Gavagin

Thanks to my senior editor for his contribution...

Elky Poo

I know that you are all waiting with baited breathe to hear how our beloved Elk is fishing. Well thank god I am here to tell ya!

I'm here to tell ya that its not really fishing that well yet...

I floated yesterday with some friends and well, we drank more beer than we caught fish...

Lets be clear though, we spent a majority of our time dry fly fishing, yes would could have nymphed and yes we could have got sl*tty with streamers but that's not why we fish the Elk. There are decent numbers of Goldens in the air and there are Drakes staging in riffles with ripe wing buds, but the fish are still dealing with high dirty water and aren't super keen to eat on top yet. We had clients out today on a higher run than yesterday and they had a slow day, all reports from other guides in the valley are similar.

Be patient friends, good times are coming and there coming soon, hungry Cutts will be wrecking your dry flies in no time... In the mean time drink gin...

DRINK GIN! BE HAPPY!

Whats with the Gin drinking obsession of mine you ask? Well not only is it amazingly tasty it helps keep the mosquitoes at bay!

 I'm serious...

The British Empire may have been built on tea and spices but it was maintained by gloriously yummy Sundowners "AKA" Gin and Tonic. You see it is believed that the Junipers used to concoct Gin repel mosquitoes and its a fact the  Quinine contained in Tonic water cures Malaria.  Malaria may not be a concern here in the Western world but the F'n mosquitoes are. They are gonna be bad this year, actually they already are, so to anyone coming up to fish bring Gin, and bring enough to share with your guide because Sundowners are best shared with friends!  

My chosen brands of Gin are Hendricks and Bombay, just in case you were wondering...

Keep it tight out there friends!

Much Love,

Spence

I like summer, I like sundays !

 PRESS PLAY AND ENJOY

Man was it hot out on Sunday! Muggy as heck too. Well sh*t you could even call it sticky, and I liked it...

I woke up at a reasonable time on Sunday morning and hit the road. It was an amazingly lovely sort of dank all morning. There was no wind to speak of while gassing up in the Pass, smallish stone shucks hung  still wet near the high water mark on bridge pilings, and the sun was so hot that just breathing was making me sweat. The sun had been working its magic, things were alive and well after the monsoon. Conditions being what they were and given that it had been a couple of weeks since I had visited the pass, I decided to go on a little adventure.

The best part of going on adventures is that the outcome isn't always guaranteed. I decided to go have a look a the Oldman tail water. I had an inclination that there was a chance it was in shape, it wasn't.... The water looked dead, the swallows were barely active, I couldn't find the bugs I was looking for, it didn't have that vibe of good fishing. So I reeled in and hustled to my truck, while on the way I paused and made a mental note that things are priming up on this little tail water and it won't be long before it gets silly.

I left the Oldman and headed to the Crow, I had decided to revisit some water I hadn't seen in a while. Coniditions were maybe on the tougher side, the sun was real high and real hot, but the water was running high and coldish so thing might be ok, right? I started in a deep riffle with a blue green run cutting a 45 degree swath downstream and to the right.  I flung my dry bug around, poking and prodding looking for that greedy take, and it didn't take long for me to miss a fish. I continued working up and continued to miss fish, once there were no more fish for me to miss, I sat on the bank and watched an Osprey  circle over my dog.

So after a day of wandering around the river looking at wild flowers, listening to the song birds, and watching my dog ward off various birds of prey, I came to a few conclusions;

1. The really big bug movement is losing steam, fish are liking the medium stuff right now.
2. Fishing early and late is probably dope as.
3. There are Caddis and Mahoganies present.
4. My dog is a ninja.

So what of the Elk you ask!!! Well, I know that people are here and fishing it. I know that a friend of mine was out there smashing large Bullies, I know that I saw small fish rising at dusk last night, but I also saw me a shark eat an octopus once...

  Photo courtesy of The Messiah aka JD

Keep it tight out there,

Spence

Chasing Rainbows!

Hi Errrbody!!!

Wow! Its been two weeks since my last post and I almost feel a little bad about it. Almost. Lets face it folks, the weather has been piss poor out there and the fishing has been fair... There have been moments of brilliance in the fishing but they have been sparse, it seems that the only people having much fun with there rods are the one willing to be creative with there fishing choices. What do I mean by that?

Well the people I talk to who are railing fish are the ones looking past the obvious choices and tootling about looking for there fishing opportunities. Lakes, small tribs and even some of the bigger rivers have had there moments. So where do we stand?


THE ELK:

Forget about it, its blown out. If you were planning on coming down to Fernie to rail some hungry Cutts I would say come down and enjoy some of the sun shine that has come our way. Fire up the BBQ and throw some Portobello mushroons stuffed with pesto and smothered in Asiago on and pour yourself a GIN.  Really though the Elk is dropping and clearing daily and it won't be long before we're all blissed out drinking gin and banging Cutts.... Patience.... Its gonna happen soon...

SW AB:


Well its been a while since I was last there, the 21st of June to be exact and it was freaking fantastic! Destroyed Rainbows all day on Salmon Fly patterns, and then the rain came and I ran away... In checking flow reports I think that it is close to being awesome if it isn't already. I will be over there very soon and I will get back to you asap.

THE LAKES:

From all accounts there fishing well, I haven't been on them in quite some time. If you plan on going make sure that your box is stocked with the usual suspects. Pay attention out there, lake fishing is cerebral, and for god sakes watch for the Swallows as they will show you the way.

DA TRIBS:

I have had the pleasure of working for Lotic Environmental during the off season, lately they have had me out on a spawning survey, so I have had the pleasure of running around quite a few of our little tributaries. This week I was wandering around high but clean tribs, yesterday I witnessed a pod of Cutts getting dirty on hatching stone flies! Today I took a water temp of 10 degrees Celsius. Not too shabby... Get some! On that note, watch where you are stepping... Our little high country friends are getting busy and they don't need us stepping on their Kool Aid

THE COLUMBIA:

Yeah that's right, I said the Columbia. I wiggled my way over to Nelson for the long weekend to do a little fishing on the Columbia. Fish in the Columbia? Yup, Rainbows, not to mention the gargantuan Sturgeon. Its Caddis season over in the West Koots and the trout are loving them up. If you have never heard of trout fishing on the Columbia check out my friendo Curtis Lamey's website FREESTONE ! He's got the JuJu rigged on that massive river! The place can be magic, breaching Sturgeon and whirl pools. Fantastic!

Well folks that's all for now, its Friday and the sun is out. Grab a friend and what ever libation suits you and enjoy some of that fine sun that we have all been waiting for!

Yup! Get Some!

I love you all!

Spence

Oh!!!! Big Happy Birthday to Cait!!! Loves ya babe!

Deanna!! Where have you been all my life!!

Nate! Your going to be much prettier after, heal fast friendo!

To all you Zanzi's out there still plugging trees in the ground. I miss you all! Whalen put that shovel down!