keep walking until you do. I covered about 2 miles of bank in the time I was fishing and in that time I found 6 snouts (all connected to large trout;) The most amazing part of it all was I was able to get every fish I found sipping to eat, something I was quite pleased with to say the least. A midge emerger and a hatching midge pattern were like magic for me today....man I wish I could've stayed longer.
  
  Fishing was so good and I had so little time that I didn't even try and take any photos until the last brown which was about an average. Sorry the photo sucks but I had no one to take the picture and no tripod with me so i had to lean the camera against a willow bush. The photo was also badly overexposed so I cranked up the contrast and dialed down the brightness so its at least recognizable.
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• April 15th Kootenay River Float Trip

  Today a number of really cool things came together for me. After almost 2 weeks of terrible weather in Calgary I escaped to Cranbrook where it was plus 20 and sunny (Calgary had snow when I left and Lethbridge was hit by a foot of snow yesterday). I was in Cranbrook to visit Ken and take him up on his invitation to float the Kootenay river, a river that has intrigued me for years now but I've never made it out to...until today. The other interesting part about today is having the opportunity to visit my old boat (which now belongs to Ken). I had spent hundreds of days in that boat over the years and it was nice to have Ken allow my back in its casting braces.
  
  The day started off with far more enthusiasm then productivity, however as the day warmed up from the heat of the sun so to did the fishing. I was here to target bull trout, so we were stripping streamers in the hopes of bringing one of these brutes up for a picture. The Kootenay was so different from any bull trout or cutty river I've ever fished,a s I'm used to fast flow high gradient mountain streams as opposed to the slow meandering 'frog' water laden channels of the Kootenay. As Ken had told me appearances can be deceiving as this river was home to many nice cutties and bulls.
  
  I didn't get or see any real pigs like I was after but Steve who joined us did get a nice bull and I was impressed because I caught 5 different kids of trout in one day on one river and multiples of each (cutthroat, rainbow, cutbow hybrids{ok maybe 4.5 different kinds} bull trout and brookie). Loved fishing logs jams and getting a chance to float a new river, not to mention how much of a treat it was to not only be in my old boat but to have Ken not even allow me to row all day so I could have the opportunity to fish. It was a real treat Ken, thanks again

  
  

• April 5th Bow River Float Trip

  Naoto and Julie joined me for their first of many bow river float trips of the season. This was actually Julie's first ever float trip so the pressure was on me to make sure we got Julie a fish.
  
  The first few miles didn't result in a fish but as we drifted over a ledge and towards a bucket I was just about to tell Jule she had her flies exactly where she wanted them when her indicator tore off like it was attached to a rocket. The size of fish attached to the end of Julies line was nothing less then spectacular...this was a absolute PIG! (sorry Julie) As you might have guessed the apology is necessary as Julie hooked this brute but wasn't able to land it (and doesn't exactly like being reminded of it ;)
  
  We pulled in to fish the bucket as Naoto hooked and landed a decent brown just seconds later. It was a nice fish just nothing compared to the brute Julie had just lost but a nice fish just the same. Working the bucket for just about 30 minutes resulted in 8 other fish hooked between the 3 of us.
  
  We moved on and as expected for early spring didn't hook as many fish from the boat as when we stopped. The next place we stopped we managed to find snouts as the fish were sipping BWO's and midges. Both Naoto and Julie landed a dry fly fish capping off the trip. We had to row out as I had a meeting that evening but not before we came across another pod of fish going to town on midges. The funniest part was they would eat time after time when Julie cast but cast after cast that Naoto made with the same fly resulted in one refusal after another...good thing Naoto didn't take that personally;

  
  

• April 4th Bow River Walk & Wade

  Well this was a first for me, fishing on Easter Sunday. With my parents out east visiting my sister and my brother and family not around until the afternoon I headed down to the river to meet up with good friends Naoto and Julie and welcome them here from Ontario. Naoto and Julie just moved here from Peterborough ON. Naoto was born in Banff and is very familiar with the area but Julie is new to the area and this was her first bow trip.
  
  We walked down to the river in fish creek park and setup on an inside corner with classic winter water. I got Julie working her way through the seam above Naoto then went and walked a bank looking for fish. Right away I found 2 really nice fish working nymphs in about 3 feet of water, I grabbed Naoto and showed him the fish....that kept Naoto occupied for the next few hours I think and I slipped back down to the seam to see how Julie was doing. It was such a gorgeous morning, heating up quickly, that she stopped to take her coat off. I made a few casts while she went up to check out what Naoto was doing and hooked one rainbow and landed a brown. That was good enough for me so I packed up and headed for my truck as it was time to go meet my brother and the girls for an Easter brunch. Pretty amazing way to celebrate a glorious Easter morning.

  
  

• April 3rd Bow River Float Trip

  Well after a long hiatus I finally made it back to the bow. March was just such a busy month with teaching, giving and marking midterms at the U as well as all the coaching and playoffs along with recruiting....you get the point.
  
  So with it being Easter weekend I had some time to slip away and Kash came down and brought his dad out with us to float from Glenmore down to Police. This was Kash and his Dad's first float of the year and unfortunately it turned out to be much like their last float of the year the 3 of us did, far more rowing and story telling then landing fish.
  
  I did manage a few browns and a chunky rainbow but it was a slow day on the water for the group, but a very enjoyable one just the same.

  
  

• March 7th Bow River Float Trip

  First Float trip of the year today! This time last year there was still 15' of ice stacked up along the banks and today we were hard pressed to find snow or ice in any amount left along the bank.
  
