2014 Fly Fishing Schools at Stoney Lake Lodge!

Interested in taking Fly Fishing on as a new hobby or sport? How about fine tuning your skills to an advanced level? This year we are offering two Fly Fishing Schools at Stoney Lake Lodge! Join the industry's best Instructors at Stoney Lake Lodge this 2014 Season: -INTRODUCTORY TO FLY FISHING STILL WATERS, MAY 30TH TO JUNE 1ST (3 DAYS / 2 EVENINGS). INSTRUCTORS: BRIAN CHAN & KATHY RUDDICK. A complete Introductory to fly fishing. Equipment, knots, leader construction, entomology, trout habits and habitat and fly casting 101 are just some of the topics covered here. Classroom, field casting instruction and on water guiding complete this school. $799 per person based on double occupancy. All meals / accommodations / lodge amenities / boats and instructor fees included.

-ADVANCED FLY FISHING STILL WATERS! JULY 3RD TO JULY 6TH (4 DAYS / 3 EVENINGS). INSTRUCTORS: PHIL ROWLEY & BRIAN CHAN. Serious Stillwater tactics / theory and on water guiding and Instruction. This is a non-beginner four day school that Phil and Brian are very excited about. ADVANCED: Line, leader and tippet discussions / instruction. A full spectrum of fly lines and characteristics versus conditions / environment. ADVANCED patterns, casting, turning over long leader / indicator set ups, floating wet flies, dry fly presentations and tippet configurations. This school is geared for much more "on water guiding / instruction and discussion" than most of anything available. $949 per person. All meals / accommodations / lodge amenities / boats and instructor fees included.

VIDEO LINK: http://youtu.be/jUx1Ad7K3Ag

SUMMER FISHING REPORT!

Well, as per normal the fishing during the last few weeks has slowed down somewhat. Salmon Lake, Stoney Lake, Minnie Lake and The Sabins are all starting to warm right up and push fish deeper. Wasley and Mellin remain fairly strong due to their higher elevations. Harry's Dam seems to fish well in the summer due to the location and sun exposure. Locating fish with faster sinking lines is the key right now. I prefer a type 6 sinking line, available from all of the local flyshops and outfitters. Making sure that your presentations are off the deep end of the drop-offs and close to the bottom is a must. Because the lakes become "stratified" due to temperatures and oxygen, being to shallow can be a problem as they rarely break from their holding depths during normal daylight hours. Big leeches in reds / blacks / marroons and browns are great summer fly. Scud patterns with bead heads search that same zone with usual success. The chance for some decent dry fly or surface action can occur in the summer months as well. It's usually right before dark on the larger shoals of the lake. If you are heading up our way and wish to share your fishing experience, please do so by email at stoney@douglaslake.com or salmon@douglaslake.com TIGHT TIPPETS! Brent Gill.

Mid May Fly Fishing Report

After a longer than normal turn-over after an early ice-off, things are really starting to pick up on our lakes.

SALMON LAKE - Excellent Chironomid fishing at both northern and Southern ends of the lake. Fishing depths from strike indicators 6 to 12 feet. Popular picks of Chironomids: Static bags, black and reds, maroons, gold wire variations in sizes 12 and 14, with the odd 16's around. The normal searching patterns of Pumpkin Heads, K-Mart specials, Black Leeched, Marroon leeches and olive Wooly Buggers have all produced some nice fish. Anglerss with good patience have capitalized on good scud (shrimp) fishing as well.

PAY LAKES - Both Little Sabin and Big Sabin started off with a bang early on. Lots of Chironomids emerging on these waters. Harry's Dam is fishing exceptionally well for fish of all sizes. The word out of Pikes lake was slow trout fishing, possibly a big population of Suckers. We will confirm this as we get a chance to document the lake in the upcoming days. Little Chapperon has had some success, yet minimal angler visits. We are still awaiting detailed reports from Wasley and Mellin, as the first anglers are set to arrive as I write this.

STONEY LAKE - Great Chironomid fishing in waters 8 to14 feet deep, mostly on the Southern portions of the lake. Static bags and blacks and blood colours have been the ticket in sizes 12 and 14. Fast retrieving big leeches along the shoals and darker water has proved deadly effective the last few days. Incredible amounts of extra large scuds are mating throughout the entire lake, creating extra plump trout.

MINNIE LAKE - Excellent Chironomid fishing on most parts of the lake, with the same above mentioned patterns.

An INSIDE Look at SALMON LAKE CABINS!

Here's a good look at the inside of one & two bedroom cabins at Salmon Lake Resort! The Resort has a fine mix of one and two bedroom cabins, with a variety of bed configurations. Ideally, most of the cabins can accommodate up to four people. Some of the cabins also have queen beds.
 The one bedroom units have a fold-out style sofa in the front living room space, incorporating a bigger common area. The two bedroom units have a smaller common area but have more beds and separated sleeping quarters. We are pretty confident to say that there is something for everybody!

                                                The Outside porch of a two bedroom cabin.

                                               The dining area of a two bedroom cabin.

                                              The outfitted kitchen of a two bedroom cabin.

                                                 The washroom of a two bedroom cabin.

