We're on the road at about 6:15 a.m., and after a stop at the Red Deer A & W drive-thru for Bacon n' Eggers, we're on the water at the delightful Blackstone River at about 9:15 a.m. I'd fished this river before, but only once, and it was many, many moons ago, before it was catch-and-release. Somehow it seems more delightful than I'd remembered. After driving through a bit of fog and rain, we are greeted by a cheery sun as we pull in at the Cutoff Creek-area bridge. The action is steady all day long. There are fish in every pool and in many of the pockets in the pocket water. Mostly cutties, but with a good mix of bullies and rockies as well. We are doing the hopper-dropper thing until about noon, when Frank chooses to become a dry fly purist. I keep my Italian nymph on, just because, and the whities really turn on to the nymph in the afternoon, lol. Suffice to say that we coax scores of fish to hand... which is not common, according to the Streamwatch person who checks our licences and gear (she's also doing a creel survey, and says that "a lot of weekend fishermen complain of poor catch rates". Barry Mitchell, on the other hand, is reported to kick butt up here, as might be expected). At about 2:00 or so, we move up to the Gap, where indeed there are a bigger class of cutties to be caught (thanks to John S. for the tip!). It's about 35 km from the Gap to Nordegg, and we're home by about 9:00 p.m. after spending about eight hours on the Blackstone.