Bow River Blog

Blogging for the future!

Every now and again when I check my inbox in the mornings I get some information that I consider diamonds. Granted, my inbox gets full up with rubbish and clutter on a daily basis. I usually slap that rubbish in the behind and send it off into the trash bin. I am clicking for at least thirty minutes or more looking for the “good stuff”. Most of us internet savvy folk know that Google has recently updated the algorithm in what they have titled Penguin, and this update brings about some changes some webmasters are worried about! Let’s clear the air for you shall we. The most recent update to Google’s search engine algorithm is not perfect.  Google did not take the time to personally test all 88 billion possible searches that take place over the course of the month to make sure each one is tailor made exactly as you would like. This was a comprehensive alteration that affected pretty much every possible term searched. Of course, if you are going to cast out such a big net, you are bound to catch a few shopping carts, tires, and scraps of metal. Over the next few weeks the algorithm will likely be tweaked and things will begin to settle down. It happens every time does it not? Google isn’t going to all of a sudden reverse the update because Jimmy the fisherman is unhappy.

A long time ago when I sat down with my Blogging mentor and web site specialist Brent Truitt, the one point he smashed home to me was content, good rich original content. Let’s face it, back then I never really knew how to write magazine style content, but what I did know how to do was catch fish. I had the knowledge in my head and the skills to reel them in; I just needed to learn how to get those skills and ideas out onto megapixels. Much of the same remains in Brent’s advice then as it does today, good high quality, rich, fresh content that offers educational information on a consistent basis. Both you and I know that we all suffer from lack of ideas; writers block or just plain lack the time or effort to put forth Pulitzer Prize winning pieces. Each and every Blog post cannot be a winner, but what it can do is help people learn and become better than they were before they took ten minutes of their precious time to read you’re Blog!

Google wants better search results returned when a query is made. These updates are nothing more than Google’s commitment to return the most relevant results for the term being searched. If someone is searching for Bow River fishing, Google is not going to want to show fisherman that are the best at link building. They want to show the 10 best fishermen on the Bow River. The experts! As an expert in your field, whatever field that may be you can’t be ignored – not even by Google. Some of the old tricks in the book just do not work any longer people. Shady link building, spammy content and keyword stuffing are long but over now! I’m not too sure why Bloggers built shady links in the first place, why would page rank and link farming take a front seat over good high quality content. I have never understood why people do that. When I add links to my site, weather outbound or inbound, I keep it relevant and those links must always complement my articles. I know I love it when I click onto a link about river fishing and it takes me to a site all about trolling a lake, like WHAT! Like it or not you still need other sites linking to yours. It’s one of those things that still stand at the core of the Google algorithm. That doesn’t mean that you have to hire a link farm to create a bunch of spammy links. Not once have I ever hired an outside source to build links for me! What do they know about my skills anyhow, and what are they going to link my article to that I cannot do myself. I guess I might be a control freak!

If you are an expert, and have control over your site that’s the easy way out, from my experience experts don’t take the easy way out just because it’s easy. Start visiting blogs in and around your niche and start commenting on their posts the old fashioned way. Remember those days’ people.  Here is the key to proper commenting – be on topic first off, create value and add to the conversations in all of your comments! Oh and don’t forget, if you have nothing nice to say, maybe don’t say anything at all! You are adding value to their Blog which will also lead their visitors to come over to YOUR site and take a look around. Once they are on your site, looking at high quality rich content, they then add value to your site and spread the word about what you are doing. This can possibly lead them to post a Tweet about you and your sparkling clean juicy content, or possibly share your post with all of their Facebook buddies. I think you can see where high quality content comes in now right! Why would they share a story from you if the content was not impressive, or even fair for that matter? Here we go with that old saying again, content IS king. I have never shared a crappy link, or a spammy Blog loaded down with ads. I have minimal time on my hands as it is, and to be honest I would rather be fishing!

So have I ever really strayed from the advice I was given in the beginning, NO. Have I used unethical ways to slam my competition on the internet, NO!  Do I need to hire outside sources to make my Blog hit the top of the Google charts, NO! All I need to do is what I have always strived for; write great Blog posts that people want to read. Keep updating my Blog on a monthly basis, I love telling a good fishing tale by the way, and the rest will fall into place. So I raise a toast to my Blogging fishermen now, may the Google God’s and the trout God’s be with you.

Bow River Clean-up A Success

I was out wandering the banks of the Bow River today checking on the water clarity. What a nice day it was to stroll along the banks and take in the rays of sunshine. I had my camera with me and was taking pictures of the river when I spotted several people picking up garbage along the river bank. I would have been one of those volunteers if I would have known about the river clean up before today. It amazes me on just how much rubbish gets tossed out of car windows and onto the streets, then ends up in our river systems as a result. Why can’t we take the time to throw our trash into the garbage at home or into a garbage can when we are out and about?

