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Posted

Hello my fly fishing friends,

 

Tis the season, and as the weather begins to grey and freeze it allows me the chance to get a little editing done.

 

Fly fishing the Black Shale was filmed in mid August, on a beautiful and remote river in central Alberta. We flew in with Ahlstrom Air, and had the chance to see all the main features of the river. Mike was an amazing pilot... what a ride! If you ever need a pilot, take my advice and look him up.

We flew the from the confluence up, and at the main wall we opened the chopper door to film it naked (no glass). Cory the camera man filmed out the open doorway. What a trooper.

 

The river itself is breath taking, so many falls and big bends it was difficult to decide which section to fish. With getting the chance to see the entire river from a few hundred feet up we settled on a braided section of fast long runs, but also within a day's walking distance of large falls. The trout in this river are the beautiful Yellowstone Westslope Cutts. Easy to the dry fly, but the big ones were picky. We would bunker bomb nymphs in the morning and go up top all afternoon.

Paradise.

Had some super hilarious times with the boy's, what a gong show. I'll have a blooper reel from this one for sure.

 

Big thanks to Cory our Camera guy, Trouttrek is a fishing god(look him up on youtube!), and Kelly. Without Kelly this just wouldn't of happened, so thanks again Kelly! I also owe Dave Jensen some props for his insight into the river and it's history, thanks Dave.

 

k, all that aside,

 

hope you all enjoy our two part season opener. And thanks for watchin!

 

Flight to the Black Shale

 

 

Fly Fishing the Black Shale

 

Posted
Hello my fly fishing friends,

 

Tis the season, and as the weather begins to grey and freeze it allows me the chance to get a little editing done.

 

Fly fishing the Black Shale was filmed in mid August, on a beautiful and remote river in central Alberta. We flew in with Ahlstrom Air, and had the chance to see all the main features of the river. Mike was an amazing pilot... what a ride! If you ever need a pilot, take my advice and look him up.

We flew the from the confluence up, and at the main wall we opened the chopper door to film it naked (no glass). Cory the camera man filmed out the open doorway. What a trooper.

 

The river itself is breath taking, so many falls and big bends it was difficult to decide which section to fish. With getting the chance to see the entire river from a few hundred feet up we settled on a braided section of fast long runs, but also within a day's walking distance of large falls. The trout in this river are the beautiful Yellowstone Westslope Cutts. Easy to the dry fly, but the big ones were picky. We would bunker bomb nymphs in the morning and go up top all afternoon.

Paradise.

Had some super hilarious times with the boy's, what a gong show. I'll have a blooper reel from this one for sure.

 

Big thanks to Cory our Camera guy, Trouttrek is a fishing god(look him up on youtube!), and Kelly. Without Kelly this just wouldn't of happened, so thanks again Kelly! I also owe Dave Jensen some props for his insight into the river and it's history, thanks Dave.

 

k, all that aside,

 

hope you all enjoy our two part season opener. And thanks for watchin!

 

Flight to the Black Shale

 

 

Fly Fishing the Black Shale

 

 

Excellent vid as always. Nicely done!

 

Posted
Sick heli shots, Your camera man is on it.... and the fishing's alright too! Any bulls?

ya man, Cory rocks, super lucky to have him on board. No Bulls, you can catch them in that system, just not up that far up.

Posted

Good show. Glad you had so much fun. :)

Saw this video last night about 45 min after it uploaded - was up most of the night working on something we're producing.

As a point of clarification, the river's cutts are ws with some yc genetics mixed in due to the hatchery rearing/mixing station.

Glad you flew with Ahlstrom. They are the only chopper co we've flown with for several years. For anyone reading this, use Ahlstrom and you won't worry about doors falling off or worse. That, plus the fare to fly in to the Ram is about 1/2 other local companies. The operation is simply night and day superior, always has been.

But I have to say, you flew to a spot that's literally a 15 minute hike from where I park my vw jetta wagon. :) I know why (I could see the river vis change as you flew upstream), but like I told you on the tele, I could hike you in to where the helis land in about 2 hrs... in that case it was 15 min from my car. :)

And watch that measuring, eh?

$10 says I know the next video will be shot here (45 min from my car):

smallfallsmils.jpg

Cheers

Posted

Thanks Dave,

 

I only bet when i know i'll win, and thats a bet i can't take, so your ten bucks is safe for now.

 

We did notice that with many of the fish the they were an obvious cross. The larger than average fish seemed to have more of the pure Yellowstone genetics, although i did catch a big beautiful hen that looked pure westslope to me. Needless to say the fish are beautiful and big. They eat just like cutts should, when they should, and seem to know how to use that heavy current to their advantage. That place is true magic.

 

Your right, that big black beach we stayed on was choice #2. The lower river was muddy on the flight in. We looked at spot 1 and it was Nestle Quick. As we flew over the upper section, it stood out to me as a good walking section of classic cutthroat water. Plus it was clear, and thats good for camera.

 

We did see people that came in on quads, but they were just hangin at the falls so it was all good. I want to float it next year so I marked the tricky spots on my gps on the way in.

 

It's a fantastic fishery, and as i understand it, you deserve some thanks for that as well.

 

 

Posted

I'll have to watch this when I get home tonight as the last time I watched a humble video at work I took alot of *hit for it, thanks alot Jay, lol, j/k

Posted
Just thought of this today, I meant my comments in a fun way, not any negative manner at all. I hope the tongue & cheek was taken lightly. :)

Good job.

:)

I didn't take as being even slightly negative, i really appreciate your feedback and input. You have been a great help through the whole process. I just glad nobody told me my net was too small! haha

Posted
I didn't take as being even slightly negative, i really appreciate your feedback and input. You have been a great help through the whole process. I just glad nobody told me my net was too small! haha

 

 

You know what they say about fishermen with small nets ;) baahahhahaa

 

or is it....

 

 

nevermind

Posted

Great videos, Jay. I loved the view from the chopper, though I think the quality was much better with the door open (thank you guys taking the risk).

It seems you fished some lighter tackle. What class rods did you use?

Posted
Great videos, Jay. I loved the view from the chopper, though I think the quality was much better with the door open (thank you guys taking the risk).

It seems you fished some lighter tackle. What class rods did you use?

Thanks Bandee,

 

I was using my little 4pc 4wt. Just big enough to handle the hogs but light enough apprciate the fight of a smaller fish. Anything three thru six would do just fine in there.

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