Prairie Trout.

We got out on the water a bit last week, and had some good luck even with the windy conditions! We headed up to Crow Creek mid-week with the expectation of hitting a good Blue Winged Olive hatch with a few midges tossed in for good measure, but the wind had different ideas. Bugs were hatching extremely well, but the wind would pick them up and sail them away before the trout could get a bead on them. Never ones to be deterred, we threw nymph rigs and caught lots of 12-16" browns and rainbows. Scud patterns were the ticket, fished below a New Zealand Indicator. These are typically pretty spooky spring creek fish, so the soft landing and small profile of the yarn indicator really helps you be stealthy and catch a few more fish! We did end up finding a protected stretch of creek and caught some really nice fish on Morgan's Midges and Klinkhamers. We came up to a big weedbed that was hollow underneath, and we could see a big, dark brown poking it's head out of it's lair. I caught a small rainbow, which the brown then chased around the hole trying to get a piece of. Figuring he'd move for a streamer, I cut my leader back, put heavier tippet on, tied on a Bow River Bugger, and plopped it in front of him. Two or three jigs later he ate the fly and shortly after he was in the net. This was obviously a really old, weathered fish that had been in the creek for quite a few years. He had a glazed over eye, rounded corners of his tail, and was a touch on the skinny side. Fish like this has been in the creek for a number of seasons, and have probably seen a fair number of flies over the years. It's oftentimes rare to see them during the daylight hours, as they spend much of their day laying in undercut banks, waiting for the cover of darkness. Jacob took a few pictures, and we revived him and slid him back into his weedbed. Overall, the fishing has been great and last week was no exception. Get out, get your boots wet, and catch a few fish. Ryan