Bow River Blog – Page 48 – Is Your Fishing Resource For Spin Fishing The Bow River

Aug 18

A City Float Trip From Graves Landing To Policeman’s Flats

By Mike Robertson in Client Thank You Posts

Bottom Bouncing Panther Martins On The Bow River.

It was planned for two weeks; Al and his eleven year old son were booked and ready to fish. Al called me a few days before the trip to ask if there was anything he needed to bring fishing. “Just bring a camera and a smile” I said. When we met up both Al and his son were smiling, fishing the Bow River will do that to even a seasoned angler! I was set to float the lower section of the river from Policeman’s Flats to McKinnon Flats. Al asked if we could do the city float, which is Graves Landing to Policeman’s Flats. Al wanted to learn the shoreline holes within the city. Fine by me I replied, I made a quick phone call to the shuttle company who drives my car to the take out point from the put in and we were good to go.

We launched the boat at eight thirty in the morning. I tied up a Rapala on Al’s rod and I had a Panther Martin going for Blake. I also had my rod ready with a Rapala Countdown. I like to do some casting demos for my clients so they get to see what I do and duplicate the cast and retrieve method. Most people learn from watching as opposed to just listening to instructions. I fired my lure into and drop off in the river where trout love to hang out. As I was explaining the stop and go method I love to use on the Bow River, a 21 inch Brown Trout hammered the crankbait. I think I was in the middle of saying “and that’s how you do it”. Al says to me, “Is that how you do it Mike”. That’s how you do it buddy!

The weather got very hot quickly which makes the fish stick to the bottom or go into faster moving water. The river also is weedy now with the late bloom going on. I decided to switch Al’s lure to a minnow spinner. This hook will fish shallow or you can slow the retrieve up and make it swim deeper. No action for the first hour or so. As a guide, I hope all my clients get into lots of fish all of the time. Reality is, that sometimes does not happen. Al finally hooked a rainbow after the second hour near the Riverbend section of river. He managed to get the fish to the boat and then it popped off on him. That fish counts Al. I saw it and he was at the boat, that’s one in my books. Blake was next, a small little brown liked the Panther Martin and chowed down. Not really what I had hoped for his first fish but there was still plenty of time left in the trip. Then the river got quiet again. I knew the fish were not really chasing the crankbait so I switched Blake to a yellow Panther Martin #9.

The color change made all the difference. From the silver to the yellow and then it was three trout in a row for Blake. Another fish was hooked and landed shortly after his three fish. Al and Blake never caught a lot of fish but we sure did catch a suntan. Blake is pictured above with his third fish caught on the day. Blake was casting like a pro by the time we finished the float trip. I am very sure Blake will one day be a master of the Bow River trout species. That I have no doubt about. Thanks for the trip gentlemen, I had a blast!

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Aug 07

Crankbait Fishing The Lower Bow River

By Mike Robertson in Lower Bow River

Old Friends And Bow River Trout Fishing Memories.

It’s been sometime now since I have seen my old friend Jamie. Jamie and I went to high school together. I bumped into him once in a local Calgary Dairy Queen along time ago but lost contact since. Then we reconnected on good old Facebook. Its funny how many friends from school are on Facebook! Jamie meant to fish with me last year but work put the kibosh on those plans. This year Jamie made a point of taking a day off of work to go and play on the Lower Bow River.

As I sat watching TV on Friday night, a nasty storm blew in and dumped a pile of rain. I was hoping that the rain fall would not stain the river too badly. We arrived at Policeman’s Flats to dirty water conditions. So straight away my brain started thinking about the best lure for the water conditions. My choice was bright in coloration, a brook trout pattern. We tied up and set sail. The fishing was slow as the water was mucky. I rowed us close to the banks as we chucked Rapala’s into the undercut. Still no fish we hooked or landed. As we made a corner in the river I spotted a nice cove which I figured held fish. Jamie’s rod was loaded and ready to cast. I asked him to hold up and suggested he plant that Rapala into the cove I was eyeballing.

Jamie fired his Rapala perfectly into the slack water that was meeting a slow riffle along the bank. Three revolutions and fish on! It looked like a monster to me but I could not see the fish. I asked Jamie if it was big and the answer is seen in the picture above. He took his time and guided the fish into the awaiting net I held out. “Yeah baby” I hollered out loud. “That’s what we are here for buddy.” Jamie stated that was possibly the largest fish he had ever caught. Many fish were brought to the boat today. It was a good day despite the water conditions.

We fished the countdowns deep to catch the fish near the bottom of the river. The stop and go retrieve was working well today. Sometimes the fish want the lure presented a certain way or else they won’t touch it. Jamie keyed in on how the fish wanted the bait presented and as a result, caught eight nice fish. As the saying goes, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Aug 01

Long Weekend Trout Fishing The Lower Bow River

By Mike Robertson in Client Thank You Posts

Rainbow Trout’s Galore

In the month of July the fishing gets really good on the rivers and streams here in Alberta. The water in the Bow River is still really high which provides great fishing for browns and rainbows alike. This year the fishing will be good until December I predict. I have had the opportunity to guide many folks this season. It has been my busiest season since I first started guiding several years back. I am grateful I have turned my passion into a part time business. I am also grateful to meet new and exciting people year after year; I am a people person and am blessed with the privilege of helping people learn the secrets of the Bow River. I get excited every time I see a request for a fishing trip in my inbox. I guide more for the love of the sport than the money it generates. The money is just a bonus, the real reason I guide is to help people learn how to have success fishing freshwater rivers. I teach my systems to others so that they too can find success on any river they choose to fish. By no means do I know everything there is to know about trout fishing, but I strive to learn all the time.

