Sat 10 Dec 2011

It’s Not Quite Winter … Yet

Posted by Vic Bergman under F.Y.I.
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It’s hard to believe the fishing season on the majority of the rivers and streams in SW Alberta has been closed for more than a month and that Christmas is only two weeks away. Unlike last year at this time, we haven’t had to deal with much snow, at least not yet.  But rest assured, winter is coming. Although there’s not a lot of snow on the ground at the moment, we’re bound to get our first good snowfall sometime before Santa pays his annual visit. We haven’t had a lot of snow, but we’ve sure been receiving a lot of wind lately. A couple of anglers who had been fishing on the lower Oldman, downstream of the dam, stopped by the shop this afternoon to say they had been blown off the water. I guess the 100 km per hour winds made it tough to stand up, let alone trying to casting into it.

Crowsnest River at Highway 507 Bridge

I went for a drive the other day to check water conditions on the Crowsnest River. Ice is beginning to form along the edges, but there’s still plenty of open water in the stretch between the Highway 507 and East Hillcrest Bridges. If you’re planning to check it out for yourself in the coming months, this section generally has the most ice-free, fishable water.

On another note, our 2012 Fly-Fishing Schools have been scheduled. We’ll be offering a couple of Beginner Schools in May and June. In addition, Jim & Lynda Mclennan will be returning next season to instruct a couple of schools. Gift certificates are available for any of these classes, and make a great “stocking stuffers” for Christmas. Click here for information regarding our Beginner Schools. Click here for info regarding Jim and Lynda’s Schools. Certificates are also available for our guided fly-fishing trips. Call the shop at 403-564-4333 or 1-800-267-1778 for more information.

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Sat 5 Nov 2011

Fun Night Out

Posted by Vic Bergman under What Are We Doing?
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In my last post, I mentioned Jim McLennan was going to be playing at The Tin Roof in Blairmore, Crowsnest Pass. Well … last night was the night and the place was packed, despite the snowy weather. A crowd of 40+ people were on hand to see Jim perform with his guitar. The food was excellent and the audience was treated to some great musical entertainment. Jim played two sets and included some of the tunes from his CD, “Six-String Gumbo” in his performance.

Jim playing guitar. Photo courtesy of Shirley Ann Schwabe.

Jim and Lynda McLennan performing at the Tin Roof, Blairmore. Photo courtesy of Shirley Ann Schwabe.

We also heard from Lynda McLennan, as she performed a number of beautiful songs throughout the evening. As an added bonus, Joe Cunningham, a musician from Pincher Creek, was in attendance. Joe accompanied Jim on a couple of songs, by playing a drum.

The evening flew by and it ended all too soon. We enjoyed a great meal, conversed with friends and had a lot of laughs. We also listened to some great music. A good time was had by all and we look forward to seeing Jim and Lynda return to perform in the Pass again. If you missed out on yesterday’s show, they will be performing at other locations in Alberta in the coming months. You can check out where, by clicking here. If you have an opportunity, be sure to attend. You won’t be disappointed.

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Fri 14 Oct 2011

Jim McLennan appearing at Tin Roof – Blairmore, Alberta on Friday, November 4th.

Posted by Vic Bergman under F.Y.I.
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Jim McLennan of Longview, Alberta is a well known and respected fly-fishing personality in Canada and the U.S., but some of you may not know he’s a talented musician, too. He’s as skilled with a guitar as he is with a fly rod. Jim has been playing guitar since he was a teenager and has recently returned to performing solo. Earlier this year he released his first solo instrumental CD, titled Six-String Gumbo. We’ve been playing it a lot in the shop this summer and think it’s great. However, we’re not the only ones who think this way about Jim’s music. Here’s what a few others have to say.  

“McLennan’s the complete player and one who doesn’t second-guess himself as an artist. Hard to believe that making music of this calibre isn’t what he does on a day-to-day basis for a living, but fans of instrumental acoustic guitar pieces will be thrilled Jim McLennan took time to record this impressive collection.”  – Peter North, host of Dead Ends and Detours and Points North

“Jim McLennan has it all – classic rags to Jerry Reed to the Beatles. He’s a full-fledged guitar picker, at home with blues, folk, jazz, and pop. Some hot pickin’ on this CD!” – Stefan Grossman, American acoustic-guitar guru

If you’re interested in listening to some of Jim’s “hot pickin’,” he’s going to be appearing live at The Tin Roof Grill & Bar in Blairmore, Crowsnest Pass, on Friday November 4th. Special Guest: Lynda McLennan. Seating is limited, so don’t delay. Get your tickets today. We have a few tickets available at the shop (ph: 403.564.4333). They can also be picked up at the Tin Roof, or by calling 403.562.7664.

For more info regarding the McLennan’s and Music, click here. 

