Sometimes the fishing gods smile on you. And sometimes they just laugh!

It's been a long, cold winter and I've been looking forward to getting out on the water and hooking into some big stillwater lunkers since ice-on in November. I decided Wednesday was the day to finally head out and could think of no better way to spend it than on the water hunting for big trout with a good friend. So Phil and I made plans to hit Muir lake. Phil picked me up at about 12:30pm and we headed out, looking forward to some of those football shaped trout Muir is so famous for. Word was out that the trout made it through the winter even though the aerator on the south end of the lake shut down while the lake was still frozen (thanks to some furry critter that chewed through the power cable). My expectations were high, the thoughts of hungry trout and high catch rates filled my head (sort of like sugar plums dancing through a kids head at Christmas time but way better). When we got out onto the lake we headed over to one of my favorite spots trying to stay out of the wind. It was too shallow for strike indicators so we tried boatman and backswimmers using a washing line technique (floating boatman on the point with a wet boatman or backswimmer as the dropper). We saw many boatman in the water so we just knew we'd do well ('cause we're experienced stillwater fly guys). And after about 30 minutes we decided to move (so much for experience). The results where Phil one, Doc zero. Phil decided he wanted to try a little bay neither of us had fished before, so off we went. We anchored in about 2ft of water casting out to about 8ft. We tried leech and chironomid patterns under an indicator. End result here? Phil zero, Doc one bump. The day wasn't turning out the way I had visioned it. We fished in every decent spot on the lake and the trout were just not in the mood to feed. They were however in the mood for other things (like sex). Spawners were rolling, splashing and chasing in the shallows and we could have targeted them all day and probably done very well but apparently this is bad form (or so says ex-"BC" stillwater guy Phil). So we stuck to our normal fishy hangouts and kept plugging away. At the end of a cool, rain soaked day; the score was Phil six, Doc nothing. I did hook into and loose a few but couldn't get 'em to the boat. I'll tell ya, getting skunked on Muir is a humbling experience. Makes me re-think everything I've learned over the years. The fishin' gods were smiling on Phil yesterday but laughing at me. Not laughing as hard as Phil though, he was having a real good ol' time. Not sure if he was laughing so hard at me or my funny jokes though. Hey Phil, "Maybe I thould wefwase that, I'd like to thee her gallop thlowly".

Here's a real quick video of a male spawner that Phil caught on a booby. Hmmm... horny males going after boobies; who'd a thunk?

Spring Has Sprung

I guess it's time for me to start blogging again. I've been so busy with work, updating The New Fly Fisher website and just life in general, I haven't really found any time for blogging and I guess it shows since my last post was in February.

According to the rest of the world, the 1st day of spring is March 20. Of course if you live up here in the Great White North, the first day of spring is really when the ice comes off the smaller lakes (at least that's my interpretation of the first day of spring).

Friday May 1st was that day. Up until April 30th, most of these lakes still had ice on them but stillwater anglers all over the Edmonton region watched the wind clear our local lakes (at least enough to get a boat on the water). Our most popular lake in the area is Muir Lake located just west of Edmonton and on May 1st the lake opened for the first day of fishing. May 1st every year sees loads of anglers (usually of the fly fishing type) and the lake resembles more a bowl of cheerios than a trout lake due to all the float tubes. I heard that the fishing was pretty decent with some nice 24 inch rainbows being caught (at least for those that found a parking spot). I heard is was a lot of fun but i wouldn't know for sure as after three hours doing up a ton of paper work with month end reports, I headed over to Phil's house where we loaded my 'toon and tackle into his truck and headed east to meet up with Jokey (Joe). Jokey doesn't want me to post where we were as he likes this quite little fishery all to himself, so I won't mention it's name. I will tell you that we all caught just over dozen trout each. My biggest was a fat twenty incher, Jokey landed a nice 22 incher and Phil's biggest was about 19". When I pumped the throat on a few of these trout I saw loads of blood worms (midge larva) up to size 10, some size 14 boatman and some lake lint. Odd I didn't get one on a bloodworm or a boatman pattern even though I tried for a good 45 mins. Seems they sure liked the leech patterns though. We fished them suspended under an indicator and they almost always took it right after we twitched it. They didn't want lots of movement but other than the odd trout, they wouldn't take it sitting completely still either. Had a great season opener with a couple of great guys and some nice fat trout. Welcome back spring.

Need A New Fishing/Camping Machine?

I found this on you tube and I'm likin' it.

Now if a guy could get a hitch on there for his boat and they could make that a 4X4, it'd be perfect.

