Itchin For Some Open Water Fishin

The cabin fever blues

As the snow falls downward, blanketing the once brown grass of just a few months ago, to now pale white, I look out the window and dream! Dream of the fish in the river that lie waiting, slowly swimming near the bottom or slowly rising near the edge of the banks to get a tiny morsel of larva. I miss the summer time! I miss the smell of the dew on the tall green grass. I miss the early sunrises and watching trout sip caddis flies off the seams of riffles. I miss watching the golden, and bald eagle’s souring in the wind, scanning the river for their next meal. But most of all, I miss the people I fish with in the summer time. The memories that we make out there, and the fish we catch and release are priceless to me. Memories that remain, not only in my mind, but in my heart forever!

Christmas has come and gone once again, and a Chinook is forecasted for the next few days here in Central Alberta. Dreams of massive rainbows and bull dogging browns will soon become reality. As I sit here and sip warm coffee from a new cup, a Christmas present from a friend, I can’t help but dream of those trout that lay just below the icy cold surface of the Bow River. Some people are into ice fishing, and are waiting for the water on the lakes to freeze enough to drill holes and jig lures. Not me, I am waiting for the Chinook to roll in so I can walk the banks of the river and power fish Rapala’s, or some Live Target Lures.

Thank goodness the Bow River does not completely freeze over in the winter time, due in part to the three water treatment plants that pump chemicals into the river all season long. Is this a good thing you ask? I am not sure about that but I know it keeps the river open in the winter time, and to me, that is a good thing! I hope you all got your ice fishing augers and ice shacks from Santa this winter and do well sitting in your huts, catching all those fish you missed this summer. Me, I am going to hit a nice deep pocket of water on the river and slowly, quietly crank a rattler deep down into that hole and hopefully pull out a piglet.

Some techniques I like to employ in the winter are slow presentations of the lure or spinner. I love to tweaks the lure a few times after it sinks down several feet, followed by long pauses and more subtle tweaks. To do this, on a tight line, I lift the rod tip up slightly with just a wrist action, then let the current of the river carry the lure downstream, repeating the process until the lure comes back into my feet. Another technique I use is with a large spinner, say a number 15 Panther Martin. I cast the spinner way upstream and let it sink all the way to the bottom of the river. I bounce it a few times and then lift it off the bottom and slowly reel it up, repeating the process again until the lure is back at my feet. You must remember that the water is very cold and the fish do not react as fast as if you were fishing in the spring, or summer months! Keep the retrieve slow and put fish in your net when the water is cold.

Its way past time I made a cast into the river. Watching the snow fall and drinking coffee in my condo is getting old fast! I need to put on the waders and some warm clothes and get after it. The cabin fever blues has to end, and end soon. I absolutely cannot wait to walk the river bank again and fire away at will. I just hope the fish are willing to chow down on my offerings. They say “the tug is the drug” and boy do I ever need the tug. Who else is dying to go fishing? Where are you going, and what are you fishing for?

Please leave your comments for me. Happy fishing my friends!