Alberta - The Three R's: Raven, Red Deer, and Ram Rivers

by 

August 2007

Last year Dave Jensen of Fly Fish Alberta had written a great article about sight fishing with dry flies for rising brown trout similar to what one would do in New Zealand.  The river he wrote about is the Red Deer which is about a two hour drive north of Calgary.  Because my calendar was already full for the summer, I flew up in early October 2006 to give this a try.  We knew the weather was problematic and the days would be shorter but it was worth a try.  Just before leaving for Calgary, Dave recommended that we re-schedule the trip as heavy rains were forecast but I was eager and wanted to fish.  Amelia Jensen, Dave's wife, was my guide and we fished the first two days in the pouring rain with streamers and did pretty well.  During a very short break in the weather, Amelia spotted a brown tucked into a corner by some rocks feeding on surface flies.  Because of the drift of the boat and the timing, I was going to have a very short opportunity to cast to the fish.  First cast was ok on distance but too far away from the bank and the fish.  Second try, the fish took my fly and we landed him.  On the third day of the trip, it started snowing and Amelia urged me to re-consider and schedule to come back in 2007.
 
This year Dave had a second article on the Red Deer in Northwest Fly Fishing and this one was more realistic in one's chances.   The average size of the browns on the Red Deer is 22" with fish being caught up to 27".  However, there will be days when nothing is caught and then there are those good days.
 
May 2007, we exchanged emails and the weather was typical spring and not looking good.  Alberta had a lot of rain and flooding.  I urged Amelia to not make a recommendation to re-schedule until the last possible minute because my calendar was really full and we might catch a break in the weather.  The day before I was scheduled to leave, Red Deer got 8" - 12" of fresh snow and the forecast for the weekend was in the 70's which meant a big run off and blown rivers.  We rescheduled for mid-August and surely this would be prime dry fly fishing.
 
There are a number of places to stay in and around Red Deer but Dave and Amelia recommended staying at the Lazy M Ranch with Margie and Lane Moore.  The Lazy M is an equestrian training center and Lane and Margie used to welcome groups of riders to come for both instruction as well as trail rides up into the mountains.  They are scaling back their riding options but Lane still does a lot of training work and specializes in bringing horses to barefoot condition.  The Lazy M is a bit further away but I have an interest in horses and was treated so well that I highly recommend the Lazy M and think that it is well worth the extra driving.  The huge bonus for the fishy people is that the Lazy M guest house is right on the bank of the north fork of the Raven River  which is a spring creek with brook and brown trout.  I landed 8 brooks between 8" and 14" in about an hour and a half the afternoon I arrived.  I used a Turck's Tarantula size 12 and they took it aggressively and fought hard.  Lots of fun.


 
While at the Lazy M I continued my walking program on the country roads.  Lane recommended that if I took a left at the end of his property, I could walk up and see the mountains.  I could also continue my walk into the woods on Dead Cow Trail.  I asked him who named this trail and he said that he had when one of his old cows had died.  He had loaded her up and took the carcass up into the woods for the wild life to feed on and for some time her bones were beside the trail.  The wranglers needed  to say where they were going so, if they went in that direction, they went by the dead cow.  Eventually, it became Dead Cow Trail.  I told Lane that at least he could have given her a name so that it could have been Old Bessie Trail but he said she was such a cranky old cow that the name would have been Old Bitch Trail.
 
Next day Amelia and I set off on the Red Deer River.  It was fairly windy all day and there were no hatches.  We did get browns on hoppers, nymphs and streamers but it wasn't the type of day we had both looked forward too.  Second day should have been perfect; slight breezes, cloud cover and the hatches should have been on and they weren't.  The region suffered heavy floods late spring and this might have affected the hatch activity.  The birds were also hungry and looking for bugs and kept insisting on taking my dry flies so that I had to strip them under water to avoid catching a bird on the fly.  Each day I also caught one good sized Gold Eye which is a local fish delicacy when smoked.
 


While I was fishing with Amelia, Dave was guiding a group on the Ram River for cutthroat.  Amelia offered this as a possibility for my third day.  Since I have never gone fishing for cutthroat I was happy to change plans.  We drove up to the North Ram River where we hiked down river about 2 miles and then fished back up.  The North Ram is easy wading and a beautiful clear river.  The fish were between 8" and 16" but there are cutthroats up to 20".  Once we switched back to the Turck's Tarantula, we caught fish after fish in each pool.  The takes were aggressive and the fish were strong fighters.
 

Given the variety of water and the beauty of the area, this is a great fishing location.
 
Dave and Amelia Jensen -www.flyfishalberta.com
Lazy M Ranch -www.lazymcanada.com
Fly Fishing Magazine "Hunting Trophy Browns" by  Dave Jensen www.flyfisherman.com/westerncanada/djreddeer
Fly Fishing Magazine "Fly Fishing for Alberta's Ram River Cutthroats" by Dave Jensen -www.flyfisherman.com/westerncanada/djramriver
Northwest Flyfishing, May/June 2007 "Red Deer River, Alberta" by Dave Jensen