Brown Trout Streams -
Central Alberta is home to several excellent brown trout streams. Nowhere else in Canada is there the concentration of brown trout streams provided by the area northwest of Calgary through Rocky Mountain House. We host walk and wade and drift boat fly fishing trips. These waters provide good hatches for head hunting and receive light fishing pressure. Each has reaches of good trout spotting banks. The size of waters, style of fishing, and wariness of brown trout in these streams dictates a maximum of 2 anglers per guide. While catch rates may be good, expectations should be tempered to browns 14 to 22" any given day. We focus on head hunting during hatches or sighting fish on sunny days. Some of our waters have smaller trout with higher numbers, while other waters offer a New Zealand style fishery, one or two good brown trout per run. We try our best to fish waters of light angler density, avoiding other anglers and enjoying solitude. It is very much an intimate feel on the water. We may take booking based on a specific stream but we approach our trips on the best possible water for the conditions.

Spring Creeks - Stauffer Creek - Stauffer Creek is one of Alberta's most prolific spring creeks. Through the season few fish it. Many who fish it find it a serious challenge but it is by no means an impossible stream. Stauffer requires anglers to methodically think and work their way to have greatest success. Stauffer Creek flows through a pastoral setting. The decades of farmers running cattle through the creek required Trout Unlimited to do stream rehab and an extensive cattle fencing program in the 1970s, which has allowed banks to stabilize and stream dynamics recover.  Stonefly hatches can get into full swing in mid April, followed by a steady string of mayfly hatches May through July. Olives, march browns, pmds, green drakes, brown drakes, hexagenias hatch predictably. Terrestrials such as hoppers and water boatmen* are very  good 'hatches' in August and September. Head hunting during hatches and sight fishing on sunny days can be effective on Stauffer. Freestone Streams - Prairie, Raven, Dogpound, Fallen Timber, and the Little Red Deer are good brown trout streams. These waters are 10 to 40 feet width and all offer good brown trout structure. The season kicks into gear in mid April, after low-land snowpack melts. Good hatches of stoneflies bring wintering trout to the surface. Like Stauffer, hatches of stoneflies, mayflies, and caddis roll through the season, and summer tends to bring good hopper and ant fishing. Unnamed Tributaries - We love to explore the lesser known waters. Since my days timber cruising with Forest Service, I've loved aerial / satellite imagery, looking for the smallest of waters where there might be trout. It's fun to day dream. We've explored some of these waters and had some great sight fishing days, the tiny creeks offering crystal clear water to peer into. Streams like "the X" offer some great fishing the few days a year we fish each. The embedded video "Q the X" details why we only fish each of these streams a handful of times each year. They're great fun to fish but we intentionally don't stress the population. We invite you to join us. Rivers - The Clearwater & North Saskatchewan Rivers are both larger rivers that offer drift trips. These waters provide extensive pocket pools along heavy timber, as well as braided side channels that hold browns and bull trout in the 12 to 22" range with much larger present.

Red Deer River -
Alberta's Red Deer River is not a river for everyone, though the 21" average brown trout certainly are a major draw. The Red Deer is best described as a giant spring creek with spurts of freestone characteristics. Much of the water is flat and moderate flows with subtle surface features, though the in stream structure is abundant. It is a river of shallow edge water with good hatches, a combination that leads to rising trout when relatively few insects are present. The river is a below average fishery that provides patient people world class fly fishing opportunities for brown trout. It is quite representative of our fly fishing trips to New Zealand - patiently & methodically work your way through the day and take the opportunity at a good brown trout when it arises. There are days through the season with no trout caught no matter how hard the fly fishers and guides work. When the hatches & trout are on, however, the Red Deer River produces moments you will not ever forget. We've hosted trips where one day is barren of brown trout while the next day offers 30+ rising brown trout in the 20 to 27" range. The Red Deer River is that temperamental. Most days we will encounter 4 to 20 browns. Every fly fisher seeking to hunt brown trout on the Red Deer River must ask themselves the question "Am I prepared to wait two days for a 4 to 6 hour window of good fishing?" If the answer is no, please consider our other trips. If you are keen on the concept of hunting and stalking large browns on the dry fly, both head hunting and sight fishing through the season, please join us.

Ram River drainage
"I've loved the Ram since I first fished it when I was about 5. I took Forestry in School in order to find work nearby, to fish it as often as I could, working for the Forest Service out of Rocky Mountain House. In 1997 I headed the lobby to get the river designated catch & release - given impacts the forestry and oil & gas industries had, plus the coming continued opening of access to remote reaches of the river. In about 2001 I began Streamwatch with my friend Barry Mitchell of the Alberta Fishing Guide Magazine to increase the awareness of both the regulations and the reasons why we must adhere to the regulations on these sensitive waters. It's a special bit of water and when I close my eyes I can see every run from the Forestry Trunk Road to the confluence of the N Ram on memory"      ~ Dave Jensen

The Ram River is a wilderness fly fishing vacation offering an exceptional dry fly fishing experience for cutthroat trout. The South Ram is home to a 1200 foot canyon, waterfalls, resident herds of bighorn sheep, with good catch rates of cutthroat trout. Our favorite aspect of the canyon is the hiking of the rugged terrain accessing the canyon. It puts you in touch with just how difficult the environment is and allows a sense of accomplishment upon arrival. If you're in shape and love to explore, please join us for a canyon hike. It takes about 3 hours to hike to where the helicopters fly to.
The N Ram is a pleasant, lodgepole pine forest covered foothill cutthroat trout stream that produces some large cutthroat trout. It is a productive water that produces cutthroat trout to 20", though a few cutthroat trout to 22" are caught each season. The N Ram is quite quiet in the prime sight fishing season, which is what we love about this mountain stream. The headwaters are tucked just inside the front range of the Rockies, which provide the river's back drop. There are excellent riffles, runs, and pools that cut through rock, stone, and log jams.
Also within the Ram drainage are a series of smaller tributaries that we offer wade trips upon. While the sizes won't be large, there are plenty of cutthroat in the 6 to 12" range that make for a fantastic afternoon of fly fishing in the foothills and mountains. This can be perfect for new / young fly fishers.

On all of the Ram drainage waters, we can host you for a single day walk and wade or up to 5 days of hiking and fly fishing. Of course, as we've done since 1996, we do offer helicopter fly fishing trips for up to 4 guests, 5 days maximum - camping, rafting, and fly fishing the S Ram canyon.