Jim McLennan will be appearing at The Tin Roof on November 4th

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Sat 24 Sep 2011

September Equinox

Posted by Vic Bergman under On The Water
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It’s official, fall has arrived. Yesterday was the first day of autumn across the northern hemisphere, including right here in Crowsnest Pass. You would never know it,  though, judging by the awesome weather we have been experiencing lately. It feels more like summer than fall, that’s for sure. The temperature outside today reached 30 degrees Celsius (86 ºF). Amazing!

The fishing has been holding up really well on our local trout streams. Water levels are good and most streams are in perfect condition for wade fishing. Terrestrial imitations, such as hoppers, ants and beetle patterns, have been producing quite well. Blue-winged olive mayflies and caddis have also been providing decent dry-fly opportunities. 

The Crowsnest River is in great, late summer condition.

 The weather forecast is calling for things to start cooling down over the next week or so. It’s still going to be nice, but temperatures are expected to return to normal for this time of year. I’d be real happy if it stayed like this until Christmas. Then it can warm up, again!

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Thu 21 Jul 2011

July Fishing

Posted by Vic Bergman under On The Water
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The fishing is picking up on the rivers and streams in SW Alberta. Although water levels on some of the rivers south of Crowsnest Pass are a bit high at the moment, they’re clear and fishable. The Castle is still a little on the high side, but some of its smaller tributaries are wadeable/crossable and fishing well. The Crowsnest, upper Oldman, Livingstone River and tribs are in good shape and anglers are having good success on these waters.

The rivers and streams in SW Alberta are shaping up nicely

 Insect activity has increased over the past couple weeks and dry flies are working. Hatches include, golden, yellow and lime Sally stoneflies, caddisflies, pale morning dun and green drake mayflies. Good fishing everyone!

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Thu 23 Jun 2011

Crowsnest River Update

Posted by Vic Bergman under On The Water
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I was able to get out fishing on the Crow yesterday afternoon. Until last week, the river had been high and discoloured, largely due to all the precipitation we’ve been receiving over the past several weeks. All that snow melting in the high country hasn’t been helping, either. The river is still quite high and you probably won’t be able to wade across it for a while yet, but at least the water has cleared to the point where it’s fishable again.

The Crowsnest River remains high but fishable

 When I arrived at the river, I noticed a few adult salmonflies flying about and was hoping that the trout would be on the lookout for these big bugs. We’ve received reports of anglers having some success with large attractor dry flies, so I decided to start with a Stimulator. Over the next hour, I fished some nice water with my dry fly, without success. Not even a look or refusal … nothing at all. Yet, there was more than enough water visibility close to the stream bank, places where you normally expect trout to be holding in these conditions. They just weren’t interested in coming to the top to feed. It was time to change tactics. If the fish wouldn’t rise to the surface to take my dry, I was more than willing to go down to the bottom of the stream with a nymph.

One of the rainbows I caught using a Kaufmann Stonefly nymph

 I switched to a Kaufmann Stonefly Nymph and attached a strike indicator and some split-shot to my leader, then started working a current seam behind a rock deflection jutting out from shore. It didn’t take long, one or two casts,  before I hooked a fish. It got away before I could tell what it was. I moved upstream to the next pool and hooked a couple of fish right off the bat, but they got away, too. Not long after this, I hooked and landed a decent rainbow. I managed to catch one or two more trout after this, before calling it a day. Not a lot of fish came to hand, but it was a great afternoon, nevertheless. I’m sure things will only get better on the river from here on in.

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Thu 16 Jun 2011

Opening Day – 2011 Fishing Season

Posted by Vic Bergman under On The Water
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Today is opening day for the trout streams in southwest Alberta. It’s not uncommon for rivers and streams in this area to be flowing high and discoloured on opening day, and this year is no exception. Temperatures have been cooler than usual this spring, which is slowing down the snow-melt. The cooler weather we’ve been experiencing over the past month is probably a good thing. Conditions could have easily been a lot worse had it been warmer, especially with the amount of rain we’ve received over the past several weeks. Warm temperatures, combined with above-average snow-pack and heavy spring rains, are a recipe for disaster. We all remember what happened in 1995. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear this is going to occur this year. Providing we don’t get too much more rain over the next week or two, conditions should begin to improve shortly. Water levels on the Crowsnest River are beginning to drop and it’s clearing up. Visibility was approximately 2 feet this morning.

View from the East Hillcrest Bridge yesterday, looking upstream

 Even though water conditions are not ideal at the moment, there are a few anglers on the river today. They’re catching some fish, too. One fellow stopped by the shop while I was writing today’s blog to rearm his fly box with woven body stonefly nymphs. He had caught a number of nice rainbows this morning using this fly and decided it might be a good idea to to pick up some more while he was in the area. He was in a hurry to get back on the river and didn’t stay long. I can’t say I blamed him. Now if we could only get some sunshine!

