February Fishing The Bow River

The Three Amigos Fish the Bow River

There were originally going to be four amigos trout fishing the Bow River today but there only ended up being three. As I drove down the road towards the river I watched the Canada flags flap consistently. The wind was blowing from the west as the thermometer continued to rise above zero. While driving to the river I could not help but notice the ominous looking full moon to my east.  I picked Dean up at eleven o’clock and Todd was already stringing up his fishing line on the bank of the Bow. I scoped Dean up and bolted to the agreed meeting spot along the river. Todd had just arrived at the river and had already begun to tie his hook onto the fishing line. I hurried to tie my hook up and off we went upriver to find some big fish.

As we walked to a deep sector of the river, we noticed a major ice flow from one bank of the river to the next. The ice was just from the low overnight temperature, not the kind of ice that form big sheets and makes the river un-fishable. I said to Todd and Dean “this ice will melt away in forty minutes and then we will be into the large trout”. After just a half an hour the flow of ice had dissipated and we were casting into ice free, clear cold water. That’s when I was able to hook the first fish of the day, a mid sized Brown Trout that had some line peeling off as he scrambled to shake the Rapala lure from his mouth. A handful of rolls and I calmly reeled him into the ice lined river bank. That’s one for the Bow River Blogger.  Not long after I landed my first, Todd was hooked up and battling a decent looking fish, again another sweet Brownie. He landed the female and released her back into the icy cold water. Then the river grew quiet and no trout were hooked after many casts. A decision had to be made! Todd piped up and suggested we cross the river and hike up to the honey hole. All in favour say “I”.

We all packed the tackle back into the back packs and made the journey over to the other side. After hiking over a quarter mile we were there, “The honey hole looks good Mike”. I concurred and then the frantic casting began. We were like three fishermen who were desperate to hook into a trout, kind of like a dog that impatiently waits for his owner to finish putting the food into his bowl. Hungry we were indeed. After three long casts that made it to the opposite bank I hooked into a nice sized brown, this fish was not happy that my lure was artificial and did everything in his power to break free. No chance, and ashore he came rolling and skipping with head shakes. Tough fish those brown’s are. After hooking three more browns and a very nice rainbow, Todd and I decided it was time to move along. I never like staying in one place for very long.

We were in search of some deep holding water. We found it many steps upriver. This hole was perfect and we both catapulted our lures outward. Not long after we arrived I was into another rainbow, smaller trout but a scraper indeed. Then it was like the hole came to life, one trout after another was hooked and landed. Bang, bang, bang and fish on. No sooner did Todd say “this hole might very well hold a trophy”, he was into the largest winter brown I have seen in quite some time. When you hook on of these bruisers your adrenalin goes through the roof. Heart pumping head shakes came off this big boy and after a couple of minutes the jaw dropping trout was landed. Sometimes I guess you get what you speak out loud. The photo posted here does not do this big boy justice but I had to at least let you experience what winter fishing the Bow River is all about. After who knows how many beautiful fish were landed and released, the three of us walked back to the vehicles parked where it all began just a few hours earlier. What a day fishing the Bow River. With a little luck and the right lures, we shall return tomorrow hoping to do what we did today.