Fly Fishing the River Spey
Clearly not in Manitoba.
As part of my trip to the UK and as part of the Scotland portion of the vacation, I book an evening of fishing. Now I made it a trout trip but salmon were a possibility.
Fly Fishing in Scotland
IF you thing the regs in Manitoba (or anywhere in Canada or the U.S.A) are complex, mixed up, unfair, etc. take a look at Scotland.
I haven’t untangled all of it but here is is in a nut shell.
- You don’t need a license.
- It is home to lakes and rivers full of trout, salmon and pike.
- It is all owned or righted to someone.
- You can’t fish it without their consent.
- Their consent is usually in the form of a ‘ticket’.
- ‘Tickets’ cost money (LIKE A LICENSE).
- They are only good for a day or portion of a day.
- Rivers are divided into ‘beats’.
- Your ticket is only good for that one beat on that one river.
- You’re in a little trouble if you fish for trout without a ticket
- You’re in A LOT of trouble if you fish for salmon without a ticket
Now these ‘beats’ are well maintained and fences have steps or gates to let anglers in. Sometimes even a shed to get out of the rain. Trees are cut down/moved/anchoured to make better runs and easier wading. They are well maintained and litter free.
To someone from Canada or the U.S. this can seem very unfair as it makes fishing unattainable for the average person. In Scotland it is just the way it is.
When a Guide Hires A Guide
Given this tangley mess, I elected to hire a guide. That alone was complex. Given that I was going to be in 3 cities. (Glasgow, Inverness and Edinburgh) and there are rivers all over theses areas. We elected to go without a car which meant trains bus and the occasional Uber or taxi.
I essentially went with the one that answered back reasonably quick and would pick me up. Turned out that was Inverness, and the River Spey.
Fly Fishing Mecca
To fly rodders, the River Spey is special. I mean, an entire method of fly fishing is named after this river. The guide picked me up at my rented flat in Inverness. Surprise he had another fly fisher with him. Not a client but a army buddy or something.
As we pulled away he promptly told me the area I was staying wasn’t very good and quite rough. We’d been there a few days and while it wasn’t Beverly Hills, there’d been no trouble, no noise and no sirens.
What he would call rough most would ‘working class’.
I think he forgot to get boots for me and we swung by his home where they were on the front step. Off to the river. After a bit of scouting we suited up. He had nice Grey’s waders (though mine was missing a suspender buckle) really liked the gators on them. I thought ahead and brought a sling pack for my water, camera, pipe, tobacco, etc.
The guide rigged me up with a 9wt switch rod and a skagit floating line. I have lots of 2 handed ability but our lack of decent rivers doesn’t give me much chance to hone the skill. I played lots of country music back in the day but I wouldn’t walk into a country gig tomorrow without a lot of prep.
The first spot had him put me under a tree. Not what I would deem an ideal spot for someone with rusty 2 hander skill. Matter of fact I felt like he was trying to give me the most difficult set up to fish.
Spey casting referesher
I was thankful for the refresher and tips on 2 handed casting and I got the hang of it reasonably soon. Since it was re-new to me, anytime I let my guard down, the cast failed.
I caught some salmon parr in the first runs. It was basically 1/4 cast, let it straighten out, twitch a few times pick up the line, throw it, move down a few steps and repeat. Very effective way to cover the water.
When we got below bridge, more of the same. The conversation was very telling and explain some of this and the rest of the day. He told me bluntly, that he had lost is passion for fly fishing and he was done. This was his last year.
I have heard of this with a few people who had made fishing their jobs. Heck I have heard of it with people in music. It is very rare. The fact he would tell a client who was getting skunked was rare and weird.
After that 2-3 hours, we climbed back into the truck and headed up stream. On the side of the road we had a delicious meal of mince pies & lemon cake.
Fishing the Evening Hatch
The few times I have hired a guide, I always choose the evening half. I hate to get up early and so staying out late is more my thing. The shadows get long, the flies hatch and the fish let down their hair.
At this point the water was real skinny and the rod was total overkill. He was trying to get me to lay down delicate presentations with a distance and wind punching rig. When I said I was having a hard time doing that with this set up. I could do it but seriously why was I using an 11′ switch rod to fish water I could use a Tenkara on??
His response was to give me a lecture about how you have to be able to everything with the same rod in Scotland!
