Fall Backswimmer Fishing

As the month of August winds down, we start to get into one of the most spectacular seasons of fishing for the entire year.  Lakes usually become a quiet spot to get out and enjoy the Fall season here in Alberta.  Backswimmers become a major "hatch" as they go into their fall mating migration.  With this key food source, the lack of other anglers, and some very willing trout...its very easy to see why this is a fantastic time of year to fly fish for trout!  I thought I would share a few pictures from this month of fishing.  There are still plenty of days left to get out and enjoy some fine fishing as well!

A nice chunky rainbow trout with cool colours

A busy beaver

A large rainbow trout that fell victim to a #16 foam backswimmer

Fishing near sunset, and the trout were still coming up for backswimmers as you can see in the top left corner!

Real and imitation

This trout was blind in one eye but still managed to hammer the fly!

A trout going back for more

A hefty 21" rainbow on a floating line and backswimmer

Chunky football shaped trout that hit the fly with plenty of power!

Vancouver Island Adventure: Part 2

After arriving at Miracle Beach Provincial Park, we went on a drive to check out the Courtenay/Comox area.  We took a walk on the beach at Goose Spit Provincial Park near Comox and checked out both towns. After getting back to camp and having some supper, my cousin Chris met up with us and we headed out to fish the Oyster River.

Tara with a sand dollar at Miracle Beach

Tara was set up with a dry fly, Chris had a wooly bugger, and I used my lucky streamer that I had on from fishing the Quinsam River.  Chris and Tara were getting into some cutthroats, but I wasn't having any luck at the start.  Chris mentioned that he had seen a larger fish rising in a nice run, but was unable to get it to take the fly.  I slid up in there and after numerous casts, still hadn't seen anything.  All of a sudden a fish came out of the wood and striked at my fly but didn't latch on.  Two casts later, I had a really good slam, and was into a good sized fish!  I thought it might be a pink salmon or something, but as I got it closer to me, realized it was a very nice sea run cutt!

Beauty sea run Cutt!

Underwater release shot

We were all super excited to see a beauty trout like that, and we started to fish a little harder to see if one of us could get another nice trout like that!  We moved up river and I had another slam and fish on after a few casts!  This time it popped off, but we could see pink salmon jumping around so knew what was in the run this time.  Tara had a nice 12" cutt on the dry fly, so I went downstream to help her with it, and while that was going on, Chris hooked into a beauty fish!

Chris battling a hefty pink salmon

After a short battle, the fish won and took off.  Chris got his line back in the water though, and within a couple of casts, he hooked into another fish and the battle was on.  After a few minutes, we got a glimpse and initially thought it was another pig cutthroat, but after getting it in closer we realized it was a nice chunky pink salmon!  We took a couple of pics and the fish was released back to the river.

Success!  Chris with a chunky pink

It was starting to get dark and we headed back downstream.  More trout were rising to the dry fly and we caught a couple on the way down.  We arrived back at camp happy to have a great evening on the river!

The next day we fished the Oyster in a couple of different stretches with Chris and his girlfriend Karen.  It was a sunny, hot day and we fished some fine water and saw some cool scenery.  Fishing was slow but we managed to get a few cutts and had a great time on the water. We all went for supper and finished off the day by fishing the Puntledge River.

The Oyster-shell-like bottom of Oyster River

The Puntledge was a beautiful river and it was great to get in the water as it was still pretty hot out in the evening.  Many people were rafting/tubing down the river on this day and I don't blame them.  It looked like a lot of fun, but fly fishing is pretty damn fun too!  We fished a few runs and the fishing was a little slow here too, but Chris got a few nice cutts, and near the end Tara got a cutt or two.

