Welcome to May!!

April showers bring May snow storms right!?

Spring can be difficult for those of us that like to get outside and enjoy the bounty that Mother Nature provides us with. Unfortunately Spring weather can be a lot like an emotionally vapid relationship, hot heavy one day and bitterly cold the next. Angling this time of year can is similar to our lovely Spring weather, awesome one day and shitty the next and success seems to be more about timing and luck than skill.

So with most river in the area either closed or chugging mud what opportunities are available to us weirdos who do nothing but think about fishing? Well, we can dance, we can tie flies, we can drink too much, we can go on road trips, or we can go lake fishing or you can do all of the above.

Road trips this time of year are highly recommended, in fact they are almost a necessity if you live in Fernie. There are so many pieces of water relatively close to us that are fishing right now, the Bow is probably coming close to fishing and many waters in Montana, Idaho and Oregon  are in good shape. Last week I had the opportunity to fish the Henry's Fork of the Snake River, there were bugs hatching and trout eating them!! Road trips are fine and dandy but they require time and money and sometimes they aren't an option, so maybe you should try dancing...Click Me To Dance

Ok I'm done dancing for the moment so lets talk lakes. When it comes to lakes many anglers have a Poo Poo attitude towards them... I've never really understood why but many anglers would rather stay home and be depressed than go play on a still water...

Lake fishing is a little more cerebral than the very visceral experience of a river. One must "tune" themselves into the hidden structure, bugs and fish to have a measure of success on a lake and the fact that these factors are hidden from plain view seems to dissuade people.

The fact of the matter is, once you have some basic tools lake fishing becomes incredibly engaging and rewarding and I encourage everyone to give it a go. So how do you learn how to lake fish? Well go with someone who knows, go to your local fly shop and pester the guy behind the counter, ask the Google god, watch YouTube and buy, borrow or steal the book Morris & Chan on Fly Fishing Trout Lakes. Seriously get this book!!

 

How about a local lake report!!

The initial ice-off gorge fests are done and for the most part turn over is too (read the book and you will know what turn over is). Chroni's are still the major food source on many of these lakes right now, but there are reports of other food sources coming on line and the fish are starting to come off the bottom to feed higher in the water column:) 

Unfortunately Summit Lake had a major winter kill this year with reports of 600-700 massive dead fish lining the banks. Gross... 

Get ready to get out there, thing are about to "pop" in a big way and I know you like catching big Rainbows.

No matter what the weather is doing great things can happen especially when your with your friends. This past month I have been blessed to spend time on and off the water with the people that matter the most to me, and for that I am eternally grateful!

Peace and Love and thanks for reading!

Fish'n & Sh*t

Huuuurumph. Grumble garble gaaah! Those are some of the adjectives I have heard to describe the weather in the past few weeks...

B*thching aside, I have been blessed with the opportunity to hit the water here in the past few weeks and things have been decent.

The Elk preformed well as expected, small Winter Stones, Midges and larger Stone Fly nymphs all produced healthy fish both on top and underneath. I spent some time turning over stones in the river and geeking out on bugs and I am happy to report that I was seeing good numbers of insects for our Cutts to grub on. Lets pray to Mother Nature for a easy spring fresh so that we can get to fishing as soon as the Elk opens up again in June.

With the Elk closed many of us here in the Valley turn our attention east to Alberta in the hopes that we may score a pre-spawn Rainbow or a gnarly Brown.

I spent two half days on the Crow earlier this week and it was fishing. The water was carrying a bit of color from the day's surface run-off and I expect there will be more color as daytime temps rise and melt the buckets of snow all over the place. I haven't found many trout outside of their over-wintering habitat but as water temps start to rise things will certainly change. I will be heading out to check out some Tail Waters in the next couple of days and I will let you know what I find.

So with the Elk closed and Alberta sure to become a little busy in the next month or so what other angling options are there?

Well a little birdie told me that there are some Lakes in the South Country that are sans ice !!! Dust off yer lake box and get out there!!! Fishing should be hot and heavy!!! Oh!! While the lakes and Alberta are full of Khaki Ninjas you may want to consider heading over Koocanusa way and try to knock off a double digit Bull or Rainbow.... 

In case you don't want to go fishing you may want to take in the Fort Knox Five show tonight, its sure to be a gooder!!!

If you don't feel like dancing in public then dance in your kitchen...

I know that some of the few that read this blog are looking for some NZ content, well its coming so check back soon...

 

Peace & Love