I stopped a lady beside the river and asked if I could take her picture of her and her team cleaning up all the trash along the river today, she kindly said yes so I snapped a few pictures. In 2011, almost 10,000 pounds of garbage was collected – including five bikes, six tires and three shopping carts! I am curious what volunteers will pull out of our water ways this season. From what I saw in one small little area of the river bank, it should possibly be more trash collected this year than last.

The Pathway and River Cleanup is hosted by The City of Calgary Parks and is sponsored by Tim Horton’s, Stantec, Encana, Calgary Area Outdoor Council, Waste Management, Matrix Solutions Inc. and the Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation. Other City of Calgary supporters include Community Neighborhood Services, Animal and Bylaw Services, the Calgary Fire Department, Waste and Recycling Services, Water Services and the Calgary Police Service.

If we all do our part and throw our garbage into is rightful location, namely the garbage can, Calgary’s water ways will thrive for many generations to come. Its resident population of trout will survive and tourists will flock to our clean city by the droves. I ask each of you to do your part and keep our river clean and free of rubbish! Use the trash cans provided for us by the city if we walk along the Bow River pathways. Don’t toss trash out of your car window, keep it in a bag in your vehicle until you arrive home and then discard it when you get home. Our trout population thanks you in advance for your cooperation.

The SS Sienna drifts again!

With warm weather upon us now and the sweet smells of spring that fill the air, what a perfect way to spend a day out trout fishing the Bow River. Pat and his son Steve were the first clients of this 2012 fishing season. We met at the coffee shop where a tall triple-triple was in order. It usually takes me a few of those to shake the cob webs off and feel like a normal human being! We slammed the coffee down the hatch and piled into my car with boat in tow. Another Friday in paradise was about to begin. Do I ever enjoy when my boat becomes my office for the day, beats sweating in that paint booth!

I was watching the Bow River Shuttle Blog for their boat launch reports all last week, my hopes were to float from Policeman’s Flats to MacKinnon Flats. Down at MacKinnon Flats there is ice build-up every year, heavy ice that piles up to 10 feet in height. This ice takes a long time to melt and usually disables boaters from floating here until May and even until June depending on the winter. I was delighted to see from the boat launch report that MacKinnon Flats was accessible with a channel of rock open to back a vehicle down to the river’s edge. Police to Mac it is then. [Read more →]

And not necessarily in that order!

Fishing is a sport that spreads out worldwide and joins people together that might not connect otherwise. I meet new fishing friends on Twitter, Facebook and the likes daily. I also meet them at the river and local fishing shows I attend yearly. I make a point of talking with as many as I can when at these shows. I chat with the people who attend; the guide’s in the booths and the rep’s who display products. As most of you know I am a Rapala freak, so I always stop in to see the new products from Rapala. This past year was no exception to my yearly ritual. I made a point of asking some questions I needed answered this year and conversed with Steve Gower. I introduced myself and gave Steve my business card stating I was a fishing guide on the Bow River and use Rapala’s by the boat load. Steve shook my hand and was happy to answer my questions I had for him. We chatted for at least fifteen minutes and when we were finishing up, I offered Steve a fishing trip with me this year on the Bow River. He was kind enough to accept and gave me his card to keep in touch. And so a new friend was born, right then and there on the floor of the boat and sportsman show.

Steve had asked me to come up to his home another day so we could chat further and I gladly accepted. I E-mailed him shortly after the show to stay in touch, and he was kind enough to reply. I thanked him for the two hats he gave me at the show and proudly displayed both of them on my head. A month passed and it was time for the spring classic at Bass Pro in Balzac, where I ran into Steve again. We chatted again for a good twenty minutes, must be a fishing thing! It was time for me to go but I wanted to walk the isles and scan the shelves while there, a fisherman like me can never have too much tackle. I glanced to my left and saw a man standing who looked very familiar to me. I turned and said, “Hey is your name Cory”. He replied yes and I stated my name. Another fishing freak form my past was standing next to me. I have not physically seen Cory since high school. Cory is on the Alberta Walleye fishing trail and targets big eyes’ to win cash and prizes. He offered me a trip in his new boat this spring and I gladly accepted. This summer is shaping up to be a very busy fishing season.

I called Steve and went to his home where he gladly offered me some products to try and keep. A new Rapala Trout series fishing rod, a handful of fishing lures, a Luhr Jensen hat that is very rare, a line stripper to peel all that old line off my reels with, and two full spools of fishing line to try out. Once I left Steve’s home I felt like I died and went to fishing heaven. Steve had asked me to try the rod and the line and write a feature here on my Blog for others to read. He asked me to be honest and provide feedback to you the reader. I will gladly attach a spinning reel to the rod, spool up the new Rapala fluorocarbon line and make several hundred casts.

I would like to thank Steve for his kind generosity! Please check back for a review of the new Rapala products I will be testing very soon. I am sure they are going to work like a charm; after all it says Rapala on it! I continue to make friends in the fishing world daily, so don’t be shy and leave me a comment here or join me on Twitter @bowriverblog or come by the Facebook page at Bow River Blog guided fishing tours page and say hello.