Apr 15

Fishing Trips

Another Day in Paradise                               PHOTO GALLERY

I just do not know how it can get any better than spending a day trout fishing on the Bow River.I hooked up with my friends from Los Angeles today for some trout fishing. The sun was out and the fish came alive to the spinners and plugs we threw out at them. It would have been nice to see Dave with one of those 26 inch Browns the Bow has become famous for worldwide. However, Josh and John seemed to know how to get the job done today. Josh landed himself a very decent Brown Trout and John was getting action all day.

We did our very best to bring up the large trout today but sometimes this can be a challenge. Todd had the honors of first fish today and was kind enough to hand his rod to Josh to bring this scraper to shore. Josh did his thing and here is the end result. I decided to tie up a big Panther Martin spinner and give that a go. It was met with a hungry Rainbow that could not pass it up. I hammered another Brown out with the Panther and put it back into its spot in my tackle box.

Dave and the boys had to leave to catch their flight back home to L.A. I must say that it was a real pleasure to meet Dave and the boys and look forward to fishing with Dave in the summer time here on the Bow. Words cannot describe what the fishing is like here in the summer.

Todd and I had some lunch and moved to a different area of the river. I managed to hook into a nice Brownand had some great bites as well. All in all, it was nice to be outside and fish the river again today. Even if you don’t catch any fish, a day outside beside the river is a day in paradise for me!

Apr 14

Fishing Trips- April 2007

Fishing In April on the Bow River            PHOTO GALLERY

When the weather gets warm and the flies start to hatch like crazy, this is the prime time to throw out a hook. I cannot help but be outdoors when these conditions present themselves. Fishing on the Bow in April can be some of the best fishing anywhere in the world. The water is warming, the bugs are hatching and the fish are rising to take these small flies. They are also hunting for a larger meal as well as the flies that are abundant here now. Todd and I had to go see what the fishing would be like today.

We hiked up to the hole I fished in yesterday and arrived in anticipation of a great day. Sadly the first hour or so was a little slow and I only managed to land one fairly nice sized Rainbow Trout. My second fish hit hard but scampered off my lure before I could land it. We went for some lunch and decided we may have arrived at the river too early. After lunch we went back to the same hole and arrived at 5:30 pm. The wind seemed to calm down some, the hole just felt a little more calm and peaceful. I pulled an odd colored minnow spinner out of my box and fired away. Shortly after I felt a small tug and then BANG, I feel the weight of this fish and he starts to pull like a freight train. This fish was a monster and he fought like Mike Tyson in his youth. I took very special care with this fish and landed him after the bell rang. This was the trout you write home to mom about. We took a few photos and I slowly revived this bruiser and released him back into the water.

The fishing here in April has been phenomenal lately, that was my seventh fish in the last two days that measured over 25 inches. In the photo gallery of the Blog you will find the Bow Rivers biggest fish. We just seem to find the biggest trout the Bow River has to offer. I take great pride in releasing these massive trout back into the river for everyone to catch for years to come. I encourage you to do the same and we will ensure this fishery success for many years to come. If you cannot get off the couch in April then you are missing out on some of the best fishing of the year.

Apr 12

General Info

Cover (Part Two)                                              PHOTO GALLERY

I did so much talking about where trout find cover yesterday that I just had to go out today and look for some trout. I sought to find the weedbeds I spoke of yesterday to see if I could latch into some monster trout that the Bow River has to offer. I walked a mile up the rocky banks and settled into a nice stretch of river with weedbeds about eight meters out from the shore line. The water has risen as a result of the rain and snow we had here two days ago. These stained conditions sometimes make for some awesome trout fishing, provided the water is not too dirty.
 
As I knelt down to tie up my first hook I heard a big fish raise out of the water a make a big splash just behind me. Needless to say I sped up the pace in tying my hook up. I finished up and launched that hook to where I thought the fish came out. Nothing for the first fifty casts and I moved up the water column to a spot I know has a big weed bed. It also has a nice slow flow of water entering the weeds so this is a fish magnet spot in the river.

On my very first cast I latch into a monster Brown troutand he starts to do the death roll on me. I coaxed him back into the water and steered him out of the weeds so I could land him without getting hung up in the weeds. As I turned my rod away from the weeds he takes the flying leap to try and shake me but no way, this big boy is all mine. I moved him onto the shore line just out of the water and took this picture of him so you can see how fishing in weedbeds can pay off.

Notice this picture of the water moving in to a slower area of the river. This fish was also taken from the weeds in the current. I was able to hook five massive trout from this very spot, two 24 inch Rainbows and three 25 inch Browns.If there is any doubt that weedbeds can be productive than this should eliminate that for you and me. Seek the weeds and you too could find yourself yelling FISH ON BABY.

Apr 12

General Info

Just One Question                                            PHOTO GALLERY

It never ceases to amaze me how you see those fisherman in the same spot on the river time after time. I seldom fish the same spot in the river for various different reasons, one of which is that fish are always moving up and down a river system. I scratch my head in confusion as to why I see the same fisherman in the same spot constantly. As water temperatures rise and fall and their food source grows or depletes, fish will come and go as the conditions dictate. One day I will fish a hole or run and there will be many trout caught. Go back to the same spot a week later and there will be no trout caught? 

What influences this migration of fish in and out of different locations of a river system? Cover plays a very important role in this pattern. Available food supply has a big impact as well. Stream fish seek to find cover the second they hatch. These tiny fry are very small and are weak swimmers and unless they can find some type of cover to hide behind, they often get swept away by the current.

Take note here, Fish need larger pieces of cover to shade them and to conceal them as they grow. The biggest fish in a river/stream seek out the largest boulders and logs or the deepest undercut banks. Water that lacks this type of structure will usually only hold small fish! The best cover not only breaks up current, it also provides overhead protection. As a result, fish prefer slack water beneath an undercut bank to an eddy behind a boulder.

Every stream or river has several pieces of cover that I refer to as fish magnets. More often then not, these spots are inhabited by one or two of the rivers largest, most dominant fish. When you are able to catch one of these fish, another of about the same size moves in to replace it. The most consistently successful anglers on a river are those fishermen who know where several of these spots are located. This brings us back to the question I proposed earlier.

Here are some spots in a river I look for when fishing for trout. With some practice and patience you will learn to recognize these subtle visual clues that reveal their locations. Points or sharp bends of a river create major eddies. The longer the point or the sharper the bend, the larger the eddy that will form as a result. Another place to look is bridge pilings, they have eddies on the upstream and downstream ends. Quite often the cover is better than it looks because of the riprap piled at the base of the pilings to reduce erosion. And last but not least, weedbeds create a diverse current pattern and hold many types of food. Fish lie in the slow water in the beds themselves then they dart out to grab food drifting through channels between the beds. Look for these spots on any river system and you will have the upper hand on those fishermen that stand in the same spot over and over.