Winter is here, its a fact.

There is snow on the ground, fishing gear has been stowed and the neighbor  kids are waxing their skis. This time of year can be a tough for people who enjoy fishing as the oppertunity for one last cast dwindles with every fallen snow flake.

There are however those of us who never put our gear away, those of us who continue to prowl streams, creeks and rivers while the snow falls.  Its a pleasent time to cruise rivers, the water is low and slow, snow lines the banks and the mountains are sugar coated dreams. Its this time of year when being on the river is less about fishing and more about reflection of another season come and gone.

LONG LIVE THE ELK

Ta For Now!

Love ya!

Spence

Intrinsic

 

Hey there folks!

Here is a quick water report for the Elk River and SW AB!

After you read the water report you will find a little piece that I started writing about a month ago and now have finally finished. I definitely got on my soap box for it.

Enjoy!

What of the Elk you ask?

Well the Elk has been a little inconsistent this summer and this past month hasn't been much different. Regarding dry fly fishing, sometimes its amazing and sometimes its a bitch. I have had the fortune of having only a couple of slow days on the dry and not because I'm good but its because I shit horse shoes.

Of late the fish have be keying into just about anythings, mayflies, hoppers and other terrestrials  have all been rocking fish. In chatting with my chums I have come to find that it really doesn't seem to matter what pattern you are fishing, but I have also found that it matters if you are fishing with confidence.

Two pieces of advice if you are having troubles hooking up with our lovely Cutts:

- Change your fly!!!!!! Quit using shit that isn't working! 

-Change the water you are fishing! 

Keep pounding the same type of water with no fish looking up? Well you may want to consider not fishing the same type of water all the time...  After all, variety is the spice of life.

 SW AB:

Admittedly I haven't Spent nearly as much time east of the boarder as I would have liked to, but here is what I know... 

The CROW:

Knocked the dog shit out of fish on it the other day with a chum of mine and it was awesome! Rainbows are wicked fun with all the jumping and carrying on!! I'm not telling you where or how or what we fished, all I am telling you is that it was on! So if you have the minerals get yer butts over there and have some fun.

Upper Oldman:

I haven't been there all year, but all reports I have gotten have been favorable.

Lower Oldman:

Was there today, its not for the faint of heart.... There are fish and there are bugs... Good luck...   

 

 

 in·trin·sic 

:belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing

dry fly

:an artificial angling fly designed to float  

 

The Elk River and dry fly fishing are synonymous, by its very nature the Elk begs to be tickled with a dry. It's long runs, side channels, foam lines and soft riffles are the ideal habitat for Cutthroat trout and dry flies.The Elk's population of native Westslope Cutthroat trout are renowned for their size and  willingness to take a dries, and thus the Elk River has become a destination for fly anglers from around the world.  It would seem though that somewhere along the way the intrinsic dry fly values that the Elk holds have begun to disappear. 

 Things are a little different on the Elk this year, the fish seem to be a little jittery, they're not so willing to eat the shit out of any dry fly they see. Who can blame them though? For the past two seasons they had to deal with prolonged high water and then this year they got blind sided buy a 1000 CMS flash flood! On top of that there is a little Teck Coal issue and increased angling pressure, if I were a fish I would be giving us anglers the "fin" too. 

So what is it that we anglers do when fish decide that they do not want to eat on the surface? We put on a dirt snake and nymph the little f*ckers out! Thats what we do!!

 Or is it?

 

Westslope Cutst are pretty things, olive orange and freckled with a brilliant red slash on their throats. They tend to be hungry little strumpets, if you are lucky you will witness one feeding on mayfly's as Homer did on chips in space, and it is this single minded gluttony that makes these fish so special. No where else have I witnessed a trout move twelve feet up through the water column  to eat a dry fly, no other kind of trout I have seen will feed in mid river heft to gorge on a Drake hatch. A Cutt it seems was built to eat dry flies, its apart of how they are programmed, apart of how they live and thrive and it is how we fish for them. Here in lies the problem, if a Cutt will not eat on the surface how badly do you need to catch one?

