Archive for June, 2009

It looked somewhat promising. Partly cloudy and about 20C outside the kitchen window in Whitecourt, Alberta.  Thus far during our little vacation with Colleen, my son and I have not had much opportunity to experience any fishing in Alberta. The days we thought we’d head out turned out to be rainy, chilly and windy – not conditions adverse to myself but not the best for a seven year old.

A few days ago, we were in Al’s Sport Quest in Whitecourt and talked with owner Al about local fishing holes.  As well, Ian Bews of Whitecourt’s “Castaways Fly Tying Club” offered his advice during a phone call with him.  Both mentioned Emerald Lake, north of Whitecourt which holds rainbow and brook trout. In the vicinity of Carson Pegasus Provincial Park, it sounded like an interesting place to try.

The day after we arrived in Whitecourt, we drove through Carson Pegasus but it seemed that fly fishing was best done from a boat or canoe.  Most of the anglers were spin or bait fishing from a boardwalk where a back cast was impossible.

So today, with the what seemed like decent weather, my son David and I headed out to try to find Emerald Lake. We knew it was north of Carson Pegasus but I was confused about how exactly to get in to it.  We drove up Highway 32 and turned east toward Carson Pegasus looking for a road that would take us north, only knowing that Emerald Lake was about 3 km away from the park. The only roads we found were marked as “Private” and being unsure about whether we could legally use them, didn’t. We hoped if nothing else that we might see a bear or two wandering along the side of the road like we had, four days ago.

I finally decided to head back to Highway 32 and go north and try to find a public road heading east off the highway that might perhaps lead us to Emerald Lake. Five kilometres later, we found a road that was not marked “Private” and turned along it, only to discover signs later marking it as private. But we decided to continue on, coming to a T Junction, where we turned south and drove a couple of kilometres when we saw a lake on our right hand side.  From the descriptions provided, I am sure it was Emerald Lake – there was the Muskrat Lodge we were told that we could fish from and have a good chance to get ourselves into some fish.

Except… by the time we arrived, the skies had turned to gray and black clouds and cold rain showers fell.  The wind was so strong that trees were bent right over. I set up David’s spin rod and baited the hook with “Berkley’s Power Bait” – I don’t know anything about the stuff, but it’s what was recommended when not fly fishing.  I set David up on the Muskrat Lodge, gave as good a cast I could in the wind driving right down upon us, then set up my fly rod. Not only the wind, but now the rain was driving down and as I expected, “Dad, I’m cold!”

My fault – I really should have prepared for the possibility of changing weather conditions but didn’t expect the temperature to drop from 20C to 9C in an hour with rain and strong winds. So David agreed to try to warm up in the Jimmy while I thought I might as well try to wet some flies if I could fight the wind.

I had my TCO 9′ 5wt. and tried my best over the next hour or so to cast a few different flies with the challenge of the high wind.  I did have one good tug on a Wooly Bugger, but that was it. Because the lake seems to be surrounded by a marshy area, it was not practical to try the other side of the lake.  After awhile, I realized that it was going to be futile to continue fly fishing in these conditions, and David was getting bored.

Three days ago, Colleen, David and I drove to Fort Assiniboine to check out the museum there, and on our way back, decided to return to Whitecourt via Swan Hills.  South of Swan Hills, I spotted Freeman River which looked like a gorgeous bit of water from the highway.  So, David and I decided that we might as well head up that way to take a closer look at it.  About 15 to 20 minutes north on highway 32, we pulled the Jimmy off the road and walked downstream along the south bank.

Ah… now this is a river I must try!  The water was quite shallow along the bank we were walking, and the water is very wadeable.  It seems to be deeper along the other bank, and as we watched the river, we saw some small fish rising to take flies off the surface.  It seems there are rainbows and grayling in the Freeman – I’m not sure exactly where the best parts might be to fish, but for now, if we get a chance before we have to leave Whitecourt, this might be as good a place to start as any.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Jasper and I’ll take the rods along too, just in case. Maybe on Sunday, we’ll have a few hours to explore the Freeman River – and wouldn’t that be awesome if I caught my first greyling!

I’m wondering if it is possible.  Am I there yet? Except, I wouldn’t part with any of it except to my sons or my best friend (if she decides to seriously take up fishing, she can have and use whatever I’ve got! It’s a deal, Colleen ).  I’d lend some of it to others – as long as I were present while it was being used.  But maybe I have too much.

