Riseform Flyfishing Ventures BLOG

It’s early January and definitely winter in Kamloops. It has been a great winter for cross country skiing and less than 3 months before open water again!! In the mean time I have been tying flies, catching up on articles and planning out my fishing year. I’ll be attending the Calgary Fly Fishing show January 28 to 30 and will be working out of the Superfly booth, tying flies and talking fly fishing. In March I will be conducting seminars at the Fraser Valley Boat & Sportsman’s Show at the Tradex centre. I hope your winter tying or other fishing projects are going well. See you at one of these shows. … Read entire article »

I had the good fortune to re-visit Kluane Wilderness Lodge on Wellesley lake during the third week of June 2010.  Wellesley is located approx. 200 miles NW of the city of Whitehorse.  Access to the lodge is via a 90 minute float plane trip that passes a lot of beautiful Yukon wilderness.  This was my 3rd trip to this wonderful fishery that features superb fly fishing for lake trout, pike and lake whitefish. What keeps me going back is the clear, nutrient rich water that supports heavy emergences of chironomids, mayflies, caddisflies and other invertbrates. Lake trout to 10 pounds and lake whitefish to 7 pounds can be readily taken on chironomid pupa, mayfly nymphs and adults and caddis pupa and adults.   Much of the fishing for the smaller lake … Read entire article »

It has been too long since I have updated my blog.  Needless to say I have been spending a lot of time on the water both around Kamloops and fishing waters in the southeast corner of the province.  Overall it has been a pretty good spring season although unsettled weather seems to have been the norm.  It has been a long time since we have had more than a day or two in a row of good weather and a stable barometer.  I have also been busy filming shows for The New Fly Fisher, Sport Fishing BC and Sport Fishing on the Fly.   Don Freschi and I had 4 days of great fishing and filming in the Fernie area during mid-May and prior to that I filmed 2 shows with … Read entire article »

I’ve always wanted to fish the Skeena River country for steelhead and I was fortunate to spend 4 days up there last week.  It was early spring conditions with unpredictable weather which meant we encountered snow, rain, sun and wind each day we were on the water.   I’ve been practicing my spey casting all winter and this was my first trip with just the double hand rod.  Water conditions on the Upper Kalum River were low but water clarity was good.  Fishing companions included Rob Vodola from Kitimat and  Chad Black and Dustin Kovacvich from Nicholas Dean Lodge in Terrace www.nicholasdean.com.  We swung either large black/purple or orange/pink patterns using type 6 to 8 tips on Skagit heads.  It has been a few years since I had fished seriously for … Read entire article »

Spring is still taking it’s time in opening up more lakes to fish in the Kamloops area.  Right now we have White, Morgan and Six Mile lakes.  Jacko and Barnes should be coming off sometime this week as the day time temperatures are suppose to be in the high 20′s C.  I fished Morgan a couple times late last week, just fishing from shore and caught some nice fish.  A quick throat pump revealed a few small black chironomid pupa mixed in with zooplankton, juvenile damselfly nymphs and shrimp.  Water in both Six Mile and Morgan still looks great, no turnover in evidence yet. While we could catch fish on chironomids it has been more productive fishing small leeches in maroon and all black.  We have caught fish on both indicators … Read entire article »

This incredibly mild weather in the Kamloops area has now taken the ice off 2 of our local, low elevation lakes.  Both Six Mile and Morgan lakes are ice free.  These lakes did not become ice free last year until the first week of April!!  With the new regulations of “no ice fishing” both lakes are now fishable.  This has caught me and I’m sure most anglers off guard as I am still in winter skiing mode. I’ll be at the BC Boat and Sportsman’s Show this coming weekend (March 5-7).  This big outdoor event is held at the Tradex complex in Abbotsford, BC.  There will be lots of fly fishing booths including reps from the major manufacturers as well as a good representation from the local fly shops.  I will … Read entire article »

While practicing some spey casting today on the South Thompson River I saw a pretty good chironomid hatch. These early emergences definitely indicate that spring is not far off. The southern interior regions of the province are experiencing an incredibly mild winter with very minimal snowpack levels in the mid to lower elevations. A few of the low lying grassland lakes around Kamloops are already showing open water along the lake edges and the ice is getting darker by the day. We may be lake fishing by early March. Remember that those lakes previously closed to fishing until April 1 or May 1 now have a “ no ice fishing” regulation on them so they are fishable as soon as the ice is off, regardless … Read entire article »