                                                A typical bedroom of a two bedroom cabin.

                                           Another typical bedroom of a two bedroom cabin.

                                           The common are of a typical one bedroom cabin.

                                            The outfitted kitchen of a one bedroom cabin.

                                              A typical washroom of a one bedroom cabin.      

                                                 A typical one bedroom cabin with a queen.

SINKING LINES / BIG FLIES

Here is a short video showing some of the advantages of being prepared with a few different sinking lines during the warmer months of the still water season. Sinking lines can be utilized throughout the entire season to search low lying fish, just off the bottom. Most individuals that choose to troll flies for Trout in lakes will find sinking lines to their advantage. For superior casting / searching methods, all the normal types of sinking lines will work very favorably from anchoring in shallow waters and casting and retrieving to deep drop off / darker water zones.

The higher the number of the "type" of sinking line, the faster the sink rate. Type 1 is intermediate (very slow, best purchased in clear). Type 3 is medium sink (most low end generic sinking lines are type 3 although high end lines are available) colours may be dark green, dark blue, brown or black. Type 6 or 7 (extra fast sinking, normally black) mostly produced in better series of fly lines.

WASLEY LAKE YURTS and FLY FISHING.

A short web video shot at Wasley Lake during mid Summer, filmed August 5th 2012.

Wasley Lake is one of "those" lakes. By that I mean that Rainbow Trout can reach exceptional sizes in this smaller body of water. The water has a slight tinge and remains fairly brackish, Lily pads, marl shoals, rock faces and mud bottoms round off this stillwater in the total lake category.
 On my last trip to Wasley, where I shot & edited his short film entirely by myself, was during the hottest part of our summer. The key to locating the Rainbows was fairly straight forward, BIG BLOOD COLORED Leeches with gold crystal flash and gold Tungsten bead heads. I found that my type 3 sink, casted from an anchored boat in 6 to 8 feet of water, out into the depths of about 12 to 16 feet of water was the absolute ticket. A 15 second sinking count, followed by varied fast and slow retrieves was the ticket. The larger / mature fish were grabbing the fly within the first 4 to 8 strips, so I assume that they were cruising the 10-12 foot depth range, of course just above bottom. Hitting bottom weeds or mud during the odd cast was a must.

At Wasley Lake we have two Yurts located comfortably along the productive shorelines of this magnificent
piece of water. Each Yurt is spaced quite far apart which totals this ideal setting. Wasley Lake is almost an hour drive in from Douglas Lake road. If you are heading up there, be prepared to open and close a few gates as you ascend. The smartest drivers of the "convoy" take the middle vehicle position, for obvious reasons.

It's also a great idea to bring along extra ice, a small inverter (to charge cellphones or cameras) or even a generator if you wish to recharge your electric motor's battery. The Yurts are completely gas run, so electricity is VERY far away. If you get a chance, you should really take the time to plan a trip to Wasley or Mellin Lake. I can guarantee that it will become an annual thing....

BRENT GILL.
Stoney Lake Lodge Manager.

What's with the algal bloom?

ALGAE?

As the full swing of summer sets in with high heats and less wind, so can an algal bloom. To most, the thought of algae is something dirty, or unsanitary. Maybe because it's green, or maybe because of so many uncleaned fish tanks in houses across the planet. Either way, algae blooms in our lakes don't put an end to things whatsoever, in fact, a lake that shows a bloom with any significant depth is that of a healthy, nutrient rich still-water.

Stoney and Minnie Lakes usually show the first signs during the peak heat of the summer. What looks like sprinklings of dill spice, hovers around the top four feet of the lake. It's at this time when spectacular Rainbow Trout can be caught adjusting to a few old proven methods. A few tips remain:

1) Checking your leader / fly and tippet knots for regular cleanliness.
2) Leaving larger "tags" on your nail knots and tippet knots. That of an 8th of an inch. This helps act as a trap when particles of algae may want to travel down your line. I used to use a sequence fastened at my nail knot to collect unwanted debris.

At this point in the summer, the stratified Algae actually helps the presentation of tippets and flies, as the sunlight becomes fractured or broken up as it travels through the top few feet of bloom. During this phase, extremely large Trout can be caught using extremely large flies. That just sounds too cool. Big Dragonflies / Leeches / Wooly Buggers and Attractors seem to put the fish on. Bright irregular 'buggy' patterns, and even Steelhead flies cause huge takes. The best way to put these flies in their face is to incorporate the help of a few sinking lines. Type 3 and Type 6 lines are all that's required. A Type 3 will just take a little longer to get in that zone, so a Type 6 is always my choice in the matter. Because of the big flies and heavier fly lines, make sure your tippet is sufficient to handle hard strikes and turning of big flies. Nothing less than 6 pound Flourocarbon is my choice, even 10 pound when things are heating up with big Darner Dragonflies.

Don't be discouraged about algae conditions and "summer doldrums". It's this time of the year that you can enjoy nice weather, bring significant others, bring along children and even work on your suntan if needed. I personally enjoy this fishery just as much as the Spring and Fall, generally all of the fish are well fed, super bright and ready for war.

BRENT GILL.
Stoney Lake Lodge.