Anyways I caught a brown and he literally laughed at it and said ‘that must be the smallest trout in there’.
Anyways we fished till 11pm, it was still light. I caught 2 browns and 5 salmon parr.
In retrospect I feel he took my $600 bucks and then used the 6 hours to show who was the better guide. (Please note his friend fished the same water with a single hand rod and caught nothing)
I am not upset I didn’t do well, that’s fishing. It was hot, no clouds all day, no real hatch at sunset, etc.
How it could have been better
- Treat me like a client and not the competition.
- Have more than one rod weight option.
- The flys weren’t working maybe change the fly?
- It was a 6-7 mile beat, we could have started high and fished down stream.
- Seeing the big ones weren’t happening, downsize the rods and go for numbers.
Now you may be wondering why I am not telling specifically who this was. It is for a good reason. While he was being a dick and counting down to the day he didn’t have to spend his days on beautiful rivers for $1200 a day, his daughter still loves fishing and is the other half of this company. (Her clients got fish that day…hmmmmmm.)
Whiteshell Bass Bonanza
The Manitoba headwaters of the Whiteshell river is not the true head waters, that is somewhere in western Ontario. The Whiteshell Rivers winds through the Whiteshell park in eastern Manitoba. It is a series of river runs and lakes starting with West Hawk Lake and ending at Nutimik Lake (part of the Winnipeg River System.
We went to the headwaters in search of trout that are stocked there. The last time I was there it was a disaster. Not only where there no fish, but there was no signs of life. No bugs no hatches…not even a mosquito.
There was extensive work on a new bridge but there is no mention anywhere about a spill or anything related. The only thing up stream of the bridge is the lake so it is likely there was a spill of something related to the bridge construction.
If something happened, it was hushed up.
Combined with the lack of water over the years (due to hatchery employees raising the dam at the request of their lake home owner buddies) this once jewel of the east has fallen on hard times.
Cant fish with out food in our bellies so off the the Night Hawk Cafe (Vegans look away)
On to the fishing
This time, the water levels seemed better (and the make shift 6×6 was removed from the dam). While we didn’t get a lot of trout (1) the bass were up from Caddy Lake.
And the one trout, a recent stocking for sure!
Over all this bit of water is looking better than is has for quite a while (under the direction of a different person).
I for one am very happy to have a place to go to and is friendly to the MAJORITY of fishers who don’t have a boat!
Big Creek Manitoba
On the northern edge of the Whiteshell Provincial Park is where you’ll find Big Creek.
Really just a back bay of the Winnipeg River System, it does have flow from the wet lands south of 307.
What ever is in the river has no impediment to getting to this water but typically it is pike and bass (small mouth).
Today was also the summer solstice but no sun was available. Lots of wind. Wind from the SE to be precise. On this flat part of the world, there is no place to hide. So I battled the wind with my legs and on almost every cast.
I was rewarded with a few pike a few hits and a real nice bass that never made it to hand.
I was also getting a lot of LDR’s that I found out later were spawning suckers along the edges.
I also hooked and played a nice smallie. I was filming with my GoPro but somehow lost the video in transferring it to my PC.
The winning fly was a marabou muddler in orange for both species
I also hooked some braided line and pulled up a bunch of devil’s lures. Spent 30 minutes untangling that mess.
When I was done there was a family just leaving after a few casts and I donated the 2 spinner baits to their tackle box.
I could only manage 6 hours of that wind and left around dinner time.
Odds and Sods
Rather than a whole bunch of little reviews and posts, I thought I’d Combine a few into one. Mostly to get me caught up on my blogging.
Cheap UV Resin For Fly Tying
First off is my long time coming entry into using cured UV resin.
This is liquid plastic you harden (cure) with a concentrated UV light. When you buy one of these for fly tying, you can count on it being unreasonably expensive. Luckily it is a product adapted from outside the fly fishing world and I picked up this consumer version for under $20
I am not dropping the ease of head cement anytime soon but it did make putting eyes on these party favour flies, a whole lot easier.
Fly Tying Supplies from Around the Web
As you can imagine, living on the prairies and far away from mountains or even hills, fly fishing is a rarity. The local supplies for fly tying are even more sparse. Even getting thread can be a challenge.
I didn’t by much this winter but I did try 2 new sources.
