Goldeye On The Fly

It's been a while since I posted. I got back from my family vacation on Friday and did very little fishing ('bout an hour total combined line wetting time). My wife, youngest daughter Hunter, her friend Dana and myself took a trip down to the Crowsnest Pass in Southern Alberta. Ya, I know; how could I visit the Crowsnest and only spend an hour fishing? Oh, it's much worse then that. I didn't even wet a line in the Crowsnest River! Well, this being a "family" vacation meant little to no fishing so the only time I got to wet a line is early morning when everyone was sleeping and late evening before we turned in for the night.

We camped at a beautiful little mountain lake called Chinook Lake. The water was crystal clear and the setting was very nice. Not much of a beach for the kids (about the size of a postage stamp) but it was a beach just the same. Only problem was it rained so much the kids got very little use out of it. We did do some hiking on some nice trails. We even managed a black diamond trail. At the end of the hike, everyone was quite impressed that they conquered the black diamond trail although while we were scaling it, they weren't overly impressed with me for suggesting it. The pass itself didn't see as much rain as our campsite so we did manage to see some wonderful sites. All were impressed with the Lundbrek Falls and the coal mine tour was a big hit. As a matter of fact, I would recommend this mining tour to all that have the opportunity to take it in. The Frank Slide Interpretive Center was closed for renovations but the trail was open with a lot of good information at the kiosks. Because of all the rain, we couldn't go horseback riding as the trails were to slippery for the horses. Lots of sad faces in the car when we had to head back down the mountain without getting a chance to sit in the saddle. Even with all the rain, all in all we had a very enjoyable time.

Before I left for our vacation, I did get some fishing in. I had a chance to fish Muir and it was on fire for about three hours before dusk. I only took one pic of my biggest for the day. This rainbow was 22 inches+.

The Friday before I left I met up with Joe (Jokey) who is a moderator on my Fly Fishing Forum and a couple of his buddies. We went after goldeye on the North Saskatchewan River and did ok. Not sure how many I ended up netting (around 10) and Joe with about 5 or 6. They really are a blast to fish for on dry flies and fight pretty good too. Then on Sunday Phil and I went to the same spot on the NSR as Phil had not yet had the opportunity to hook into a goldeye. He indeed got his first G.E. while fishing a mayfly pattern. It wasn't as productive as the Friday but we hooked into a few. If you want to give fly fishing a try for goldeye, show up about two to three hours before sundown and twitch a stimulator, mayfly or EHC wherever you see rise rings. You can improve your chances with a hopper-dropper setup.

Phil and I are off to fish the NSR again tonight. Hopefully the fishin' will be a little better than the last time we were out.