Dickson Trout Pond-A Pleasant Surprise

Well the rain is finally behind us although I am quite grateful for all the moisture that was left behind in Central Alberta.

Karen wasn't in any rush to get out. Her comment at the door was "post cold front fly fishing will probably be slow."

Karen and I had a 5 hour window to fly fish today, so we headed out to Dickson Trout Pond to see what was going on. I knew that 20 000 trout have been stocked in Dickson but were there carry over trout?  I was pleased to see the surface water temperature down to 52F. Excellent. As we started to launch, we could see 100s of swallows all over the lake dipping and diving. They were definitely picking up something off of the surface. 

Once we motored over to a spot to set up, we tied on Tokaryk Specials 2.0 and started to fly fish. I finally hooked a decent rainbow and it was full of chironomids. The chironomids were still alive too. Well the chironomids were tiny, size 16 to size 20. We we tied on size 16 rusty nail chironomids and Karen moments later was tangling with a dandy tiger trout. She repeated that just a few minutes later. The throat samples continued to show that a rusty nail was a great choice as long as it was size 16 or smaller. I then hooked a large tiger trout. Same thing. We caught some mid sized rainbows that again had chironomids that were small.

The swallows disappeared and the chironomid fishing slowed down a lot around lunch time.

Well we went exploring. We found lots of this year's stockers when we fished with Bubba Gump Shrimp about 8 feet down in 12 feet of water! As you can see, there are definitely carry over rainbows and tiger trout in Dickson. As for the post cold front fly fishing being slow. Hmm, that certainly was not the case today!

Our time flew by way too fast. We were on grandkid duty as soon as school was out. We love hanging with our grandkids so it was not too much of a tragedy to leave by 2:15 pm.

Throat samples definitely help us figure out what the trout are dining on!

 

Strip Leech

Its a rainy Tuesday. Three days of rain in a row. ...and the moisture is so welcome. I hope it helps our water table.

I have encountered several throat samples this year that have contained leeches. Big leeches. Well, I rarely have stripped a big leech in the past but this year, I have made an effort to try this tactic. I have used an intermediate sinking line to cast and retrieve. I have been pleasantly surprised at my success and I have been more than glad to get away from watching a strike indicator.

The strip leech pattern that I designed is simple. It is basically pine squirrel tied on a hook. I doubt my pattern is unique and it is a fish catcher.

I have made a tutorial on how I tie it up.

Take a look!

Strip Leech

Hook: Daiichi 1760 size 8 (use your favourite streamer hook)

Bead: 1/8 (brass or tungsten) silver, gold, blue

Rib: silver wire, small (Optional step)

Body: Pine squirrel (black or brown)

Flash: Krinkle Mirror Flash, pearl (or your favourite flash)

Head: Pine squirrel

Collar: Black dubbing (optional)

Tie in your rabbit strip right behind the bead and add some flash!

This is an optional step. It can prevent the rabbit strip from fouling on the tip of the hook. If you do this step, then tie in silver wire first before installing pine squirrel. 

Clip 4 or 5 cm of pine squirrel, cut off the hid and make a dubbing loop; spin up the pine squirrel. Then wrap!

Create a dubbing loop and wrap onto the front of the hook to create a neat head. Keep it sparse! Add some dubbing to make the collar neat (optional step) and go fish!

 

Million Dollar Rain

Thank goodness. Rain and lots of it! Central Alberta was so dry. This sustained rain will help a lot. The rivers are now getting dangerously high with all this rain and run off starting to happen. The great news is the snow pack is way above average but that means run off maybe longer than usual. The colder weather and rain will definitely help lower water temperatures in the short term on our pot hole lakes.

I have been tying flies the last two days. The rain will not last but we certainly need it. From Rocky Mountain House to Stettler, it is dry. Bring on the rain. I hope it helps bring our water table up a bit as well!