Skwala stoneflies on the Red Deer River are not your typical stonefly hatch. Skwalas are one of the early hatches on the Red Deer and can really get the river moving. Like stonefly hatches everywhere, the best dry fly fishing occurs when females return to the river to lay eggs. During the heaviest egg laying runs, the river comes alive with fish - browns, goldeye, and whitefish hammer the surface all day long. There are certain weather and water conditions that are best suited to this event, and when it happens the fishing is unbelievable. It only happens about 6 or 8 days of each season, but it's this culmination of conditions and the explosiveness of the event that keeps fish looking for a meal and willing to take large dries from late May onward.

"It was May of 2006 that we floated during this hatch and a 24" male brown slammed a skwala pattern. It was a good fight and the fish finally came toward the boat. I put pressure on the trout to get it into Steve's net but the fly popped out. I was upset at losing the fish, but it didn't swim away, holding 2 feet under the surface for a few seconds. I smacked my fly on the water to spook it away but the trout turned and hammered my skwala again. That's fishing in the skwala hatch!"  ~ Dave Jensen

Please consider joining us for the skwala stonefly hatch. Email us for more information.

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