I’m planning a trip out west with my “wee man,” who will be 7 in August.  I haven’t had time to do much research on what exactly the fly fishing opportunities are in the area I’ll be fishing. I know there is a lake with ‘bows in it, a couple of rivers with who knows what, and a small pond with some stocked trout – but I am not sure what will be best suited and time is drawing near. So I’ve been going through my stuff, and realizing I’ve got stuff here that I love, but haven’t used in a long time, and need to enjoy the pleasure of again.  I’ve also got fly lines coming out of my ying yang – stuff I purchased two and three years ago with a plan in my head, but since then, my head lost those particular plans.  And being ADD apparently, naturally I forget to put the little labels that tell me what line and wt. are on the various fly reel spools I have.

As I type this, within four feet of me in either direction are:

3 Talon Fly Rods.

1. One I built myself about 14 years ago, and I love that thing, but the ferrule was crushed, and I still need to try to get it off to Ralph O’Quinn who believes he can fix just about any graphite rod damage so it is like new.  Ralph for those who don’t know is the brains behind the U-40 products, and a fantastic guy.  The one I built was a 9′ 5 wt. IM6 Plus that has been used more times than I can remember.  I loved – and still love – that rod.

2. Another is a 9′0″ 8 wt IM6 Plus, built in the Talon factory.   A lovely rod for large size bass, steelhead and salmon.  Admittedly, I have not used it as much as I would have liked.

3. Then there is the 3 piece Talon Elite 9″0″ 9 Wt. “Big Game” rod. Beautiful cork grips on this! Again, a rod I have not used often, but have enjoyed when I have.

1 Grey’s Greyflex M2

I picked up this 10 1/2′ 7/8 wt when I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland in June of 2007.  I was looking for a three piece rod that I could travel with and that would perform well while lake or loch style fishing in the Canadian Fly Fishing Championships held September 2007 in Grande Prairie.  I really enjoy this rod, but when conditions are warranted, I do prefer the Meiser Switch Rod (more on that later).

3 Sage

How many Sage rods do I have?? I think there are three, but only  one is a fly rod. Back when I built rods, Sage made some nice spin blanks, and I’ve got a couple of them. The fly rod is an older “Graphite II” 7′9″ 2 wt.  I haven’t used it much, but when I’ve been out on some small creeks, I’ve enjoyed it.  I think it’s been ten years though.

At Least 2 Loomis

I’m looking at the rod tube and know it’s a 2 piece, one I built about 18 years ago – an IM6. I disliked very much their IMX stuff back then – seemed too many of them broke. This one is a bit on the heavy side, I think it’s a 9′ 8 wt.  But I can’t remember. I’ll have to give it a few casts this summer.

1 Tony Spezio

Never heard of a Tony Spezio? Pitty! I have a lovely two tip cane rod he built and it’s lovely to cast! I don’t know why I don’t use it more; perhaps because it is one of those rods I think will be an heirloom to one of my children and their children.

1 Admira

A 10′0″ 4 wt. that I purchased last spring at the behest of Ernie Kalwa, Captain of the fly fishing team I was on.  Apparently a good rod for Czech nymphing, but I’ve never used it.   Turned out that I resigned from the team due to health concerns (don’t ask how I managed to severely sprain my right hand – I’m still trying to figure it out) so I never did compete and didn’t get a chance to try this rod.

2 Temple Fork Outfitters

I’ve got two of these – a 5 wt three piece and a 10′ 0″ 7 wt. 4 piece that was my backup rod to the Grey’s in Grande Prairie. I didn’t use it much, but I did like it – but preferred the Grey’s when fishing from the boats.  I liked this one for fishing from the shore of the pond that was one of the venues though.

The 5 wt is what I’ve been using on the Grand River and other such places after the ferrule was busted on my Talon, above.

For the money, TFO rods are hard to beat!

1 Fisher

About 8 or 9 years ago, I was looking for a 9 1/2′ 5/6 wt rod, and they were hard to come by at 9 1/2′.  I can’t recall now why I wanted a 9′6″ 5 wt, but I did, and this one was relatively inexpensive.  I think I traded a year’s worth of website hosting for it.  I remember when it arrived – I was quite excited to try it out, but when I did, I was disappointed.  I’ve never used it since. But I will.  I think the action was just too slow for me at the time.  I recall I did not like it as much as the Talon that I had owned and been using for so long. But maybe it’s time to revisit this one and give it another chance.  If nothing else, it’s a spare and one that I can lend to someone else if they don’t have one or their’s breaks.

1 R. B. Meiser

A disclaimer: R. B. Meiser (actually, I shoud have noted that Talon is too) is a client of mine.  So I realize that giving such positive reviews of both R. B. Meiser and Talon rods could be construed as a conflict of interest for me.  In Meiser’s case, I think Bob has done well by me and I’ve done well by him long before I ever tried out one of his rods though.  In the case of Talon, I loved Dwight’s rods and blanks long before he ever became a client of mine, and used to build a lot of custom rods on Talon blanks when I had my own custom rod building business.

