We met our host, Harley Bastien the first morning and got hastily organized in his beautiful riverside camp. The yellow and orange hued poplars bowed in welcome, sustained by the omnipresent southern Alberta winds.
Joined by Terry, Dave and Amelia we set out from camp and began our float. Colder air/water temperatures, slightly off colour water and visions of big browns dictated that we tie on tandem streamers. Dave used heavier weighted jig head configurations, while Terry and I threw bushier varieties. It soon became clear, as Dave started to move fish while we remained quiet, that getting the fly down fast with some weight was the order of the day. The fish were hunkered down deeper.
Brown trout, resplendent in their fall orange/brown hues came to the boat when lured from their typical lairs; undercut banks, sunken logs and deeper tailout pools. This was work and fish did not come plentifully to hand. We remained observant for surface activity but conditions favored deeper tactics. The occasional smaller fish nipped at a bank drifted hopper. Yet streamers were clearly the “flavour of the day”.
Everyone moved and brought to net bigger browns throughout the day. As our float neared the end at Highway 2, a beautiful brown tracked my olive streamer as I lifted my rod for another cast, inhaling the fly before it left the water and leaving an exclamation point on the day.