One was the wish app. I have been pretty successful purchasing music related stuff as well as some nice watches. I Found some products from Tigo Fly. In particular bulk tube fly supplies and plastic dumbbell eyes. They seem to only be available from Wish, Amazon, Ebay, Ali Express as their own site http://www.tigofly.com/ is non functioning.
I was particularly excited by the eyes. I love the look of eyes on many flys but lead, brass, and even aluminium have too much weight.
J. Stockard Hooks
I have bough off brand/store brand hooks before. Last time from Cabela’s. They were fine with the odd one needing tossing. These J. Stockard hooks seem a little better than that. I will definitely do that again.
Max Catch Travel Rods
As A Blogging Fly Guide and traveler, I can get an entry level endorsement deal from almost any Fly Fishing Equipment manufacturer. As a matter of fact I still have a standing one with TFO.
The problem is, many of these famous fly rod mane are just holding companies that get 3rd parties to make their gear and stick on their name.
This is nothing new. The aforementioned watches look very much like 5-10x more expensive version seen in stores with other names on them.
I can now get these equal to the task off brand rods for WAY less that my guide discount ever could.
I am tired of bring 4 piece rods and seeing if I win/lose the oversize luggage lottery. So I bought a 4 and 6 weight in 6 and 7 piece configuration. I have used them both on the water and they are great! Casting well and handling fish equally.
When you look at the tubes you can see one of them looks very much like the tubes you get from a famous rod company, that also has their made in Asia.
There you have it 4 potential blog post in one.
Till Next Time
Book Your Manitoba Fly Fishing Adventure
Eastern Manitoba Still Water Trout
I was just at this little lake a while back and the difference is remarkable. Back on the 10th I caught 3 fish and shared the lake with a dozen or so boats and shore anglers. There were people there before me and after me. 4 Fridays later, my catch rate went up but, more importantly, I had the lake to myself.
Once the general fishing season starts, interest in trout peels off.
When’s the best time to go trout fishing in Manitoba?
When walleye (pickerel) season starts. The brief time (6 weeks) that the season is closed is the busiest time for new members to the forum and when I get lots of inquires via email , Facebook and Instagram.
I had to be back in the city to do a mixing editing sessions at my recording studio in Winnipeg so I left unnaturally early (for a professional musician) time in the morning and fished till mid afternoon.
Nine fish to hand, a few LDR’s and some other solid hits. All Rainbow Trout. Some bigger and some recent stockings
The winning fly of the day was my Fuaxhair Leech.
Here’s the photographic and video fun
May 10th Still Water Trout Fishing
East of Winnipeg is a nice large pond that is aerated and stocked with trout from the Whiteshell Manitoba Hatchery.
It was a windy day but not so much as to keep me off the water.
I landed 3 fish and had a few more battles including one that shredded my leader.
The winning fleyes were a Rusty (copper) nymph or a Rolled Muddler.
A friend and I were postulating that if muddler based flies were the starting point for new fly fisher men and women, instead of w**ly b*gg*rs that their success rate would go through the roof.
and some pictures of course
Don’t Ask because I Won’t Tell
Trout season on creeks and rivers in Manitoba opens on April 15th. It might as well be on April first for all the trout you’ll catch.
There are a few place where stream trout exist. They are so few that they are guarded by distance or well kept secrets. The most accessible one is the Whiteshell river as it leaves McDougall Bay (West Hawk Lake) and rolls past the Hatchery. 19 years ago and for a good while after that, this was a gem of a fishery.
Whiteshell River
Mostly stocked, with a little natural trout reproduction the fish population in here was massive. Along with the trout there was rock bass walleye small mouth bass and pike.
Since then it has fallen on hard times. In no particular order, hatchery stopped/drastically reduced stocking. Hatchery staff, in a direct conflict of interest, would and continue to, raise the dam to keep the lake levels high enough for there friends who own places on the lake.
This has repeatedly killed off, not just the tax payer paid for stocked trout, but has also made the river hell for native fish. To make matters worse, the well meaning but misguide local fly fishers association paid good money for unneeded habitat restoration. In a weird move, the “lunker bunkers” and artificially created dead falls were put in backwards. With the water low levels so low, the tree roots dangling over it look both ridiculous and like an environmental disaster.
