Dry fly fishing locations

[TroutmasterJ]

Hey everyone! First post here, but have been constantly browsing this fishing forum for several months due to the great advice and stories...

I've been fly fishing for about 5 years now and must say that this summer everything seems to be coming together although I am far from mastering this art.

I fish primarly the Bow river via nymphing and now I am starting to get the urge to focus on dry fly fishing. Unfortunately, I'm finding it difficult to be successful fishing the top waters of the Bow.

I live close to 22x Highway and was wondering if anyone could point me in a direction from there to hit a body of water that will satisfy my need to catch a trout via dry fly. Also, any pointers for the Bow is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Lornce]

Walk the Bow and look for "snouts"

[mikeym]

if you don't mind travelling about 2 hrs, i would go and hit up the rivers and creeks around Crowsnest Pass area. some very beautiful waters there that are perfect for catching some nice trout on the dry. my personal fav in that area is the Livingstone. amazing river with some amazing cutts and bulls in it.

lots of other great rivers to explore down there also, Dutch, Racehorse, Oldman, Cataract to name a few.

these rivers will be a lot easier to fish with a dry fly then the Bow in my opinion.

if they weren't so far away from Edmonton, i would be fishing them every weekend.

Rgds
Mike

[Jadham]

Most quality dry fly streams are overcrowded or jealously kept secret.

Easiest species to catch on the dry fly are westslope cutts, look and listen for these streams (poster above has mentioned a few). For cutts use the elk hair caddis in sizes 10-14 on 3-4 wt rod ... this is my top searching dry fly for cutts (for bows or browns works better when they are actually hatching). A good day on one of these streams and you're almost a fish a cast... (time to move to the next pool when you stop getting the hits).

The best place for above is the Elk River by Fernie, but you have to pay extra to fish there (B.C. fishing licence w/ Classified surcharge).

[keeks]

I think your best bet would be to wait for the peak of summer and hit some streams known to contain cutthroats. They love the drys. But as mentioned earlier, these rivers can be quite busy. Prepare to put on some miles to get away from the bootprints.

[TroutmasterJ]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Tied my first adult Caddis the other night - I'll check out the locations mentioned above and test it out.