RDR Goldeye On the Dry

[millsboy79]

One of my goals for the season is to get some of those fun Goldeye on the dry fly out of the Red Deer River close to Drum.

If anyone sees them rising and wants to help a fella get a checkmark off his list I would appreciate the heads up, from what I learned last year, starting much much too late that it typically starts in May and goes through July - August ish.

With such a long time frame it seems a heads up might help decide when is the best time to head out.

Will be heading out from Calgary and it seems north of Drum is the closest / best place for me to focus my efforts.

Thanks for any help.

[scel]

Originally Posted by millsboy79

One of my goals for the season is to get some of those fun Goldeye on the dry fly out of the Red Deer River close to Drum.

If anyone sees them rising and wants to help a fella get a checkmark off his list I would appreciate the heads up, from what I learned last year, starting much much too late that it typically starts in May and goes through July - August ish.

With such a long time frame it seems a heads up might help decide when is the best time to head out.

Will be heading out from Calgary and it seems north of Drum is the closest / best place for me to focus my efforts.

In the evenings, Goldeye are almost always on if they are in the river. Best success is once the river clears up after runoff (i.e. early july to the end of August), but I had an epic session near Drumheller a couple years ago, right near the end of May (the year we did not really have a a runoff).

Near Drum, the RDR clarity is sensitive rain (with all the sandstone cliffs). A downpour will turn the river into chocomilk for a day or so.

[millsboy79]

Originally Posted by scel

In the evenings, Goldeye are almost always on if they are in the river. Best success is once the river clears up after runoff (i.e. early july to the end of August), but I had an epic session near Drumheller a couple years ago, right near the end of May (the year we did not really have a a runoff).

Near Drum, the RDR clarity is sensitive rain (with all the sandstone cliffs). A downpour will turn the river into chocomilk for a day or so.

Thanks for the info, I will keep track of the flow with the rivers app (hoping that will help)

Did you have a specific fly that worked best?

[pikergolf]

Best time is in Aug, in the Hat, the river is clear and we have massive hatches of mayflies. The bridges in town literally turn white with spinners attracted to the lights at night. I find the best fly is something that floats like a cork, Elkhair Caddis, Goodard Caddis or something similar, dragged against the current. Make a nice big V with the fly. Sophisticated they are not.

[scel]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

Sophisticated they are not.

That pretty much sums up goldeye.

They will hit almost anything, but they do not have big mouths. You will get a ton of strikes with big foam bugs, but I find the hook up ratio to be low. Caddis in sz12 are good. My best days have been with ant patterns, sz12-14, but it probably had nothing to do with the pattern. As pikergolf alluded, you do not really need a drag free drift.

[millsboy79]

Sounds like a tonne of fun, hope they never get too popular

Thanks again for the info, I am sure I have a number of flies that will work well.

[SNAPFisher]

You can catch them all day long around Red Deer. Adams, humpy, mosquito, something brown in June. They are definitely not particular. Sometimes they like to really hit on the skate as it swings in down stream. That gives you more fish time on a dry that most trout.

[professori]

Originally Posted by millsboy79

Sounds like a tonne of fun, hope they never get too popular

Threads like this one will not help. Just saying.

[millsboy79]

Originally Posted by scel

In the evenings, Goldeye are almost always on if they are in the river. Best success is once the river clears up after runoff (i.e. early july to the end of August), but I had an epic session near Drumheller a couple years ago, right near the end of May (the year we did not really have a a runoff).

Near Drum, the RDR clarity is sensitive rain (with all the sandstone cliffs). A downpour will turn the river into chocomilk for a day or so.

With the clarity in mind, would you suggest trying further upstream, I have heard Tolman and Dry Island mentioned if previous threads. Or even all the way closer to Red Deer like someone else mentioned?

I have to admit I am pretty excited about how much fun they sound for dry fly fishing.

[Dewey Cox]

The river was pretty clear last weekend, and the goldeye were abundant.
This rain might make it murky though.