Tawfik asked me a few questions related to trout fishing recently via my website. I did my best to help him out and get him some lures for him to have success. I pointed him to the Rapala Countdown lure. In my past adventures, this lure will catch fish in most all freshwater trout rivers and lakes. He bought a few color patterns and set off to try his new goodies on a local Alberta lake. The results, eight fish were hooked and landed using the countdown system. He came back from the lake and sent me a follow up message. Here is what he had to say, “Thanks Mike, your advice about the Countdowns is amazing, the day was slow at first but late afternoon I got 8 rainbows released 4 smaller ones. The brown trout color is the one that worked great! It even worked better than few guys around using bait”. Shortly after our initial communication Tawfik booked a guided float trip to float the Bow River.

We arrived at the river to find the water silted and high from the weeks rain fall. This makes the fishing a little more challenging. But when you have fished in these conditions before, one knows how to adapt to be successful. I tied up the lures and off we went. I was not long into the trip and Sajee, Tawfik’s friend was into a rainbow. The fish piled out of the water spitting the hook. Hopefully it’s not going to be one of those days I thought to myself. The next fish came on a corner in deeper slow water. I rowed the boat to the far bank to get this fish and the prize was worth the heavy rowing.

Tawfik had his first fish in the net before the clock struck nine. I like places along the river that have high grassy banks. Food like grasshoppers will fall off the weeds into the river. The trout will sit close to the bank and take these and other such bugs with ease. That’s where I instructed them to cast, the closer to the shoreline the better. When the trout see a nice juicy minnow come through their lie they just cannot pass it up. Many rainbows were taken along the banks today, some of good size like you see Tawfik holding in the picture above. A monster brown was hooked and got away. He must have been camera shy as I would have surely taken his picture. Sajee stated to me at the end of our trip, “I can’t stop thinking about that big fish that got away”. I know what you mean Sajee, that’s what keeps us all coming back for more!

Jul 28

Bow River Float Fishing Trips For Big Brown Trout

By Mike Robertson in Lower Bow River

Big Bruiser Brown And a Ton of Rainbow’s

This weekend was a great fishing weekend for me. I had two guided fishing trips back to back. A nice couple from Florida was the latest fishing trip. Bob and Betty contacted me from their home in Florida. Bob informed me he wanted to start his holiday out with some Bow River trout. He wanted to fish the day away before they carried on to Banff and Jasper. So MacKinnon to Carseland we went! Before hitting the river we stopped at Tim Horton’s for a coffee. I gave Bob a lesion in Canadian lingo educating him on what I was ordering, two extra large triple-triples. Bob kind of chuckled and stated to me he saw another guy earlier in the morning doing the exact same thing as I. “You guy’s sure do love your coffee out here” he exclaimed with a chuckle. “Yes we do Bob” I replied. “What I do is order two big pails of coffee and down one just to wake up. The other one I leave in my car in the hot sun and drink after the day of fishing. It is still hot by the time we will be finished”. Betty thought that was hilarious.

After I missed my turn to highway 22X, I turned the car around and got back on track. Note to self, don’t talk too much and drive. You WILL miss your turn off! We finally arrived at MacKinnon to an empty parking lot. Perfect I thought to myself, no boats and big fish. I informed Bob that once we floated down river a short distance, there was a fish waiting for him as the water flows into the bank. There is a deep hole just fifty yards from the launch point. Bob was waiting to cast. I instructed him to get his cast as close to the shoreline as possible. He fired away and a big rainbow hit on his third crank. Tip up and steady pressure, Bob landed his first trout just one minute into the trip. As I was releasing his fish, Betty’s camera was shooting the Pelicans that were fishing behind us. Betty piped up, “Gorgeous scenery down here Mike, this is nice”. Indeed it is Betty.

Many fat rainbows were caught during our trip. We pulled the boat off in many prime locations and were able to hook up fish. I was hoping Bob was going to be able to at least hook into something large. What was about to happen blew both our minds. I switched Bob’s Rapala from an OGMD to a silver (S) pattern. I tied the lure for him on our last shoreline pit stop. Bob chucked that crankbait about a foot from shore over his left shoulder. He was using a long pause on his retrieve! All of a sudden his rod tip bent fiercely over practically touching the water. “That’s a big fish Bob”. Don’t loose that beast”. I reached for the net to prepare for the fish to be landed. I figured it was a brown; the rainbows will usually jump out of the water to spit the hook. The browns like to bull dog you. Bob was bringing in this fish perfectly, careful not to lose line tension on the fish. Then I caught my first look at this whopper. My heart started to beat faster and it wasn’t even my fish. The fish caught sight of the boat a darted away peeling line of Bob’s reel like crazy. “Let him do his thing Bob”.

Gaining the line back he lost, Bob coaxed the fish into the net and this baby was in the boat. I snapped several pictures of his prize catch with my new camera. The picture you see above is why many come from all over the world to fish the Bow River. They come for big Brown Trout and powerful hard fighting Rainbow Trout. Shortly after Bob’s monster brown, we were at Carseland weir wondering where the time had gone. Two o’clock and we were back on the road into Calgary talking about the memories of just a few hours ago. What a day fishing the Bow River!

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A City Float Trip From Graves Landing To Policeman’s Flats

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Long Weekend Trout Fishing The Lower Bow River

Bow River Float Fishing Trips For Big Brown Trout

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