toolman

LOL....That's better. Now I understand completely.

Care to elaborate a little, as the "I don't agree" default position, does not give us any idea of why?

Great too see some highlights of your Bull Trout adventure guys. Thanks for taking the time to put this together MTB. It was fun to watch.

That's an excellent link Lonefisher. Thanks for posting it. RE:DELETED POSTS... We're running a family show here, Thanks.

Thanks to everyone for contributing their experiences and info. It has been a fun discussion and the reason I posted this was to learn more about what happens along our Bow river, not to prove a point, but to have an open discussion on the subject. I wonder if anyone could tell us what species of Hoppers are found along the Bow or anything about their life cycle, hatching, mating, colonization, migrations, migratory flights, food sources, behaviors etc. ? Anyone?

Of course that is what I also have heard from these Bow veterans. My point is not if trout will eat hoppers or not, of course they will, the point was that hopper fishing can run hot and cold over a cycle that is often years apart and that with the increasing anual abundance of Stoneflies, they are playing a minor role in the trouts diet in the Bow in the past few years. I collected hoppers on the weekend and did not find very many any closer than a 100 meters from the water, as there was too much moisture along the river banks with the cool nights creating a lot of condensation. I did the collecting/observing at about 1:30pm on a hot sunny afternoon. I only saw a couple of flyers and it was pointed out to me today that the cool weather in August may have stunted their developement and thus not many have functional wings, so no migratory flights anytime soon. Also, my point was that many folks have been fishing hoppers since early July with marginal success and that the trout were likely taking these Hoppers patterns as Stoneflys. This month, my goal is to collect, identify, photograph and learn about the life cycle of the Hoppers along the Bow river.

Wow, what a gem of a creek with beauty Rainbows. Were they rising willingly to the surface? Thanks for posting.

Great report and pics Brett. Thanks for posting.

Nothing but blue skies...Those are great pics Gary. Wish I was in one of them right now.

I have not seen much going on with the Browns yet, other than kyped jaws starting to become pronounced and beautifull colors coming in on them. Their spawning cycle is prompted mainly by water temps and light conditions. When water temps hit 48F-50F, they will start the migration and subsequent staging in mid October for the main event. Most of the Browns on the Bow will spawn in the city and come from as far away as below Carseland. We should start to see them migrating in the next few weeks, with the peak spawn historically bieng around the end of October, first week of November, depending on conditions. Most will over winter in the city, then migrate back downstream in early spring.

I would try Nymphing or Swinging a #12 Backswimmer, with a #16-18 Pheasant Tail or Black Copper John, both with rubber legs, as the droppers. Add a split shot above the first fly to get it down to the bottom and you will find trout with this rig for sure. Good Luck!

I was out this am for a couple of hours and a #16 Black Copper John w/ rubber legs was getting good action with a few nice trout taking hard hits on it, swinging it across at slightly slower than current speed. Best trout of the am hit twice on the Backswimmer in two casts. The second grab was solid and I was rewarded with a nice 20" Rainbow. Most exciting hit was when a 16" Brown slammed the CJ almost as soon as it landed and came right out of the water on the grab. Wait till she grows up to be two feet long, she's gonna be trouble.

Birchy, it's available at Fish Tales Fly Shop in Calgary.

This season, Skid Bitches have been king of the swing for me. With so many Stoneflys available on Southern AB waters this summer, the trout were really tuned into them many evenings/nights and mornings. I often would add weight to drowned adult patterns, that would rise to the surface on the dangle and recieve savage grabs. In the early part of the season, starting in May/early June, small BH nymphs and Caddis Emergers were slaying em' most evenings and I had success with them throughout the season. I liked using Copper Johns in size 14-16-18 in black or yellow, Soft hackle Caddis emergers, rubber legged Hares ears and Pheasant Tails, Prince Nymphs and lately, Back Swimmers. Also, skating Caddis adults worked ok at times. To my surprise, what did not produce a lot of trout for me, were streamers. So, so fishing with them this year and I tried them routinely as well. Yes, they did produce occassionally, but the least productive compared to the other types of fly's I used. So what have you been swinging this season?