Tara with a crayfish from the Puntledge 

Chris with a nice silver cutty on Puntledge

We changed spots just before dark because Chris really wanted to show me a beautiful spot he knew of.  Just me and him headed up with rods, and we started swinging streamers.  I cast a few times, then stepped downstream and worked that water.  Within 15-20 minutes of swinging, I hooked into something nice!  I battled the fish as it ran downstream, then came up and jumped a couple of times.  We thought it might be a nice cutthroat, but as it came to the net our excitement went up even more.  It was a smaller summer run steelhead, but hey it was a steelhead and we were both excited!  I stopped fishing after releasing it back to the water.  It was a satisfying day...one I'll remember for awhile!  Even with it being a slow day, the few fish we did catch were great, and we had great company too.  Chris kept fishing down but was unsuccessful in the next run.  It was getting dark so we all piled in the truck and headed back to camp.

Summer steel!

Tara and I headed to Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park the next day and set up camp.  The area has plenty to see and do, so we checked out Coombs with the whole "Goats on the roof" thing. We ate a huge seafood dinner at the Clam Bucket in Port Alberni, and checked out the Cathedral Grove old cedar forest on the way back.  The next day, we went to Cameron Lake in the heat (so no fishing), checked out the Falls on the river, and later in the evening, Chris came by the campground and we fished the Little Qualicum.

An Arbutus tree. They shed their own bark and leave a smooth tree trunk..pretty cool!

Little Qualicum Falls

Beautiful, gin-clear Cameron Lake

We used dry flies at the beginning and Chris got a couple, but I wasn't catching so I switched to a nymph.  After a few casts I was into 3 nice rainbows on 3 casts, but after that....nothing for a while.  Chris was starting to get a couple in every run on the dry fly so I switched back to a dry as well.  As we walked further away from camp, we were getting some awesome hits on the dry fly and having a blast! After a brief walk through the "jungle" in the dark, we made it back to camp, pretty satisfied with this little creek and the trip as a whole.  

Chris waiting for a rise

Fish on! Nice rainbow trout on the dry!

Tara and I left back to the mainland of BC the next morning, but we both know we will be back next summer.  The fishing was a blast, the company was great, and the scenery was stunning!

Vancouver Island Adventure: Part 1

With my very first trip to Vancouver Island back in May still fresh in my mind, my wife and I decided to head out and do some more exploring/visiting further North from Victoria on our summer vacation. After a night's stay at Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park near Kamloops, we were on our way to Horseshoe Bay to catch a ferry to Nanaimo.

Waiting for the ferry

We knew the price of a ferry with a travel trailer and truck might be a little pricey, but lets face it, things aren't getting any cheaper these days...and I had some fish to catch that were on my list!  A relatively quick 1.5 hour ferry ride to Nanaimo, and we were off to Campbell River to stay at Elk Fall Provincial Park.  The park is one of the nicest I have seen, and is situated close to the Campbell and Quinsam Rivers, and other attractions in the area as well.  My cousin Chris dropped by the first night we got there and we talked fly fishing and where to try in the area.  We would meet up a few days later and fish closer to his hometown of Courtenay, but he let us know some great spots to fish and sight-see while we were in Campbell River.

My anticipation was killing me the next morning, and I woke up early to hit the Quinsam and see what it was all about.  I pulled my waders and boots on, and tied on a dry fly on my 4wt with some 6lb tippet and slipped into the river behind our camp spot.  I worked my way up a few runs and landed a couple of small Coastal Cutthroats (my first Coastal/Sea-run cutts!), but all of a sudden took a look into the water at some commotion and realized that there was a good amount of pink salmon running through.  I quickly switched over to a rabbit strip streamer, and thought that my tippet would be good enough.  After all, these salmon didn't look THAT tough! Boy was I wrong...

After swinging flies for an hour and hooking Cutthroats instead, I finally hooked into a good pink salmon. I lifted the rod tip and the fish turned downstream faster than I could blink. With a quick "SNAP", my tippet and fly were gone, and I was forced to beef up the leader I was using quite significantly!  By this time I realized that it was probably close to lunch time, so I headed back to camp for some lunch, and to see if Tara wanted to go upstream for some trout.  We spent the afternoon catching Coastal Cutthroats on dry and wet flies, so we had a great time!

