November 8,2008
Mild temperatures and mostly calm overcast days continue. So too does some great dry fly fishing. Can't remember a year where it's been so good, so late.
And the weather forecast for the next several days is very promising.
A cougar has taken up residency on the west side of Trout Unlimited's Burmis lease. The big tom has been feeding on beaver near the oxbow.
Nov. 2, 2008
Here we are into November and pods of big rainbows sip steadily from mid- to late afternoon.
Great success at various times and places with BWO emergers, Adams and Griffith's gnats.
Fishing has been excellent the past week as sporadic hatches have been brought on by unseasonably mild, humid conditions and little or no wind.
Water temperature today at 1:30 p.m. was 43F. Air temperature 62F.
Oct. 1, 2008
The weather, the river and the fishing couldn't be much better. Autumn colors have just now come into their own with the season's first dash of frost.
Rainbows have been fat and feisty taking dry hoppers and ants. Angling pressure has dropped after last week's unusually heavy use.
Bright, intense sunshine has been boosting water temperatures from 45F to 50F as the day progresses. Clear as a bell.
July 4, 2008
After two afternoons of thunderstorms and 6cm of rain and hail, the river is clearing, dropping. Water temp 12C at 10:30 a.m.
June 26, 2008
Water clear enough to see bottom down three feet and rainbows eagerly attacking large salmon fly imitations on top mean the Crow is settling into its early-summer form.
Fishing a couple of hours around mid-day produced several 'bows in the 14-18-inch range. River level dropping, but the flow is still strong enough to deter crossing for most. Wading with care OK.
At 7 p.m. water temperature it was 12.7 C.
June 18, 2008
River continues to clear and drop under sunny skies. Water temperature jumped to 10.6C at 5 p.m.
A sporadic salmon fly hatch is a happening up and down the river. Fishing will continue to improve until the next big rain.
June 11, 2008
About three cm of rain today clouded the river a bit, but there's still visibility to three feet or more.
Cool days and cold nights have stalled high mountain run-off. River is still fast and wading is limited.
Some salmon and mid-sized stoneflies have been taking to the air all week. But feeding remains on the bottom.
Water temperature at 4 p.m. was 7 C.
May 20, 2008
Fast, roiling, visibility only a foot or less.
Water temperature at 2 p.m. was 7C.
No pressure.
May 16, 2008
The Crow is high, wide and dirty today. The first real day of spring runoff was set off by a couple of hot days and warm nights.
The forecast is for more of the same. The river won't drop and clear any time soon, and certainly not this weekend.
May 12, 2008
Cool days and frigid nights have combined to slow run-off again. The river is a bit turbid, but in a clearing trend with visibility of a metre and more. The water temperature, meanwhile, has dropped from 6.5C the past 10 days to 5.5C.
This is a very late, cool and dry spring in the Crowsnest basin. Much mid-elevation snow remains and the high mountain snowpack has barely budged.
The snow pillow moisture content in the drainage this year is 103% of the long-term average. (As an aside, it's an average that has been brought down recently and considerably by nearly a decade of drought.)
All other drainages from the Livingstone to the Montana border have snow pillows at or above average.
The Upper Oldman is pegged at 117% of average; the West Castle is a whopping 148% and the Waterton 112%
Based on those numbers, and an average May/June in terms of temperature and precipitation, expect run-off to fluctuate in May, crest in early June and level off by early to mid July.
May 5, 2008
Fishing success remains low this week as the river fluctuates with mid-elevation run-off. Currently it is clearing and dropping slightly with visibility of one metre (three feet). Water temperature at 3 p.m. was 6.5C.
The latest snowpack data will be available later this week, but it should be at or near the long-term average.
May 1, 2008
The river has gone through it's first runoff convulsion, a short lived dirty water episode after warm days and nights melted considerable lower elevation snow.
It has again settled down and returned to clear visibility. Easily crossable. That may change again after this weekend when warm temperatures return. No rain is in the forecast.
Fishing success with nymphs and streamers has slowed, but angling pressure remains high. 6.5C water temp at 11 a.m.
April 8, 2008
The latest snowpack survey suggests runoff in the Crownest drainage could be below long-term averages by 10 per cent, but river systems to the north and south may be running higher than normal this spring.
As of March 28-08 snow surveys in the Crow-headwater drainage indicated moisture levels are down 10 per cent from the past 30 year average. Meanwhile it is up by about the same percentage in the Waterton, Castle and Upper Oldman drainages.
Little mid-elevation runoff has been noted so far this spring due to below average temperatures.
The results, at this time, suggest a delayed and prolonged runoff. The next snowpack moisture survey will be undertaken the end of April.
Nymph and streamer fishing remains good in open sections of the Crow and Oldman Rivers. New 2008 Angling licences are now required.
March 10, 2008
Angling remains good with low, clear flows.
Fresh Grizzly tracks seen on westerly portion of TU Burmis lease.
March 8, 2008
The latest information from Environment Canada bodes well for rivers and streams across the southern Canadian Rockies. Snow pillow data (moisture in high mountain snow) collected the end of February shows all stations are above the past quarter century average.
Hibernating moisture in Crowsnest drainage is 102% of average, while it jumps to 116% in the Waterton drainage, 118% in the Oldman and 124% in the Castle.
The next survey will be taken at the end of March.
The Crowsnest remains clear and low. Fishing pressure on open stretches has been moderate to high with trout and whitefish being taken on nymphs.
Water temperature Friday was 4.5 C. Sunny day, fairly windy. Several larger rainbows took bead-head pattern or larger cased caddis imitation mid-day.
February 21, 2008
Pleasant afternoon temperatures the past week have brought anglers out in droves. Seems there's a vehicle or two at every access even on weekdays.
The river is low and gin clear. Most ice is gone. There's a fair amount of deep snow along the banks that makes bank-walking most frustrating.
Fishing is reportedly sporadic. Seems the old red worm is working the best, some days exclusively. No sign of early dries.
Air temperature at 4 p.m. was 9 C (48F), water temp was 2.5 C (36.5F).
February 5, 2008
Snow pack moisture in the Crowsnest Basin remains just under the long-term average. That according to government officials who recently returned from their monthly mountain survey trek.
On the last day of January, snow moisture in the Crow drainage was 90 per cent of the past 25-year average.
And the basin has recorded snow virtually every day since then. Provincial officials say those early February storms should propel this winter's moisture storage to near dead-on figures.
Meanwhile, snow pack moisture at the end of January was 109 per cent of long-term average in the Oldman Basin to the north, 95 per cent of average in the Castle Basin and 117 per cent of average to the south in the Waterton Basin.
The next snow pack survey will be taken the end of this month.