There is mystique about the night. The silence. I cannot help to wonder what monsters stir, not to be seen in the light of day. Brown trout being nocturnal, it only makes sense. But to the advantage of all trout, night is when aerial predators are held mostly at bay.
It's a perfect summer day. There's a light breeze, its overcast with some sunny breaks, and the temperature is comfortable. I have lots of choices available to me. There is great river fishing, good trout fishing, good pike fishing, and good walleye fishing. I decide I'm going walleye fishing.
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.
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.
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.
If you have ever considered taking up fly fishing now is a great time to start....
As the snow months arrive, sadly, the angler’s window of opportunity closes to little more than a crack.
Fishing through the ice, getting out on the few open-water situations available, tying flies, or dreaming of sunny ways or yesterdays...
Most of us are creatures of habit, and our tendency to fall back on the tried and trusted extends to our fishing habits as much as it does the rest of our lives. Do you find yourself fishing the same streams and the same reaches of those streams year after year?...
