For the past number of years, me and buddy Klubber have been trading fishing trips in the late Spring and late Summer. In late Spring he comes to my cabin at Wakaw, SK and we toss flies and other lures for Pike, Walleye, and Perch. Then in late summer I pick him up in Lethbridge and we head to the Pincher Creek area to fly fish the trout rivers of the southern Alberta foothills.
We have had really good days, in both locations, and some days when we are just practicing casting, line management, and knot tying while testing all our rods and reels.
Tomorrow I leave for the AB portion and Klubber will be my guide, hopefully my net man, and the friend I share stories and lies with all the way back to high school and our minor hockey days. But first the prep. We both have all the gear we need. From waders to rods to nets, etc. Not the top of the line gear one pays ungodly amounts of money for to look their best with the shiniest of stuff, but good quality reliable gear, field and stream tested gear. Hopper flies have been the most productive flies in the past on the rivers we are most likely to fish over the next few days. We have pulled some nice Brown Trout up to 20″, some Rainbow Trout also up to 20″, and smaller Brook Trout.
I have always used store bought hoppers. This year, I checked out a how-to video on YouTube for tying hopper flies and set out to tie my own. I bought some materials I didn’t have and set out to follow the instructions. The first hopper fly from my bench was a bit of a mess:
Here it is out in the wild:
I have never been much a perfectionist when tying flies. In fact, a bit of the opposite. I like them a bit messy, a bit injured looking. I think that simulates an easy meal out in the real world. I did get a little bit better as I learned the techniques better, the 3rd through 10th flies are far better than the first two:
Still far from perfection. I’m okay with that. So much so that I have hopper fly #1 tied on and ready to cast at the first piece of water we stop at tomorrow:
Tonight I will load my Jeep with the gear for the trip, I won’t bore you with the list. If you are a fellow fly fisher, you know the list. Tomorrow I will pack a lunch for the drive and hit the highway, with the goal of having a ton of scenery pics and a few fish pics by sundown.