Our new website only adds to our already top notch customer service and will continue to be improved upon to keep us as Canada's top fly fishing fly provider for years to come.
]]>
]]>
I rolled into Matheson Lake Campground late in the evening on Tuesday May 22, quickly set up camp in the dark and went to sleep thinking of the upcoming days fishing. I find pike to be most active during the morning so I was up at 6am and in my car for the short 10min drive to Rusty Lake. As always, I start pike fishing with the Yellow Bunny Leech as it has been my most consistent pike fly. In the first hour I caught 6 or 7 small 18" pike and decided to pack up and go to one of the bigger lakes in the area known for bigger pike.
Waterhen Lake is considerably bigger and one of the biggest lakes in the park. After a short time fishing I was quickly intimidated in my small float tube. If a big wind came up (and they quite often do in Saskatchewan) I could end up in a fair bit of trouble and find myself on the opposite side of a very large lake. At this point I decided to go back to Rusty for another hour or two before heading back to camp to take a nap and rest before evening fishing.
Fishing started up again at 5pm and continued the high catch rates of small to medium sized pike throughout the evening. By the time the day was done I caught over 40 pike with the smallest at 10 inch and the largest 22 inches. Determined to get something larger I went to bed early for another 6am wake up call.
The morning of May 23 started much like the previous morning but my desire to hook into a larger fish convinced me to kick to the opposite side of the lake that had what appeared to be a small bay. The 30 minute kick across the lake did not disappoint as I was greeted to shallow slightly weedy waters with a decent drop-off 100 meters off shore. The action started up almost immediately as I pulled in 18 to 20 inchers on our Double Bunny Olive and Black. As the it started to slow down I decided to switch to the ol' faithful Yellow Bunny Leech and that's when I hooked into a big fish.
Immediately I knew this fish was much bigger than any of the others I caught as it took line right from the initial hit and every time I took some back it would run off again. I had it close enough to the float tube on 3 occasions that I could see the end of the line out of the water but each time it took off again. Finally on the forth time I got it just out of reach of landing it, the fish spit out the hook and was lost to the depths. It was a fun lengthy battle but I lost the big pike I came out here for.
Later I did catch a decent 24" pike however and will return for some more action at Meadow Lake Provincial Park, Saskatchewan soon enough.
]]>
I started the day at first light (6am) and after pumping up the float tube was ready to hit the lake. I started with my good ol' faithful Yellow Bunny Leech and the action was non stop. I caught so many pike that I decided to try one of our new flies, the Double Bunny Olive and White and the fish kept coming. After an hour of that I decided to try a variation of the Bunny Leech in red and white that we are testing for sale. I couldn't believe it when the pike went even more crazy for this lure. There was a point where I missed the same fish 6 times and it kept coming back before I finally caught it. It was a beautiful 24" pike with amazing coloration. The day didn't stop from there as the fish kept coming by the end of the morning I had caught 25 pike in 4 hours.
With the lower stocking levels in Alberta last and this year I plan on avoiding the stocked ponds and going for stream trout or pike in lakes. The thing about pike on the fly is that once you get one the excitement never stops.
]]>There is nothing quite like pike on the fly, especially in fall. Battle lake in central Alberta is often overshadowed by the much bigger and nearby Pigeon Lake. Do not overlook this small pike lake for it's high quantity of medium sized pike and reported trophy whitefish.
Pike are always my targeted fish whenever I am not fishing for trout so I will always start with the Yellow Bunny Leech, on this day it was all I needed. Casting into almost any weed bed and retrieving quickly almost always produced a pike. In three hours of fishing I caught over 15 pike ranging in size from 16" up to 23" and they hit like freight trains. I am used to pike feeling like a snag when they take the fly, but these hit hard and ran hard. More than once I had to use the fighting butt on my 8wt to pull them away from the weeds.
Almost everyone who fishes has fished for pike at some point in their lives, most haven't caught one on the fly. Get yourself an 8-10wt rod, some bunny leeches, wire leader and go give pike fly fishing a try. Once you get your first fish, you will be hooked too.
]]>Cardiff Park Pond is located about 20 minutes North of Edmonton, just minutes east of Morinville (which also has two stocked ponds). This usually beautiful pond used to be a coal mine, but after a partial collapse of one of the shafts it was decided that the mine would be flooded and stocked with rainbow trout. With its close vicinity to Edmonton, Cardiff Park Pond sees a fair bit of shore fishing pressure and one is challenged to find a spot to fish from shore on any weekend. Although usually stocked twice with over 15000 rainbow trout each time, this year stocking was cut back to 10000 total thus far.
I started the evening off trolling a Doc Spratley Green size 10 and within the first 5 minutes caught a little 8 inch rainbow. I continued to troll the Doc Spratley Green for about 30 minutes without another bite and decided to change flies. The next hour or so was spent trying 5 or 6 different flies with little luck when I tied on a Beadhead Woolly Bugger Olive size 10 and caught another little 8" rainbow. From there I tried a Pheasant Tail size 14 and had a few good hits but couldn't hook up with another fish.
Cardiff Park Pond is usually an 8 fish an hour pond in the evening but the combination of low fish stocking and high pressure (seriously people, pick up your garbage) means that the fish count was low. Fun was still had and with so few summer evenings left, I'll take any chance to get out fly fishing I can.
]]>Upon reaching the Mcleod I ran into a few locals that told me they were having success at a stream called Lambert Creek about 10 minutes further southwest. After fishing the Mcleod and catching a small 6 inch Rocky Mountain Whitefish on a size 16 Beadhead Prince Nymph, I decided to go try Lambert. I had only spent about 30 minutes at Lambert which was not only quite shallow but also difficult to fish with lots of stream side vegetation. With little luck at Lambert I decided to go try Sundance.
Sundance Creek was well worth my time, not only did I catch my first Arctic Grayling, but caught over a dozen. I was catching them on anything, Stimulators, Elk Hair Caddis, Adams, Royal Coachman and Mosquitoes. If you have never had the opportunity to catch Arctic Grayling I highly recommend going for these hard fighting fish. Remember though just like Bull Trout, there is a zero limit on Arctic Grayling in Alberta.
]]>
We always bring an assortment of dry flies as well as some nymphs. When fishing Prairie Creek make sure to bring some of our Stimulators, Elk Hair and Goddard Caddis, Blue Winged Olives and Dave's Hoppers in various sizes and colors. Although we like to use a dry/dropper set up on most steams, at Prairie Creek rarely does the dropper produce a fish, however the dry fly fishing is very exciting.
We will usually start with a small or medium sized Stimulator and work the swing by casting to the far banks and controlling how much line is held back by our line hand. The brown trout scare easily and rarely rise more than once, so make sure to start at the downstream sections of the pools and work your way upstream.
Brown trout spook easily and can be finicky eaters but no other trout is as satisfying to catch. To catch a large brown one must present the right fly at the right spot with the right drift/swing. No other trout presents more of a challenge than brown trout and no stream in central Alberta is a better place to start.
The nice brown trout in the picture was caught using Trickflies.ca Stimuator Orange size 12.
]]>