If I cannot get a Cutt to come up and eat my fly, nine times out of ten I will move on. You see, Cutts rarely jump and aren't very good at running but they are good at eating dries, and it is this quality that makes me want to catch one. I want to see the deliberate take, I want to slow my set and let it take my fly, its a visceral experience that I crave. Just as I crave the reel screaming run of the Rainbow or the crushing blow of a Brown eating my streamer. I do not fantasize or want for the lazy head shakes of a Cutt caught on a pink "thing" hung from a bobber and for some reason I find it hard to believe that most anglers would.

Its seems to me though that the more I am on the Elk the more I see people nymphing for our lovely creatures and I often wonder if its all that they hoped for.

Is it wrong to nymph or streamer for Cutts? No. I have done and will do it again and probably for money. I will tell you this though, the more we nymph them the harder it will be to convince them to eat as they want to, on the surface.

Happy hunting friends!

   

 

How the Hell is the Elk is Fishing !?

I have been getting a pile of emails from people asking how the fishing is around these parts. So instead of replying to all of you here is a quick update on what the haps is.

THE ELK:

Things are getting better on the Elk but she is still a little fickle.

I had a great day out on the water with some long time clients yesterday, we fished dry all day and pulled a lot of fat and healthy Cutts on retarded big dries. However on the same day on a different run one of my collegues couldnt buy a fish on dries but railed meat all the way down the river using nymphs. This is just how the Elk is right now, most days you will probably have to use all the tools in your chest to catch trout.

The outlook is very favorable for consistent dry fly action in the near future, in the past week or so I have already notice a difference in the dry fishing. If the water continues to drop and clear the way it is I think we are going to be in for a fantastic August and September.

LOCAL TRIBS:

Honestly I haven't fished Michele or any of her counterparts in quite some time, but I imagine they are fishing well.

SW AB:

I fished the Crow on Saturday and Sunday with fairly limited success on dry. Water levels are dropping rapidly and the fish seem to be a little snotty. Seems that the fish haven't turned onto hoppers just yet but I expect them to soon. 

Tips:

-If your like me and you like to fish dries then I recommend that you fish late.
-Take your time with the water, if you do good things will happen.
-If your day isn't going as well as you want it to remember one thing,
      EXPECTATION IS THE BEST WAY TO RUIN A DAY

 I think this video is hilarious!

BUT IF YOU AREN'T FOND OF PROFANITY DON'T WATCH IT!

LoVe

I was blessed with the company of one of the most loving and excitable assholes in my world and his name was Kage.
 
He  was my Mr. Wigglesworth, he tried my paitience like no other, and he loved me and I he.

Together we raged across rivers and sat in silences in awe of our surroundings, we cuddled and argued and in the end we were happy to be together.

I lost Kage today.

I miss him.

We were pals.

The Elk River and Selenium and how I see things.

Ok, ok, ok! Its soap box time folks.

I live and work in Fernie BC Canada as a professional fly fishing guide on the Elk River. I spend more days out on the water interacting with the river then most people. So when something changes or happens to the Elk River I tend to notice. Of late there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the Elk and a lot of the buzz has to do with the levels of Selenium in the Elk River becoming toxic.

If you haven't been paying attention let me bring you up to speed.

The Elk is polluted!

Don't look so surprised, with fifty years of heavy mining occurring in the Elk Valley one cannot expect that the Elk River and some of its tributaries would be a pristine pieces of water.

Lets be real, Teck Coal runs five Huge coal mining operations in various locations around the Elk Valley and they are having an impact.

 As a result of continued NEGLIGENCE of the part of the Ministry of Environment and Teck Coal Ltd, levels of Selenium and Cadmium have been allowed to creep ever closer to toxic levels for the biota inhabiting the Elk River. As I understand it, if nothing is done it will take less than a decade for things to go terribly wrong for the Elk.

In what seems to be a knee jerk reaction the MOE has given Teck Coal a little spanking regarding the pollution in  Elk.
In response to the MOE's spanking Teck Coal has committed $600 million over the next ten years to try and curtail the pollution problem. Teck has even went so far as to hold two public meetings where by they outlined their plans to mitigate the Selenium problem. I attended one of the meetings and it was purely lip service.

Here are the facts:

-Teck has no real idea of how to contain the Selenium problem.

