Blog

In my capacity as a fly school instructor the one thing I find myself repeating the most to the students is rod tip positioning when fishing dry flies upstream.

One of the nicest things for anglers is the arrival of warm summer days and the opportunity to wade wet. Being unencumbered by the waders that make life on the stream bearable for the other 3 seasons.

Successful flyfishing is all about delusion, confusion and deception.

Fooling the fish is the key element to success.

When it comes to handing out the angling hardware hereabouts, it’s not a very crowded podium.

Cold-water trout, and rainbows in particular, perennially share the laurel wreath with their warmer-water cousins the walleye.

Alberta is littered with quality, accessible trout streams, but a lot of travel is involved in exploration. Your buddies and an online search can’t always prepare you for current river conditions, how do you know what to expect? 

Spring weather lifts the burden of old man winter off southern Alberta and coaxes fly fishers from their vices onto open rivers. As some of the only open water around, early migrants bring the river to life. Franklin’s gulls break the silence of winter, ducks are flashing their breeding plumage, and soon swallows will fill the sky in a frenzy. Itching to just get back on the river, expectations are tempered with shaking the dust off your cast and soaking some rays in mind. Low water temperatures hold fish from being active early, but quality trout still show themselves.

For the entry-level, first-timer flyfisher, dipping the toe of his/her wading boot tentatively into the water, the learning curve can be steep and intimidating. Gear, knots, casting, where to go, how to read the water when you arrive streamside, the challenges seem endless at times. And nothing is more bewildering when you arrive at the well-stocked fly shop and are confronted with dozens in not hundreds of bins on the fly table.

Call it gratitude.  Fishing has provided me countless memories, moments that make me smile, that are meaningful, and have been the backbone for many amazing connections to wonderful people...