Bow River Blog – Page 38 – Is Your Fishing Resource For Spin Fishing The Bow River

Dec 14

Give The Gift Of A Bow River Guided Spin Fishing Trip This Christmas

By Mike Robertson in Fishing Trips

Tis the season

Happy holidays friends. This is a post to let you all know I want to wish each and every one a joyful Christmas season. I would like to inform you that I will be offering a Christmas special this year for all the fisherman/women in your household. If you purchase a full price (425.00) Guided fishing trip for the 2013 season, I would like to offer you’re a 50.00 discount on the cost of the trip. This offer will run until December 31, 2012 and is good for one (1) five hour guided fishing trip on the lower bow river.

I understand times are tough these days and buying a fishing trip for your loved one might be a little steep, so I will also be offering gift certificates in 100.00 increments. For those who have already been on this guided fishing trip, you know how fun your time out on the river is. For those that are new or sitting on the fence about a guided fishing trip; now is your chance to get out with me and get into some bruiser trout come spring.

If you decide that this is the perfect stocking stuffer for you, please click the Purchase Gift Certificate PayPal button. If you would like me to send you an email with a picture of the gift certificate, I will be happy to do that for you. If you are wanting the 50.00 discount on the regular priced trip, please send me a message via the contact form in the upper right hand corner of the Blog, I will then send you a request to pay for your trip via PayPal.

Looking forward to seeing you all this spring!

Happy holidays

~Mike.

bow river guided fishing trip gift certificates

Nov 26

How To Winter Fish a River For Brown Trout

By Mike Robertson in Brown Trout Info

Location, location, location.

Fishing in the winter means finding fish in their over-wintering locations; usually deeper stretches of the river where the river keeps a more constant temperature or has sufficient cover for fish to hide. If you are familiar with your local river, then you should already know where these deep pools are located. This is a perfect starting point for you to begin fishing. Before you arrive at the river, make sure you bundle up and wear the proper clothing for the current temperatures. Winter footwear to keep your feet dry and warm, a good windproof winter jacket with a hood, and waterproof winter pants will serve you well on a chilly winter’s afternoon! It would also be wise to have your reel all spooled up with fresh line that will be suited to the size of fish in your local river as well as the cold water!

In the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere, the lowest temperatures occur in February and March. Seasonal temperature changes tend to happen slowly, while the daily changes in the weather can be much faster, therefore reducing the time available for fish to adapt. It is known that changes in the water temperature follow several hours behind changes in air temperature! During rapid temperature changes in fresh water, fish tend to head to deeper water where the temperature is more constant. When temperatures are low and fish are conserving energy, they require a greater enticement to lure them from their inertia. Cold weather requires the use of larger bait both to be more visible from longer distances, and to provide additional temptation to fish that are not moving much! It is important for you to consider how much energy fish are likely to have at any given time, and to fish in view of that. In the cold of winter, fish are conserving energy and are much less likely to travel for a meal! During winter months, the angler must do the travelling and cover plenty of water to find fish.

So let’s get fishing shall we. You walk into a nice deep position in the river, looks good and the weather is nice; say plus 5 degrees Celsius, 41F ambient temperature. The next decision is what you are going to tie on your line. In the winter months the metabolism of a trout slows down considerably and a slow presentation is your best bet for cold water- sluggish fish. Take note, a river has current and fishes much different than a lake. In lakes you can jig or drop-shot a plastic bait slowly off the bottom and gently entice you’re pray into striking! In a river where there is flow, albeit a slower flow; you will need to adjust your retrieve methods. Here a long pause while retrieving is a great technique to let your pray catch up to your bait. I also love to let my lure tumble down the current without even touching the reel; this is done with the rod tip up on a tight line to feel for strikes. A few tweaks of the lure while the bait is tumbling, is a great scheme to increase hookups. The fish see a dead minnow (Rapala, Live Target, Etc.) floating slowly through their zone, the subtle tweak of the lure makes the minnow imitation come alive (swim) causing the fish to hit. Here is how it’s done. (1). Cast upriver at a three of four o’clock position. (2). Let the lure sink on a tight line for a few seconds depending on the depth of the water. (3). After letting your bait drift down river for a second or two, lift your rod tip up slowly with a wrist action only. (4). Reel in the slack line you have created by lifting your rod tip up and repeat this process for as long as you can. A long cast will help with this method so have a full spool of line ready to fire away.

