This Is The End - 2016 CLOSED
In the spirit of Halloween, my father in law George and I went to pick a couple "Pumpkins" from our patch. Our patch this year would consist of two rivers, the Blackstone and the Ram. Goals we set for this trip, try to get my first ever Bull Trout on a fly and to get a couple nice fall run Cutthroat Trout.
Photo's From The Three Days:
DAY 1:
Early Breakfast + 2 Hour Drive + 30 Minute Hike + Beating The Crowds = First Fish Before 10am
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| Smile Says It All George |
With what looked to be a favorable forecast on the horizon and snow / rain in the forecast by the end of the weekend. It was time to beat the crowds and hit the water early. Not just an early hour, but an entire day ahead of the masses. Which proved to work out in our favor when we saw how many people were out on the river the following morning. Little did they know how hard we pounded those pools just 24hrs before them, insert sinister laugh here.
The portion of the Ram River we normally fish has about eight extremely good holding pools. On this day three of the eight were on fire, four under achieved and one pool was completely washed away from spring run off. One pool in particular produced an hour long session of a fish every other cast. So many in fact my forearm was producing a good burn from holding fish against the current. All sizes of fish came to play in that one pool, sign of a healthy river, largest going twenty inches and the smallest around twelve inches. In fact I even caught one of the smaller fish on back to back casts. You would've thought it had learn't its lesson the first go but I guess the feed bag was strapped on hard with that one fish.
Old George and I beat ourselves up pretty good this day but it was so worth it! One of those days on the river you never want to end no matter how badly your bones ache and stomach growls.
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| Healthy Cutthroat Trout |
DAY 2:
"The Polish Pole Dancer!"
Day two came with a little less sense of urgency to hit the river by first light, as how could we really top day one. George and I opted for a hearty breakfast at the local greasy spoon before heading off on our day two adventure.
We got to the river an hour later than our day one start and saw the hordes of cars, trucks and ATV's parked along the river bank. We suspected all of the serious fly fishing junkies were going down stream like we did the day before. Since I hadn't seen what the river looked like upstream for over two years it was time to see what this section had to offer.
The upstream section only really had four solid pools and only one of them produced a fish bigger that twelve inches. The fish in the below picture was about seventeen inches and came at the very last pool of our day. This is when George had a hunch to try a worm pattern he dreamed up based off a squirmy worm I had saw online during a winter fly tying session. I called this worm the "Polish Pole Dancer" in honor of how many beads it had and the fact George is Polish. We had a good laugh when I netted the fish and saw it had actually taken the worm, high light of day two by a mile.
A we finished off at this pool we noticed two groups of fishermen heading our way so with our fish tally at eleven we called it a day on the Ram. Off to hunt Bull Trout! Or at least try for one.
Day two came with a little less sense of urgency to hit the river by first light, as how could we really top day one. George and I opted for a hearty breakfast at the local greasy spoon before heading off on our day two adventure.
We got to the river an hour later than our day one start and saw the hordes of cars, trucks and ATV's parked along the river bank. We suspected all of the serious fly fishing junkies were going down stream like we did the day before. Since I hadn't seen what the river looked like upstream for over two years it was time to see what this section had to offer.
The upstream section only really had four solid pools and only one of them produced a fish bigger that twelve inches. The fish in the below picture was about seventeen inches and came at the very last pool of our day. This is when George had a hunch to try a worm pattern he dreamed up based off a squirmy worm I had saw online during a winter fly tying session. I called this worm the "Polish Pole Dancer" in honor of how many beads it had and the fact George is Polish. We had a good laugh when I netted the fish and saw it had actually taken the worm, high light of day two by a mile.
A we finished off at this pool we noticed two groups of fishermen heading our way so with our fish tally at eleven we called it a day on the Ram. Off to hunt Bull Trout! Or at least try for one.
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| George's Worm - AKA "Polish Pole Dancer" |
DAY 2/3:
Bull $hit!
On our dive back to the motel at the end of day two I threw out the idea of taking the extra forty minute drive north of where we currently were to explore the option of getting a Bull Trout. Cause why the heck not. We were on a roll and it wasn't even 4pm. Since it was only mid afternoon George was game and we were off to the Blackstone River.
Upon arrival at the Blackstone we scope out the clarity and flow rate of the river and it looks just as good if not a bit better then the Ram. Time to rig up and toss some big old flies to meat eating fish. One pool that we fished last season produced three nice sized Cutthroat so I was hopeful that one or two Bulls might be willing to play along.
I worked the tail end of the pool and George worked the drop off and side creek that entered the pool. Half a dozen casts in and George hooked into a small Whitefish so that was a positive as Bulls love to eat Whitefish. I cast a few feet behind where George was standing and let my streamer sink as much as possible before I start stripping it in.
At the tail end of the swing I noticed my line tighten. I do a small strip set to see if there was any weight at the end and sure enough I was hooked up. Now my thoughts were, don't lose it, what is it and could the trout gods be smiling on me and this could be my first ever Bull Trout? The answer, YES!! First Ever Bull Trout was in my net, time to call it a night and return in the morning to do it all again.
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| First Ever Bull Trout |
The morning of day three we packed up, checked out of the Motel and were off to the Blackstone for round two. Morning was cold, just above freezing and no fish came to our offerings. So George and I had lunch and discussed calling it a trip. This is when George put on the magic pole dancer, I put on an olive bugger of sorts and declared one last pool. This last pool surprised us yet again with two more Cutthroat on the worm and I managed two more smaller Bull Trout, time to call it a season.
What will 2017 bring? Who knows but I can't wait to see and report back! Have a good winter, next post will likely come in April if we have an early Alberta spring.
Tight Lines!
Tight Lines!
Photo's From The Three Days:
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