TR: Getting an education on the Crowsnest (very long)

ROFFians,

I just returned from a wonderful trip to the Crowsnest Pass and
environs. We went there for SWMBO's high school reunion and I took the
opportunity to educate myself on the trout in the Crowsnest River.

Short version: Fished dries, caught lots of rainbows. Saw some very
cool scenery. Took tons of photos. Drank many beers. Didn't fall into
the river. Saw some bear tracks but no bears.

Long version: We arrived in the pass on Thursday after a hellish
day flying. Dallas had been blasted by rain the night before and
several flights out of Austin had been cancelled, so the would-be
passengers were all returning trying to get out of town when we arrived
at the airport. American Airlines staff did a nice job as they pulled
passengers from the lines as their flights were getting close to
departure, and took us to a couple of counters where they got us on the
flights in time.

Still, we arrived in Dallas with less than 10 minutes before our
connecting flight to Calgary was to leave (it showed on time for
takeoff). Hustled our butts and got to the gate 3 or 4 minutes after it
was supposed to take off, but needn't have worried as everything was
delayed. Luckily they even got our luggage transferred in time.

Arrived at our lodgings just below the Adanac Road in East Hillcrest
(http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/house01.jpg) about 7:00 after stocking up
on supplies (read: Big Rock Trad Ale for me and rum for SWMBO) on the
way. I've been to the Pass several times, but I must admit that
anticipating fishing the Crow gave me a totally different perspective.
I was especially pleased when I saw that our house was just about one
kilometer down the road from the East Hillcrest bridge.

Friday saw us heading the the Crownest Angler to get my license, and
then back to the E. Hillcrest bridge. The winds were down, so I got a
chance to fish my 3 wt. I hooked up almost immediately with a little 6"
bow (taken on a #14 Royal Wulff). Moving upstream from the bridge I hit
some beautiful fishy-looking water (outside bend with an undercut bank
and a gravel bar on the inside of the bend) and found small fish rising
all around. I couldn't figure out what they were feeding on (midges?),
but saw some yellow sallies and a couple of what appeared to be green
drakes, so I tried a few different flies to see if I could get their
interest. They ignored me but kept on rising.

Finally I just tied on a #16 parachute Adams and immediately started
to get some action. They were all small, but I didn't care, as they
were fun on my 3 wt. (and I wasn't about to start chucking hardware
trying to get down deep with that rod). I fished from about 10:00 to
about 2:30 when the wind picked up and overmatched my rod. So I hiked
back to the house and relaxed with a cold one.

Saturday morning we headed up the Adanac Road to check out the area
where the massive Lost Creek fire had hit last year. It was a miracle
that the fire hadn't hit several of the towns in the area (and the
locals said it was only because the normal winds didn't materialize
while the fire was close). It was quite a sight to see how Mom Nature
recovers, as there were abundant wildflowers and grass growing all
around dead, blackened trees.
(http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/adanac02.jpg and
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/adanac04.jpg)

We drove up through the Pass
(http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/adanac%20pass01.jpg) and down to the
Carbondale River. It's supposed to be a good cutt stream and looked
very inviting (http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/carbondale01.jpg), and
while I didn't get a chance to fish it due to time-constraints, I plan
to return to give it a try.

On Sunday we did more sightseeing, as the day dawned overcast and
cool and proceeded to get cooler and more overcast. We hit another
forestry trunk road, this called the Kananaskis Road out of Coleman. It
winds its way around until it reaches Racehorse Creek, which is supposed
to be another good cutt stream.

Monday I got my next chance to fish, as SWMBO took me to the river a
bit below Frank Lake to a spot she and her dad used to go to fish. It
was a perfect spot, as it was below a little falls, and was a nice pool
with some boulders around it and a nice shallow run at its base. (This
was the view I had from the water as I was standing behind nice boulder:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/frank08.jpg. And here's a pic SWMBO took
of me fishing the spot: http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/frank05.jpg

I first tried a few different flies (Trude, Humpy) before changing
over to the parachute Adams again. As soon as I switched I was into
fish again. I caught between 12-15 fish in a couple of hours, with the
biggest being about 13-14". Most were smaller, but they were all eager
and I had the best time I've ever had fishing. The setting was perfect,
the fish were cooperative, and the weather was ideal. Best of all, I
was taking them on dries, and they were wild rainbows, not factory fish.

I also learned a lot that day. The water was clear enough that I
could see fish rise to the fly and refuse or take it. That taught me a
lot about the drift I was getting, and made me concentrate on keeping my
casts short and controllable. After a while, I started seeing the
"flash" even when I couldn't see the shape of a fish, and that's when I
caught my biggest fish, as I saw him move underwater and was able to
target him a second time.

Wednesday I got a chance to fish the Crow from below the E.
Hillcrest bridge back up to the bridge. Unfortunately, I was a bit
ooverly-optimistic about how much water I could cover in four hours, and
wound up having to bypass some beautiful water in order to meet up with
SWMBO at our designated time. I will return to that stretch and I
*think* I could do it justice in about 6-7 hours.
(http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/crow02.jpg and
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/crow04.jpg) As it was, I caught some
dinks and then wound up hiking for 45 minutes straight just to get to
the bridge.

The last few days were spent visting friends and so I didn't get
back on the water, but it was a fantastic learning experience for me,
and a great trip overall. We *will* go back so that I can continue my
education.


Chuck Vance (totally hooked on this stuff)