DREAM MAKING ON THE ELK RIVER

Third day of guiding a beautiful couple from Florida (Diane and Dan Halleman) and it's been dreamy!!! After some epic scenery floats it was time to get down to some 'serious' business and get busy with some Cutthroats. So I decided we'd go butcher the Sparwood run and let me tell ya...the meat was on sale!!!

The day started with some blue winged olive duns pushing through some faster seams so we changed to a tilt wing bwo and dropped down to the softer ends of the seams and begin pounding some really nice fish out of the foam lines. Foam, soft water and buckets all held nice fish but the real gems of the day came out of the lumber tight to the bank in some really sllllllloooooooow water, nothing like watching an 18" fish saunter out of his lair to slow sip a size 18 bug, truly magical.

I woke up with a smile today reliving the dream that was yesterday....

MEND THIS!!!!

Back to the Columbia for round four....again I had my ass handed to me but at least it was black and blue from getting beaten by these trout. Lots of BIG rainbows eating on top; they were definitely in their feeding lanes and easy to find. Any colour (depth) change on a shallow run held a big feeding rainbow, the riffles also held a few really keen fish, it was a refreshing day of angling.

One thing I have noticed on the Columbia and it certainly proved true yesterday was that the fish were feeding when the fly was twitched, swung, sunk and in general moved around. Many of the eats were at the very end of a long drift when the fly would plunge as the fly line tightened, so much for mending the fly. Hard to set hooks without snapping off in these situations so here's my tip of the day when you find fish are feeding in this manner as they often are especially during mayfly spinner falls.



When fish are reacting well to a sunken fly at the end of a drift when your line is straightened take a little pressure off the set by holding a loop between your rod hand and reel. When the fish eats set as you normally would and allow the loop to slide gently through your rod hand to relieve some tension from the set. (photo of slip strike loop on side panel)

This was one of those "one fly" days and I'd show you a picture of it but.....it was tooooo good!!! Spencer and Joel in town today for some angling PUMPED!!!

The River "Y"

AHHHHH!!!!! Ants, rainbows, big dries all day must have pinned at least a hundred today....bless their little gills!! It was cool to watch fish position themselves so prominantly in the feeding lanes as they sucked back flying ants all day. Still fished a big bug through the hatch (Doug Swishers's Orange PMX) to limit our impact on the fish. Trout suck ants down deep and ant days can lead to heavy hook mortality from their
overly aggressive feeding.

It was nice to take a break from the Columbia River and get some consistent action on the dry fly. Thanks to all trout who participated in the last two days events, may your wounds heal quickly.

Beautiful day today.....more tommorrow and "Y" the hell not!

....We SUCK!!!

There's those days when fish are coming up out of nowhere for your fly for no apparent reason and you feel much like a magician yarding bunnies out of a hat. At the end of those days you feel like nothing can knock you down; like you've conquered the puzzles of nature like an ardent scientist, almost Godlike if your ego is really out of check. At the end of these days you say to yourself "fuck ya!! I've got it dialed now, never havin' a slow day again."

Then there's the days like the last 4 I've fished on the Columbia with one of my guides. It sucked, we sucked, the weather sucked it all just sucked!!!! In these moments you begin to wonder if all that lording you did while you were KING OF THE ELK is catching up to you as you stand there dumbfounded in the front knee brace holding onto what remains of your ass that was just handed to you.

The Columbia River tailwater can be tough, like any good rainbow fishery it has it's moments. All of us who fish it know this and many people who come here to fish it encounter those dead days and leave never to return. Probably why I see such an amazingly low number of anglers on such a vast and productive piece of water.

When faced with such angling adversity there is much pre and post fishing time tying up new bugs, thinking of different water or trying different techniques and for what it's worth it's our time as anglers to be creative with what we do and step beyond our limitations and find a way to put trout lips onto FLY!!! So for the last few nights and mornings I have sat at the vice wrapping up the ingredients to what will be called "The Answer" if it so proves itself during this cold snap.

So far all that remains is the question and keeps me reloading the vice. River "Y" re opens today which will be a welcome change phhhhhhhewww!!!

......YA IT IS!!!!



Long time since the last entry, the guiding game here in Fernie has been BUSY and I should have about 20 more entries for this blog but they'd all read about the same: Big fish and lots of them. After doing this for 8 years I've noticed the behavioural patterns of fish in regards to weather and it often determines the chosen water system or stretch of river for that day. Much of this behaviour stems from the reaction of the bugs to the various weather systems. Being in the Rockies, the weather is often shifting and unstable creating a variety of conditions to consider before heading out for the day.



