We slept in a bit this morning; yesterday was a long day. JR made breakfast of Blueberry Buckle and scrambled eggs and we arrived at Ned’s Fly Shop at 9:10 to pick up our Class II waters license for the Elk river drainage. We drove to north of Highway 3 to Sparwood, picked up ice and provisions and gassed the vehicles. (10:45AM) (627 miles since leaving Seattle)

We arrived at Alexander Creek at 11AM, rigged our gear and hiked upstream thru the Gun Club. The river looked great. Crystal clear, good volume and deep green pools surrounded by the incredible mountains of the Canadian Continental Divide.

We all went upstream, hop scotching each other from pool to pool…..with no luck. Humm….what’s up here? This water is beautiful and should have lots of fish, yet we couldn’t even raise a minnow.

JR hiked far upstream and was positioned on the old Railroad bed that formed a high bank above the stream. This section was the deepest part of the stream he had seen and formed a perfect elbow bend that over the years exposed the underlying coal seam, there must be fish here he thought. As he watched the stream below, he saw a fish rise. He called GK on the radio and asked him to come up the creek to see if he could catch the fish. JR commented that he’d applied the strategy he’d learned from Jeff Morgan’s book, Small Stream Fly Fishing (Frank Amato Publications, Inc. www.amatobooks.com). Jeff’s book recommends "setting and watching a section of stream for a while rather than just charging in and spooking all the fish." That advice sure worked here, JR guided GK to a spot just below the rising fish, then had him cast just above a large rock pile in the middle of the stream channel. The fly drifted for just a moment and WHAM!!, a huge Cutthroat slammed the fly. AB assisted GK with the netting and a photo….a beautiful fish.

AM also arrived at the hole and gave it a try producing another nice fish while nymphing a bead-head.

All hiked upstream where we found another great looking hole next to a collapsed cabin. As good as the hole looked, we couldn’t raise a fish.

Meanwhile MS & AB hiked further upstream where they found two more nice pools. AB was on a huge pool with a white-water chute plunging over a sharp edge into the pool. The lower section of the deep pool was covered with a dozen pine trees that have fallen in from the far shore. A complex hole to fish based on all the snags and woody-debris. AB cast his BWO high in the chute and drifted the fly thru the fast water, along a pine tree and into the slack water back eddy. BANG…a nice Cutthroat, quickly followed by a second fish on the next cast. Then nothing. AB tied on a green/olive crystal wooly bugger and sent it deep into the hole…..POW…another nice Cutt.

Shortly after JR called, saying that fishing was slow and the group was heading back toward the vehicles.

AB & MS met a fellow angler on the hike back downstream, Ted Simon. He told us that he’d fished Alexander Creek for years and it wasn’t fishing well today. He had a wonderful little 3 wt bamboo rod which seemed to fit the Alexander Creek size stream very well.  He told us about Niemiera bamboo flyrods out of New Jersey which he said did a really good job of craftsmanship.  He’d also been over the pass in Alberta recently fishing the Crowsnest & Oldman Rivers and highly recommended them.

A few minutes later, we met GK, AM & JR fishing a long, deep pool next to a huge rock wall. As MS, GK and the new angler friend discussed the attributes of fishing in Alberta, JR & AM were concentrating on catching a large trout they’d spotted in the tail-out of the pool. AM was casting a variety of flies while JR watched the fish and directed Al’s casts to the fish.

After a half-hour without success, JR took a crack at the fish, again, no luck. Meanwhile, AB had been watching the fish’s feeding activity and when JR abandoned his attempt, AB tied on an olive La Fontain emerger that MS had given him earlier. He had made just a few casts, when to his surprise the large fish rose and gulped the tiny emerger. After a couple good strong runs, a beautiful Cutthroat, a bit longer than his 18" net opening, glided into the net. Pictures, high 5’s and a delicate release, the fish returned to it’s feeding station.

AB then went to the head of the pool, where MS had hooked a couple nice fish and tried the La Fontain again. Again a nice Cutt-Bow and a "Rocky" (Rocky Mountain Whitefish) took the fly.

MS & GK arrived at the vehicles and went further downstream, near the highway, to check out a nice pool. Both had a few rises, but no takes.

We all agreed that we hadn’t seen the best of Alexander Creek. It obviously had big fish but, for some reason, they weren’t actively feeding this day.

We left the river at 3:50PM and headed back to Fernie. On the way thru town we stopped to see if Mike’s rod repair was completed, but a sign on the door said, "Be back in an hour."

At the condo, MS & JR fished a pool on the Elk River, JR for Cutthroat and MS for Bull Trout while GK & AB cheered them on.

AM consulted with an older gentleman who’d fished the Elk for a couple days but had only managed to catch one 10" Cutthroat. AM gave him a bead-head pheasant-tail, saying, "Try this." AM walked upstream and managed to hook a couple Cutthroat. We saw several beavers feeding on willows in a slack water area.

AM & MS returned to town to retrieve Mike’s fly rod…..the fix was great!

JR fixes the last dinner with huge Black Angus NY steaks, Yukon Gold baked potatoes and fresh salad!!