Trout Opener Advice
Tip #1: BE CAREFUL!
A wading staff can help you navigate murky water, use it to probe ahead of every step to alert you to sudden changes in depth that you might otherwise not see, also use it to assist in your stability while wading. That belt that came with your waders, it is there for your safety. Your wading belt helps keep water from filling your waders if you go for a plunge, don't forget it when you head out!
There is not a single fish in this world that is worth your life. If conditions are unsafe, do yourself, your family, EMT's, and rescue crews a favour by staying out of dangerous water, and keep aware of your surroundings.
Tip #2: Go With the Flow Knowing where to hit the water after rain storms is difficult at times, a tool that we use in the shop to gauge the river flows is a government of Canada website. Thousands of rivers and streams across Canada are monitored in real time, and are listed on the Water Office site.
To find your local river click here and enter a river name into the 'Station Name' field, or use the map search function and find the nearest monitoring station to the area you want to fish.
If it is your first time on the Water Office website and you do not know what the ideal discharge rate for a particular river is, think back to your last visit to that river and what date it was. You can access historical data for that exact date and use it as a baseline. Build up a history of river flows every time you head out in a log book, and start your own record to reference.
If the chart for the river you wish to fish looks like the one below, you may want to consider other plans. A rapid climb, as shown, is a sign of a major rain event, or thaw, and the river may have become un-fishable and/or dangerous to wade or navigate by boat.
Tip #3: Head to the Bank Forget belting out long casts to the middle of the river, practice your short game and hit the banks. Where you usually stand in the river, and where you will want to stand in the river this weekend to avoid the current, this will be where the fish are hanging tight. Fish standing on land, if you can, and keep high and dry. - Fish don't want to fight the current just as much as you! -
Tip #4: Get Noticed
Use flies that the fish can see, don't be afraid to go a little larger than usual, bring out the flies that get noticed. Natural colours and near imitations of insects can get lost when the water is muddy, our picks for higher & dirty water are pinks, oranges, reds, these are colours that pop, and any colour that profiles well, such as dark shades or olive, browns, and of course, black.
Pounding the banks with streamers, and nymphing with worm patterns in the same area, that's what we'd be doing!
We're stocked with all of your high water, low water, clear water, and dirty water fly needs, come down and fill up!