Yeah, Broonies are on the agenda most evenings right now. September is Trophy hunting for those beauties only, not regular fishing, then off to Smithers, BC, to chase Steelies with Hawgstoppah, first week of Oct. There will be more time for whiskey and women later this winter when it's too cold to fish. Priorities boys, and a good plan helps too, except for the women part...usually turns into whiskey and fightin' over women down at the Back Alley...

Happy 57th Birthday Mr. T...Now go slam a few Westslopes this weekend to celebrate the occassion.

"I'm Driving'"

Another observation that I have made, is that these Claasenia's that have shown up in astronomical numbers this year, were eggs back in 2004 and survived massive flooding which scoured the river clean, creating a perfect environment for stoneflies. Likely the reason we had so many Salmon flys this year as well (Petronarcys Dorsata). So get ready when this seasons eggs grow into the mother of all Stonefly hatches when they emerge 3 years from now, in 2010.

Brians coming in tommorow afternoon and we can check that emergence site to see if they are still in business. They may be finished with the egg laying by now though and we would likely only see a few adults that are a week or two old. The adults become darker the older they get, both males and females and I am not sure how long they could live in the cooler temps of September. The Stones we have seen flying around this week are a different species and I have been unable to locate an emergence site, nor collect one that I have seen in flight. I am guessing/hoping that they are Doroneuria, which should be the next and final species to emerge this season.

And where does it mention ovi-depositing at night anywhere on that page, or on the link that I have posted on the entomology thread several times. Also, where does anything I have written about Claassenia's, contradict what is on this page from the UofA site? It mentions the same emergence cycle that I have written and says they are active at dawn, meaning there are still a few stragglers emerging, but I have not seen many as the Robins were always there. In fact, they built their nest only a few meters away. Pretty smart birds and the one constant predator I saw eating the Stones every day at sunrise and especailly sunset. The Stoneflys seemed to know the Robbins were there and delayed their emergences an extra 15-20 minutes past dark after the first few nights. I spent two weeks at the same site observing the emergence, mating and egg laying cycle of this species of Stonefly, every night at dusk and every morning at sunrise and through the morning when the egg laying would start. I have learned a great deal about them that I have never seen documented before. Keep digging if you wish, but remember, holes only get deeper...

The females have not finished fully developing into adults untill the morning. Also, they need the thermal energy of the sun to have the energy to ovi-deposit the eggs in the fast moving water. It may be because of predation by birds, that the skid bitches prefer the late morning starts and sunny, windy days. I watched a few stonefly nymphs make the error of emerging too early on a few nights, which made them an easy meal for the Robins who were waiting every evening at dusk for someone to make a mistake. The birds would come back at first light to eat all of the exuvia's (nymphal casings) on the rocks, from the previous nights emergence. I swing skid bitches at night because sometimes they fall into the water, (usually trying to escape from the males) and the females will try and skate to shore. Also in the evening an hour or so before dark, because of the strange migration that we observed of the Skid Bitches at the end of their life cycle, heading downstream away from the colony. I swing Skid Bitches from the mid morning untill mid-afternoon to immitate the egg laying runs. Trout will often be waiting near the emergence sites for these types of events to happen and are often willing takers to my presentations, which I sometimes need to swing right up to the bank in 6" of water before getting the hit..

Claassenia Sabulosa Stoneflys are the dominant Stonefly hatch on the Bow river. In their final Instar, nymphs migrate to slower water along the shoreline and colonize a few weeks before emergence. The emergence sites are usually a few rocks and the entire colony will continue to emerge on too these rocks for weeks on end. (These are my favorite fishing spots). The first few days of the emergence are mostly all males and then the females will start to emerge as well. The males fight for mating rights and often a female will be mounted as soon as she crawls out of the water, before she has even had a chance to emerge from her nymphal exuvium. The females will finish their final stage of developement into adults, through the first night. Egg laying starts mid morning if the temps are warm enough and will continue untill mid afternoon. The gravid females prefer warm, windy days to ovi-deposit their eggs and the earliest I have seen an egg laying run was around 10:30 am. They will crawl (not fly) on to the surface of the water and skid out to the riffles to ovideposit their eggs. The females have fully developed wings, but they are non functional. The males are brachypterous with stunted, non functional wings and are the reason they are sometimes called Short winged stoneflys, which makes identification of this species relatively easy. The emergence continues through the season with a higher ratio of females to males emerging nightly as the emergence continues. The females are called Skid Bitches as they skid/skate on the surface of the water when egg laying and they are called bitch, as they are female.(No wise cracks please). I also witnessed a phenomena one warm evening in July, that I have not yet explained, when dozens of Skid Bitches started crawling on to the water and skated down the calm flats for as far as the eye could see. Brian and I collected samples and were surprised to see that they had allready ovideposited their eggs and we wondered where they were going and why they would do this at the end of their life cycle. It's likely that they were attempting to get away from the aggressive males before darkness decended and the males come out with only one thing on their minds. I have information in print from different sources, that outlines the basic emergence cycle and I have observed and documented many details that I have never seen published before. So put that in your pipe and smoke it...sonny!

