Bow River Blog

A Day at the River

I finally was able to go out today and do some trout fishing on the Bow River. Mother Nature has not been co-operating here lately. I decided to make my way down to Policeman’s Flats in search of some large trout. It was a clear and sunny day here with no wind and a high of four degrees. I slowly trudged my way through the snow and gently tested the ice that has built up around the rivers edge.

Once I felt that everything checked out I pulled the shiny gold lure from my tackle box and moved quickly to tie it up. I then proceeded to heave that minnow bait as far as I could across the crystal blue water. I slowly made that lure work its magic as I took in the fresh mountain air. It was not long after, that my sparkling gold offering was gobbled up by a scrappy Brown Trout. I gently played him out and released him back into the frigid water. Shortly thereafter I was greeted by another spinner fisherman all decked out in waders and the works. We exchanged greetings and he went up to a fast flowing section of the river.

I have to stop and talk about where this fisherman was headed to catch his fish. He went to a spot on the river where the water was flowing very fast and is relatively shallow. He contently stayed in this spot for over an hour with out any success catching fish. There are two reasons that he had no success. One is he was in the wrong spot on the river. In the winter fish do not hold in long fast riffles, they over winter in deep pools. If I am a door to door salesman and I am walking past a house that is clearly vacant, I will not stop at the house, I will walk by to the next house that looks occupied. Well the same goes for looking for occupied water where trout are holding. This nice fisherman stood at the doorstep of a vacant house for an hour and a half trying to make his sale. Two is the fact that he never even changed locations the whole time I was there. If the section of water that you are fishing on does not produce within the first 10-20 minutes than move on to another location that looks good to you. I moved up and down the river the whole time I was fishing and caught 3 fish in different locations of the river.

These are some of the pointers I will give a client before we fish any river system. I cannot explain in writing as well as I can show a person while out on a river system. It took me many years of reading and then practicing to locate prime water while out fishing any river. I believe this is a learned talent and takes lots of practice. However if you take the time and remember what spots you catch your fish you will start to see similarities in the type of water the fish hold. How deep was it, how fast was the water flowing and so on? Recognize the patterns and you are on your way to becoming a great fisherman.