-Teck will continue operations and will continue to pollute with out any real repercussions from the MOE

-Teck Coal has no intention of following its own Selenium containment program

-Teck will expand its operations regardless of pollution problems

Lets get real again, mining is an integral part of the Elk Valley and it will continue to be for a long time. We should all understand that without the mines the towns of Sparwood and Fernie would not exist as they do. With the understanding that Teck Coal isn't going anywhere, what can be done to find a solution that works for all?

In my mind it time for the Ministry of Environment to grow a back bone.
Its time for our government to take action and really police big industry. Every summer the Elk River experiences spills originating from one of Teck Coals operations. In extreme cases these spills turn the Elk Rivers water from clear to brown, I can only imagine how many spills go undetected. Come on MOE quit dropping the ball and hold Teck accountable! Fine them! A lot!

Its time for Teck to recognize the intrinsic value of our wild places and put some real money behind protecting and cleaning up the land they make so much money from. I'm sorry $600 million over a decade isn't enough of a commitment from a company that sold four BILLION dollars last year.

And for those of us who either enjoy the river or make our living from it, its time for us to start policing Teck on our own. We can do our own water quality testing, our own bug and fish sampling, and start holding Teck accountable for it NEGLIGENCE.

Mark my words folks, if we continue on this path the Elk Valley will become just another, "woulda, coulda, shoulda" scenario.

I've dropped the Selenium bomb several times, here is some light reading about it:

Selenium Link
Selenium and Trout

These are just two examples of what can be found if you ask the Google God for answers, if you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to contact me.
Come to think of it I am sure that Bill Bennett and Terry Lake would be happy to field some questions, here is there contact info:

Bill Bennett: East Kootenay MLA
Email: bill.bennett.mla@leg.bc.ca
Phone:1-250-356-1748

Terry Lake Minister of Environment
Email: env.minister@gov.bc.ca
Phone:1-250-387-1187

Peace and love,

Spence

Fishing

Hey all !

Here is the first fishing report for the Elk River for the spring of 2013!

The Elk Rive is going off!

This area of high pressure has brought some absolutely gorgeous weather to the Elk Valley and the bugs and the fish are acting accordingly.

I've spent the past couple of days needling around the Elk in town and I have seen lots and lots of fish eating on top. There are midges of various sizes and the always present winter stones, I have even witnessed small caddis coming off the water.

I have used everything from a size 14 Griffiths Nat to a size 18 Parachute Midge to catch fish, I haven't been nymphing the Cutts as it hasn't been necessary.

I don't think that they are straying too far from their over winter habitat just yet but they are starting to move a bit. I have witnessed fish feed in the super shallow frog water along the banks and have seen them working riffles and heavy seams.

Take your time when approaching likely water, stop and enjoy the sunshine while observing the water and you will be pleasantly surprised when you see fish eating on top...

Um just so you folks know, the Elk River is shutting down for the Cutthroat spawn, so the last day of fishing is March 30!

Get your game on kids! The next couple of days on the Elk River are going to be fantastic!

Much Love!

Spencer

Fly Fishing

 The Malleo River is by far one of the most diverse little rivers I have ever fished, from its head waters at Lago Tromen all the way down to the its confluence with the Alumine River it managed to surprise me with its features, structure and fish and fences.

THE UPPER MALLEO:

The Upper Malleo is cute, I mean really cute!

In most spots I could spit across it!

As small as it is, it contains some truly inspiring water. Riffles, buckets, cut banks and over hanging willows all begging to be tickled with a fly! One could spend hours tucking into little features, pondering over fly boxes and trying to weasel a trout out and all the while the perfect symmetry of the Lanin Volcano looms somewhere off in the distance.

I chose a 4 weight rod the day that we fished it just because it is a pleasure to cast.

I may have been a all little under gunned.

The first fish that I duped on the Upper was a 16 inch kelted Rainbow that ran and doubled my medium action rod over to the cork while landing it. Curt chose to fish with a 5 or a 6, I can't remember which but he was better equipped to deal with the Patagonian wind and larger fish than I was.

 I recall being down stream of Curt, quietly enjoying a really nice drift when a resounding "FUCK ME!" echoed down stream. I looked up to see an Curtis fumbling with a fly box and yelling something about a monster Bow that had just slashed at his fly! "Biggest Fish I have seen all trip!" he yelled down to me, and even though I think he is full of shit most of the time I believed him.

