Cataract Creek

[RichV]

Fished from the campground to the meadows and saw...nothing. No splashes, no shadows in the pools, nothing. It definitely was not teaming with eager brook trout. Is it just me, or is this section of creek empty water now?

What about Etherington, same story?

[FlyTheory]

I think a lot of our waters in Alberta have been trending in this direction sadly. Habitat fragmentation, overfishing, high water temps. It’s part of the reality now, sadly. Especially in the easier access waters in central to southern Alberta. The SW of Alberta has seen pretty ugly water temps at this time of year, look at Fernie, the Elk and tributaries are mega warm right now. Like 17°C kinda deal.
Having said that, there are still definitely fish in there. They may just not have been active, it may have been too warm of water temps or no surface hatches.

[calgarygringo]

Having fished it since the 70's, our experience has always been a lot better way up stream. Walk a few km up the path and around then start fishing. Caught more real trout size fish in the bigger pools.

[RichV]

Thanks for the replies. I will try again in the future

[densa44]

Has any one fished there this year? I've fished lots of the streams on the eastern slopes but not that one.

[slough shark]

I was out there I want to say 4-5 years ago and the brookies were thick, all were small but there were tons, has anything changed significantly environmentally wise recently that may have caused that? I heard from someone last year who also had the same sort of experience so that’s a bit more worrisome that multiple people having rough days, hopefully it’s coincidence because that was a great place to take new fly fishermen.

[Calgaryguy1977]

Originally Posted by RichV

Fished from the campground to the meadows and saw...nothing. No splashes, no shadows in the pools, nothing. It definitely was not teaming with eager brook trout. Is it just me, or is this section of creek empty water now?

What about Etherington, same story?

It has it's good and bad days like anything else. The creek is small so you can scare them easily. Fish it along the banks on the bends where the deeper pools are. My best luck has come on hopper droppers along the edge with a prince, copper john, hares ear, or olive green nymph around 24 inches below the hopper.
If you prefer dry fly fishing, which is usually the most fun, try a tiny parachute type patter...the smaller the better. Light yellow or white to imitate PMDs, or a tiny black parachute fly (midge), and also had decent luck with stimmies and caddis. If you don't catch at least a half dozen using these methods I'd eat my hat lol.
Cheers

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by Calgaryguy1977

It has it's good and bad days like anything else. The creek is small so you can scare them easily. Fish it along the banks on the bends where the deeper pools are. My best luck has come on hopper droppers along the edge with a prince, copper john, hares ear, or olive green nymph around 24 inches below the hopper.
If you prefer dry fly fishing, which is usually the most fun, try a tiny parachute type patter...the smaller the better. Light yellow or white to imitate PMDs, or a tiny black parachute fly (midge), and also had decent luck with stimmies and caddis. If you don't catch at least a half dozen using these methods I'd eat my hat lol.
Cheers

When is the last time you fished the creek? As I said earlier I haven’t fished it for like 5 years or so but I have heard multiple reports over multiple years about people finding it almost barren the last year or 2

[walker1]

I was up fishing the Livingston last week for a few days and ran into a guy who was talking about Cataract and he said he had a client that wanted to fish it but his last trip in he did not see a fish!!!