Alberta's population is near 3 million. That's a low density for an area the size of the Pacific Northwest. The majority of trout fly fishing in Alberta occurs along the eastern edge of the rocky mountains called the eastern slopes. This runs from the USA (Montana) border nearly 500 miles north. An area nearly 500 miles long and 100 miles wide provides us a lot of trout fishing. The southern rivers - south of the city of Calgary - (Crowsnest, Oldman, and Bow) are the streams that get far more fishing pressure. Streams to the north of Calgary get far less attention and go virtually unnoticed. If you go further north you will be in the middle of nowhere on streams like the Athabasca, McLeod, Wildhay, Berland.

A bit about the scales of numbers of anglers. When we say we expect to have the river to ourselves, that means nobody else is likely to be seen on stream. If we say we might see a few, we mean over a 12 hour day we might run into 1 to 6 people. Moderate numbers of people in Alberta occur on the southern streams and moderate means you will run into 6 to 15 folks in a day. Heavy pressure is usually experienced on those southern streams where 20 to 50 people will be seen in a day, but that only happens perhaps 2 or 3 times a year on the summer long weekends on the Bow.

The Canadian dollar is on par with the US $. The rates of hotels, gas, and amenities are about the same as you would pay at home.

Calgary is the usual landing spot for traveling anglers. The Calgary International Airport is very convenient and fully developed. Consider Calgary the carbon copy of Denver, Colorado with nearly 1 million people. The city is rather large and sprawling and sits at the toe of the rocky mountains. Hotels, restaurants, banking, car rentals, shopping malls... everything is here in abundance.

If you haven't been to Canada or Alberta before, the people are normal, and very friendly. The weather in season is similar to summer in the midwest states, or very similar to any other US state that is situated along the the rocky mountain chain... good weather with seasonal fluxes.

Where to begin your trip in Alberta?

Air travel to Alberta is done typically through International Airports in Edmonton or Calgary. These two major cities (nearly a million people in each) in Alberta offer the full scale of services to begin your trip, with hotels, restaurants, car rentals, and all the amenities you can ask for. Alternatively, visitors may land in Great Falls or Kalispell Montana and drive their way north, fly fishing the great waters of Montana en route. Driving routes also include highways coming in from British Columbia, either into the Crowsnest Pass, Banff, or by Jasper.

Direct flights is available from major North American cities including: Orlando, Las Vegas, Toronto, Montreal, San Diego, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake, Phoenix, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and international destinations such as London and Frankfurt.

We offer guided fly fishing trips in a distinct area of Alberta from Calgary north to Red Deer and our brown trout streams, and then west to cutthroat trout waters; and conversely Calgary - south to our rainbow and cutthroat trout waters. In both regions we have key waters we float and also other "secret waters" we float away from normal guide offerings. We offer an array of different waters. Fortress Lake is a trophy brook trout lake in stunning scenery as part of a World Heritage Site. We operate a beautiful fly fishing retreat there. Our alpine lake helicopter fly fishing provides stunning scenery for golden, brook, and bull trout. Our cutthroat trout rivers provide great dry fly fishing for good sized trout with strong populations. Brown trout streams offer float trips or wade trips, dry fly fishing for brown trout. And the Bow River is the world renowned trout river of large browns and rainbows. All of our trips are fully specialized to what you are looking for, what species of trout, what style of fishing you want. Your vacation is about you, not us. Please email us to begin planning for your custom fly fishing trip to Alberta, Canada.