I wish I could give you a better idea of what flies to use on the Upper Malleo but we really didn't get a great hatch while we were there, there were some small Mayflies and terestrials along with good numbers of our friend the midge. We used everything in our boxes nymps and streamers included and it seemed that just about everything worked and we managed to massage out most of the fish we happened upon.

THE UPPER MIDDLE MALLEO:

We fished at the Yellow Bridge a total of three times,  and I remember looking at Curt after our first attempt at solo Patagonian fly fishing and remarking that the water "ain't that shit hot". The truth is that the water is like any other piece of water that you will experience on any trout bearing continent. So bring your game and wreck trout, cuz the trout ain't gonna just give it to you.

The Malleo in its Upper Middle section is a much larger piece of water when compared to the Upper. There are spots where you cannot cross, there are largish round submerged rocks that are slippery and there are willows that will break at the most inopportune time but there are fish, so none of that matters.

There are Rainbows and Browns of all sizes and there are bugs for them to eat, so with a little bit of investigation and perseverance you will catch fish in the Yellow Bridge section of the Malleo. Again there is some of the most inspiring water that I have ever fished. From perfect seams to brilliant overhanging willows there is almost always something to throw at and quite often there is a trout where there is suppose to be one. 

The second day that we fished this section I think both Curt and I decided to fish with purpose. That meant taking time to catch picky trout, allowing ourselves to leave rising fish in search of others and giving ourselves and each other time to explore. It was on this day that we found the little black mayfly and it was on this day that we realized how good the Argentine people have it.

Both Curtis and I fished with 5 weights on the upper middle, its windy and there are big trout and sometimes big trout eat big flies. Fish with a 5, trust me on this one. If your unsteady on your feet or tend to drink too much, bring a wading staff, I swam twice in Argentina and the Malleo made my undies wet. As far as flies are concern, with a little studious observation and your North American Fly box you will do just fine.

LOWER MALLEO: DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE PARROTS IN ARGENTINA

There are Parrots in Argentina and the best part of that is that you get to fish the Lower Malleo while Parrots roost in the sandstone bank across from you!

 There is a marked differnce in the topography of the river as you head down stream. The Malleo carves it way from the vast flat valley bottom and then curls into the rolling foothils. Large cut banks  emerge from the rivers edge and the soft conglomerate head walls makes a perfect place for a Parrots to rear there young. Again, I have to say that the Malleo hold some of the prettiest water I have ever fished, man is it sexy, and there are some monstrous fish in the Lower Malleo

Things you need to know about the Lower Malleo:

- You gots to pay to play, 30 pesos should do it

- Argentinians like fishing especially on weekends (who doesn't)

- The water is sick

- 5 wieght and no less

- Open your fly box and have fun

MALLEO BREAK DOWN:

I didn't get to fish the Malleo in its entirety and I missed out on the true Middle section of the river. As with most Argentinian rivers there is a lot of private land along the Malleo, law in Argentina states that you can fish any river and tread up to the high water mark and no further. In most cases the Malleo is private and if you want to fish its Middle Section then you will have to hop a fence and trespass. Or you pay a lot more than 30 Pesos to one of the large estancias that own the land along the Malleo. 

Thanks for reading and look for more Patagonian stories and local fishing reports coming soon.

Peace and Love,

Spence

Friends!

There are some things in life that are enhanced with the presence of a friend.

The guy above is one of the people I was able to fish with this week, and if he finds out that I published a picture of him online he will whoop my ass. So don't tell him, but if you do rat on me don't forget to tell him that ten foot rods are for ninnies.

Much Love!

Spence

FLY FISHING!!!!!!

Earlier this winter I had the the good fortune to go adventure and fly fish around the Neuquen province of Argentina with my good friend Curtis. The idea of a trip to South America to fish for trout has appealed to me for a long time. So when the idea became reality about a month before departure date I was over the moon and a little behind the eight ball. When you decide to go fish and adventure around another continent some preparation is required.

The day Curtis informed me that our tickets were purchased I sprinted to my computer and fired up the Google machine. After a few basic questions were answered by God, I mean Google I came to find that there is very little information about fishing in Argentina. Searches regarding the type of flies to bring, size of fish, basic river information, where to stay etc. often led to an Outfitters or Lodge websites, none of which were very helpful.  So here are some answers that helped me slay trout in the Neuquen province of Argentina.

WHERE THE HECK?