Another option is to use lures that move slowly in the water, lures such as a Blue Fox Minnow Spinner. If you read the info on the package of the minnow spinner, it states that “this lure works best when retrieved slowly”. In the winter this statement rings true, a slow steady retrieval will let those fish catch up to your bait and often you will catch many more fish. There is really no specific technique required to use this lure, just simply cast it upstream at a two or three o’clock position and reel the lure in slow and steady. One trick you can try is giving the lure an aggressive jerk while retrieving; sometimes the fish will hammer the lure after a few of these aggressive jerks of the lure! It is best to test a few different retrieve tactics to hone in on what the fish what most that day. You can also cast the lure directly upriver and reel it downstream as another option which has bagged me my fair share of winter brownies.

Brown trout become savages in the pre-spawn mode and will gorge down on large and small minnows to gain energy before expelling this energy in their annual spawn. October through till December is primo for the possibility of your personal best fish. As previously noted, it is necessary to hunt the fish until you find a location with tons of fish. In the past from my experience, I have had to fish in up to five locations to hit consistent success. Once you hook into five or six fish, you have found what you were hunting for and chances are; they will be there for a while! That’s the good news; the bad news is the weather can get cold and keep you locked indoors screaming to get back out for more!

However you do it, or where ever you are; stay warm out there and enjoy the thrill and beauty of winter in its entire splendor.

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Oct 22

Alexander’s Float Fishing Adventures On The Bow River

By Mike Robertson in Client Thank You Posts

A Young Man’s Bragging Rights

According to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The soul is healed by being with children.” I also love this old quote which states “May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.” Rest assured there is no holding back, no reservations of any kind. The morning of our trip Alexander informed me, “I love to watch videos and learn all I can about fishing- as he pulled his fly box from his pocket. These flies I tied myself after watching YouTube videos. I love to learn everything I can about fishing” he stated with passion and conviction. As a father of two offspring myself, It is always a blessing to have children out fishing with me. It reminds me of when I was a child getting up early at sunrise and heading out fishing with my grandfather. I can clearly remember how enthusiastic I felt at the possibility I was going to catch some trout! Now as a daddy, I get to pass on the lessons my grandfather taught with me when I was a young child. When I know I have a young client about to fish the river with me, I get extremely excited to pass on my knowledge to them.

Two weeks past, it was my honor and pleasure to have a father and son out fishing the Bow River on a guided float trip from Policeman’s Flats to MacKinnon Flats. Alexander, the son was extremely excited for his chance to fish the river. I had been in communication with Alexander’s mother prior to the trip and she stated Alex was extremely excited for his shot at some Bow River trout. Her message “My son is SUPER excited and October will feel like a thousand days away, so if something becomes available earlier, then we’d love to be considered for it”.

Alex and his father Steve met me on a chilly Saturday morning. Alexander leapt out of dad’s vehicle quickly grabbing his gear from the back of the van; it was very apparent that this 13 year old young man was on a mission. I introduced myself to Alex and his father but soon got the feeling this was less about the coffee and more about the fish. We quickly loaded the car and headed off onto the highway. I tied the hooks; loaded the boat up and off we went. After our trip was over Alex wrote his uncle in Ontario to let him know just how much he loved the trip. I asked his mother if I could use his story here on the Blog, I want Alex to know just how much I enjoyed his company and what a special young man I think he is.