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Wed 18 May 2011

Spring 2011 Update

Posted by Vic Bergman under On The Water
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It’s taken its time this year, but it looks and feels like spring has finally arrived in Crowsnest Pass. The grass is green once again and some of the wildflowers, like prairie crocus’, are in full bloom. Temperatures remain a little on the cool side, but at least we haven’t had to shovel any snow for a couple of weeks.

Prairie crocus' are in full bloom in SW Alberta

 The spring runoff has started and streams are flowing high and discoloured. Most of the trout lakes in the area are ice-free, providing anglers with the opportunity to whet a line while waiting for the runoff to subside and rivers to open. I spent a couple days fishing Lee Lake last week and had lots of success. It was fun catching fish on Lee, even though they were mostly small ones.

Lee Lake is ice-free and fishing well

 There was concern that some of the lakes around Crowsnest Pass may have experienced winterkill. However, there is no evidence of this occurring, as of yet. I didn’t see any dead fish along shore on Lee and I checked Beauvais Lake yesterday. There was concern that Beauvais may have been hit, but I didn’t see any sign of dead trout here, either. While I was there, I spoke with a couple of boat anglers who had spent the day fishing and had caught quite a few trout, including a few browns. Unfortunately, it appears Summit Lake, located across the border in BC, didn’t fare as well. We have been receiving reports since the weekend of numerous fish laying dead along the shoreline. It may not all be bad news, though, as trout have been seen rising on the lake.

Summer Hours

With the long weekend coming up, we would like to inform everyone that we are returning to our summer hours. We’ll be open each and every day, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm, until mid-October. Hope to see you soon!

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Thu 5 May 2011

Ice-Out and Six-String Gumbo

Posted by Vic Bergman under F.Y.I., On The Water
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For the past couple weeks, we have been receiving numerous calls and emails daily from people seeking information regarding current conditions on the local trout lakes. It seems there’s a lot of anglers chomping at the bit. I’m one of them. It’s been an interesting spring, to say the least. You could probably sum up spring’s arrival in southern Alberta quite nicely this year with one word, “late.” By this time last year, all of the lakes around here were completely ice-free and lots of boats could be seen bobbing about on them. That’s not the case this year, though. The photo below was taken at Lee Lake yesterday morning. It shows about 20-30 feet of open water near the boat launch. I looked back at a blog post I made last year, where I had a similar photo of this lake. The main difference between these pictures is last year’s was taken March 22, a full six weeks earlier than the one I took yesterday. What a difference a year makes! 

May 4, 2011 - Lee Lake finally beginning to open

 Jim McLennan, of Longview, Alberta, stopped by the shop the other day and presented me with a copy of his first solo CD. Titled Six-String Gumbo, the recently released CD  features Jim playing acoustic guitar. Although Jim is perhaps best known in the fly-fishing world, where he is a respected angler, instructor and author, he has also been a serious musician for over forty years. I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with Jim a few times over the years and knew he was darn good at it. I knew his guitar pickin was something to hear, too, but until the other day I had never listened to his music. Can you believe that! We’ll, we’ve been playing his CD in the shop for a couple days now and we’re hooked! I’ve become an instant fan of his music. While Jim was in the shop, I mentioned I once played trumpet in the junior high school band. Now that Jim knows I can blow, maybe he’ll feature me on his next CD. I’m a little rusty, but I’m sure with a little practice I’ll be as good as before!

For more information on Jim’s new CD, click here.

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Tue 29 Mar 2011

Spring Fishing

Posted by Vic Bergman under On The Water
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The weather has improved in Crowsnest Pass, since my last post. Spring arrived officially last week and temperatures are finally beginning to warm up enough to start melting some of the snow and ice in the valley. Hopefully, this melting will occur gradually. Otherwise, we could have some real issues with water levels later this spring.

Yesterday, I dusted off my fishing gear and headed down to the Crow for a few hours. Fishing opportunities (Chinooks) were rare this winter and I wasn’t able to get out on the river for several months. It’s amazing what a week of warm weather can do. Sections of the river that were completely froze last week are open and fishable again. There’s still areas with ice cover, and lots of ice shelves around, but there’s no problem finding open water to fish.

Plenty of open water to fish

 The river was clear and in good shape, and there was no problem wading. The snow was knee deep in some of the treed areas along the river, but I had no difficulty getting down to the water.

The river was clear and wadeable

There were lots of small winter black stoneflies crawling along the snow-covered stream banks. I also saw a few ducks, some Canada geese and a small herd of mule deer. It was great just to be on the river again. The trout I managed to catch were chunky and appeared to have wintered well. Like me, I guess!

Early spring rainbow trout

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