Ok, so Curtis and I basically followed the recommendation of Uncle Jimmy and decided to focus our efforts in the Nuequen Province of western Argentina . More specifically we spent a majority of our time in San Martin and Junin de los Andes, but I will blather on about them later. 

TRAVEL

Travel in and around Argentina is just about as easy as traveling around any North American city. There are cabs, buses, planes and trains and all of them are fairly easy to utilize except that almost every thing you do is in Spanish.I recommend learning some basic Spanish, it helps.

AIR

So air travel is fairly basic, I flew from Canada and it took forever!
Luckily I was pretty excited and drank a lot of beer on the plane and then it didn't seem so bad. Once in Buenos Aires you can fly domestically to either San Martin de los Andes or Bariloche or where ever it is you want to go. Plan on spending at least one night in Buenos Aires as these domestic flights don't happen everyday, and plan on spending around three hundred U.S for the domestic flight. However, if you would rather spend your money on eating good food, drinking cheap booze and fishing then you take the bus.

BUS

 Its a fact that Argentina is a huge country and if your not going to fly you will most likely take the bus from BA to the fishing grounds. It takes 18 or more hours. Enjoy.

Luckily there is such a thing as first class buses in Argentina and they make 18 hours bearable. Meals, snacks, movies, booze and full reclining bed seats!!!

Best buses ever!

Via Bariloche buses make Grey Hound buses look like the yellow beaters we used ride to school.

A couple of things you may want to bring on the bus:

- Water
- More booze
- Snack's, Curtis seems to think stinky Italian meats and cheese are best.


Lets face it though folks, buses aren't amazing and there is only so much lipstick one can put on to make their lips pretty. Given my druthers I would much rather fly, its quick and kinda scary.


CAR RENTAL

Renting a car in Argentina is about the same as it is here in North America, you pick a car, sign some papers and they give you the keys! Sometimes they speak English and sometimes they don't but once money has exchanged hands understanding one another becomes quite easy.

We rented a Chevy Cobalt hatch back, it was silver, fuel efficient and had an auxiliary input jack and it withstood a massive shit kicking for two weeks! The best part is that it was roughly $30.00 a day!!! More money for fishing, booze and food.

NOTE
 
Doing business in Argentina is a bit like trying to follow the rules as they are being made, there are official rules, cultural rules, and then personal rules. Which rules you follow greatly depends on who you are talking to. Don't forget that Argentinians really enjoy their siestas, so don't plan on getting much done from 1pm through till 4:30 or 5:00pm. Most importantly though, cash is king when paying for a long over due rental car.

 OH MAN WHAT ROD SHOULD I BRING?

I chose to fish 4, 5 and 6 weight rods for this trip and I wasn't wanting for a different setup, an argument could be made for a 7 or 8 weight if you planned to streamer fish A LOT.

NOTE

Yes its windy in Argentina. Don't fret though, I can't cast for shit and I still caught fish on windy days.

If there is one thing that worried me more than anything while prepping for this trip, it was FLIES!

If you are having a similar experience I'm here to tell you that you can relax because you probably have most of what you need.

My fly boxes are nothing to get excited about and I found that there were very few times where I felt like I couldn't reasonably match a hatch. If you really feel like you are short on flies don't worry the fly shops in Argentina will be happy to take your money.

Brings markers.

Don't forget to bring warm layers, rain gear and all your usual gack!

God I sound like your mom....

No matter where and when you decide to fish in Argentina remember that its a lot like North America in that you will most likely be fishing near the mountains. Hanging out near the mountains usually means that the weather can be unpredictable, act accordingly.

If you plan on bringing your lap top so you can keep up with Facebook  then I recommend bringing a plug converter and a voltage converter. Otherwise, you will be in a dusty little town trying to explain  to a very confused looking person behind the counter that you wanna charge your tablet.

 I found this beaut in a Junin, weight means reliability and this thing weighs 3 lbs.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

F*ck! I really dislike it when you are sitting by the river at the end of a tough day of fishing and some loser guide looks at ya and says "you should have been here last week!". Get bent f*cker!

If I was you I wouldn't head south for less than two weeks, I went for a month at the begining of the Argentine season and I felt pressed for time. So go for a long time, that way you will find at least one day of awesome fishing.

