The Bresnahan brothers have fished with us in Fernie, Pincher Creek, and Calgary, catching everything from browns to cutties as they circumnavigated the Canadian Rockies. This past week they decided to venture farther west, casting dry flies onto the Columbia River in search of the landlocked steelhead that lurk there.
Welcome back, boys.
We’d sold them on fishing #6 foam, and the experience didn’t disappoint. Large dry flies were on order as October Caddis (aka Fall Caddis or Orange Sedge) took to the air come nightfall. Sure, it’s only September, but try telling that to the gargantuan insects or the eager trout thrashing at them. ‘Octobers,’ as they’re commonly called, are as autumnal as pumpkin pie and treestands in the whitetail woods.
It’s been another great fly-fishing season at Dave Brown Outfitters. We coped with low flows and high water temperatures, forest fire smoke and stream closures, but one of our advantages is being able to shuffle clients to where the getting is good, whether that’s an Alberta tailwater, a remote B.C. walk-and-wade, or, well – the Mighty Columbia. Our guides are versatile and capable on a multitude of watersheds, and that translates into assured excellence for you.
A day or two in the boat with the Bresnahans is a treat. They have that easy going Maine nonchalance and wryly kid and kibitz with one another as fish are missed and caught. It’s not about numbers with these guys, but about the beauty and strength of the wild rainbows, the Merriams turkeys scampering up the bank, the run of a fish unzipping the river as line bleeds into backing and the boat gives chase to avoid a spooling and spanking.
Fall Caddis fishing continues on the Columbia into next month. It’ll only get better as anglers start seeing their breath come sunset and the banks explode with yellowing aspen. The black bears are on the move in Castlegar, slipping under streetlamps to pillage apple trees by dark, and the first flights of northern mallards are arriving on Arctic fronts.
Venture forth, friends, if you want to experience some of the best dry-fly fishing in the Pacific Northwest. We still have dates available.
… Chris