Staying Busy In The Off Season

Already February and I haven't wet a line since November. I have been staying busy however. With the new job, learning all the ins and outs of a new management position in the liquor industry, running my five online sites and tying a few flies here and there, I really haven't found the time to even plan a trip to drown some feathers. On top of this, I've been asked to update the New Fly Fisher web site. Nothing to major really just adding new pics, links, text and a new video. The site is looking pretty good if I do say so myself. You can check it out here.


A couple days ago I got an e-mail stating that I won a new fly rod. I've entered lots of things with a chance to win fly fishing tackle of one sort or another and this is the first time I ever won. I was checking out Tim & Andy's web site not to long ago and they had an online survey on their forum for the Amundson Fly Fishing/Outdoors company. taken from the Western Sportfishing Fourm "The company is Canadian, and they offer a wide variety of fly fishing products to the fly fisherman/woman. The purpose of the survey is to provide feedback to the company about what fly fishermen like about their gear, and what they would like to see." Anyway, I filled out the survey automatically entering me into the draw and now I got a band new WWF4-1005F Wind Warrior "Stillwater Series" rod which was designed in BC, for the interior stillwater type of fly fishing and is valued at $289.00. Big thanks to Jack Simpson from Amundson Fly Fishing/Outdoors for drawing my name. I guess I'll have to write a review on it this spring.

Another Chance To See Dave & Emily

So you missed the Dave and Emily Whitlock show? Actually, due to circumstances beyond the control of the Whitlocks, or the Northern Lights, Dave and Emily could not appear. In their place, Jim McLennan and Phil Rowley jumped in to save the day(s). Phil presented expert stillwater information and Jim with some outstanding stream advise. A high percentage of those who attended were very pleased with all the information presented and very thankful that these two gentlemen stepped up to the plate on such short notice.


If you would still like to see the Dave and Emily two day seminar, they have been rescheduled to appear on April 25 & 26 at the club's meeting hall. For those that had already purchased their $80.00 tickets, you can purchase tickets to the Dave & Emily presentation for only $25.00. For everyone else, you can purchase tickets for $80.00. For more information, check out the NLFT&F's website here.

Dave & Emily Whitlock Seminar

The Northern Lights Fly Tyers & Fishers in conjunction with the Edmonton chapter of Trout Unlimited are presenting a fly fishing seminar with presenters Dave & Emily Whitlock. The seminar will be held at Grant McEwan Community College at 106 St. & 104Ave in Edmonton Alberta, Room #6-212 from 9am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday January 17 & 18, 2009. You'll have the opportunity to learn from one of the most well known Fly Tiers & Fly
Fisherman in North America along with a number of raffles featuring some outstanding prizes to support this event. Tickets are available for $80.00 from the Northern Lights Fly Tiers during their Wednesday evening meetings and from the following Edmonton retail stores: The Fishing Center, Fishin' Hole West & North and Wholesale Sports.

Dave is a well known author of many published books including Dave Whitlock's Guide to Aquatic Trout Foods. For more about Dave and Emily Whitlock, visit their website here.

The New Northern Lights Chapter Of T.U.

I can't believe it's already January 10 of 2009. Time feels like it's just whipping by and yet in the same breath, it feels like I haven't wet a line for a really long time. Another Christmas has come and gone and a very long cold snap here has finally ended. We had many, many days of -30c temps (or colder) and not very many warmer then -20c in the last three weeks. Today it hit 0c for the first time since, well, I don't remember (a long time). The new job is going well. Another month at it and I should be ready for a few trips south for some Bow River fly-fishing.

Some news for North Central Alberta fisher folk. The Edmonton Chapter of Trout Unlimited will be merged in with The Northern Lights Fly Tyers & Fishers club. TU Edmonton was originally started by fly anglers as a way to get together to #1, start conservation projects on the waters in North Central Alberta and #2: meet once a month in the winter for informative, educational and entertaining programs. With the formation of the Rocky Mountain House chapter of TU, most of the waters we fish have now fallen under their chapter and with the NLFT&F's popularity growing each year, members were reluctant to come out to TU meetings as much the same programs can be seen at their weekly club meetings leaving conservation as the Edmonton chapter's only draw. And conservation just isn't sexy enough to put warm butts in the seats. This last Wednesday, the executive of the NLFT&F's and T.U. Edmonton pitched the concept of a merger of the two clubs with one meeting per month dedicated to Trout Unlimited and cold water conservation. The club will now be known as the Northern Lights chapter of Trout Unlimited. Memberships will have to be worked out as far as this coming year but eventually, to join you will need a T.U. membership. This will open up a lot more doors for the Northern Lights club as far as raising money for worthwhile causes as well as giving conservation efforts more exposure. I'm really excited about this merger and if you're in the Edmonton area, I hope you are too.

