Its amazing how quickly a great fishing trip gets left behind.  Two weeks have gone by since we got back from Manitoba.  I had planned to get some photos posted but somehow work got in the way.

Rather than a lot of text, I’ll comment on a few photos. I have also compiled a slide show that includes a number of additional photos of fish for those who only really care about the fish.

As mentioned the first four days of our trip were spent with Phil Rowley who has been organizing twice yearly Prowling the Parkland trips.  This was our second trip with Phil and his team.  Without a doubt they are well worth the cost in terms of learning, access to lakes and general good fun.  Here is a photo of Phil giving us some early morning tips from the dock in front of the lodge.

The fishing was very good in the sense that everyone had shots at decent sized fish.  They weren’t jumping into the boat but with hard work and smart tactics (thanks again Phil) they could be had.  At different times pretty much everyone was on to good fish.  Here is Wade playing a nice trout.

The Parkland region offers lots of fishing options.  In addition to FLIPPR lakes there are other lakes within Duck Mountain Park and elsewhere that offer fishing opportunities that we just didn’t have time for.  One could spend a lot longer than the eight days we had and not get bored.

Most of our fishing was either with chironomids or streamers.  For us Ontario guys this was probably our first serious attempt at chironomid fishing.  The techniques Phil showed us actually worked!  And it was also our first attempt at fishing anchored from float tubes.  That seemed to work pretty well too although we came away with some ideas on anchor system design modifications.

And did I mention the fish?  We caught quite a few and quite a few large ones.

Our last morning was spent at Patterson Lake.  When we got there the air was still and the water flat calm except for trout rising to the surface.  The morning turned into a caddis fest – at least for the fish.  We weren’t as successful coaxing  them to our flies although we did manage to convince a respectable number of fish to take whatever we were offering – as caddis emergers?  Who knows. George and Roger did have some success with a few bigger fish.  We were all set for a shot of this 10+ pound rainbow when it slipped away from Roger.

After that George also lost a big brown after it took him into the brush along shore.  But maybe that was a good way to end the trip.  We know where he lives so next time ……