Thank You For Your Business
It’s been awhile since I made my last post. Much is happening on the fishing front with the Bow River getting the storm water and the dams have opened their gates. I was privileged to take out two new clients last weekend. Brynn and his father Scott joined me on a hot and sunny Saturday morning. We kicked our trip off at Policeman’s flats and floated to our destination point of MacKinnon Flats. The morning started off a little slow but as the sun warmed the water the fish warmed up to their hooks. Brynn’s first fish was a respectable Brown Trout that battled all the way into the boat. Then the competition began. I think dad was a little choked as Brynn jabbed, “that’s a buck dad”.
Dad was determined to get the next fish and it was there, boom a sweet rainbow trout was hooked and landed. “That’s one to one son, pokes dad back at his son. I am thinking to myself, “Ok it’s going to be one of those days”. No fun today some just serious fishing business. I love the competition. I’m happy to see it’s not just me who keeps score. They battled back and forth with one going ahead of the other all day, some serious trout were landed and we came to the last five minutes of the trip and wham, Brynn hooks a trout that would have evened the score at 6 to 6. The fish was scrappy and just did not want to be landed. So as we came around the corner the tally was six fish for dad Scott and five fish for son Brynn.
What a perfect day for trout fishing. Thank you so much for letting me serve you last weekend. I hope your pictures of the trip turned out great. Feel free to contact me for your next fishing trip on the Bow River. Cheers.
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Hi Mike, good to see you on the river the boats looking good. Got a few questions for you… Your boats looking sharp, how much did the interior framework cost you? Also now that the boats in full use if you were ordering another and frame is there anything you would change in the setup? When the rivers blown out like it was on saturday how do you change your style to adapt? Is there anything a guy can do to get into the fish consistantly or is it just a crap shoot? Thanks in advance and hope to see you again on the Bow.
Hi Mike and all!
I’ve been reading some of the posts and excited to try some spin casting using some rapals next week. I’m new in the City and live by 22X so from what I’ve read so far, its just a short drive. I was born and raised in Vancouver so I did a lot of salt water fishing. I’m here in Calgary and eager to try some spin casting on the Bow. My question is, where would some good spots be to park my car and go for a walk down the bow? I’ve got wadders and enjoy walks down the river.
Thanks
Sherwin
Author
Hey Clayton, great to see you as well. Sorry if you could not hear me too well as I am sick with a brutal cold and my voice is shot.
First off the raft itself I ordered out of Idaho from Saturn Rafts seen here in the link, http://www.saturnrafts.com/saturn-rd-1450-146-self-bailing-raft.html
Then I wanted my clients to ride with comfort so I ordered the aluminum rack from a local dealer in Calgary, Zebec Rafts. The cost of the rack was 2200.00 Canadian dollars. Well worth the money in my opinion. The only thing I would consider changing is the thigh bar at the front of the raft, I would not have included it in the rack package, that’s about it Clayton.
In regards to the fishing conditions on Saturday, the river as you know was a little dirty and moving fast, you need to add either more noise or you need to add more color to your lure selections. We were using some loud lime greens, flashy reds, and hot yellows to entice of trout. The fishing was not phenomenal but we did manage to pull some very respectable trout into the boat.
So the next time you see the water is dirty and the visibility is low for the fish, get those loud lures out of the box (Clackin Rap) or those lime green spinners (Blue Fox) and give those a try, I know you will be glad you did….
Thanks Clayton and hope to see you on a guided trip this summer in the new boat.
~Mike.
Author
Hello Sherwn, welcome to Calgary and the Bow River Blog. Your location near 22X is perfect for walking the river. You will need to enter the McKenzie Meadows golf course parking lot and drive down the hill until you reach the river and then park near the river. From that spot I prefer to walk down river and fish along the way. Or try your luck underneath the bridge just in front of the bridge pillars or behind them.
You should do fairly well there as long as the water clarity improves.
Thanks Sherwn, hope you catch some big trout’s.
~Mike.
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the tip. I finally got out yesterday. I had an hour and a half to kill so I checked the bow like you said under the 22X bridge. I casted and walked going down stream. The water is very murky. I first tried the clackin rap then the rattlin rap due to the murky water but no bites no success. I walked some more and tried the number 7 brown trout rapala and worked on the fifth cast! Picked me up a 16 inch brown trout. I’ll be heading up this weekend to hopefully get at least 6 hours in the morning and let you know how that goes. I didn’t have enough time to check out a few spots or lures but thank you for some great tips on your blog! There was another post saying I could park at Policeman Flats and Mckinnon Flats so I’ll check those two out in the next two weeks and wow, everything is so close. I don’t have to drive very far which is excellent. How can I submit some photos?
Thanks
Sherwin
Went out on the river today and a perfect day it was. I find when the river is high and murky and you have a nice long washed out bank you can have super success by only having maybe 4 ft of line out and slowly walking downstream twitching an X-rap right tight in to the shore. Any ways i landed a 24″ brown doe and hooked another, that even though it got away makes you realize why fishing is great. I’ve done lots of fishing in my life, caught salmon over 45lbs, basically i grew up fishing. Well the brown today that got away i can only compare to a big chinook hooked in the river. I hooked it with only about 4 ft of line out so i got a perfect view of the beast and honestly it was well over 30″ probably 10lbs easily. It jumped for me twice about 6 ft from shore but it jumped like a big chinook with purpose, heading a direction, then it took off downriver like it was possesed. I ran over half a km following it, even having to pass my rod under a sumerged root, then having to cross a side channel on a crazy log to continue the fight. It took most of my 250 yds of braided camo 6lb test and finally it bested me and broke off. For those of you that have lost a big one you know the feeling it wasn’t disapointment it was awe. I truely feel sorry for those who don’t fish and have no clue to what they’re missing. We sure are lucky to have such a beautiful river right at our fingertips that is still wild and pristine but minutes from our doors. Mike I envy you because you get to introduce people to big trout, a beautiful river, a life style and you get paid to do it. Good for you….
Author
Hello Sherwin, sorry for the slow reply. My computer is in the repair shop getting fixed, it has a software problem. Anyhow, you can send your photo’s to my e-mail address at bowriverblog@gmail.com and I will put them on the Blog for you. Please write me a little story to go along with the photo’s and I will include that as well.
Thanks,
~Mike.
Hey, I am checking this blog using the phone and this appears to be kind of odd. Thought you’d wish to know. This is a great write-up nevertheless, did not mess that up.
– David
Author
Thanks for the heads up, it looks like that in a mobile browser as I installed a plug-in to the site which lets visitors view the site in a mobile browser. The plug-in is called Mobile Press. The site will appear different in a mobile browser window than what you see on a Mac or PC.
Thanks David,
~Mike.