Not the first time
The hatchery has been a sore point for me the last few years. They cut back on stocking lakes in the area and the river right beside them while making sure western long drive aerated lakes got theirs. They built a lovely 3 story mansion for seasonal staff to live in, a lovely fish shaped balcony to over look the now lifeless river, paying for float planes/ATV’s/Snow machines to stock back country (inaccessible) lakes, new signs to welcome you to the hatchery and to stop fisherman from cutting through there. All the while claiming they didn’t have gas money to deliver fish and saying they might need to split toilet paper in ½ to wipe their butts.
As I write this, the hatchery is not making fish but is instead buying eyed eggs from the states. That might mean the end of brood stock (big fish put into lakes) This mismanagement might lead to the end of the stocking program in general.
So why the long rant?
To weed out non like minded people.
I still won’t tell you where this fishing spot is!
So with the trout lakes within easy drive of Manitoba’s largest (and arguably only city) in distress, the only trout stream destroyed options for trout are pretty scarce. You have the 3+ hour drive to parkland lakes (that are only good in the spring and fall) and the ponds (that have there own problems of winter and summer kill).
Trading My Fly Fishing Skill for Information
A few time in the last 15 years, someone has want to learn about fly rodding and has been willing to trade for local fishing knowledge. Because of that I have been introduced to secret spots in popular areas. I use them for myself, friends and clients. These places are free of crowds, styrofoam, sunflower seeds, discarded fishing line, etc. If I see anything like that I pack it out.
One such place is ________________ I go there a few times a year and NEVER have to pick up trash. NEVER see another angler and catch small fish. This place is know of in theory but not in fact. It is a place in distress as well. Not from mismanagement or under funding but from beavers and low snow pack
I’ll let the pictures do the talking from my last two trips there.
Winter Tying So Far
By so far because I always have plan to tie all year long. This falls apart as I get busy with wedding ceremonies, student recitals, registering families for next year, vacations and, oh yeah, actually going fishing.
Typically I want to get my tying gear out once I am sure I am not going fishing again. But it always seems to be after Christmas when the vise come out.
Doing the math it seems I only have 4 month of tying done a year.
Here is some work and a little talk about the patterns.
These are streamers tied using the ball end from guitar strings as weight. The first is a Black Nosed Dace variant. The variant is because I don’t have any black buck tail. The Second is a Silver Darter (I also did a set of Golden Darters. I hate and have no Mylar piping and so, use dubbing and rib for durability.
Next up is some simple zonker strip flies. The weight is Bass string ball ends and so a ‘Bass’ fly is born.
Next up was finding some hot pink beads and making a Tupp’s Indispensable variant (Who uses ram scrotum hair any more) and something with a lot of red .
While on the topic of flymph style bead heads.
Found a bolt of this fake mohair a few years ago at Micheal’s Crafts and have been giving it away and making my FauxHair Leeches ever since!
Here we have some seasonal decorating stuff made into minnow patterns
Next row is the darters and black nose dace in various sizes
Back row is FauxHair leaches some with guitar string ball end as weight and behind them and out of focus is more Zonker Bass Flies
Fairford River Freeze Off (FRFO)
Every year for the past decade and a half, we have ventured up to the Fairford River. For the first long bit of it we went up the last Sunday of March. March 31st is the last day of Manitoba’s ‘general season’. Which is code for walleye season. So this event could be on any day of the month in that last week.
The last couple of years the season end has been amended to go to the last day of the public school systems ‘Spring Break’. As an example last year we went on April 1st. That can kinda be appropriate given the variances in weather and the wild swing in fishing.
The reason for going to this particular water is that it is the only open water (most of the time) in the province. While the water gets as cold as the rest of the water ways, it has a steep enough drop to keep from freezing.
The species available in the river are as wide as is available in the province at large (minus the stocked trout). The river is a connection between Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin and, ultimately, Lake Winnipeg.
This year we hit it on the last Sunday of the month which was the last day of the month AND the last day of the Manitoba general season
It was typical temperature wise with it being -2 and not getting much warmer and coupled with a steady north wind but either way, we got right at it.
The Fishing.
Truth be told this can be an under attended event. On good years it has just been me and a die hard or two. With fishing there are no guarantees. Some years we go and freeze are butts off catch nothing and some years we are shirt sleeves and catching everything.
In this light, I decided to pre fish it on a nice day prior to the event. Partly to show fence sitters that the fishing is good, partly to guarantee I got out there (just in case there was a snafu).
