Getting Over The Shack Nasties

A new year is now upon us and looking back on our fly fishing successes and failures of the last season and what we took away from it now gets us looking forward to new experiences and trials for what's to come, filling us with thoughts of excitement and feelings of restlessness. As we remain locked in ice, the realization of another 4 months of snow-covered conditions before we see signs of open water and warm spring days brings on what is commonly referred to as the Shack Nasties. So what's a person to do during these early days of January when looking out the window sees nothing but a white blanket of frozen water covering the neighborhoods of our urban sprawls? Lucky for us, January in Alberta is not only a time of reflection but also a time of learning and interaction within the fly fishing community.  Several high profile workshops, seminars and gatherings are scheduled each January that help all of us continue down the learning path, leading to new discoveries once the time comes to head out on another new fly fishing adventure. Whether you're interested in a weekly, monthly or annual gathering, there are several options available to the fly angler to fill up that empty block of time before the big melt. Here are a few upcoming events that you can look forward to and possibly help you get over those shack nasties.

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January 14th & 16th, 2013

T/U Red Deer River Fisheries Management Plan

In 1994, a Sport Fish Management Plan was completed for the portion of Alberta's Red Deer River from Dickson Dam to Joffre Bridge. The plan provided long-term direction for the fishery and included management options and strategies for managing the fish resources. The fisheries management goal of this plan was to provide a general recreational fishery for Northern Pike, Mountain Whitefish, Lake Whitefish, Walleye, Sauger, Goldeye, Mooneye, and Brown Trout.

There is now a need for a new fisheries management plan as the existing plan is almost 20 years old. Changes in river habitat, fish population numbers and other emerging pressures on this fishery prompted an update and review of the plan.

The new fisheries management plan will be developed by reviewing and updating the 1994 plan. The planning area has also been extended downstream from the Joffre Bridge to the Tolman Bridge.

The planning area has been enlarged to better reflect the management needs of the Red Deer River and distribution of fish stocks inhabiting this section of river.

The development of the updated plan and the actions to be taken by fisheries management will be informed and guided by the principles, goals and objectives identified in the Fish Conservation Strategy for Alberta (2006-2010). Public involvement and consultation will be a critical component of this review process.

Fisheries Management in the Red Deer Area has taken the initial steps to work with an advisory committee of stakeholder groups. The advisory committee has started working together to identify current issues to be addressed by the updated fisheries management plan. The next step in the process is to ensure all issues have been identified.

The Red Deer Fisheries Management Plan (Dickson Dam to Tolman Bridge) Public Meetings scheduled for Monday January 14, 2013 in Trochu, Alberta and Wednesday January 16, 2013 in Red Deer, Alberta will help gather feedback from the public on management goal and issues that should be addressed by the updated Fisheries Management Plan.

For additional meeting information including time, date and location please read the following documents by clicking on the bold text.


January 14, 2013 Trochu, Alberta
Meeting Information

January 16, 2013 Red Deer, Alberta
Meeting Information

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Jan 19th & 20th, 2013

Brian Chan and Rick Hafele are the featured speakers for our January seminar. The seminar will be at McEwan University on January 19 and 20.  Tickets are available at regular club meetings for only $65 for both days or email inquires to tickets@nlft.org.

Brian’s lifelong passion for fly fishing has resulted in his spending literally thousands of angling days on these world class waters. He has shared his extensive knowledge of aquatic biology, trout ecology, entomology, and lake fly fishing tactics with others, through a number of magazine articles, books, and instructional DVDs on fly fishing. Brian has been featured on many TV fishing shows and is currently a regular guest on Sport Fishing on the Fly and co-host of The New Fly Fisher.

In 1981, The Complete Book of Western Hatches, Rick’s first book (co-authored with Dave Hughes) was published.  Since then he has co-authored or authored several other books including Western Mayfly Hatches, An Angler’s Guide to Aquatic Insects and Their Imitations, and his newest book, Nymph Fishing Rivers and Streams.

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Spruce Meadows Equiplex
18011 Spruce Meadows Way SW
Calgary, AB

JANUARY 25 - 27, 2013

Friday | 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Saturday | 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Sunday | 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Parking | Free

Adults | $12.00
Kids | FREE for 12 and under!

