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  #1  
Old 08-01-2018, 03:28 PM
aiceeslater aiceeslater is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 52
Question Help! Upper Braz/Blackstone/Chungo area

First post here. Been reading and learning lots from you guys. I’ve been fishing my whole life but this is my first year fly fishing.

I’ll be touring around the Blackstone, Brazeau and Nordegg rivers. I’ve heard Brown Creek isn’t bad. Basically down the trunk road between the Elk river road and hwy 11. I’d take any advice I can get on Ram River too as far as where to go from Nordegg, heading south. Not scared to hike in, I’m usually solo but don’t mind company.

Wondering if anyone has advice for me heading into this area for spots they don’t mind talking about or flies they have good luck with in that area at different times of the summer.

Id appreciate any help I can get. Even if someone thinks this isnt an ideal area (its close to where I work) and could recommend something else close by or near Drayton Valley.
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  #2  
Old 08-01-2018, 09:05 PM
smitty9 smitty9 is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 695
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AC Slater:

Good of you to join the forum. There is a wealth of knowledge and info here.

One thing I will advise you to do is to use the search function, ESPECIALLY the "Advanced Search" function. I'm not intending that to be a 'smart alec' reply, but in all seriousness, I was just messing around today using it, googling names of rivers and creeks, and I found loads of info, including 3 brand new spots to fish. Limit the search to the fishing and fly-fishing sections, but change it to search entire posts (not just titles), and you'll get results.

That said, I haven't been to any of those watersheds this year; so I can't tell you how the fishing is. Probably your best bet is the Blackstone. You could also try the Nordegg river, but it can be some walking between good holes. The tribs of the Nordegg hold fish. Fish are most everywhere in that region.

If you haven't used this website yet, it's valuable in telling you stream levels and flow. Bookmark this:

https://rivers.alberta.ca/

As for flies, all the classic flies work; parachute adams, stimulators, elk hair caddis, hoppers, beetles, ants coming on in season. might see some green drakes and golden stones as well. Nymphs are productive; prince nymph, pheasant tails, copper johns, san juan worms, bitch creek nymphs, black and golden stoneflies. Most of these should be bead headed or weighted. Some bull trout in that country, carry black, white, purple streamers in size 2 through 6.

As I said, I'd try the Blackstone upstream of the FTR.

-Smitty

P.S. Being close to Drayton Valley, I'd also normally recommend the Pembina watershed in it's middle and upper reaches. But it's closed to angling for 5 years from the middle up. Check your regs.
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  #3  
Old 08-02-2018, 03:57 PM
aiceeslater aiceeslater is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 52
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Thanks for the info. Very helpful and much appreciated. So far I’ve fished the Nordegg because it’s so close to where I work but I haven’t had any luck. Been 3 times for about an hour each time. Tried riffles and pools. Nothing yet. I’ll get it. I’m basically teaching myself apart from some YouTube videos. The fish will come.

I checked out that link. Handy site. Forgive me if I come off as a noob asking but is this mostly for when it rains and the rivers rise and start getting dirty or too fast? Low flow/water levels is what you’re looking for? Pretty cool that they trend the info so you can see water levels compared to recent days.

PS- I know the Pembina. It’s closed upstream of Lodgepole so lots of people still
go there in the Drayton area from what I know but I don’t fish it personally. Maybe I should start.
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  #4  
Old 08-02-2018, 04:41 PM
smitty9 smitty9 is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 695
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AC:

I'd still try for the Blackstone. Or try Shunda creek, access anywhere off highway 11. One of the tribs you could try, if you don't mind small brook trout is Grey Owl creek (trib to the Nordegg). Access is just south of the bridge over the Nordegg using the Sunchild road. Get a good map.

The river flow website won't of course tell you how murky the waters are, but you can always make a good guess based on height and volume flow. What most experienced guys do is develop a sense of how easy the (bigger) rivers are to wade, and what the fishing will be like based on the weekly and yearly graphs. Just comes with time and experience. For example, good, experienced guides on the Bow river will pretty much know how long a float will take them based on the graph. Over time, experience and flow can sometimes give you a pretty good indication of what may hatch - coupled with knowledge of what time of year you are on.

Mostly, it's a gauge on how long a float may take and/or for the rest of us walk and waders, how safely a river may be waded. Yep, the comparisons are useful.

Don't necessarily want low flows, though it makes for easy wading. Normal flows is what you want. Normal is different for every river. Yes, while I do like lower flows, in the past few years, low flows often mean warmer stream temps, and stressed fish. Be careful of "too low" flows, and monitor the stream temps!

Have fun!
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  #5  
Old 08-02-2018, 04:59 PM
Flymph Flymph is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 61
Default Temps?

[QUOTE=smitty9;3820498]AC Slater:

Good of you to join the forum. There is a wealth of knowledge and info here.

One thing I will advise you to do is to use the search function, ESPECIALLY the "Advanced Search" function. I'm not intending that to be a 'smart alec' reply, but in all seriousness, I was just messing around today using it, googling names of rivers and creeks, and I found loads of info, including 3 brand new spots to fish. Limit the search to the fishing and fly-fishing sections, but change it to search entire posts (not just titles), and you'll get results.

That said, I haven't been to any of those watersheds this year; so I can't tell you how the fishing is. Probably your best bet is the Blackstone. You could also try the Nordegg river, but it can be some walking between good holes. The tribs of the Nordegg hold fish. Fish are most everywhere in that region.

If you haven't used this website yet, it's valuable in telling you stream levels and flow. Bookmark this:

https://rivers.alberta.ca/

Smitty: Have you been able to make this site spit out temps?
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  #6  
Old 08-02-2018, 06:01 PM
smitty9 smitty9 is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 695
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No! Have you? That would be a cool feature...
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  #7  
Old 08-02-2018, 08:20 PM
Flymph Flymph is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 61
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smitty9 View Post
No! Have you? That would be a cool feature...
No, I am hoping one of our more tech-types will chime in with some help.
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  #8  
Old 08-03-2018, 10:15 AM
Justahunter Justahunter is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 110
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Blackstone is always a great choice. Barry Mitchell almost lived there in the summer. Lots of great user maintained camping usually good water. Chungo Creek Outfitters are located where the Blackstone and Wapiabi join and offer river reports to those that phone them. They also do super backcountry fishing trips for those that do not want to backpack camp. A lot of the good fishing is far enough back that a camp is almost a necessity.
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  #9  
Old 08-03-2018, 10:34 AM
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keeks keeks is offline
 
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Location: Whitecourt
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Just a quick tip to help you out. Get away from the easy access points. The further you can get from the bridges and roads and quad trails, the more success you will have. Your average joe 6 pak doesn't wander far from the bridge. Those fish are probably gone, or very wary. Put on some steps and your catch rate will go up.
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