Bow River Fishing In May

The Bow River and the Month of May

Hello friends, I hope everyone has been out fishing lately and catching some fish. I was out this past weekend fishing the beautiful Bow River. I arrived and did some reconnaissance to find a section of the river that was clean enough to fish. I was in a tournament and needed to bag a twenty two inch fish to win the bounty over at Bountyfishing.com. The river was running fast a dirty and my chances looked bleak at best. It is that time of the year when the water turns dirty from the mountain run off. I selected to fish a little out of the city limits near Policeman’s Flats where I thought I had the best chance at hooking a twenty two inch trout.

I rolled in and sized up the water conditions, dirty but not like dark chocolate milk. So I selected to use a lure that was colorful and made noise as well. I wanted to use a lure that would dive down to the bottom of the river as I felt the fish would be hugging the bottom. I tied up and made copious casts in prime water with not so much as a nibble. Then I moved into some faster moving water where I figured the oxygen levels in the choppy water would be greater. After twenty minutes of casting practice, I moved up the river in search of that first fish, hopefully a twenty two inch fish to be precise. There was two hundred dollars on the line and I wanted to cash in. After two hours of walking up and down the banks of the Bow River, I had no bites and not one fish to be seen.

May is sometimes hit and miss for fishing the Bow River. I’ve had great days fishing the Bow River in May and I have had days where the water is too dirty and therefore not so productive. You will now see the water get even dirtier as it’s time for Mother Nature to take its course. So what do you do when the Bow River gets too dirty to fish, do you keep fishing it hoping to get some action? Do you say forget it and go elsewhere in search of trout or do you switch species and go east for Walleye or Pike? Well that’s precisely what I do; I head east or south and chuck crank baits for hungry ice off Pike. Or sling up a Pickerel rig and kick back in my comfy lawn chair waiting for the Walleye to chow down.

In Alberta and most Canadian provinces, there is so many species of fish to choose from. You do not have to sit back on your couch and complain! You can pick a new destination, a place where maybe you have never fished before and try your skills there. I will fish at least three to four new places this year. I will pick a destination a week ahead of when I plan to fish and study the lake. I will learn what lives in the lake by doing my homework, while others are on the couch complaining about how the river is too dirty, I will be mapping the lake and studying access points. Then I will go and buy the necessary fish treats to make my day productive. Frozen minnows where allowed, or leeches, or perhaps a bag of smelts will be the bait of the day. Whatever the bait may be or wherever I decide to go, one thing is for sure. I will not be on my couch complaining about the sad state of the river, I will be on the lake slamming Walleye, or Pike or Burbot. Then once Mother Nature has run its course, I will be back in my boat floating down the Bow River!

What do you do when your river is too dirty to fish, do you sit on your couch or do you get out somewhere else and enjoy a different species of fish? Please leave a comment and tell us what it is you do!