The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Ok, I'm definitely not as photogenic as Phil, but wouldn't you be as jazzed with the size fish he caught?

Just returned from a family vacation in the Canadian Rockies, and I actually had about a day and a half of fishing at a place called White Swan Lake.

This pic was taken at 9:30 in the evening.

The bottom line is I've never landed so many 18-22 inch rainbows at one time - 7 total, including this one that measured out at about 22 inches.

The fish are Gerard Rainbows. They are widely stocked at fingerling size throughout the Rockies, and are known to grow to large sizes. 5-10 lbrs are common, and these fish are on the small end. The fish come up into the shallows to spawn in May/June, but I think they were late this year. I saw a lot of large cruising fish in 4-5 feet of water. Some had to be over 25 inches and about 5-6 lbs. If they were dark, they were likely spawners. However, some of the fish were relatively bright and when hooked, they would go aerial several times. I had one fish jump completely out of the water, shake his head, and fling my fly over my shoulder.

All the fish were taken within 15-20 feet of shore, along the drop offs, and over weed beds. They would cruise the shallows looking for damsel nymphs. I did not have any, but I tied on some #10 golden stones and #10 BH Haresears, drift them under an indicator, and they worked fine. I caught one nice sized fish on a small parachute pattern around the time I shot the evening lake pic. He was cruising the shoreline and rising to what appeared to be midges. Once he saw the fly, he did not hesitate to gulp it down.

The Canadian Rockies are absolutely gorgeous. This pic was taken just over the pass from the head waters of the Bow River:

I guess we'll have to make another trip up there some time soon.

SR