onthefly7 Posted July 13, 2008 Posted July 13, 2008 After getting skunked twice at the bow and once at k lakes I have decided to fish for cutthroat because I heard it is easy. Where is a pretty and easy spot to catch these cutties and if you could give me some tips on flies and techniques etc....I have no idea BTW... I did conquer the bow today with my first trout ever... a 21" rainbow! I see why you guys love this river Quote
Castuserraticus Posted July 13, 2008 Posted July 13, 2008 Pretty well anything in the Oldman River drainage basin. The cuts in the Bow system outside of Banff have been largely displaced by rainbows and/or brookies. Tribs into the Livingston, Oldman, and Crowsnest all have cutties. Quote
onthefly7 Posted July 13, 2008 Author Posted July 13, 2008 Pretty well anything in the Oldman River drainage basin. The cuts in the Bow system outside of Banff have been largely displaced by rainbows and/or brookies. Tribs into the Livingston, Oldman, and Crowsnest all have cutties. no I was saying I have not been able to catch bulls browns or rainbows so I have decided to try cutthroats Quote
reevesr1 Posted July 13, 2008 Posted July 13, 2008 no I was saying I have not been able to catch bulls browns or rainbows so I have decided to try cutthroats Get a copy of "albertas trout highway" by Barry Mitchell. Discusses the cuttie streams on hwy 40 (oldman drainage) along with access points and tactics. Invaluable resource. Should be available at Fish Tales. If not, Hansons downtown has it. Quote
Frankenfish Posted July 14, 2008 Posted July 14, 2008 As mentioned any of the major streams or tirbs along the trunk road are good. I have caught cutts all the way from the Castle in the south to the Cardinal and Pembina north near Edson. The Elk at Fernie is great, my favorite remains the Crow, heading there now for three days. I find they are aggressive feeders, can be fussy at times and tend to like cloudy days. I usually prospect with a olive woolly bugger or stimulator if no real hatch is on. Reading the water and presentation is the key to success as I see it. Also see if TU is doing the Quirk Creek project, good place to get some cutt experience. Good luck. Quote
Hawgstoppah Posted July 17, 2008 Posted July 17, 2008 Quirk Creek = brook trout removal... not many cutts there at this time Crow = Primarily rainbows - not many cutts there... Both offer decent beginner fishing, but not beginner "cutty" fishing, which is what this guys after :) I'd try the oldman river, livingstone river, and tribs. Play around in the smaller tribs I wont mention them here but everyone pretty much knows them all by now anyways. the tribs offer plentifull fish, smallish (4-12 inches) but lots of 'em. Every 2 foot deep slack pocket has a fish or 2 willing to take nearly any dry fly you can get in front of them Quote
Keith Posted July 17, 2008 Posted July 17, 2008 Quirk Creek = brook trout removal... not many cutts there at this time That project has been on going for many years now, and has made a significant impact. There are a lot of cutties in Quirk these days. Fish the lower sections and you'll be surprised. I agree with the recommendation to buy Barry Mitchell's Trout Highway. That book has put me onto more trout than any other, plus it's a good read. Especially for a beginner, it is invaluable. Quote
JMasson Posted July 17, 2008 Posted July 17, 2008 Easy to catch? They're a trout the same as any other. I changed flies 12 times this weekend before I finally hooked a rising cutt. I wouldn't call that an easy fish to catch. You still need the same technical skills to catch a cutt as you do with any other trout...and most other fish for that matter. I wouldn't go onto a cuttie stream thinking that you will catch 50 fish a day. They're certainly aggressive feeders but they can be picky buggers at times. Explore the rivers along the trunk road. You'll have fun. Quote
Hawgstoppah Posted July 17, 2008 Posted July 17, 2008 I changed flies 12 times this weekend before I finally hooked a rising cutt. Holy crap. either 1 - your on the Livingstone or middle to lower Oldman... or 2 - you need to work on your presentation :) (no offense meant)... 3 - you need to downsize your tippet and lengthen your leader... or 4 - you really need to write down what fly, and what date, and water temp, etc, and that should be the first one you tie on next year when you go and find the same conditions If you were up on one of the smaller tribs... that's nuts if you had to switch flies that many times Quote
Guest Sundancefisher Posted July 17, 2008 Posted July 17, 2008 That project has been on going for many years now, and has made a significant impact. There are a lot of cutties in Quirk these days. Fish the lower sections and you'll be surprised. I agree with the recommendation to buy Barry Mitchell's Trout Highway. That book has put me onto more trout than any other, plus it's a good read. Especially for a beginner, it is invaluable. I agree...cutties action has picked up here since the study started. Plus you can eat all the brookies you catch! Quote
JMasson Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 Holy crap. either 1 - your on the Livingstone or middle to lower Oldman... or 2 - you need to work on your presentation :) (no offense meant)... 3 - you need to downsize your tippet and lengthen your leader... or 4 - you really need to write down what fly, and what date, and water temp, etc, and that should be the first one you tie on next year when you go and find the same conditions If you were up on one of the smaller tribs... that's nuts if you had to switch flies that many times You can can take #2 off the list. I've been fly fishing for 18 years so the technical skills are halfway decent, at least. Also, you should've seen the cast I had to make to even catch the fish. In between a deadfall tree and the bank...about 16 inches, a headwind and with a slight curve to get around some overhanging branches from another tree...one hell of a cast...even harder to duplicate several times. I was on the upper Highwood. I had a 12 ft. 5x leader with about 3 ft. of 6x tippet...not the problem. I caught several other fish on my first or second cast, earlier in the day. Simply put, the fish was extremely picky. Like I said, they're not "stupid" and they're not all "easy to catch". They're a trout...just like any other trout. Cheers, James Quote
Hawgstoppah Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 Holy crap. You ran into a Harvard Cutty then. Upper highwood getting slammed these days too now? I've noticed the harder the fish get "fished" the smarter they become. By the way, that was not intended as a slam in any way. A guy with 18 years of fishing running into a cutty like that, means the cutty is one badass fish and probably is seeing more pressure these days too. How much have things changed out there in the last 3 years? I havent gotten to the small cutt streams for that long, sadly. Quote
Hawgstoppah Posted July 18, 2008 Posted July 18, 2008 Also, you should've seen the cast I had to make to even catch the fish. In between a deadfall tree and the bank...about 16 inches, a headwind and with a slight curve to get around some overhanging branches from another tree...one hell of a cast...even harder to duplicate several times. James So, um, you said you changed flies a dozen times. After ya got the fish...Did ya go grab the 11 you stuck into branches in this situation? :):) lol Quote
JMasson Posted July 19, 2008 Posted July 19, 2008 Only lost one to the branches. The other ones are nice and dry and back in my boxes ready to be used on another outing. Quote
bigalcal Posted July 23, 2008 Posted July 23, 2008 I"ve never caught a "smart" fish in my life. Any one else? Quote
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