No fishing for this guy since November. The snow isn't going anywhere now, it's settled in 'til spring with a new blanket every couple days or so. The temps have been ok so far in December but they're forecasting for -32c on Monday (that's -25.6F for my American friends). Ya I know that's dam cold. I started a new job, back into management and back into the liquor industry. I'm basically concentrating on that right now but I am working on a new video project. It's going slow, might have it done by middle of January. I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet, like most guys I wait 'til the last minute. I can usually find some really good deals in the last days before Christmas so it's all good. My yougests daughter Hunter just celebrated her 10th birthday on Wednesday. She's making me feel old, seems like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital all bundled up with that little touque and the little mits. I can't beleive it's been ten years already. Back in Novemeber I got an e-mail from JibJab regarding their make a dancing Elf website. I did a few up, one with Phil and one each for both of my daughters but just the other day I was checking out the Rogue Angels Blog and seen they did one with their fishing buddies. So I decided to do another one up with some of the guys at my fly fishing forum.

Your feature presentation. Staring: Gums (monster Pike), Jokey (forum moderator), Phil Rowley (forum expert), Ayer (he posts the most pics on the forum) and myself (administrator). Hope you enjoy.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/ukIhayqfhFz3ChjTGmZ4

So Now What?

Up here in the Great White North, at this time of year, fly fisherman (and woman) are storing their rods, cleaning their reels and lines and accepting the fact that fly fishing is over for another season. The lakes are icing over and the days are getting shorter. Some are breaking out their ice fishing tackle and may even be getting excited about the hard water. Personally I can't get excited about staring at a hole in the ice while freezing my nuts off. Ice fishing just doesn't appeal to me. Oh, I've tried. I even built my own ice shanty a few years back. I was pretty proud of it, making it from scratch out of plywood, hinges, latches and a tarp. It even looks pretty cool and I made it to fit in the back of my van (the fish mobile). But it isn't fly fishing. So now what? Well of course there is fly tying. It starts out by cleaning your bench, putting everything in it's place, maybe even labeling some things so you can find things easier. Then you get down to tying. All the patterns you use the most are done first. Make sure you tie enough to get you through your next season. After that it's the patterns you thought about tying last summer. Maybe a pattern you seen somewhere or one that someone introduced you to. After that you start searching on the net for something new, something you either think would be fun to tie or maybe something you could see working on your local waters. Winter is a great time to fill up your fly boxes and experimenting with new patterns and new techniques or tricks you learned can be fun. But it isn't fly fishing. Some guys get involved with clubs. It's another great way to learn new things maybe even a secret or two and you get to bond with folks that have similar interests. But it isn't fly fishing. So now what? This summer I bought a new digital video camera. I plan on making videos throughout the winter. Maybe some fly tying, maybe some set-ups I use for chironomids or Pike. That should keep me somewhat busy over the winter. But it isn't fly-fishing. So now what? I'm not willing to accept that the season is over. There's still the 3+ hour drive to the Bow River downstream of Calgary. You can fish there all winter as long as it's warm enough (pray for some chinooks) that the ice chunks melt off. The North Raven can be fished as well if you can find some open water on a warmer winter day. And of course there's Wabamun for monster pike. The water at the power plant discharge stays open all year and I beleive this is the last year for open water as the plant is shutting down it's last generator next year. All options for a fly fishing fix, that is if the temps are warm enough to keep your guides from freezing. Now I just gotta find some buddies who are willing to brave the cold. So now what?

Project Healing Waters

Mission Statement from Project Healing Waters USA:
Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc., initiated and conducted by members of the Federation of Fly Fishers and Trout Unlimited, serves military personnel who have been wounded, injured, or disabled to aid their physical and emotional recovery by introducing or rebuilding the skills of fly fishing and fly tying and by using and enjoying these skills on fishing outings and as lifelong recreation.

While initially focusing on the military personnel in the Washington, DC area, the Project has expanded nationwide and is offering its services and program to active military personnel and veterans in Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals throughout the country.

The Project’s program provides basic fly fishing, fly casting and fly tying classes and clinics for the wounded and injured personnel ranging from beginners to those with prior fly fishing and tying experience who are adapting their skills to their new abilities. All activities and services are provided to the participants at no cost. Fly fishing and tying equipment and materials are provided to the participants, including equipment that accommodates their special needs.

The Project’s training and educational activities are designed to ignite or rekindle the participants’ appreciation and enthusiasm for a wide variety of fly fishing outings. While most of these fishing trips are conducted within a half-day’s travel from a hospital, the Project actively seeks opportunities to offer outings in quality fishing sites across the county.