Tara by a massive downed tree in the river!

Nice cutthroat on a dry fly!

The next morning I woke up early to fish for pinks again.  I still hadn't landed one, and still wasn't hooking up on this day.  I tried a few flies, mostly in pink as I had heard that people had good success on pink coloured flies.  I had a few on, then finally landed my first pink salmon on a pink rabbit strip streamer.  They fight great, and it took me up and downstream before being subdued.  In the afternoon we checked out the Campbell River, but after seeing everyone fishing shoulder to shoulder, I decided not to wet a line in there.

My first Pink Salmon landed!

The last full day in the area, I finally had enough of the pink coloured flies and thought that trying a new colour or style of fly might boost my success.  To that point I had hooked a few pinks, but had only landed one!  This theory changed my whole trip, and the fly was a success!  Within minutes of switching up, I hooked and landed 3 pinks.  A fourth was landed after a 200 yard trip downstream, and a jog down the middle of the slippery river by me!  I had to take a rest after this excitement, but couldn't wait too long as fish were still there to be caught!  The next cast swung down, and I was into my 5th pink of the morning!  Wooo, I finally figured these things out and found the right fly!  Uh oh...the fish ran down about 50 yards and snapped my 8 lb leader!  I was devastated and thought that it was the only fly I had like that, so back up to camp I went.

After searching through my box, I found one more fly exactly like it, but this one was black.  Hmmm...would this work as well as the purple streamer?  After tying on an even heavier leader, I was ready to hit the water again.  Two casts through the run, and I was into another pink!  Success!  They liked this fly just as much as the lost one.  I lost count of how many pinks I hooked and/or landed after that but that day now ranks up there as one of the most memorable on a fly rod I have had so far!

Underwater view of a nice pink salmon

We did some sight seeing at beautiful Elk Falls later that afternoon, and toured around the city of Campbell River.  Also, had a great lunch right on the docks at the Ocean.

The next morning, I hit the river once again and had great success, but had to get back up to camp and hitch up the trailer.  We were on our way closer to the Courtenay/Comox area, and were staying at Miracle Beach Provincial Park located on one of the most beautiful beaches that I have ever seen.  I will post a part 2 to this report, starting at Miracle Beach soon!  I hope you enjoyed this first part.  Tight lines!

Chasing down Ol' Hoss: A Bass Fishing Journal

Chasing down Ol' Hoss: A Bass Fishing Journal

Bass can often be found in areas teaming with warm weather and unique scenery

With high water and monsoon-like rains across Alberta and BC, trout fishing has been difficult this year. Wanting to still get-out and enjoy some sunny weather, we have managed to target a species that is still relatively unpursued in parts of BC: largemouth bass.

I know some folks associate bass fishing with an old Tennessee screen baseball cap, a jar of worms and a cooler of beer, but fly fishing for bass can be a totally unique excperience. Their behaviour is substantially different than trout in some ways, but eerily similar in others. During the heat of a 100 degree day, often times a bass won't drop down to deeper water like trout, but rather hunker down under a log in the shallows. They also don't generate nicknames like "Scarlett" or "Crimson Beauty", but rather generate nicknames like "big pig" or "old hoss". I love catching them nonetheless.

Tim with a fat bass just north of the border taken on a bottom-walked red blood leech to imitate the crayfish this pig was eating. Look at that gut!

During the heat of summer I have had my best luck catching bass in mornings and evenings. A green wooly bugger on an intermediate sink line fished near vegetation has been my most productive means of catching them. This is very much like trout fishing as the bass will eat leeches, damselfly nymphs, dragonfly nymphs and minnows in these locations. I have also had luck casting huge foam dry flies and stripping them on the surface, this can produce some extreme excitement and explosive takes!

Evenings are a great time to fish for bass during the heat of summer

I headed out on a July morning a couple of weeks back to get some fishing in before it reached the hot part of the day. I was quite intrigued to have a damselfy nymph swim onto my float-tube and undergo complete metamorphosis into a fully grown adult with wings. The process took a couple of hours and was incredible to watch.

