Whitecourt Fly Fishing Club

Previously, I made almost once a month trips to Whitecourt, AB. However those trips have not been as frequent for the happy (for me) reason that Colleen finally was able to move to my Province.

On my trips to Whitecourt, I was able to get in some fishing at Carson Pegasus, the Freeman River, and in the McLeod and Athabasca Rivers. Not as much as I would have liked and I still hope to go back to the area and do more exploring, especially of the Freeman as well as waters up by Fox Creek.

I had also hoped to get the chance to meet with The Whitecourt Fly Fishing Club, but schedules conflicted and I was never able to do that. However, this past weekend, Colleen surprised with a plane ticket to Edmonton. It was a short trip where we spent most of our time in Whitecourt, but I also finally was able to meet Ian Bews of the Whitecourt Fly Fishing club.  Ian and I had talked on the phone previously and have shared emails but have never had the chance to meet.

On very short notice, Ian and his wife graciously had me over to their home for a quick visit.  I envy Ian’s fly tying area! A beautiful room with a fly tying desk as the centre of attention with lots of fly fishing paraphernalia hung on the walls including an old prized split cane rod.

While talking with him, Ian showed me an interesting chironomid pattern tied up by John Kent of Fox Creek, Alberta. I won’t say just yet what interesting material is used in this pattern – hopefully John will send along his tying instructions for it.  The pattern is about 3/4″ long which apparently matches the length of some of the chironomids that are present in the lakes at Carson Pegasus Provincial Park.

I’m back now in Ontario and am itching to get out in the next few days here. But in the meantime, a big thank you to Ian Bews and his wife for their hospitality on such short notice – and during the Montreal/Pittsburgh playoff game to boot!