Bugs for tomorrow on S.E. AB potholes

[Shawnlh]

Hoping you guys with wisdom and knowledge would be willing to share some with me please. Looking to head out to Bullshead and Cavan tomorrow, but I'm unsure what bugs to chuck this time of year. I suppose I could just watch the water for a while and figure it out, but a heads up would be nice.
Your tips would be mucho appreciated, Thanks

[lannie]

Leeches would be #1 for me.

[hacman]

Leech with chronie dropper under an indicator is my preferred setup.

Made the 2 hour drive again today to find everything frozen solid at Bullshead. Cold and calm overnight put almost an inch of ice on all fishable water. Hung out for about an hour waiting for a sign something might break up. Went to Cavan for the first time. Saw a couple rise but never had a strike in about an hour so I packed up and went home to catch the rest of the Masters. Should have went west today.

[pikergolf]

Leeches and backswimmers.

[EP2]

It's alberta; use three flies: leech, chronomid, scud.

[Shawnlh]

Update:
Managed to get out to Bullshead today, was windy as s#!t but what else is new. What's worse is I got skunked, not one fish on the line. I spent about half hour trying to see what was moving around in the water and was gently poking around with a stick trying to stir up some bugs. All I found were small lighter colored back swimmers. Couldn't stir up any other aquatic life. A couple other fellas caught maybe 3 or 4 fish of normal stature, 12"-14". They said they were using chronis but didn't specify otherwise. A few other fellas left without any joy, so maybe it was a sleepy day for the Bullshead bow's. Bugs I tried today consisted of a red copper john, brown bead head leach, purple bunny leach, brown wooly bugger, silver chroni with copper wire and white head, green body white head chroni with silver wire, red choni with chrome head, a couple different style of back swimmers, and three or four others I can't remember right now. I made friends with a couple of muskrats though. I tried to vary my methods somewhat. I used some bugs under indicators, tried slow retrieve, semi quick retrieve, varied retrieve lengths and timings, crawling across the bottom, keeping closer to the surface, yadayadayada. But nothing worked for me today.
By the looks of things the lake should be ice free by the weekend. I could see the ice dissipate rather quickly as the afternoon progressed. That'll be cool cause then I can take my fishcat out with my new Lowrance Elite 4x DSI . I quickly remembered today why I don't like fly fishing on dry land with a myriad of bushes and tall grass around. I know it's not really an excuse, it's just my casting was rather rusty for the first hour or so since I haven't handled a bug chucker in 7-8 months.
So, I don't know if this post is of any use to anybody, but I needed some typing practice anyways. I might head out again tomorrow, just have to dress warm as temps are dropping, but then so should the wind. Maybe we'll see if our gill breathers are awake.

[hacman]

Thanks for the report, too bad you didn't have better luck. When its windy I like keep the wind at my back or coming partially from my right hand side, then use a roll cast and shoot it up and let the wind do the work. Trying to backcast in the wind is just asking for a piercing. Better luck next trip.

[osprey]

Thanks for the report. Looks like you did everything right. Sometimes BH fish just aren't feeding. Had 3 days of that a few years back, it was like the lake was dead. Things picked up when it got warmer.

[stoph]

What you were using has less to do then the depth you were fishing. If you don't get the fly to the fish you won't catch them.

Stopherson

[Shawnlh]

Went out again today, and had much better results. It was lightly snowing, temp. was -1C to -2C , but next to zero wind, so it was a beautiful day. We landed a few, some hogs to boot . Only managed to get a couple shots to share, and obviously still working on how to photograph fish to get the best perspective. But here ya go.

I'm the ugly guy in the blue jump suite, and my buddy Jim is holding his best of the day in the first pic.

[Shawnlh]

Oh ya, forgot to mention, black and gold chronis were the order of the day. Must have hit a hatch as a few fish were sipping the surface here and there.

[Shawnlh]

Bullshead April 19 update:

They were on yesterday, they ate everything I threw at them. Chronis, leeches, scuds, san juans, some funky looking hybrid mix patterns, didn't seem to matter, they ate it all. Sizes were typical in the 15"-20" range with the odd one being over 20". Very steady action. Was a great day despite me battling a flu.

[Chief16]

I would battle the flu anyday for 20" rainbows!