Damselfly Nymph crawling out of its casing

Damselfly just about ready to fly away

 I could see bass shaking reeds and smashing damsels non-stop, much like out trout do during certain months of the year. I pitched a cast into the reeds, stripped back a green wooly bugger and BAM!!! "There we go!" I screamed. The fish hit like a freight train and bulldogged into cover HARD, bending my 6 weight like a wet noodle. Being alone, I brought in the solid 3 lb bass for this photo.

I normally wouldnt take holidays from work to pursue bass, but with hot beautiful weather and a nice lake to fish, who could ask for anything more?

Later on that day when the sun started to dip down, my uncle and I headed back down to the lake after a beer or 20 each. We saw non-stop rises from the pumpkinseeds (a type of sunfish). These can be great fun on small dry flies and nymphs. I cast my fly out into the water and the indicator dipped. What I had on wasnt fighting very hard, but it was a very familiar species with most anglers: a yellow perch, talk about a cool, totally different mixed-bag fishery. I started bringing the small perch in when all of a sudden the fish took a hard turn by a big upright stump and my rod was bent in half! HOLY SH*$ !!! This big largemouth bass had come out of nowhere and ATE the perch I was bringing in. Talk about bull trout-like behaviour!

I battled the fish hard and Uncle Paul screemed, "GRAB IT GRAB IT!!!" Having a couple drinks under my belt, I jumped into the lake, grabbed the big pig by the lip and jumped back onto the bank! Talk about a hog for this lake! It truly was Old Hoss and the biggest bass I have ver landed. I kept it and brought it back to camp, parading around the campfire with it like I had just won the BASSMASTER CLASSIC.

Andy (me) with "Ol' Hoss"

 Overall bass fishing can be a great change of scenery from trout on the fly, as well as a unique challenge. I highly recommend going out and giving it a try!

-Andy

July Long Quick Trip

Andy and I met up and headed out for the July Long Weekend.  We knew that pretty much every piece of flowing water in Alberta and BC was high, but decided to see if we could find a few little gems to explore.

Andy fishing in the high water

Our first stop was a small creek in Alberta that normally was about half the size that it was flowing at, but we had the itch to fish a creek so we put on the waders, laced up the boots, and strung up the rods.  Not too far up the creek, we got into a few small cutthroat trout.  They were nothing to write home about, but with the visibility in the creek, we were catching them right at the toes of our wading boots!  After struggling to get around in the very high and dirty water, and the other spots not yielding any fish, we took off to a slightly larger stream.

Loop Yellow 8'8" #4, with Loop Classic reel. Nice creek set-up.

The larger stream did not produce any fish, and it was quite high and dirty as well. After some time, it started to rain, and in this case we figured it would mess up the water even more.  We took off and did a little more exploring into BC.  We managed to find a couple of streams that were tertiary tributaries to try. Normally these streams were about 1/3 the size, but at least the water clarity was a little better than everything else.  We set up the rods, and within minutes were into some quality cutthroats for the size of stream we were fishing.  We were excited to find some nice water, let alone get into some good sized cutts for the little creek.  Some trout were even rising for a small mayfly hatch, and over the next hour, we landed a few on #16 parachute adams dry flies!  It was pretty special to watch the fish take the naturals, then move up and slam the imitations.

Smaller cutthroat normally, but a real surprise for this miniature creek!  And a ton of fun!

Coming out of there satisfied, we decided to try some lake fishing the next day for rainbow trout and largemouth bass around Cranbrook.  I'll let Andy write a report on the Bass fishing since he has the pictures, but for now I will leave you with a few small creek trout pics.

Chunky trout caught by matching the hatch.

Awesome colours on these guys.

Andy trying to catch a larger one rising underneath an overhanging tree.

Success!

Money shot of a beautiful cutthroat trout to cap off a fun day of fishing!