jsnishi

My last day of the 2017 fly-fishing season was spent on the Oldman River. It was a cool and crisp afternoon and I hooked in to a solid and feisty cuttbow that was nymphing at the bottom of a riffle. My 4-yr-old daughter was eager to lend a hand catching and releasing the fish; although she was mostly interested in catching and holding. As I passed the fish over to her, it tried to wriggle free of her small hands and she instinctively tried to cradle it in her arms. That approach lasted a second or two, whereupon the fish flopped back in to the water and made its way in to dark green depths of its wintering hole. My daughter and I, along with my wife who was taking pictures, had a good laugh and made a nice memory.

Catch & release fly-fishing with my daughter

While traveling Japan with family in September 2009, I was invited to go fly fishing with friends on the Itsuki River, which is in the Kumamoto Prefecture of the southern island of Kyushu. Within a 2 hour drive of the city of Kumamoto which has a population of 750,000, we were dry fly fishing for the diminutive and radiant Yamame (Oncorhynchus masou) - the land-locked Cherry Salmon. This photo is of a trophy sized Yamame for the Itsuki River; and what it lacks in size it makes up in beauty with its purple hues along the lateral line and the striking parr marks.

While swinging a fly for steelhead on the Thompson River a couple years ago, I was struck by the stark contrast of the frosted coho salmon carcass against the river rocks. Since the fishing had been slow, I stopped to take a picture of the salmon that had returned to its natal waters to spawn and be returned back to the river ecosystem.

On the last morning of an overnight camping trip on Two Lakes, near Grande Prairie, we thought we would catch a few trout just as the morning fog was burning off. Unfortunately for us, we did not touch a fish...

While fishing on Swan Lake near Grande Prairie in the fall, I noticed that an angler was playing a fish so I rowed over to take his picture. I was lucky as the fish jumped several times and one of the photos was able to catch it in mid-air.

Fishing in the fall

Double header - Rocky Mountain Whitefish

Inconnu on the fly - Muddler Minnow

Male Arctic Grayling

Arctic grayling and Canadian-made Islander Reel