Ahhhhh-GUST!!!
August, two trips were had and a whole pile of rain fall across our fine province of Alberta, just to keep things interesting. Now with high volumes of rain comes high, fast, dirty and almost unfishable trout streams. So with that in mind here's a recap of how the first trip of August plaid out, enjoy!
First Trip:
First river, flooded! And doing its best impression of flowing chocolate milk. Time to hit pause and hunt for something else. That something else was good old faithful North Raven River. When other rivers are some what pooched you can always rely on the North Raven. As its a spring fed creek and is generally gin clear. Lucky for us it was only a 10 min drive away from our first choice the main stem of the Raven River.
The first starting point on the North Raven had two cars parked at it and if you've ever fished this small creek you'd know that means find another spot. So, I know of two other spots with public access to the creek and opted for the third choice on a hunch. Wouldn't you know, not a soul to be seen and our chances of catching fish looked promising. Oh by the way, gin clear water as expected.
As we hit the water I suddenly had a feeling that this was going to turn out to be a great day. Sure enough on about my fifth cast I caught the first Brown trout of the day. Then two pools later I got the first Brook Trout of the day so it was my turn to step aside and let my fishing buddy Dave take over.
Dave is a fairly new comer to the art of fly fishing so I take great joy in passing along my skills and watching others fall in love with the sport. It was time now for me to put on my teaching cap and help Dave as best I could to get into some trout. Now the North Raven is not one I would recommend taking a fairly new fly fisher too as it's not real open. Casting is quite tough and the likely hood of snags runs high. However, when you have no other choice you adapt to whats given, hone your skills, and success in one form or another should appear. The skill Dave took away from our day was a much better roll cast. Success came to Dave by hooking into a half dozen fish and a giant smile on his face at the end of the day.
Now and again the North Raven can surprise you with a fish of 20" but for the most part the fish that haunt the creek are 10-12." Regardless of size, still a boat load of fun to catch. That day we hit for average but the laughs and the good times had with friends is all that mattered. Next time we'll hunt for the 20" fish...ha ha!
Second Trip:
The first Walleye on the fly for 2016 came late to the party, August 27th to be exact. Normally I would be chasing these fish with a fly rod in my hand right after the season opened in mid May. But with the dry winter and lack of rain in the first half of the year, there really was no reason to put out the dock or boat in at the lake. So the Walleye season was put on hold...for three months.
I convinced one of my buddies at work that it was about time we got back out on the water, Wabamun Lake, to see what we could stir up. For only having a few hours in the evening to fish we did quite well, lost track of counting at thirty fish. Wasn't the best weather for casting and stripping, so we just drifted along bouncing our flies along the lake bottom and wouldn't you know it worked!
Most enjoyable part of the evening was listening to my buddy Derek get super excited with every fish take and the purity of it all in his voice. He was so genuine in his emotions that even his son, Alex, who seemed to lose interest in fishing, came back to life when he landed his first Walleye ever on the fly.
A little late to the dance some may say but what a great way to spend an evening with friends! I hope to do this one more time before the lake becomes hard water, but at the rate we are going there could be snow come October. Yikes!
First Trip:
First river, flooded! And doing its best impression of flowing chocolate milk. Time to hit pause and hunt for something else. That something else was good old faithful North Raven River. When other rivers are some what pooched you can always rely on the North Raven. As its a spring fed creek and is generally gin clear. Lucky for us it was only a 10 min drive away from our first choice the main stem of the Raven River.
The first starting point on the North Raven had two cars parked at it and if you've ever fished this small creek you'd know that means find another spot. So, I know of two other spots with public access to the creek and opted for the third choice on a hunch. Wouldn't you know, not a soul to be seen and our chances of catching fish looked promising. Oh by the way, gin clear water as expected.
As we hit the water I suddenly had a feeling that this was going to turn out to be a great day. Sure enough on about my fifth cast I caught the first Brown trout of the day. Then two pools later I got the first Brook Trout of the day so it was my turn to step aside and let my fishing buddy Dave take over.
Dave is a fairly new comer to the art of fly fishing so I take great joy in passing along my skills and watching others fall in love with the sport. It was time now for me to put on my teaching cap and help Dave as best I could to get into some trout. Now the North Raven is not one I would recommend taking a fairly new fly fisher too as it's not real open. Casting is quite tough and the likely hood of snags runs high. However, when you have no other choice you adapt to whats given, hone your skills, and success in one form or another should appear. The skill Dave took away from our day was a much better roll cast. Success came to Dave by hooking into a half dozen fish and a giant smile on his face at the end of the day.
Now and again the North Raven can surprise you with a fish of 20" but for the most part the fish that haunt the creek are 10-12." Regardless of size, still a boat load of fun to catch. That day we hit for average but the laughs and the good times had with friends is all that mattered. Next time we'll hunt for the 20" fish...ha ha!
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| First Brown Trout Of The Day |
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| First Brook Trout Of The Day |
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| Last Fish Of The Day - Brown Trout |
Second Trip:
The first Walleye on the fly for 2016 came late to the party, August 27th to be exact. Normally I would be chasing these fish with a fly rod in my hand right after the season opened in mid May. But with the dry winter and lack of rain in the first half of the year, there really was no reason to put out the dock or boat in at the lake. So the Walleye season was put on hold...for three months.
I convinced one of my buddies at work that it was about time we got back out on the water, Wabamun Lake, to see what we could stir up. For only having a few hours in the evening to fish we did quite well, lost track of counting at thirty fish. Wasn't the best weather for casting and stripping, so we just drifted along bouncing our flies along the lake bottom and wouldn't you know it worked!
Most enjoyable part of the evening was listening to my buddy Derek get super excited with every fish take and the purity of it all in his voice. He was so genuine in his emotions that even his son, Alex, who seemed to lose interest in fishing, came back to life when he landed his first Walleye ever on the fly.
A little late to the dance some may say but what a great way to spend an evening with friends! I hope to do this one more time before the lake becomes hard water, but at the rate we are going there could be snow come October. Yikes!
 |
| First Walleye On The Fly For 2016 |
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