It’s hard for me to keep tabs on stream conditions, so I rely on a few of my friends and the Alberta Fishing Guide Magazine to keep me updated. This past summer, when my friend Adam phoned me to let me know that one of our favourite creeks was fishing well and conditions were perfect, I nudged my wife and received her blessing to fish for a few hours one evening.
The creek we were to fish is hit and miss. There are times when the bugs are hatching, or terrestrials are hitting the water, and around every bend, behind every willow you will see a snout if you take the time to look. On other days with the exact same conditions, you would be hard pressed to find a fish no matter how hard you watched or how hard you fish.
We geared up before looking at the creek, and my anticipation grew as it had been a while since I’d been able to sneak away. First look at the creek and Adam was right, the stream was low and clear and the water temperature hadn’t hit the usual late-August temperatures that leads to sluggish fish. Canopy cover is limited to a few willows on this reach and we had long flat clouds with a setting sun, which doesn’t make for ideal spotting conditions. We hoped for a decent hatch of mayflies or caddisflies to get some fish moving.