That Time Of Year Again



It's snuck up on us again! Starting Tuesday, October 1, we switch over to winter hours.
Monday-Friday: 10AM to 6 PM
Saturday: 9 AM to 5 PM
Sundays and Holidays: Closed



Babine River Report

From the intrepid angler, Kevin S.
http://www.pbase.com/kevinsproule/210913

O Tarpon Perdido (The Lost Tarpon)

O Tarpon Perdido (The Lost Tarpon) from BlueTail Films on Vimeo.

This is the trailer of the documentary "The Lost Tarpon", with José Rodrigues, Luís Mira and Leonel Henriques.

Trout in Plain Sight - The Movie

One of our favorite places on the planet!

The Perfect Drift: Signs Of Fall

Bow River Report-September 24

Bow River Report –September 24, 2013

Maybe the hardest thing to do right now is a fishing report on the Bow. One day the river fishes really quite well, with rising fish, hopper eats, and regular hookups on bead head droppers, the next day it fishes terrible. No rhyme nor reason to it, nothing changes except the fishing success.

When it is happening, the Trico fishing has been pretty decent as well as fish rising to the Pseudos. Hardly any Baetis yet, even on the rainy days. Not sure what’s going on there, likely just late.

Streamer fishing on the cloudy days has been better!

More and more Boatmen around, especially below the Highwood.

Boat launches currently in operation: Glenmore, Fish Creek, Policeman’s, McKinnon’s, Legacy Island

Hatches: Tricos, Hoppers, BWO’s, Water Boatman

Streamers: Clouser-Black, Marabou Clouser, ¼ Lb. Bugger

Nymphs: Tung Dart, TB Soft Hackle Hares Ear, Torin’s Soft hackle, TB Green Rock Worm, Peacock Water Boatman

Dry Flies: Panty Dropper Hopper, CFO Chernobyl, Fat Albert-Tan, CUF Hopper, Snowshoe Caddis, Bloom’s CDC Caddis.

Palometa Club Off Season Newsletter

PC Newsletter



Fly Fishing for Dorado in Baja MX

Heavy On The Bonefish...Light On The Wallet

"Your game just got saltier"

The new Sage MOTIVE saltwater rods are ideal for seasoned saltwater fans looking to complement their rod arsenal, and fly fishers new to the salt who want to experience the many hard-fighting species without breaking the bank. Constructed of time-proven materials and embodying Sage’s immense saltwater experience, the MOTIVE features a powerful but smooth fast action that loads quickly to deliver heavy saltwater flies with the accuracy the sport demands. Light and responsive, you feel connected to your line for ultimate control over a full day of enjoyable casting. Yep, it’s safe to say the salt has attracted another convert.

Big Game Saltwater Rods, for $425!

Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You

Litespeed Hard Alox Series IV
2014 is Litespeed re-loaded. For years an iconic ultra-large arbor reel, Litespeed has now been refined for even higher retrieve rate, improved ergonomics, easier line management and less mass. Everything that was achieved in Gen 3 has been pushed farther. Narrower drag geometry has translated into a flatter spool surface for less knuckle dragging. A more aggressive drag knob has been made . . . well, more aggressive. Structural refinements such as the curved arbor have made a light reel even lighter, and this curved arbor (which we introduced in 1998) stores backing into a “diameter well” and keeps “working line” at a maximum radius to optimize everything we love about large arbor reels. The spool/stripping arm geometry has been made consistent with reels we developed since the first Litespeed, which does a better job of preventing snags and line damage. Still a close second to a Force SL in trout sizes, the Litespeed is the reliable thoroughbred of the Lamson line.

Available at Country Pleasures October 2014

Very Hard To Find Good Staff!



Pete!



Bow River-Post Flood 2013

The summer has presented us with a never ending supply of angler and non-angler opinions as to fishing quality since June 22 & 22, 2013, when the Bow River and Highwood grew to levels not seen by anyone alive today.

It all started with "experts" indicating the fishery would be decimated, news media showing a single fish left on Memorial Drive but leaving the impression that populations were decimated. A few weeks later some media did interviews with individuals who make their living from the river who basically said things would be "business as usual". And most recently there were television reports with Bow River guides who, on television, said that fish populations were the same as previous years, somewhere around 2500 fish per mile.

Well, as we get to the end of a summer's guiding season it's pretty clear that we are faced with some changes to the river. Obviously, the appearance has changed. Never have we seen the significant changes to the Bow River channel that were left after this past June. Having said that, this flood didn't play by the rules. Normally, a large flood event will tend to widen and shallow a river channel. This one did that in some places but for the most part the increase in depths along banks is amazing. We lost some great old standbys (holes, runs, back channels, etc.) but we gained a bunch of really neat new stuff. Some of the new bar structures between Calgary and Carseland are pretty cool.



When it comes to bugs, they're all still there (don't know about the fall Baetis, we'll see). Without question, pretty much every species is affected this year. Certainly more sporadic, often appearing later, and arguably less in numbers, the bugs are impacted by a flood event of this severity. We are seeing bugs in enough numbers to bring fish up though, particularly in the last few weeks. Trico and Pseudo fishing has been pretty darn good of late. We saw the same type of thing in 2005 but things got back to normal in 2006. The Hopper fishing has been inconsistent, sometime great, other times hateful. But if someone told you that we were going to get almost non-stop rain from Mid-June until Mid-July, approaching record levels would you predict a banner hopper year.