Anyhow, prior to the Canadian Fly Fishing Championships in Grande Prairie, I was talking with Bob Meiser about some work to his website and I mentioned I the competition and that it would be fly fishing from boats for all but one venue.  I told him I had picked up the Grey’s and the TCO, and he said, “Ian! You should have told me! I’ve already supplied another competitor with a rod that will be perfect I think, and I could work something out with you too.”

I kind of felt ashamed that I hadn’t even thought of talking to Bob before selecting some gear for Grande Prairie. Anyhow, he agreed to build me a rod on his System 2 blank – a “switch rod,” and shipped it out to me. Sadly, the rod did not arrive in time.  It arrived here in Ontario the day after I arrived in Alberta.  When I got back, I was eager to try it out, and it seems ideal with the Sixth Sense series of lines.   Although this rod is built with the two handed style of fly fishing in mind, I can easily lay out 70+ feet with one hand. That is why it is called a “Switch” rod – you can switch from one to two hands and cast comfortably either way.

I’ve never much got into spey or two handed casting but I’m hoping I can get out with Neil Houlding at some point this summer and we’ll see if we can teach me some two handed techniques and put that Meiser rod through it’s paces.  But as it is, I’m very pleased with it!

So those are my fly rods in my office here. I’ve got more in the porch, and at least one more in the trunk of my vehicle.  Do you think I have too many?

Perhaps I’ll write about my reels and spare spools the next time!  Colleen – forgive me if I’m a bit disorganized here with all this stuff, but we’ll get you set up with something, for sure! Looking forward to fishing with you next week!

I managed to get quite a bit done early today, and then scheduled some time to tackle an SSH server problem on a linux server here at the office.  After about three hours of struggling with it, and not getting it to work correctly, I decided “enough lousy struggling for the day, let’s see what’s going on at the ponds.”

It was a beautiful afternoon – sunny with cloudy periods and no thunder storms in the outlook like yesterday.  So off I went to the pond, thinking it might be too bright for the fish but what the heck. I could use another few hours wetting flies and contemplating ssh servers while enjoying the ocassional croaking of bullfrogs and watching red winged blackbirds flying near shore. As I did yesterday, the first fly I tied on was my “Malteser,” that crazy fun fly that I tie up using my Maltese dog Rudy’s hair.  The thing works so often and often works when nothing else will.  I always get a kick out of catching fish with it and of course when I get back, I give Rudy an extra little pet around the ears.

But today, the Malteser wouldn’t produce for the first 45 minutes, so I decided to try a black leech pattern that is tied with rabbit skin strips.  If white doesn’t work, try the opposite.   Well, at least one big rainbow wanted a leech for dinner – and it wasn’t long before I was involved in a fun struggle! I knew this fish was bigger than the one I had on yesterday even though it never jumped – it pulled hard and went for the bottom, towing my rowboat behind it.  Eventually, I brought it to the net and decided I wanted another trout dinner.  It turned out to be about 22″ long and on the kitchen scale, 3 lb. 14 oz.

I thought I’d keep trying and see if I could get more fish to hit, but that seemed to be the life of the leech pattern – one very nice rainbow.  But I wasn’t done yet.  My friend Arron Varga had tied up some flies for me last year – I cannot remember the name of them – bright yellow with a beige coloured tail – and thought “what the heck, let’s try it out.”  I was about to give up after about 20 minutes when I felt an awesome tug – and another fun struggle began.  Once again, the fish never jumped but I did get a look at him as I managed to bring him close to the boat, but then the hook broke free. Ah well..  three casts later, another fish on!  But that only lasted about 15 seconds.  But it was interesting that the fish seemed to be interested in this fly so I continued to fish it.   Several minutes later, another fish on – this one was obviously smaller than the previous ones – and again, within seconds, it was lost.  I think the hook needs sharpened on that fly, so it came off the leader.

The sun was still high in the sky but above some cloud when I decided to try on a chironomid pattern.  Very basic and thin red body tied onto a red hook, with a gold beadhead.   Very slow retrieve – most of the time just enough action to allow the fly to drift in the water.  After a few casts and some ultra slow retrieves, another fish on! And this fly had a sharp hook.  Again, not quite as large as the first fish I had caught, but about 19″ – the same as yesterday’s fish.  Headed straight for the bottom and my R.B. Meiser fly rod felt wonderful.  Looked wonderful too:

I Love This Rod!

I brought the fish to net, and it stayed still enough for me to get this shot of it:

A few more casts later, I realized I had to get back to that other server struggle – and regretfully leave the pond.