Watch local ski reports and keep track of the snow pack and weather trends, this will help you decide on the timing of your trip. Curtis and I had some local info before we decide to go, as it turns out Argentina had a extremely low snow pack and that lead to low spring water levels.  A little research will go along way when deciding when to head south.

SAN MARTIN & JUNIN

So there are three towns in the Nuequen province that are conducive to fishing, Bariloche, San Martin de los Andes and Junin de los Andes and the latter two are the goods as far as access to good fishing. So for our purposes we can forget about Bariloche and focus on San Martin and Junin.

NOTE

Bariloche is quite near to the Limay, and the Limay looks juicy.

San Martin is....

San Martin is not unlike where I live. There is good skiing, good food, good people and good fishing. There are quite a few restaurant, no bars, there are grocery stores and delis and there are several fly shops. Its a bustling little town nestled in the mountains near a lake and there are rose bushes lining some of the streets. If you go check out Pizza Cala, The Ku, and the little deli across the square, all are stellar. That is all I really have to say about San Martin.

Junin is the little dust bowl that I fell in love with.

Junin is the real hub for fly fishing in the area. The Chimehuin runs right through town, the Malleo is 40 minutes away the Collon Cura is 50 minutes away, well you get the picture. Junin definitely doesn't have the swagger of Bariloche or San Martin but I like to think of it as "understated awesome".
There are bars restaurants and empanada stands, there are fishing stores and one real dedicated fly shop and there are fish! There are a ton of options for accommodation, you can spend as much or as little as you like. I stayed at the Rio Dorado Lodge and the Chimehuin Inn and there were both just fine...

While your at the grocery store down near the plaza don't forget get some sort of condiment for your Minutas sandwich, I find there a little dry.

Oh I just about forgot!

 Go out and buy Fly Fishing In Patagonia; A Trout Bums Guide to Argentina written by Barrett Mattison & Evan Jones.  Go and get it right now!

Thanks for looking !

Press Play

Where to begin?

There is almost too much to tell you all, actually there is.... Instead of blithering on about every detail I will give you a little photo essay with a few words for clarity.

The above photo was taken from the balcony of Curt and I's hotel room in Buenos Aires after a long night of dancing the way Argentinians dance.  BA is a great town, lots of pretty people doing pretty people things. I would like to spend more time there when I am a little richer, but I was happy to leave after the above photo was taken....

 

 From BA to Bariloche it takes twenty hours by bus, and after an overnighter it had become quite apparent that Curt desperately needed to go to the dentist to have a tooth removed.

Above is Curtis and the Dentist, we used google translate to work out the specifics of a tooth extraction. Curt tried to haggle on the price and the Dentist told him to get f*cked and then pointed out how many plaques he had on his wall... The wall shall be forever known as "The Wall of Awesome".

With the extraction of the offending tooth complete it was time to get the F outta Bariloche and head towards the fishing grounds of Junin and San Martin...

   

Curt took to the streets of San Martin with a 150 L. rolling suite case full of flies and various fishing crap from the shop and the  mobile fly pimp was born. 

Below is Tommi, he's on the phone with Hurvey. Spread the Squid Beak Fly love.

Dinner time fly sales at Pizza Cala.

 If your in San Martin you gotta check this joint out, pizza outta the wood fire oven, amazing salads and Patagonia Pilsner in the fridge...

Chimehuin

There are a plethora of storied rivers in Argentina and the Chimehuin is no exception.  I feel blessed to have fished it with a couple of Argentinian rude boys. Below is Hurvey tearing the lips off some poor trout, this guy was a winner, row and fish like a mutha and he could drink the sh*t outta Fernet and Coke. 

I got along well with Hurvey.

CHIMI MUTHA F'N WINNING!

Maello River

 

There are magic places on earth, we've all experienced them, we've all felt that feeling, the Maello gives me that feeling.... Its a special place full of special creatures...

 Collon Cura

Getting lost is great. Sometimes though, you think that lost sucks because your "plan" isn't working. Faith in a friend and trusting that the universe has good things in store helps "lost" feel better... 

So does beer.

Meliquina Valley

Mother Nature is as beautiful as she is ugly...

 

Weather allows us to drink, show Argentinians how to cook steak and crank flies...

Rio Caleufu

Sometimes one bug does all the work...

This one didn't...