Currently, a passionate fly angler and contributing author to the flyangler.ca website, Kerry Pitt; has put in motion steps to bring Project Healing Waters to Canada. At this time he's asking people to consider how they would be able to contribute to this project as it comes to pass, not a request for money but rather more a request for their time. I sent him a personal message for information and to let him know that I'm very interested in this project. If you think you could give up some of your time to help our Canadian Veterans click here: Bringing Healing Waters and here: Comments and suggestions for more information.

Video Blog #3

Scarrrry stuff kids; scarrrrry stuff!

Have a great Halloween everyone!

The Muir Lake Project

For those of you that frequent my blog, you've seen many posts regarding Muir Lake. I fish Muir more than any other lake for two reasons. First, the trout are now passing the 24 inch mark which means they are almost as big as the trout in any of the other fisheries in the Edmonton area and second, it's only 25 minutes from my door step. I recently bought a new video cam and have been experimenting with some projects. This is one of them. I hope you enjoy it and I hope it gives you a look at what Muir Lake is all about.

For a more detailed look at the Muir Lake project visit my information web site Fly Fishing Edmonton, and click on Edmonton Lakes.

Video Blog #2

If you're interested in fly fishing for Pike, here's the set up I use.

Fishing in no more than 10ft of water, I use a nine weight rod with 9 weight floating line and matching reel. I start my leader with 2ft of 30lb mono from the fly line followed by 2ft of 20lb mono. Attached to that I use Rio's "Toothy Critter" nylon coated wire leader. Flies of choice are cone head popsicle leeches (all assorted colors but white has worked best for me), 1/2 & 1/2's and clouser minnows. Best presentation for me has been a strip, strip, pause. The Pike usually take it on the pause. Other important equipment is:

Large landing net or cradle
Long forceps or needle nose pliers
Jaw spreaders

Good luck!


Still looking for comments on the whole video blog thing. Keep it or kick it to the curb?

Mel Krieger Passed Away

I just now learned that Mel Kreiger passed away last Tuesday. I never personally met the man but I've seen his casting seminars and many of his videos. He had a way of making learning fun as he was very passionate and enthusiastic about his teaching. And his patented "pop" or "click" sound that he made when casting always put a smile on my face.



Thanks Mel; for making learning fun.

Days are getting shorter... and colder

When the weather changes here in north-central Alberta, there's no dickin' around. On September 30 we were hitting 27 degrees Celsius (that's 80.6F for my American friends). Tonight we're expecting to hit 0 degrees (32F) with a high of 8 for Thursday and by Saturday night it's supposed to hit -5 (23F). In the summer here, the sun stays in the sky long enough to fish 'til after 11pm at times. Now it's dark by 7pm. With days like that, it's hard to get motivated and get yourself out on the water. But we still do. I got out last Saturday, again to Muir Lake. Although I did get some trout on the boatman and backswimmers, the catch rates were quite low. I ended up switching over to a bloodworm and caught a couple on that as well. Fished mostly in 7-10ft of water as the trout are staying mostly in the shallows. I got one of those trout (about 20 inches) on video but I'm using that for a video I'm putting together on Muir Lake.

I'm thinking about heading out to Wab with Phil on the weekend and trying for some of those monster Pike. I'll make sure I take my video cam with me and see if I can get some of those up on the blog. Phil e-mailed a couple of pics from the TV show taping so I'll share those with you here.

My First Video Blog

I was asked to be a guest on The New Fly Fisher TV show with host Phil Rowley. The idea for the show was to educate viewers on water boatman and backswimmers during the fall season. After much anticipation on my part, we shot the show at Muir Lake on Tuesday September 30 with many a trout netted using different tactics. I caught on video some of what was going on when I had the chance but most of the time I was busy doing something for the show so I didn't get a lot video. What I did get, I put on my very first video blog. Take a look at my V.B. and let me know your opinion, should this be a monthly feature to my blog or am I just better off sticking with written posts? Before you hit the video play button, make sure you pause the music track on my playlist.

I just wanted to say thanks to Phil, the camera man Robyn and The New Fly Fisher TV show. I had a blast. Now, who is it I send my resume to for your job Phil?

RUT!!!