The Fish are Biting My Flies
Once it was established that Ciscos (locally known as Tulabi) and a whitefish were taking flies, then more people confirmed. So 5 people carpooled to got up to the Fairford River in Central Manitoba.
“Sorry About That” said Facebook
One problem that came to light was the, now tired, “Facebook ruining fishing” effect. I create an event every year and you know how Facebook will let you know about events in your area? Well I posted the pictures from my Thursday on the event to encourage fly fishers to take a chance. And some of the pictures made it very clear where on the river we were.
Clearly the the North side.
Come Sunday those 4 guys I pointed out earlier were there when we got there and held that spot till dinner time.
Now when I got close to them they yelled “ANOTHER WHITEFISH!” every time they landed a cisco I knew they didn’t know squat. Since I added a whitefish picture to the event, I made the leap in logic that these dudes may have known to come to this river, on this day and stand in this spot…or it may have been a wild assed coincidence.
I have no problem sharing water with other fishers even if they snoop our event, hog a spot and keep every fish landed (that’s what the yellow milk crate is for). Nonetheless it still makes me want to keep it secret. The yellow vests makes it seem like they were working in the area and not locals. The locals are easy to spot as they could not give a crap about tulabi or whitefish. They want walleye! So the locals stay away from the dam.
Of course whether they are local or not, whether they snooped the event and hogged the spot, it is still their right to fish. Heck there isn’t a limit on tulabi so all’s fair. Don’t want to come across as one of ‘those’ intolerant fly fishermen. But no sense doing all those other questionable things if you can’t live down to the bait fisher stereo type and leave your garbage.
Anyways I ‘Lockported’ them, moved into their area and then took over the spot when they had enough. That allowed me to finally catch a fish or 2 and eventually my first whitefish ever.
It also allowed anyone else who wanted, to catch some fish. We also had some pretty clean bite offs from what are obviously pike. I guess we could have switched to a bite tippet and got those too.
Anyways, it was a good day over all the guys that came were all troopers and I would fish with any of the again but, next year, I am keeping the invites to our forum, where I can control the privacy. Maybe a “whatsapp” group from the forum.
Robert Burton
204-770-0846
Florida Fishing Fun
So technically not Manitoba Fly Fishing but I am a Manitoban and I was fly fishing, so 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Every year or every other year we beat the cold, like so many, and go south. Sometimes we do the predictable thing and go to Orlando and theme park it. But most years we go to the 30a area of the Gulf coast portion of Florida.
This is a retiree, snowbird, artsy, all of the above area. So it is quiet. It is also not as warm but always warmer than Winnipeg!
It took me a few trips to figure out the fishing here. My first thought was to target the salt as it was everywhere and easy to access. I also want to get my first salt water fish on any tackle (which I did manage a couple year ago in Bonne Bay N.L.)
Eventually I decided to try for the freshwater fish. The ponds are not as numerous as they are in the Kissimmee area, but they are there. Online research did not reveal much. The 30a, Destin, Sandestin areas are not hot spots for fishing and most of the info was about the bigger lakes where one would need a boat.
But with fly rod in hand I found places that held fish.
The first spot I found was a weird experience for sure. Behind the Destin Commons Mall is two ponds. They have a tonne of Blue gill and the odd bass. What makes it weird is it is right beside the mall with lots shopping traffic. As well, there is a Bass Pro Shop in that mall. So you could go there, buy a licence and go fishing.
All the golf courses have ponds and because the drainage systems are all connected, they all have fish.
I tried Seascape Golf area and got chased off by security. So I accessed the ponds from a mall adjacent to the course and had a grand time. I had it to myself on Christmas Day but it was busy other days. The golfers playing through ranged from the friendly to the offended.
Also in the area is Topsail State park. The fishing there is slow but there are blue gills.
Matter of fact that is what you will always get in these Florida ponds.
We stayed at a different place this year and it was on Little Redfish Lake. I could see fish swirling off a point in that lake. I could see it from my balcony. It happened early morning and late afternoon.
And so readers I caught my first ever Redfish in Redfish lake!
The bass ponds were fished with a 4wt so the Bass gave a good accounting of themselves but the Gills not so much. The blue gill ponds were fished with my 2wt and so all the fish felt nice.
Here are a few of the fish caught over the span of 8 fishing attempts.