Featuring:
GARY BORGER
RICK HAFELE
RICK WHORWOOD
CHRIS SEIPIO
RICK HARDING
CHICO FERNANDES
GEOFF PIEROWAY
JIM & LYNDA MCLENNAN
APRIL VOKEY

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Wednesday Evenings @ 7:00PM
Queen Mary Park Community hall - 10844 117 St, Edmonton

The Northern Lights Fly Tyers – TU Edmonton is a group of dedicated and concerned anglers and cold-water conservationists who meet regularly throughout the year to converse about all things fly tying, fishing, and conservation. Although the groups founding principle was to get together once every week to tie flies, they have since branched out to cover all aspects of the sport.

In 2009, the Northern Lights Fly Tyers made their most bold move to date – merging with the Edmonton Chapter of Trout Unlimited. This merger created one of the largest active TU Chapters in the country, and set a new tone for both the Northern Lights, and Trout Unlimited with respect to their public offerings and outreach.

10 Years & Growing

This year, Alberta Stillwater Adventures turned 10 yeas old. We started in 2002 as Edmonton Float Tube Adventures and have grown year after year with more and more services offered. As we near the end of our 10 year anniversary, we've decided to expand a little more. I've recently added three new services to Alberta Stillwater Adventures. Our one day introduction to stillwater fly fishing clinics are still available but clients now have the option to book these clinics as a one day service or over two days.  The two day clinic will include everything the one day clinics offers but now gives clients more casting time and more time on the water to practice techniques and tactics. Also added to our services is our new Chironomid Clinic. Chironomids are the single most important food source for trout in productive stillwaters and this new clinic is designed to help anglers at being successful by understanding the life cycle and behavior of the chironomid in it's different stages, popular patterns used for imitation and on the water techniques & tactics. And just in time for Autumn, we've added a boatman & backswimmer clinic that will run every fall from the 2nd week of September through to the 2nd week of October. Clinics will focus on boatman and backswimmer entomology, fly patterns, tackle & set-ups as well as successful on the water techniques & tactics. For more information on these new clinics or any other services we offer, please visit Alberta Stillwater Adventures at www.albertastillwaters.com.

East Slope Cutts

I got a text from Garnet, one of my best fishin' buddies, regarding a day on the Blackstone River. Our Blackstone trips have now turned into an annual event. We try and get out at least twice a year and for our first trip this year, we decided to hit it up a bit earlier. We once again did the 4X4 thing and found Camp Grizly, this time occupied by a couple guys in an outfitters tent. They weren't around when we made our way down the cliff face which wasn't as easy as last year since the rain had washed out some of the steps that had been carved out and the big tree that was used to hang a portable shower was now down and blocking the way. The day however was bright with the occasional cloud but no rain at all. The water was higher than past years due to a wetter then normal July which made fishing a little more challenging. Runs that held cutties in the past were a lot faster this time round so we had to concentrate on slower water in pools and back eddies, meaning we walked by a lot of water that we would usually fish. I started out with a Stimulator but wasn't getting near the amount of action that I had become accustomed to so I changed over to a foam Stonefly. Not much changed in the action and although I ended up netting seven cutties and a rocky and Garnet picked up six cutties, it proved to be a day were we had to work for every fish. After hours of making our way upstream we decided to take it easy and not fish so hard and to just enjoy being out in one of the best places on earth. On the walk back we ran into the two guys camped out on top of the ridge. They didn't fair so well and only hooked into a couple of rockies (guess we didn't do so bad after all). Getting up the cliff face was a lot harder than going down but we were pleasantly surprised to find the fallen tree had been cut up with a chain saw, no longer blocking the way. Click on any of the photos for a larger view.

At least one more trip coming up shortly, this time a very good friend from back in elementary school will be joining us and he is not a fly guy, at least not yet ;)

Some FREE Fishing

In celebration of Alberta's free fishing weekend that ran July 7th & 8th, Tammy Karatchuk asked me to take her out for some fly tying and fly casting lessons. The video was shot at Cardiff Pond about 40 mins north of Edmonton. Free fishing weekends happen twice a year in Alberta, once in February and again in July. It's a great time to introduce those without a license to this wonderful sport as no license is needed but keep in mind, all regulation still apply.

