Usually when we fish the Bow I am able to catch at least one good size Brown Trout but not on this trip, Tom was the lucky one this time around. He managed to haul in a nice sized Brown which probably was 20-22 inches in length. We were predominantly catching nice sized Rainbows all day. There was a good variety of fish caught which indicates a healthy fishery. I still am amazed at how hard these Rainbows fight and I should know well enough by now after fishing this river hundreds of times. I was getting 12-16 inch fish that fought like 20-22 inch trout. I can tell you one thing for sure, this river has to be fished properly to be highly successful. With the right lure on the end of your line, and some technical know how, you will do very well out here on the mighty Bow River.

Well is completely crazy out on the Bow River once again my fishing friends. It’s that time of year when the run off has mostly come to an end and the trout go mental for food. I floated on Thursday with my childhood friend Tom. B and the fishing was outstanding. We floated from Glenmore Tr. Bridge to Policeman’s flat which takes approximately 3 hours and thirty minutes. The weather was absolutely gorgeous with sun and a calm breeze being mother natures order for the day. We started out pretty slowly but as we floated a little more, things got heated up and I finally yelled “fish on”. A fat scrappy whitefish was bouncing on the end of my line. Lot’s of whitefish to start out the float but the best was yet to come.

I find the further you get out of the city limits the less whitefish you catch and then it becomes all trout. I’m not quite sure why this happens and if anyone knows out there I’d be interested in the answer. Any how, as we are just past the man bridge at Deer Run I suggest my pal Tom throws his Panther Martin into a very good looking spot along the bank. He put his lure on the exact spot I recommended and started to reel away from the bank slowly and then BOOM, a huge Rainbow hammers his gear and takes a flying leap 2 feet out of the water. Unbelievable that he was able to put his lure on the precise spot I was looking at. As a result he pulled out a massive 22 inch Rainbow trout. And things never really slowed down from that point on.

We hauled in a whole bunch of smaller to medium sized trout along the way down the river as well but all along I could not seem to manage to catch anything sizeable. Then we reached a spot on the Bow where it comes from a shallow area into a long deep channel. As we pass over the shallow area I always pull in my lure and wait until we get into deeper water, then I cast my lure into the shallow drop and slowly reel towards the dingy. On Thursday I did the same thing and low and behold a 22 inch Brown trout hammers my Panther Martin and came flying out of the water which is unlike Browns to do here. Usually the Browns here bulldog and roll to try and shake the hook free, but not this guy he flew around. We ended up catching about 20 fish each and my arm felt like it was going to fall off. These fish here are not your every day fish, they are some of the hardest fighting fish anywhere in the world.