These were random samples taken over an extended period, from Glenmore bridge to Carseland, with varying weather and hatches. The results gave us a snap shot of the common and predictable food sources of the general trout population. Most fish samples showed the trout generally selectively feeding, with only one or two insect species dominant in each sample, with a majority of the trout keyed in on the same insects, on the same stretch of water on that day. Not as opportunistic as most would think, but rather selective on most days. Of course there was evidence of other insects in the daily diet, but they were locked in at different times of the day to a small range of food choices, which often would change through out the day. What they were eating at 9:00am could be dramatically different than what was found in a sample taken at 9:00pm from the same area. The diets of the smaller trout were slightly different at times, with a lot of jeuvenille boatman in their diets. Again, no hard statistics were kept by me and this is amateur biology at best, except for the info. from the Entomologist who was sampling/collecting, with my friend , who gave me a general report of their findings. The point is, no one reported any hoppers in the diet of any of their samples, which were mostly taken during daylight hours. So, I conclude that the trout have not been eating hoppers all summer, as many have suggested. They were certainly eating stoneflies though, especailly after dark. The dead or almost dead Stoneflys that I have seen in the drift, (spent females that had finished egg laying runs, mostly in the late afternoon on hot, sunny days), were submerged about 10"-12" under the surface and I had productive days/nights fishing at this depth. We also fished drowned adult stonefly patterns, deep on the stream bottom, both dead-drifting and swinging down and across, with rod shattering stikes on some days. I'll likely get a call from Max and the guys telling me to hush up about the fishing techniques I am talking about... So I will say no more about that...grin

I would suggest that it is difficult to compare artificails to live bait. I could go down to the Bow with at tub of NightCrawlers and catch a trout in less than a minute, as the bait will give off a scent trail that will drift downstream too all of the trout for a 100 meters or more. If we were to compare the catch rates of fishing with bait, to fishing with a wire wrapped SJW, it would be 10 to 1 for the Nightcrawlers. I have heard a few comments on this thread stating " Who cares?" Well I care, as I find it very interesting studying and learning the life cycle of the insects that are of importance in a trout diet. With knowledge of the behavior of insects through the stages of their life cycle, I will have more strategies/tactics at my disposal to increase my chances of success in varying conditions.

Bloom, you may be right and I will assume that you are. I don't use indicators very often anyway and when I do, I will take it off immediately if it gets hit as it is a reminder that in most cases, I should not be using it in the first place. Wongrs, From my limited knowledge of the life cycle of Grasshoppers found here in S. AB, I have learned that Hoppers tend to colonize in late autum and some species will then begin migration flights. It is the colonization along the grassy shorelines and the migratory flights that lead to the rivers edge, that present the best opportunities for fishing hoppers. My point in this discussion is that folks are fishing hopper patterns with limited success through the season and the success that they occassionally have is likely because the Hopper patterns are often very similar in size, profile and color as Stoneflys and the fish are seeing them as such. Other than the localized sites where colonization and migratory flight paths intersect the river, hoppers are not that common in trouts diets, as samples taken this season have revealed. I am sure that when a thousand or even tens of thousands of hoppers show up along a km or two of shoreline for a few days, some of them will end up in the water and the trout will go into a feeding frenzy as Fishead has described. I believe that the several months of Stoneflys emerging, have already conditioned them to eat big bugs that look a lot like the Stoneflys do.