March Fishing The Bow River

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Bow River Fishing Report

As the weather warms up my fishing gear comes out. I almost could open my own tackle shop with the amount of lures I have amassed over this long cold winter. I have put in many hours on the internet and in fishing stores collecting the gear I will need to guide the river this season. I figured I may as well mosey on down to the Bow River and see if those fancy new colors will work. I called Todd and we met at Wholesale Sports. Todd bought a new fishing rod and reel, the Berkley Series One fishing rod and added a Pflueger Supreme spinning reel to it. We briefly browsed the shelves and picked out some more fishing line, eight pound Berkley XT monofilament. We left the store and jetted to the river. A hike in and we were there, the water stained and high from the melting hot sun.

On goes the hot new color and out into the river casting far to improve my odds of hooking a fish. A second cast rewards me a nice brown trout about sixteen inches in length which I unhooked and released. There was a great deal of ice along the shore so we settled into a spot a little further down river of where I caught the first fish. I managed to catch another nice rainbow, and then another, and another. Here is a piece of advice for you, I almost always do this but failed to do yesterday, check your hooks and your knot after hooking every fish you catch. Sometimes your knot will come loose or the line will fray a little from the fighting fish or the hook will straighten a little. I chucked my lure back out without looking at the knot or the hooks. In the middle of the river I get thumped, bang and no hook up just a good hit. I slow the retrieve and stop the lure, still no fish. I pick up the pace and reel smoothly and wham-o, I am into something large. I fight the fish for a second or two and then the line breaks like a dry twig. I reel in the line and check it, sure enough the knot was good but the line that connected to the split ring was broken. I was disappointed and tied another hook on and tried to forget about the one that got away.

Todd was a little slow to start out but finished with a good day, three large rainbows’ that were all over twenty inches long. His second fish was magnificent, what colors in that rainbow and not a mark on the body. His mouth had a little scar from someone previously catching him but that healed up nicely. I was able to hook and land a dozen fish yesterday, not too bad all things considered. It looks as though we are turning the corner into spring now and hopefully the weather stays on the plus side so we can all come out of hibernation and fish the rivers and lakes once again.

Lately I have been getting a lot of queries for fishing reports on the bow river, so I have decided to make a new category to address these inquisitions. In the categories side you will see the new link “Bow River Fishing Reports”. I encourage each and every reader to contribute to this new link. After you go fishing please send me a quick response to how your day went, once you enter a few posts on the report I will upgrade your status on the Blog to “author”. You will be able to make posts directly without me moderating the information. Please include the date and where you fished in the information you post. In turn we can help other people with the information posted here. I look forward to seeing your reports as soon as you finish fishing the river/lakes you frequent often. Cheers to your fishing successes.

Bass Pro Shop’s Grand Opening

Fishing On The Internet

Lately I have been surfing the internet promoting my site and getting ready for the 2009 fishing season. There are some many great websites and Blog’s on the internet now that I could spend all day in front of the computer screen looking at. I also write articles for Bounty Fishing and post them on their Blog when I see fit. I was looking at Bounty’s site yesterday and seen that they now have a group set up on Facebook. So I clicked the link and was taken right over to the new group. After joining I looked through their members list and found Richard Shafter, the founder of Bounty Fishing’s website. I clicked his profile image and sent a friendship request. After Richard’s approval I then looked at his friends list and found Dave Mercer’s profile. If you don’t know who Dave is then you must check out his web site and watch his television show on WFN.

Dave’s take on fishing is a little different than most but once you watch Dave in action you will laugh your ass off. I sent Dave a friendship request thinking that may never happen but you never know until you try right! After opening my Facebook account the next day I saw that the request was approved. I sent Dave a quick message thanking him for the approval and complimented him on the great work he does on his Facts of Fishing show. Dave was kind enough to respond to me thanking me and informed me that he was going to be at the grand opening of the new Bass Pro Shop in Balzac. Dave will be there on Wednesday April 7 at 6:00 PM through until Sunday April 12 2009 doing his Facts of Fishing seminars. Dave encouraged me to meet him and say hi while I am there. I will be sure and do so Dave!

Please pass on the grand opening date of the new Bass Pro Shops in Balzac at the new Cross Iron Mills mall just north of Calgary on the number 2 highway. Take the right turn at the Balzac turn off if you are heading north from Calgary. Stay and watch Dave’s seminar and you will not be disappointed. I would like to thank Dave personally for taking the time and responding to me via the internet. I sincerely appreciate that Dave. Spend some time and spend some money at the new Bass Pro Shop, I know I will be! Hopefully we can shoot an episode of The Facts of Fishing this summer out on the bow River.

Winter Fishing The Bow River

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Homing In On March Trout

Today was a day a trout fisherman could not pass up the opportunity to get the hooks out and the line wet. Soon the weather will turn cold again and we will be watching fishing shows on television. So off to the Bow River we go and catch some of our own trout. There was three days of warm weather here in Calgary so there was a copious amount of water draining off the streets and into the Bow River system. This made the water dirty, and yesterday it was too dirty to fish. But I remained positive and returned to the river today for some trout fishing action. Dean played hooky from work and Tom was on his way as he had the day off. Tom said “I have that fishing itch I just have to scratch”. You know the itch he means, the one where you are cooped up for weeks and no fishing has been done for months.

