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Cool pics, I also wish I had made it out there this summer but it's hard to find willing participants. IMO the North and South Kananaskis passes as well as Northover have some of the best scenery in the Alberta rockies. I remember a few years ago hiking up to the North pass from the Forks campground and wondering what Maude Lake would hold, and then decided to leave the rod behind for some idiotic reason. So many fish it was unbelievable. It also straddles the BC alberta boundary with some really amazing views. The Kananskis River would probably have fish in it, but it is very fast moving up there with not alot of good holding spots, but what do I know. It's definately worth the try considering the consolation prize.

Northover Ridge is cool, and Three Isle lake has good fishing for sure.

As someone who likes to hike and fish, your report is the coolest thing I've read on this board. I'm jealous. You have showed us that the rewards of fishing backcountry often have little to do with the fishing itself. Well done HiketoFish. A wolverine dude, a freakin' wolverine. Gives me chills down my spine. Hey, what are you doing next weekend?

This is crap news, I guess I'm staying in Calgary next weekend and just fish the Bow.

Nice fish, too bad the surfaceaction wasn't a little better. I guess the larger whitefish are probably congregating in the pools getting ready to spawn maybe? A stomach pump sample of myself would reveal that I have been feeding heavily on beer and rye for the past three days.

Holy crap, nice pictures and fish guys!

Great discussion guys. I think that trout are not just opportunistic and not just selective in their feeding, but maybe their habits change with changes in their environment like lack of food, water temps etc.) I do not believe that hoppers are as important as stoneflies in the sense that stoneflies are much more likely to induce selective feeding than hoppers. I think hopper patterns are as important as they are because they look so much like stoneflies. But then again, many attractor patterns that look very little like the natural. Kind of funny this topic came up after the wierd day I had yesterday on the Bow in the NW. I fished a Turks Tarantula and rubber-legged stimmie and every fish I caught except for 1 took the fly after it had sunk about a foot or so below the surface. I've had this happen before, but not to this extreme. The fish would completely ignore the fly when it was floating high, but then I would pull the fly under the surface and usually a trout would nose it or attack. More often than not I could see a trout upstream and would gently cast the hopper upstream of the fish and wouldn't even get a look. Then I'd go upstream and let it swing in and then sit in the current and then I would get at least two smacks from the trout, but very few hookups. At one point I would cast the fly 45 degrees upsream and quickly pull it under and then I could see fish following it downstream. Once I saw two trout follow it and neither take it, which is strange bcause I thought the competitive nature of the fish would take over (at least in my experience). Really funny day. Why would they only take the fly below the surface? I would think it was because they recognized it as a drowned hopper, but then I remember mkm and I throwing about 7 or 8 onto the surface of the Bow and watched as at least a couple trout smack them before they had a chance to sink.

Yeah, I had very poor luck fishing the Little Red, Burnt Timber and Panther Rivers two weeks ago. Beautiful pools and perfect runs did not produce. Doubt I'll go fish up there again anytime soon.

If they're as much fun on the flyrod as they are ice-fishing, must have been a great time. It's cool targeting different species to switch things up a bit.

Thanks Rocknbugs, I was pretty surprised to catch another large trout out of a small stream. Landed it with a three-weight rod and 6x tippet! Will post more pics later.

Thanks for the response Maxwell. What do you do when you fish a small creek with a streamer and there's no room to backcast and there's spooky fish everywhere? Why would a conventional fly rod and reel be the best choice, but not neceassarily the easiest? Thanks man.

I know this topic may be taboo amongst some flyfisherman, I do like to sometimes use a spinning reel when fishing nymphs and more commonly streamers on small streams like the Dogpound. I usually just use a light spinning rod as well, but I think I heard somewhere that using a fly rod with the spinningreel is the best way to accomplish this, why? I'm confused why a fly rod would make that much of a difference. I like the long drift on difficult current schemes and the ability to fish streamers deeper but I've never thought about the rod part. I think bringing a spinning reel on an outing is pretty convenient if you just switch reels with the same rod. Anybody else use this type of rig, and are there any tips you may have for the rest of us? Thanks.

My two-piece 6w hasn't broken yet, but I don't use it as often as my Scott 5w. I've heard of others who have broken them though. It's $25 to receive a new section? Now you are scaring into taking a backup to my TFO 3w tommorow.

Awsome bully man, 10 minutes is definately reasonable considering the size of that fish. My first bully was exactly half that size and I was pumped, so congrats man.

Got a lightning bug from the source and it looks great, at a buck a fly they look pretty good to me.

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I usually don't fish "crowded waters" either, but sometimes you don't have time to hike for two hours. Almost every trip I've made this year has been to obscure, far-off places where most people are too lazy to reach. If I get somewhere and see cars then I move on, but if I get there first and some douchenozzle crowds me then that's a different story. Then it's on, beotch.

Thanks for your opinions on this matter, I usually don't say anything and just give them the water I'm fishing but this night I had just had enough. I was seriously ready to fight (not the crazy woman of course), which is really sad I guess. I like your strategy Brent, I think I'll try it next time, unless it's a raft full of hotties then I can forgive them.

Hey pros, I've been fishing the Bow for years and never had problems with other (fly)fisherman like mkm and I had last light. After crowding-out another dude and forcing him to leave (swearing) back to his car, these three inconsiderate fisherman saw that I had just released a brown and decided they wanted in on the action. Two went 30 feet upsteam of me and spooked the rising fish I was casting to, and the other completed the sandwich by fishing exactly where I had just netted the last fish I had caught. This was the second time last night someone tried fishing within a short cast from me. I calmly confronted the women who seemed to be the instigator of the whole "oh, lets fish where he's fishing." She proceeded to tell me I didn't know what I was talking about and totally refused to listen to my case. This one was a real treat I'll tell ya. Anyways, I was just wondering what you guys do when people crowd you. Usually I'd just leave, but there were fish rising and I was running out of time before I had to leave. Plus we had already seen this beotch and her friends force someone else packing. If they would have asked if they could fish the run with me I would have probably agreed, but they just acted like complete morons. What's the safe distance? I usually give at least fifity yards, most the time even more.

Nice brown! There's a lesson here: spend lots of money on fishing and the fishing gods will reward your sacrifice of money! I hope so anyway, since I just purchsed new waders and boots today and can't wait to try them out tomorrow.

Maxwell, that's a good point about the emerger or pupa riding just below the surface. I always tell myself to tie on a little larger elkhair caddis and then a couple of feet down tie on an emerger and use it as a strike indicator. I've heard people tell me that it's all they do when fishing that hatch, and that they swing it around at the end of their drift too.

I've used the hopper-dropper technique a little bit, but always end up taking the nymph off because it is more difficult to cast along the bank in tight spots. Never caught nothing using that technique, but keep hearing it works so well. My question is, since you only use about 24" of tippet for the dropper, doesn't that mean you can only use it two feet of water or less? I fished hoppers and stimmies in fast runs 3 or 4 feet deep all the time, where there is no chance the dropper could sink fast enough. That being said, is it possible that a big dry on the surfce get the trout's attention and if it doesn't want to rise at least it will prbably see your dropper and hit it? I just can't imagine a beadhead with no split sinking fast enough, let alone an unweighted nymph on only 24" of tippet. This is a timely topic since lately I've noticed hoppers coming out.

What do you mean the Bow is closed for the long weekend? Either I must be gullible or the Bow's water is too warm. Wet waded the Bow yesteray and it felt like a dream, probably not for the fish though.