Mar 05

Gone Fishing- Bow River

A Taste of Summer In March

The weekend is finally arrived and I am a very happy camper as a result. The weather here is finally growing nice and I have my tackle box ready to go. I just came back from the Bow River and I am happy to report that the river is ready to fish again. As I arrived at the river I was greeted by two large hawks that were flying low over head. They then gracefully flew across the river and landed in a large birch tree.
 
I turned to look at the sky above and a massive bald eagle was cruising by my location. He climbed in altitude until he left my line of vision. It looks as though this is a sign of great things to come tomorrow. We will be on the river at 10:00 sharp as we do not want to be late for the inevitable, Large Bow River Trout. The water has a glimmering blue hue to it, which is backdrop by the gorgeous Rocky Mountains that look like you can reach out and touch them from where you stand by rivers edge.

It looks like summer is slowly around the corner here in Alberta which brings copious amounts of joy to my life. The anticipation of launching my inflatable watercraft is almost unbearable. This is the ultimate way to fish a larger river as you can reach spots not normally reachable to the average lazy fisherman who parks his car/truck beside the river’s edge.

We pulled in at around 11:00 A.M and launched the first lure into the cold clear blue water. I twitched the lure slowly and failed to pull a fish on my first cast but I moved up the water column and saw a promising hole. I launched my lure upstream and slowly reeled it close to the bottom, the next thing you know WHAM-O, a monster Brown is battling on the end of my line.I took my time with him and gradually worked him to the shoreline. I gently removed the barbless hook from the bruiser’s mouth and quickly snap a photo then released the big monster back to his home in the river.

This was only the start of the day and we had only been fishing 20 minutes. This was a sign to come as we pulled twelve a piece on Saturday. We fished all day until we were so tired our arms felt as though they were going to fall off. We decided to call our fishing trip a day, but we were determined to go back on Sunday for another date with some of the finest Trout fishing the world has to offer. Please view our video footage at the bottom of this page.

Feb 26

General Info.

Inflatable vs. McKenzie Drift Boat.

This is a question a person would ask when looking to purchase a high quality fishing boat. This style of watercraft is designed to drift/float a river with no need for a motor. In my opinion there is really only one choice for the fisherman who has a limited budget but still desires high quality in a boat. I was at the boat and sportsman’s show two weekends ago in search of a high quality boat that was not going to cost me 10,000$ plus.

I have always known Zodiac to be a very reputable company with high quality at an affordable price. I went into their booth and took a look around. I was probably there for ten minutes and found nothing I was looking for. I never once saw a sales rep that could answer my questions and left their display area without any of their product information.

I was not really there to see the Zodiac display anyhow; I was there to see the people at Zebec. Now here is a company that puts the customer first. Here is an example, I walked into their display area and was immediately greeted by their sales rep and exchanged handshakes with him. I informed him why I was going to be using the boat and he provided me with some excellent information as to what boat would be geared towards my application.

He showed me three different boats and then described in detail what each boat was designed to do. He really went out of his way to be helpful to me, and to properly inform me of all their products that best suited me and my applications. He then provided me with a brochure with all their accessories and a card with his name and telephone number, website address and store location. To say the very least I was very impressed, so impressed in fact that I went to their office here in Calgary and picked out which boat I was going to purchase.

I chose to buy an inflatable for many different reasons I will now list off for you. Accessibility is the number one reason for choosing an inflatable; you do not need a boat launch for an inflatable whereas you do for a McKenzie Drift Boat. Inflatables can also access many parts of a river a drift boat cannot access. Then there is the cost factor between the two different styles of boats. I priced out the Zebec and the total cost including the boat which is 13 Feet constructed of high quality PVC, three bucket seats which mount on a aluminum rack system, two sleeved rowing oars, two aluminum mounted floor boards that also mount to the racking system so your client or buddy can stand up while he fishes, a patch kit that comes with patches, glue and a wrench in case of a minor accident; for a total price of 6000.00 $$ CDN which can all fold up and fit in the trunk of my car.