Here is his letter to his uncle:

Hey Uncle Billy, the fishing trip was soooooooooooo much fun!!! We caught 9 fish in total, I caught 6, dad caught 2, and the guide caught 1! At the very beginning of our trip, on the first cast, dad brought in a nice brown trout. Then not 5 minutes later I got a 17″ rainbow. We floated a bit longer while casting into the banks and seams when something hit my lure and then I felt this big tug and set the hook. It jumped immediately and we got a really good look at the pinkish reflection which told us it was a rainbow, and a big one. I got it to the boat and it jumped again, by this time we could see it in the water and it was a monster! We got the fish netted and it was 24″ long! The next fish I caught was a one-eyed brown trout, it literally only had one eye, and it was a decent size too, maybe 16-17″.

Then we fell into a slump. About an hour later we were coming around this rocky out-cropping and the guide told me to cast into this seam that was just beside the bank. That’s when the next one hit. It was the one in the picture and it was 25″ long! The reason the guide is holding my fish was because he wanted to take the hook out before any further handling of the fish, and this was not the biggest fish of the day. Then the guide, Mike, got a really nice rainbow on the end of his line, and it measured at 22″. At this time, dad caught his second fish which was a 16″ brownie. Then I got a massive hit on the end of the line, then, a really large tug. That’s when I set the hook to make sure I had him! It was the longest I had ever taken to get a fish to the dock or boat – it took about 30 seconds which, for trout, is a pretty long time. We got it into the boat and I was really happy! It clocked out at about 5.7lbs, and 27″ long!!! I’ll try to send you the picture later because we haven’t downloaded it yet. That was the last, and the biggest fish we caught all day.

All the fish pulled and a few of the bigger ones all took really good runs, and jumps. The morning started out really cold and there was a dense fog, but then at about 10 o’clock it started to warm up and it was fine. We had all our success on crank baits that were colored to imitate a new-born brown, or rainbow trout. You guys really need to come out to Calgary again, and we will try to get in a big float down the bow and I’ll try to show you the seams, over-hangs and all the other places where the fish are hiding so we can try to get them out of hiding and into the boat. Overall I would rate the trip a 20 out of 10! I really want to go again next year”!

I would like to acknowledge that I too had, “SOOOOOOOOO much fun”. Before the day began, I had a plan devised for Alex; what lures I was going to tie up for him and which stretch of the river we were going to float. Some days the plan falls through and the fish don’t co-operate but days like the day Alex, his father and I fished, THEY DID.

The reason why I became a fishing guide is to watch children like Alexander smile from ear to ear, to see a child feel the rush of a Bow River bullet peeling line and making that reel scream. I can honestly say that each and every time I step into the boat, the feelings of the young child inside me comes out! I smile and giggle just like when I was 10 with grandpa fishing the banks of the Bow River. A big heartfelt thank you to Alexander for letting me post his story here, I am already looking forward to fishing with you again next year kiddo!

Oct 09

Troutapolluza 2012

By Mike Robertson in Troutapalooza

A three day fishing extravaganza!

It has been a seriously busy year for me guiding the Lower Bow River this year! I have been booked solid with trips every single weekend. It has been both an honor and a pleasure to meet so many fishermen and women. Quite frankly I have been exhausted and needed a break to recharge my batteries and perhaps catch a few fish of my own. After witnessing so many fish come aboard the boat, I needed to hook up and land one of those fish for myself. I love watching others catch fish don’t get me wrong; but catching your own fish is always a good feeling. The line screaming rush of a 20 plus inch brown is very hard to beat. Continue reading

Bow River Winter Fishing Tips

That’s a Wrap on the 2024 Bow River Season

Bagels, Browns And The Bow River

Reporting Poachers- Why it’s Important to Do Our Part

Labor Day At the Lake

Give The Gift Of A Bow River Guided Spin Fishing Trip This Christmas

How To Winter Fish a River For Brown Trout

Alexander’s Float Fishing Adventures On The Bow River

Troutapolluza 2012

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