I didn't want to post again 'til I took some fishy pics to add here. Well; I'm posting anyway. That's right, no pics. Seams I'm in a rut right now. I fished Muir on Sunday September 14 & the 24. I also fished tonight for 3.5 hours. I landed some decent fish on the 14th but forgot my camera. On the 24th, I lost all fish I hooked into. Both last Sunday and tonight were information trips as I wanted to try all the methods that I know of regarding fishing boatman patterns. I fished floating and weighted boatman on a floating line and on both tradition and uniform sinking lines. I also tried both floating and weighted boatman in tandem first with the floating on the point and then later as the dropper. About the only method I didn't use was a boatman under an indicator (which works great at Dolberg Lake by the way). I used various retrieves; a slow hand twist, long slow strips, short quick strips, twitching with long pauses, fast long strips, etc, etc... Both the floating and weighted boatman on the floating line got more attention using a slow long retrieve with long pauses. The most hook-ups (although few and far between) on both types of sinking lines came from quick short 3-4 inch strips. The next three or so weeks up north here should be boatman/backswimmer heaven so get those flies tied. As far as my catch rates? None! Tonight I got broken off four times, had three Ralphies and lots of takes where trout were on for about one second. But none to the net. Anbody got a good prescription for RUT?

On another note I've puchased an HD video cam and have started recording some interesting things. I've been throwing around the idea of doing a feature "video blog" once amonth with fishing footage and whatnot but haven't made up my mind yet on that one. At the least you can look forward to some video projects on my blog in the future.

A TV Dinner

They say everyone in the world gets his or her 15 minutes of fame. Well, the universe still owes me about 10 minutes but I'm happy with the five minutes I did get. I taped a show with citytv back on July 15 for a signature segment showcase called 'Nick's Nosh'. The idea was to teach the host (Nick) how to fly-fish and cook up a trout for a shore lunch. Nick did hook into a few but unfortunately couldn't get one to the net. I hooked into my fair share but only managed two to the net, one of which had parasites so we let that one go. The show aired this past Monday and I have to say it was a lot of fun. There may be an opportunity for me to film another show (this time a full half hour) coming up in the near future. I'll let you know more if and when the time comes. In the mean time, here is the video of the show we did back in July.

It's Boatman Time

I got two phone calls from my buddies last night. Chuck Harvey and Phil Rowley called me up and asked if I'm in for some fishin' at Muir. Uh, no I'm done fishing for the season... CHA! I'll see you there at 10am Monday morning. So when I got there this morning and backed my vehicle down to the water to set up my 'toon I see this big burnt mess right at the launch. Phil comes down to the water and points out a rock where a molotov cocktail had been thrown against it. If you look close at the pic, you can see the broken bottle with the burnt rag. What is wrong with people? First there are no fires aloud there never mind right where folks launch their boats and second, why the hell are they throwing fire bombs? To top it off, whatever they were burning in the fire had a shit load of nails in it. I cleaned up most of the broken glass both from the fire and the molotov cocktail and cleaned up a lot of nails. I was going to finish picking up the rest when I came back in but someone beat me to it.

Just before I headed out onto the water, I noticed the dock and the lack of water under it. I've never seen the table this low at Muir before. If you look close enough, you can actually see that the end of the dock isn't even touching the water. I hope we get a lot of snow this winter to bring the levels back up.

I headed out onto the water at about 11am, Chuck had showed up earlier and was on the water already and Phil had got out just before me. We headed over to the south side of the island and parked ourselves in our usual spot which didn't really produce for us so after a while we all split up. Chuck -who had caught a 24 incher before we arrived- (see pic below) started trolling around the lake, Phil headed over to the south shoreline with his two sons and I went north-east to the flats. After I dropped my anchor, I set up with a small boatman on the point with a bloodworm (Redd October) dropper. I was fishing in about 9-10ft of water and I set my indicator so it would present my dropper one foot off the bottom. On the first cast I hooked into a nice one and... Dam! He got off. I reset the indicator and on my second cast the indicator goes under again. I set the hook and play the fish for about 3 minutes when it dives for the weeds and... Snap! Another nice one gone. I setup again this time with 6lb vanish as my tippet a chironomid on the point. I set my indicator, cast out, wait a couple minutes and I'm hooked up again. The trout is jumping like crazy and... spits the hook. Oh, I'm choked now. I cast out again for the fourth time now, strip, wait, strip, wait and... nothing? Hmmm. Cast out again. Strip, wait... the indicator goes under and a 24 inch rainbow is leaping out of the water over and over again. I'm sure I'm gonna loose this one too but after fighting him hard I finally get him in. I take a quick pic, pump the throat to find eight boatman and two stickleback minnows. I then let him swim away on his own steam and wouldn't you know it, my biggest Muir Lake bow to date and the pic didn't turn out. I caught three more in the flats after Chuck and Phil made their way over. And then one more on the north-west side of the island using boatman patterns. All trout were between 19 and 24 inches. Wasn't a banner day by any means but a whole lot of fun with good company.