  As one would expect at this time of year the fishing from the boat was not very impressive with Dean getting 1 fish but when we stopped and fished the winter water holding spots it was much more productive (hooked 5 fish in 15 minutes). Midges blanketed the water today but the only thing we fished were small nymphs and chenille worms under an indicator.
  
  At one point we spotted an unusual shape in the water only to find a whitetail buck who must have fallen into the river this winter while the ice was built up along the banks and was not able to get out

  
  

• Feb 19th Miami

  Today was the last day in Florida as as luck would have it the weather finally started to turn as it knew we were leaving town.
  
  We only had a few hrs in the morning to fish before we flew out but we managed to find some grass carp we couldn't get to eat, a few really big peacocks...we couldn't get to eat, a short nosed gar that wouldn't eat, and a few monster cichlids that wouldn't eat.
  
  We did manage to get a pair of cichlids and Kash and I did get a few small peacocks though which was nice as they were a species we were down here targeting and a new species for Kash.
  

  
  

• Feb 18th Florida Everglades

  We had a chance to drive out to the everglades today after sleeping in a bit from our all night tarpon trip (after fishing Stuart all day the day before followed by the 3 hr drive back to Miami).
  
  We had trouble finding aggressive fish. The cold water had fish so sluggish that you could bump them in the nose and they wouldn't even move. I did muster one largemouth and a snook at last light but that was it in 2 or 3 hrs of fishing.

  
  

• Feb 18 Miami Florida

  After driving back from Stuart we met up with guide Capt Mark Hall and went out to chase tarpon at night under the bridge lights of Miami. Its amazing how cold it was..I was honestly colder fishing in Stuart earlier in the day and tonight in Miami then I was steelheading this year, its nuts!
  
  Capt mark was worried the cold might have pushed the tarpon out and the first few hours without seeing a fish made us wonder but 4 hrs into the trip Mark found us tarpon and it was on. I love fishing under the bridges at night and people are always surprised to find out its still all sight fishing. You slip in behind the tarpon as they lay in wait in the shadows looking to ambush baitfish and shrimp coming in from under the lights. Kash had a few hits and then I was fortunate enough to land a small tarpon that gave me a few good jumps and a long run into my backing and through to the other side of the bridge. Oh yeah this was my first ever birthday tarpon...no big deal;)
  
  After landing my fish Kash hooked up on his own tarpon as well. When Kash had the fish by the boat it gave a classic tarpon jump, shake, and spit ending the battle a little sooner then Kash would've liked which was too bad

  
  

• Feb 17 Stuart Florida

  Akasha and I took a trip down to Florida for some warmer weather fishing...at least that was the theory. We got to Florida to be greeted by the coldest winter they've had on record since 1917 we were told. We drove from Miami up to Stuart Florida to fish with friend and guide Captain John Meskauskas (www.stuartflyfishing.com).
  
  After the Fly Nation shoot they did last year with John I've been dying to get down here and fish for cobia and giant jacks on poppers with John and this was my opportunity. I probably spent over $200 on tying materials to tie up every size and shade of giant nasty popper you could imagine, only to get there and have 6-7' swells on the ocean making it unfishable. John kept checking the weather forecast as he knew the fish were there and on the beaches but the winds were too high for us to be able to hit them.
  
  We left the river mouth and chased blue fish first in the morning and even they were harder to catch then they should be. The water was excessively cold @ 53 degrees (should be in the 70's). John was even casting a popper for a teaser and despite having 3 fish chase on the 1st cast we didn't see another follow after that. Both Kash and I got a blue fish near the river mouth where we could see monster waves crashing over the jetty making it very clear that fishing the ocean was not an option.
  
  John then took us further up the river to chase lady fish. What was interesting is that the typically stained water was crystal clear due to the unusually cold water. We could see schools of ladyfish everywhere around us but they were surprisingly skittish given they unfamiliarity with these clear conditions. I loved fishing for the lady fish as we were tucked back in a mangrove bay dumping 70-90' casts to rolling ladyfish. John was again puzzled as the ladyfish which typically hit everything that moved appeared skittish or just completely uninterested for the most part. Kash landed his first ladyfish and I had a number of hits that I just kept missing. From what John said ladyfish can be tough to hook with many short strikes however typically the shear volume of hits usually makes up for the type of strikes. I had my opportunities but was devastatingly unable to take advantage of them. I did hook up another blue fish but the lady fish alluded me...no comments are necessary people ;

  
  

• Jan Fly Fishing Expo

  The 8th Annual Western Canadian Fly Fishing exposition took place at Spruce Meadows this weekend as as always Out Fly Fishing outfitters had a booth at the show. We were also lucky enough to have a booth right beside our good friend Anita and the Reel Hookers Club (Calgary's Woman's Fly Fishing club).
  
  The show went fine although the overwhelming consensus we got from most people was that the show was slower then past years. There were some great speakers and presenters at the show but many people mentioned not seeing any presenters they hadn't seen before (as an exhibitor its difficult to get a bead on things like presentations and presenters because we spend the whole weekend in our booth talking to people. Unfortunately very few people we talked to had heard any advertising about the show they had simply know what weekend it would be on and found their way down themselves. It was great to see the industry regulars but given the future of our sport depends on attracting new people with venues like this its too bad we hear of more new people at the show.
  
  The kids minnow races were right across from our booth so we got to see some of the sports youngest enthusiasts cheering on their favorite minnow. Loop & Pieroway Rods were both new and welcome booths to the show that drew positive attention throughout the weekend