Highwood Today

[brianscott]

Went and fished the Highwood with a friend today, my second time there.
It was a good day all in all

First day there, I hooked into 3 Bulls but failed to keep any on the line.

Just recently forced myself to learn to flyfish.
Seemed the trick was big streamers on the first cast in a new hole.
My first cast of the day resulted in a bull hitting the streamer and my leader breaking due to a unnoticed fray in the line.
Next hole, Same streamer pattern, first cast, a 19+ inch Rainbow.
My first fish on the fly in Alberta.
Two more holes with nothing.
Then a 16.5 Bow on the first cast in a new hole.
Then switched to a dry for a bit and hooked into a 15+" Cutty and bobbled the netting.

They seemed to be hitting the big streamers but not hooking up

Lost a Bull in the same spot as well.

Beautiful river and the fishing was decent, not a bad sunday.

19 inch Rainbow, My first fish ever on the fly.
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr229/brianscott1986/highwood1.jpg

Second Fish of the day.
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr229/brianscott1986/highwood2.jpg

Action Shot
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr229/brianscott1986/highwood3.jpg

Fun Day

Glad I forced myself to learn how to flyfish and thanks to a member here for all the help and tips, and for putting up with me.

[superspud]

GREAT FISH BRIAN!
mabey you can learn that alberta fishing aint so bad after all!

[The Fisherman Guy]

Nice work Brian, I fish those holes in the canyon section avidly, and it is not easy to get those bigger fish to take anythign once they have been spooked. Some great fish for the heavily fished canyon section of the highwood.

Nice work!

[zabbo]

First fish on a fly, 19" bow!! You're already spoiled!!!
The highwood is a beautiful river to fish and the fishing isn't bad either!!

Good job!

[brianscott]

I have to say I was officailly hooked on flyfishing when I watched a 20+ inch Bull trail then hit my streamer on my first visit to the Highwood.

And having a decent cutty take a dryfly was awesome as well.
I wish I had learned a few years ago when I got my rod, instead of leaving it in the closet everytime i went fishing.

A 19" rainbow was a definate bonus for my first fish on a fly.
Now I need a vest and Ill blend in a little better.

I hope to meet some of you out on the river.

Cheers,

Brian

[Ayr]

Nice work, thanks for sharing!!

See ya out there,

Ayr.

[fishstix]

I've had a couple of great days on the highwood this year. Landed about 25-30 cutts and bulls so far this year. The largest cutt was 20 inches and my biggest bull was 19. The water is so clear you can see the fish swimming about. The cutts have all come on H.L Varients. The bulls on some big bright streamers. Not sure what these streamers would be called, but i had origanally tied them to fish for pike.(they worked for both) I have had better luck fishing the highwood this year. It could be that i got a bit better, learned the river a bit, maybe the fish are more plentiful. My set up has come a long way. When i started fishing the highwood my friends said you dont need waders, the waters not that bad. Ha...You do need waders if you want to stand junk deep in the mountain water. Not only can you last longer in the water, you can hit spots from better angles. Theres nothing worse than seeing a fish feeding on the other side of a back eddy,and knowing that even if you cast your drift will appear unnatural or get sucked under right away or having to pass up a sweet spot because the trees behind you are too close. Most of my fish this year have come while i was standing in the water.
I was fishing on the longweekend monday. As i was walking back to my favorite spot i saw some horse back riders, they were stopped to let the horses rest. There were two boys about 10 years old fly fishing. I thought about how lucky thoses two were. Out in the wilderness, riding horses, fishing, learning all sorts of valuable life things. I wonder if they realize how lucky they are. After all they could be at home sitting on the couch playing video games.
Well gotta go