There's a common misconception that fish don't like thundershowers; it's actually quite the opposite. I'm not sure if the fish 'like' the storm itself but the bugs the mayflies they feed on often hatch at the lowest point of the barometer drop. The reason for this is the decrease in water surface tension during these lows which enables the emerging insects to pop through the surface film and begin their short lives as horny, breeding adults. The feeling the lows move into the feeding lanes and wait for the magic to unfold.

It's predominantly the mayfly species that prefer the lows particularily drakes and bwo's. So the next time you see some lows with precip heading your way, don't get fairweather....get busy angling!!!

Rainbow Love in the West Kootenays...Caddis Hatch is On

When I first visited Nelson BC I was immediately charmed by the aesthetics of the community; old wooden victorian homes, 100+ year old eastern hardwoods and the West Arm of the Kootenay at it's feet. The downtown retail district is quite vibrant, there are many coffee shops, outdoor stores and galleries that keep the town buzzing. There are also tons of great places to eat but the real draw for me here are all the beautiful young "freaks" who give the town it's colour and funky vibe. All it needed to be perfect for me was that perfect river.

When I first looked at the Columbia River I was daunted by it's immense size. The huge whirlpools, eddies and current seams made it difficult for me to read and I never gave it much of a thought as far as angling went. Three years ago when the Slocan River opened up again I was invited to fish it with Pat Patterson who at the time was a client of Homewaters Guide Service in Fernie.

We both had keen interest in fishing the Slocan and I was in the process of moving back to Nelson. After an experimentative but impressive float down the Slocan we went to the infamous Waterloo eddy on the Columbia and floated around in the "toilet' (centrifical current) for a few hours, hooked and landed a few nice rainbows but also saw some monsters.

I decided after that experience that there was some guiding potential in the area and began doing some intensive recon on both the Slocan and Columbia Rivers. Coming from the Elk most of my clients are dry fly enthusiasts so I have spent much of my time on these rivers casting and developing various dries and have comprised a decent arsenal of flies for most occasions. The Columbia rainbows still stiffle me with their "uber" selective feeding habits in the soft water but it keeps me honest and on the vise.

After a few years of recon I began guiding here a lot more and the Columbia during the months of June, July and September has become my favourite piece of water to fish. The rainbows are the strongest I've seen anywhere and the caddis hatch in June and July is prolific enought to bring thousands of fish to the surface in the evening. It's like watching a school of sharks as huge dorsels and tails breach the surface as they slurp down the caddis.....dry fly fishing doesn't get any better than that.

I've spent the last three days guiding the river and the dry fly action has been incredible. Lots of nice fish in the afternoon but the real show goes down in the late evening when the big dudes show up to get there time in. As usual the big fish scream line after being pinned and rarely make it to the net. That being said we did land some nice fish on a variety of caddis, but the evening hero was definitely the Peacock Hot Butt that immediately began hooking fish when the light left the water. It seems the fish began keying in on the egg sac (hot butt) of the fly and the cdc overwing helped us see the fly into the night although a lot of hookups were made on presumptuous sets---visually tracking the speed of the seem the fly landed in and setting on any sign of trout lips.

One more shot at it tonight and then back to the Fernie area for 5 days of cutties before getting back here for some more lovin'. It's a tough life!!

Love That Dirty Water

It seems when we get a day off from guiding here in Fernie it's not hard to rally a few guides up for a trip to Alberta for a species and scenery shift. The Elk is a gem of a river but after a few hundred days dipping oars into it's cutthroat rich waters it's hard to feel inventive by angling on a river that you know from top to bottom. So on the last day off, I called up fellow guides Spencer Schey and Jon Muir and heading east of the Rockies to tangle with some Browns.

It was our first float on the river and after too many hours of ass clowning around Fernie trying to get my shit together we arrived at the takeout point of the river and eventually made our way up to the put in and finally got some line out.

The water was a tinge dirty but we were instantly welcomed by a pmd hatch and some gentle sips along the banks. Unable to see the fish clearly we weren't sure of the size but we quickly put the streamer rods down and grabbed some dry lines. Jon has the predatory instincts of a hungry grizzly when it comes to trout and before I could complete my clinch knots he had hooked up with a Brown 5 feet off the bank with a size 14 mahogony dun. A few nice tail walks and good runs ensued before the first brown of the day was led to the net.

The rest of the float saw a few more browns eat the mahogony dun in some soft but sexy water although we predominantly hooked fish on BIG & UGLY bunny leech type streamers. It was a long float with some good standing waves and by the end of it the boat was filled with water, dog hair and exhausted arms.

Hope to get back there soon before the water gets too low to float. Loved that dirty brown filled water!!!