Doc's KISS Patterns

I thought it was about time to update my blog.  I've been busy with casting lessons and clinics and really haven't had too much time for fly-fishing myself so other than work, I really haven't had much to blog about.  This last spring however, I presented some tying demonstrations of my KISS fly patterns at some of the fishing clubs here in Edmonton and one of those clubs video recorded those patterns and posted them to their Northern Lights Fly Tyers / Trout Unlimited You Tube channel.  The flies I featured are all original patterns I came up with and work very well in the stillwaters around central Alberta.  I hope you enjoy these step-by-step patterns that are productive and easy to tie and.

Star Scud

Doc Swimmer

Big Ass Bloodworm

Doc's Black Thread Midge

Just Do It!

It's getting close. Can you see it in your minds eye? The sun glistening off the open water, the line screaming from your reel, the fly rod bowing to a hungry trout? If you can't picture this, maybe it's time to just do it. Maybe it's time to finally learn to cast that fly rod instead of letting it collect dust for yet another season. Come on over and take a look at my guiding site at AlbertaStillwaters.Com and see if some casting lessons or even a stillwater clinic may be the beginning of a relationship between you and mother nature that could last a life time.
The casting pond where I give fly casting lessons is now free of ice and right now we're taking bookings for the month of May.  Muir Lake, where I teach most of my weekend fly fishing clinics, opens on May 1st. Our clinics are one-on-one, maximum two students, and will teach you everything you need to know to be successful on your very next outing. Right from the tackle you'll be using, through stillwater entomology and the flies we use, to on the water techniques & tactics.  Sunday May 6th, come on out to Muir Lake for the AF3 Clean-Up & BBQ.  All volunteers will receive a free Bison burger and pop just for helping out and all you'll need to bring is a couple of garbage bags and some work gloves.  We'll even be drawing for some volunteer prizes donated by friends of Muir Lake like the Fishin' Hole, Fly Craft Angling and Grasshopper Outdoors. Bring your fly rod though, 'cause after the BBQ, we're all going fishing. Hope to see you there and I hope this spring, you Just Do It.

KISS Tying Presentation

BA Bloodworm

If you missed my presentation at the Edmonton Trout Club in March and you're in the Edmonton area, come on down to The Northern Lights Fly Tyers / Trout Unlimited club meeting at Queen Mary Park Hall @ 10844 - 117St. on Wednesday, April 11th at 7:30pm. I'll be presenting four of my KISS (keep it simple stupid) fly patterns. The flies I'll be sharing are four of my most productive flies that I use consistently including my newest pattern, the BA Bloodworm. Also a great time to see just what the Northern Lights club is all about. Hope to see you there.

A Stauffer Beauty

Spring really is in the air.  Unfortunately, here in north-central Alberta our lakes are still locked in ice. It'll be some time yet before us stillwater guys get to wet a line in our preferred method and although we had a mild winter by our standards, it's still been a long winter.  So, Joe and I decided to to head out somewhere where we could wet a line.

photo by Joe Belohorec

I've fished the North Raven River three times previous to today.  Also known as Stauffer Creek, I've heard stories of the odd big brown being caught and I've seen photos of some decent trout from this small central Alberta spring creek but I've not experienced it myself.  On my previous trips, a 14 inch brown was a really good day, if I was lucky enough to catch anything at all.  So I'm not convinced I earned a big brown like this from Alberta's most legendary spring creek as I really haven't put in my time on this challenging fishery.  But it did happen just the same and who am I to complain.  We experimented a lot with different patterns and techniques and that experimenting paid off.  Joe was the first to land a brown today, it came in at around 14 inches.  He had a few other good hits in that hole as well and saw one good brown rise that was big enough for Joe to let out a holler and let me know (we assume it rose for a winter black stonefly as they were coming off in big numbers).  A black bead head bugger fished in a slow pool was the ticket today and produced both trout but the action didn't pick up until the sun came out around 1:30pm.

Not sure when I'll get back to this little gem but I do know one thing; I will be back. Great way to kick off our first trip in 2012.  Btw Joe, those sandwiches were awesome, thanks buddy, wings are on me.