Up at 7AM on the road by 8:30, 57-degrees, 1742 miles from Seattle. We stopped and photo'd the wonderful but strange murals in Pincher Creek Alberta - may have something to do with long cold winters and too many body checks in hockey but we were not sure.

Stopped at the Alberta Rose Anglers Fly Shop in Lundbreck, Alberta. (Arne Anderson, proprietor; 317 – 1 Street, 403-628-3270, 403-804-0765 cell). The shop had great flies and Arne made fantastic bamboo fly rods with two tips included for $995 CN. The yard outside the fly shop was alive with hoppers….a clue about what might work on the river today??

Driving down to the Crowsnest River and crossing the green iron bridge near Lundbreck, there were several fishing access spots on the river and we opted to stop at one on a high bluff above the river.

The farmers had mounted several mountain blue bird houses on the fence posts and there were lots of bluebirds in the area. AM, MS & JR went upriver, GK & AB went downriver. The area was quite a bit drier than what we had been seeing in rivers farther north and closer to the Rockies - this was a more arid environment.

AB had a terrific strike on a hopper in one of the small holes he found, but after that couldn’t raise another fish in that hole. GK also had a couple good strikes, but no hookups. JR called on the radio saying the upstream gang was doing well on yellow Stimulators. Soon the two groups were separated by enough miles and terrain that the radios were no longer working.

By continued river running, AM and JR located slots of great water separated by 1/4 mile stretches of shallow waters.  The great slots really held fish!!

GK & AB hiked back to the vehicles and called upstream. Fishing was good they’d decided to continue fishing upstream. MS hiked out to the road and we took him back to the Subaru. We moved both vehicles upstream ahead of JR & AM, then hiked back down to the river.

This section of river had significant wood & rocks added to the stream making lots of deep pools and great looking habitat.

JR moved upstream and began reporting catches of big fish on Chernobyl Hoppers. Since he was fishing by himself, he could shoot the fish or himself but not both it seems - something to do with the speed of light.

JR Fishes

and Mike finally got a picture of a big brown - what a hog!

AM was catching a few big fish on a parachute adams. AM gave AB an Adams and he caught a nice fish on the first cast. Then AB tried a Chernobyl Hopper on a pool were he’d seen fish feeding earlier. Making a 70’ long upstream cast to the hole, the hopper drifted about two feet when a large fish smashed the fly. AM helped AB net the nice fish.

AB cast into the pool again. Another terrific take, this time the fish ran AB into the backing….WoW! …what a fish! AB caught a few more fish on the hopper, then moved downstream, where MS had just hooked a large brown trout, but broke the line. AM was also catching large fish & JR, on the radio, was also reporting great fishing. GK had brought a spinning rod with him and had hooked several nice fish. AB fishing downstream of MS saw a large fish rise and cast the Chernobyl to him. The fish immediately smashed the fly. GK helped land the fish, a nice Cutt-Bow, and all took photos.

AB then gave his rod to GK, who fished several holes in the river.

We left the Crowsnest and stopped in Bellevue at 7PM for cold drinks, it was 82-degrees.

On the way to Crowsnest Pass (at the Continental Divide & boarder between Alberta & British Columbia) we stopped at Franks’ Slide, a huge landslide that came across the valley, road and river in 1903 killing many people.

 AM fished the Crowsnest here and caught several fish. The rest of the gang drank their cold drinks and munched on snacks, cheering AM on! AM is thinking there are way too many coaches!!

Over Crowsnest Pass at 8:05PM, 73-degrees, we saw four big Mule Deer near Sparwood, BC.

A great dinner at the Currie Bowl in Fernie, BC.  They had great fusion asian dishes - it was worth the wait to get in for the great food and service.  We met the proprietor , Richard Phillips, who shared some of the history of the eatery. The Currie Bowl ("Enlightened Asian Cuisine") gets the YG stamp of approval!!  They are located at 931 7th Avenue in Fernie, BC,  250-423-2695 (or 423-BOWL).

 9:22PM, 59-degrees, and off to the Super 8 for the night.