Spirits were high and the hooks were sharp. Up the icy bank and into the deep hole I walked gingerly, ice cracking half way up the river. I was the first to arrive, and therefore I was able to latch into four nice rainbows before Dean and Tom arrived to meet me. As they say “the early bird gets the worm”, well actually he gets the trout. Dean was walking up the bank and I could see him in the distance as I battled my fifth rainbow within an hour. It looked like it was going to be a day for many rainbows. Then Tom showed up and then the river became quiet, like Mother Nature turned off the switch. A brief period passed with no trout hooked but then as the day started, the river came alive once again.

Tom was into a respectable brown trout that measured out at twenty three inches. The camera shutter snapped a few pictures and then Tom released the fish back into the chilly stained water. As tom released the fish into the Bow River, I held onto his coat just to make sure he did not slip and enter the river. Ice hanging over the rivers edge can be dangerous so when you are walking on it you must check it first for stability, getting wet when the water is this cold will end your day immediately. No one got their boots wet only their hands from releasing the fish we caught back into the river. Catch and release is a great idea to preserve the fishing resource we have here in Alberta.

Today we were predominantly using crank baits such as the Rapala Countdown, the Rapala Husky Jerk and the spinners were working also. I was using the Bang Tail made by Lure Jensen and hooked into two rainbows with it. Dean approached me and asked me what color he should switch his lure to. I suggested he try the green Rapala as I have seen many big fish caught with it. It was approaching three o’clock and this has always been a great time here on the Bow River to catch fish.  As the clock struck three, a huge Brown struck dean’s Rapala, the same green hook he just finished tying up. I could see the splashes from just down river where I was casting. I just knew this fish was extra ordinary so I clumsily trotted up the river to capture some video of his monster. This male brute was battling dean to the bitter end with many head shakes and rolls to try and shake his lure free. No way was Dean about to loose this fish. He reeled him slowly into the bank and chose a spot where he could get close enough to grip him. All twenty seven inches came out of the water; this is what we were looking for all day!

As dean’s eyes opened with amazement, I popped the hook from his tooth jaws careful not to harm this beautiful wonder. There was no problems unhooking him and we were able to capture the moment on film for you to see. When landing a fish this big, we are careful not to let the fish lay on the ice at all. It is better to keep the fish off the ice and get it back into the water as soon as possible. This reduces stress on the fish and improves the chances of fish survival. High fives were in order for this trout. I applauded dean for his skills and his presentation of the Rapala as it was necessary to do so. I hope you enjoy the picture of this Bow River fat boy. I know I enjoyed watching dean hook and land this exceptional trout.

February Fishing The Bow River

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The Three Amigos Fish the Bow River

There were originally going to be four amigos trout fishing the Bow River today but there only ended up being three. As I drove down the road towards the river I watched the Canada flags flap consistently. The wind was blowing from the west as the thermometer continued to rise above zero. While driving to the river I could not help but notice the ominous looking full moon to my east.  I picked Dean up at eleven o’clock and Todd was already stringing up his fishing line on the bank of the Bow. I scoped Dean up and bolted to the agreed meeting spot along the river. Todd had just arrived at the river and had already begun to tie his hook onto the fishing line. I hurried to tie my hook up and off we went upriver to find some big fish.

As we walked to a deep sector of the river, we noticed a major ice flow from one bank of the river to the next. The ice was just from the low overnight temperature, not the kind of ice that form big sheets and makes the river un-fishable. I said to Todd and Dean “this ice will melt away in forty minutes and then we will be into the large trout”. After just a half an hour the flow of ice had dissipated and we were casting into ice free, clear cold water. That’s when I was able to hook the first fish of the day, a mid sized Brown Trout that had some line peeling off as he scrambled to shake the Rapala lure from his mouth. A handful of rolls and I calmly reeled him into the ice lined river bank. That’s one for the Bow River Blogger.  Not long after I landed my first, Todd was hooked up and battling a decent looking fish, again another sweet Brownie. He landed the female and released her back into the icy cold water. Then the river grew quiet and no trout were hooked after many casts. A decision had to be made! Todd piped up and suggested we cross the river and hike up to the honey hole. All in favour say “I”.

We all packed the tackle back into the back packs and made the journey over to the other side. After hiking over a quarter mile we were there, “The honey hole looks good Mike”. I concurred and then the frantic casting began. We were like three fishermen who were desperate to hook into a trout, kind of like a dog that impatiently waits for his owner to finish putting the food into his bowl. Hungry we were indeed. After three long casts that made it to the opposite bank I hooked into a nice sized brown, this fish was not happy that my lure was artificial and did everything in his power to break free. No chance, and ashore he came rolling and skipping with head shakes. Tough fish those brown’s are. After hooking three more browns and a very nice rainbow, Todd and I decided it was time to move along. I never like staying in one place for very long.

We were in search of some deep holding water. We found it many steps upriver. This hole was perfect and we both catapulted our lures outward. Not long after we arrived I was into another rainbow, smaller trout but a scraper indeed. Then it was like the hole came to life, one trout after another was hooked and landed. Bang, bang, bang and fish on. No sooner did Todd say “this hole might very well hold a trophy”, he was into the largest winter brown I have seen in quite some time. When you hook on of these bruisers your adrenalin goes through the roof. Heart pumping head shakes came off this big boy and after a couple of minutes the jaw dropping trout was landed. Sometimes I guess you get what you speak out loud. The photo posted here does not do this big boy justice but I had to at least let you experience what winter fishing the Bow River is all about. After who knows how many beautiful fish were landed and released, the three of us walked back to the vehicles parked where it all began just a few hours earlier. What a day fishing the Bow River. With a little luck and the right lures, we shall return tomorrow hoping to do what we did today.