Lots of this size around. Lots of rainbows, some browns.

 

And then there's the fish! The recent "expert" opinion on television, stating we still have 2500 fish/mile is very questionable. Ultimately we will see, there is annual electro shocking under way right now. The data will follow. Hard data aside, it's pretty obvious the population dynamics of fish in the Bow River are changed. We lost some fish. But before everyone freaks out, address all of the factors:

- A ton of people have made mention of the loss of this years Rainbow spawn. Without question it would have been entirely, or near to it, lost. This is not uncommon. High water events (and just as commonly, low water) result in loss of rainbow recruitment. This does not have a huge impact! Only when spawning efforts are lost in consecutive years will we see much effect.

- The adult Rainbows certainly fared better the the Browns in the flood. We are seeing good numbers of different size classes. From what our guides are seeing, we did take a hit on our over 22" Rainbows. But we are still seeing the odd one in the "very big" class. And there seems to be a good supply of 14"-16" specimens. Those will be our trusty 18+ fish next year.

- The Browns, certainly those over 18", took a whalloping! There are less around. The number of decent anglers who have told me they haven't caught a Brown this year is troubling. This is confusing, flood events don't diminish populations like this. But, if you take into consideration the number of 18+ Browns that were affected

by the "Sapro" fungus, combined with a record flood event it might explain things.

(Stressed fish + flood=mortality) Given what we were seeing last season, peaking last fall, and present again this spring in Browns, Rainbows, and Whitefish, maybe this was the best thing that could happen.



And before we get on the doom and gloom bandwagon, there are still a bunch of truly big Brown Trout out there!

We have been spoiled on this river, especially in the last decade, by the number of big Browns as well as the relative ease in which we could do it. If we (anglers, public, government) are careful, our Brown Trout will come back just fine!As an example, last fall when Sapro was getting out of hand, we contacted SRD about enacting emergency closure regulations on the river in and near the city. This would have negated the handling of these fish, which is recognized as being a major factor in the spread of Sapro. Were told that, in the opinion of the other flyshops, and SRD, there wasn't a problem. Well, in retrospect, that green, fuzzy stuff killed more fish than any flood!

Maybe it's time we put the long term health of a fishery over pissing people off, selling flies, etc.

Anyways, to wrap things up, the status of the Bow River.....things are going to be just fine. To put it in context, I know a bunch of people who spend a lot of money to go to Patagonia (both Argentina and Chile) for a week and see a whole bunch of 16-18" Rainbows, a decent number of 14-18" Browns, and maybe catch a two foot

Brown Trout (without lying) during that week. Sounds a lot like what we have today, on the Bow River!



Fishing Reports-September 6

Bow River Report –September 6, 2013
For the most part the river has been fishing pretty good over the last week. Hopper fishing has been very good at times, at worst fair. Droppers of smaller bead head nymphs under the hopper have been working well.

More and more rising fish on Tricos and Pseudo over the last few days. On certain days a person can spend most of the day playing with rising fish.

A lot more Boatmen showing up along the banks!

Boat launches currently in operation: Glenmore, Fish Creek, Policeman’s, McKinnon’s, Legacy Island

Hatches: Tricos, Hoppers, BWO’s, Water Boatman

Streamers: Clouser-Black, Marabou Clouser, ¼ Lb. Bugger

Nymphs: Tung Dart, TB Soft Hackle Hares Ear, Torin’s Soft hackle, TB Green Rock Worm, Peacock Water Boatman

Dry Flies: Panty Dropper Hopper, CFO Chernobyl, Fat Albert-Tan, CUF Hopper, Snowshoe Caddis, Bloom’s CDC Caddis.

Crowsnest River Report – September 6, 2013
For those who like to sight fish, fish little bugs, and play with picky fish, the Crow is in prime shape. Little bead head nymphs and small Blue Wing Olive dries for the fish you can sight.

If that’s not your bag, a Hopper, beetle, or Ant will work as well.

Hatches: Hoppers, Beetles, Ants

Streamers: Bead Crystal Bugger, Jawbreaker

Nymphs: Tung Stud, TB Pheasant Tail, TB Green Rock Worm

Dries: Slice Above Hopper, CUF Hopper, CFO Ant, Low Rider

High Country River Report – September 6, 2013
Starting from the North, the Sheep has been fishing pretty well, best below Turner Valley. The Highwood has been a little inconsistent. At times it has fished great, but some reports have been a little mediocre.

Dutch, Racehorse, Livingstone, Oldman have all been pretty good and getting better all of the time.

Castle continues to fish pretty well.

Hatches: Green Drakes, Hoppers, BWO’s

Streamers: Gartside Leech, Sleech, Clouser
Nymphs: Torin’s Soft Hackle, Prince Nymph, TB Green Rock Worm
Dries: CFO Ant, Morrish Hopper, CFO Chernobyl, Emerging Green Drake.

Figuring Out Todays Spey Lines

Two recent videos from Rio explaining the
new Spey Lines and Running Lines.

As usual, Mr. Gawesworth explains things so us dummies can figure it out.