The 2020 Fly Fishing Season so Far
One thing that has not been affected by the government shutdowns is fishing. The only exception to this was cancelling our Fairford River trip. People still went but there was no official day to meet up thereby circumventing the gatherings restrictions.
You may ask why I am lumping 4 months of fishing related reports into one post. Well the answer is simple. I was in the process of changing web hosts and any updates I did on the old server, would not make it to the new one.
Fly Fishing Reports for the Months of May and June.
On the opener, as we call it, I elected to stay near home. I work Saturdays and the opener is ALWAYS on the mother’s day weekend. I went to Woodhaven Park where Sturgeon Creek runs through and got skunked.
On next weekend I went to a secret location that has been fantastic in the past but is falling on hard times. I keep it secret not to be a jerk, not because the fishing is easy but to stop the dilettantes from ruining it with styro foam, litter, driveway blocking and other activities that would lead to not trespassing signs and such.
The next weekend I was back to Woodhaven after work.
Lot’s of active fish, a few hits, but just this one pike.
The next weekend saw hit up Big Creek on the western edge of the North Whiteshell Provincial Park. Pike abound as well as small mouth bass.
It was windy and we had all kinds of weather.
The next week I spent the Friday guiding a fellow around the same area. He didn’t do well but he had fun. Each location had fish as I tested the water and found active fish.
Fished twice in the same weekend!
On the Sunday after we went to check out some water coming off the east side of RMNP. Rumour had it some brook trout were stocked in one of the creeks, creeks that had had stockings before.
We found no fish but some fantastic water that could hold fish if the province had the will.
In June we spent the first weekend revisiting a spot I took my client to in May. We did well.
Hunt Lake Rebound
The next weekend had me going solo to the southern Whiteshell. I picked a funny day to go. It was the free park admission and free fishing weekend. To say it was busy was an under statement!
Stopped at Lyon’s lake and it was a turbulent mess with the high SE winds. I was committed, equipment wise to lake fishing, so the river was out of the question. The thought about grabbing a bite at the Night Hawk Cafe and just driving home crossed my mind! Glad I didn’t.
While parking was at a premium at Hunt lake, it was mostly for the hikers. As I arrived the park patrols were checking barbs on the dock and sending folks home. Educating not fining!
Rigging up quickly, I got to work. My goal this year was to slow all my presentations down in general but on these eastern lakes in particular. I had gotten to used to fishing these lake as they were and as they ‘should be’ instead of fishing them as they are.
With a sink-tip 4wt as my opening bid I was quickly rewarded!
It was slow after that but there was some surface action. The problem was the high winds made most of the lake un-fishable. Normally, even in the worst winds, this little lake is immune. Anyways I caught a more normal sized brookie and perch and the last fish was another good one.
After years of neglect and a blatant favouring of western lakes, it is nice to see this lake produce. Not just for me, but for the dock anglers as well.
The only drag is the drive home had a 50km detour off Highway 1 to get home.
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 River Tour September 2nd 2018
I had been fishing since I got back from my trip to Newfoundland (where I fished a lot!). One because I was quite busy with gigs (playing music) two, we had some brutally hot weather and three, I was giving my music school a bit of a make-over.
But this date was booked way back and I was kinda needing to get back out there.
Because it was the Sunday of the last long weekend of the summer I could not take him to all my spots. Luckily I have a few spots that are less known.
We caught trout, pike and perch and missed out on bass which are pretty likely and walleye that are almost impossible this time of year for wading fishers.
The client was from Italy and marveled at all our wild spaces and so much open areas. Italy has almost twice the population of Canada but could fit comfortably inside our province.
Ironically, we happen to be planning a family vacation to Italy next year and my client this day has offered not only tourist advice, but to set up some fishing opportunities!
Funny how things work out.
Anton’s Lake Manitoba
Got a last minute call to guide a visitor from Ontario. He had a trip with friends planned but that got cancelled.
Gave him the choices and he picked Anton’s Lake just west of Minnedosa
The client got in the water an took off to be left to his own devices (after having me choose a fly and nix the bobber…err…strike indicator.
He decided to go to the enticing back bay that never seems to have fish and I went to where the wind was pounding the shore.
Experimenting with a floating line and a weighted leech pattern and a sinking line with a minnow patter, I got my first fish. A recently stocked rainbow fell to a black muddler.
More experimenting got me a nice fat 23″ brown trout on a Sparkly Nymph pattern of my own Design.
I called the client over after this fish and got him to work the same shore line. As the wind was constant the main trick was to keep kicking into the wind while casting to shore where the fish would tend to be feeding. Even stopping your kicking to fix your gear or tie on a new fly would push you into the weeds and spook the fish. As this was his first time in a float tube, he still managed to get a couple of bows one in the 16″ range. As he was content to be off on his own I did not get any pictures of them. I did manage one more brown.
While this was not a classic day on Anton’s we still out fished the trolling gears guys who report anything from 0-1 fish caught.
Lyon’s Lake Manitoba October 15th 2017
The 15 is almost the halfway point in October. In most years this means only 16-32 days left in our fly fishing season. Our (very few and far between) trout streams close at midnight October 31st and the beginning of ice on the lakes is not far away. We have manage to get on a lake as late as November 18th, but that is a rarity.
Last time I was at Lyon’s, it was an epic skunking. Sure it was the height of summer but never have I been shut out on this lake.
Things are somewhat back to normal now.
9 Trout to hand mostly in the 12″ range the one that made it to the net but not photogenically, was a fair piece larger maybe 16″. All but the bigger one, was a jumper making amazing leaps out of the water, probably only because I didn’t film it
OF course the pictures Except for the perch they are clones of each other. I could have take the same fish and re-positioned it over and over and the effect would have been the same Please excuse the lower quality of the photo as I was trying a lower resolution to same time on editing later.
A good day for a good smoke
First trout of the day
Decent Perch but what are they eating that the trout can’t have?
The last hours of sun are always best
Hitting for the Cycle
In baseball, hitting for the cycle is hitting a single, double , triple and a home run in the same game. For me it was getting one each of our major warm water fish. A bass, a pike a walleye and a perch. The perch didn’t stick around for a photo but there is film to come!
I was happy to get the ‘hat trick’ (which is 3 goals in a hockey game) at my first location but the 4 species is nice. It was strange that the pike was the elusive one as in Manitoba, the pike is everywhere. Most of the fish fell for a #6 Muddle variant with the last one falling for a deer hair slider
A Day Guiding
On May 26th I took a Father Son duo fishing. They were both from Brasil. The elder was very experienced with the fly rod but spoke little English and the son spoke excellent English but knew little about fly fishing.
Worked out fine. Dad needed no monitoring, could cast and fish. Could read water and choose flies. This allowed me to help the son.
Over all they were looking to catch some fish and take in some wilderness scenery. The weather and the scenery cooperated, the fish, not so much.
First stop was a hydro dam along the Winnipeg river. Except for the dam, the scenery is great. This place is usually good for a few fish, but on this day, after a couple of hours, we got none.
Down the road to the next stop. Where we did get some action in the form of hits and a couple of fish.
One small rainbow trout and one medium tiger trout.
Off again to get some pike and maybe a walleye or bass.
First stop was a launching area where we got some hits and landed on small pike.
Next (and last) was a favorite area of mine. Rare for Manitoba, in that that is more than a few feet of wade-able river.
The elder got 6-7 pike. I even took off my guiding hat and caught a couple as well.
As we had been at it for 10 hours we headed home. On the way we saw a bear in the ditch.
Here is the (short ) film of our day.