Than you look at the McKenzie Drift Boat, the boat alone is 10- 15,000 $$. You cannot pull a McKenzie Drift Boat with a car and expect a car to last very long; you need a truck to pull it properly. So the truck will run say 20,000- 60,000 if you buy used, or 60 if you buy brand new. Grand total for everything to go the McKenzie Drift Boat way is 35,000- 75,000 dollars. So for this fisherman there is really only one choice and that choice is the inflatable Zebec Bug for affordability and the versatility that I look for in a high quality fishing boat. View Zebec’s website here for all their high quality fishing and rafting boats.

Feb 25

2007 New Product Review

2007 Tackle Review (New Products)

In this article I will be doing a product review of the new tackle and gear that will be appearing on store shelves very soon. I was at the tackle store today and decided that this needs to be done here at the Bow River Blog. So here is my review on new tackle for the 2007 fishing season.

At the top of the list for trout fishing in a river is the Berkley Frenzy Flicker Shad; this hard bait will put the big fish in your boat. Next we have the Panther Martin, an old proven trout slayer with nice new color schemes. Another one of the proven spinner baits which is number three on my list is the Rooster Tail, my biggest Brown Trout this winter was caught on the Rooster Tail, try the new yellow Coachdog version new out this year.

The Rapala Countdown must make my new product list as these lures have been proven over and over again for many fishermen all over the world, look for the X-Rap Jointed Shad new out this season, the Twitchen Rap and the X-Rap 14 to make your day on the water more productive and catch you more fish.

I have looked at new fishing line this year as well and stumbled across what I believe will be the ultimate Monofilament fishing line for years to come. It’s the new Berkley Trilene Maxx which has the cast ability of the Berkley XL and the durability and abrasion resistance of the Berkley XT all wrapped up in this new line. It’s not cheap but you get what you pay for and will lose less fish as a result of the cheaper lines that are on the market. Stay tuned for more new product reviews after I have done more field testing and review more new products as they come onto the store shelves. If you would like to purchase any of these new products online, click the link below or above this post and get all these new products and many more without even leaving the comfort of your home.

If you have used a new product or an old product with a new color out this year, and is working great for you; leave a review on this post and we will display your product review here.

Feb 22

General Info

In Canada where I live we have some dreaded word called winter. In the Southwestern States like California, the winter months are usually not that cold and snow is rarely seen. We here in Calgary cannot be so lucky. We are however turning the corner and winter will soon be gone, the sooner the better for me. I was fishing on the weekend with my brother-in-law and I saw the same old thing I quite often see while fishing in the winter. There is always that one or two guys fishing that same spot they were catching fish in the summer months.

I would like to inform the reader of the fact that fish do not, and I highly emphasize the words (do not) occupy the same water in the winter. Here on the Bow River or any place where that winter word is used, fish go to over winter in deep holes; pools if you will. Food slowly enters the pool and the fish do not have to exert too much energy to have a meal. I look for pools with weeds on the bottom where fish like to sit for cover and also feed off the larvae of insects that cling to the weeds. Fish will not be in spots they normally are in the summer months, it’s that simple or is it?

I will be fishing this weekend and will be looking for the trout in these slow deep pools. I will shoot some video and describe in detail exactly what I am trying to convey here. The Rainbow Trout will be moving south down the river now and will prepare for their annual spring spawn which will create some excellent opportunities for some awesome Brown Trout fishing in the next two months. If you know where you can catch the Rainbow at the staging spot on the river and hammer out 15-20 fish in 2 hours or less depending on how many fish have moved in. The time I choose to arrive at this location is usually in the third week of March. Look at your lunar cycle and pick the 4th day before or after the full moon. Bring along some A5-35 as your arm will feel like it’s going to fall off. These staging fish will do everything in their power to get off your line.