The forth color I use very often is the holographic green, I have tried this color a couple of times only on the Bow, but both times I used it I had success. When I am fishing a lake or a deep body of water I will use a heaver Buzz Bomb such as the 2 inch, this lure is ¾ of an once which enables you to cast out farther into the lake or reservoir which will increase your odds out there. So the next time you head out to the Bow River put some of these lucky charms in your tackle box, the fish think that they are magically delicious. Let me know what colors work well for you the next time you head out to your local fishing hole.

Another one of my favorites for spinner baits is made by Blue Fox. This spinner is called the Vibrax Wild Eye and comes in all kinds of different colors and sizes for whichever trout species you are fishing for. I would like to list the colors and sizes I most commonly use when I’m out on the river, whichever river that may be. Remember, these lures work deadly on the Bow River system but they also work deadly on all of Alberta’s rivers and tributaries, or any other river system in the world.

  When I’m floating I use a # 3 or a # 4 because this size of spinner has enough weight to make it spin properly when bottom bouncing. When I fish from shore I’ll use a little bigger spinner as I can cast further out into the river. Probably my favorite color pattern is the Gold Shiner with either the skirt or without it. With this spinner, I tend to buy them with the skirt as I have had more success with skirted models. The next pattern I most commonly use is what they refer to as the Brown Trout spinner. This spinner works awesome for large Brownies on the Bow River. Another one of my favorites is the Perch pattern and works great for Rainbow’s or Brown’s. And finally, the Hot Pepper pattern in the Blue Fox spinner series is also a very good spinner to keep in your tackle box.

Next I would like to talk about the Blue Fox Vibrax Minnow Spinners or what I like to call my all-time Brown Trout lure. These lures cannot be beaten when it comes to fishing for HUGE trout on the Bow River. Tom. B and I were out on the Bow one mid-summer evening in 2004. Fishing within the city limits of Calgary under the Bridge, were both chucking Minnow Spinners and the next thing you know Tom’s rod is bent over with the tip almost touching the river. He battles this monster for around five minutes and finally gets this thing to shore and I’m like, oh my good lord that’s the biggest Brown I’ve ever seen.

Some people were walking their dog that evening and said exactly what I was thinking. So out comes the measuring tape from my back pack while Tom’s unhooking the monster, the people walking their dog take a photograph and I measure the Brownie; 30 inches and what a beautiful fish. We pause for a moment to take in what had just transpired and back at it we went. The color he was using that day was hot orange or as Blue Fox calls it, Gold Fluorescent Red. These lures will catch you MASSIVE Brown and Rainbow trout on a consistent basis, and once you start catching fish with these lures, you will never and I mean never, not have these in your tackle box! In addition to the hot orange minnow spinner, the most common minnow spinner I like to use is the Brown trout pattern in the 7/ 16 weights or size 9.