Having your eyes on the prize. PHOTO GALLERY
When I plan to fish any body of water I stay focused and keep my days goals in perspective. Before I plan a day trip on the water, I organize my gear and double check all my tackle. It’s very important to have my gear working in tip top shape while I am honed in on the task at hand, slamming trout all day long. I plan properly for the day ahead which means I organize all my tackle so it is easily assessable when I need to switch lures, or loose a hook on the bottom snags. I check for things like bent or damaged hooks, broken bills on plugs and minnow imitations, old line still attached to eyelets of hooks, bent spinner blades and many other minor problems that I avoid by preparing before I am on the water.
This came in handy as I was able to float the ever clearing water of the Bow. I have been watching the water clear up for 2 weeks now and had to get that inflatable wet once again. We drove the drop off vehicle at the Carseland weir and launched out of a spot known to locals here called Policeman’s Flats. The day was nothing short of blistering hot but many layers of SPF 30 sunscreen was applied and re-applied. The fishing was as good as the weather with 15- 20 nice Rainbows and Browns taken on Panther Martin spinners. I tried other forms of baitfish imitations but nothing seemed to match the shiny silver and yellow combination I love to use here on the Bow. Another color pattern that always produces quantities of fish here is the solid silver Panther Martin in the sizes 9 or 15.
As we spent the day taking in the sun and reeling in the trout, I was privileged to be able to get a five year old his first ever trout.What a sheer blessing for me to see the smile on young Liam’s face as he hauled in what was to be the largest Rainbow Trout of the day, moreover the largest fish of the day period. He was on fire out there and kept his cool very well for a five year old little boy. As he pulled in one trout after the other I reminisced on days past spent with my grandfather watching and learning how to hone my skills as a fisherman. I showed young Liam the art of bottom bouncing spinners behind a slow moving watercraft and thoroughly explained why this natural presentation is very effective for catching trout. He paid close attention as a five year old could, but soon found himself reeling in another fish as my tips seemed to fall on somewhat deaf ears. It’s ok my new little fishing buddy, lots of time left this summer to practice and practice some more.
3 comments
I’ve been fishing for about a year and a half now – that stretch of water is by far my favorite and most productive! The float from Policeman’s Flats to the Carseland Weir is alot of fun. I always call it ‘gauranteed fishing’!!
I’ll be floating that the weekend of the 21st and hope to land some big fish as I normally do there. I took my 14 year old just west of the weir on Sunday – we hiked in after parking up the hill from the boat launch and had a pretty good day – 3 hours of fishing landed 3 Rainbows, My son caught a 23″ and a 20″ Rainbow, and my friend caught an 18 inch Rainbow. I was having some line problems and snapped off 2 fish, my son also lost 2 and my friend lost 3 – all with the same line. I’m using 8lb Spider Line, any suggestions on something more durable?
Thanks for your blog Mike, I enjoy reading it weekly and seeing what you’ve been up to – also had a chance to read some of your Kananaskis trips, I decided on taking the Family up to Elbow Lake this Sunday to hook some Cuttys!
Happy Fishing!
Keith
Author
Thanks for the beautiful comment Keith, truly touched me when I needed that the most, I thank you for that. I love that float as well Keith, some of my biggest and hardest fighting fish have come in that section of river for sure.
I’m sorry to hear you lost so many trout to what I believe to be poor line, believe me Keith I have tried them all and nothing even comes close to the XT Berkley in the low visibility green color. This line is by far in my opinion the stronget most durable monofiliment line on the market today. When I buy line it’s always XT Berkley which stands for Extra Tough, and their not kidding when they say that. 8 pound line is what I use always, anything more and it takes the fun right out it for me. Try it, I think you will like it as it has no stretch which means instant hook ups and less lost fish due to line stretch.
I truely thank you for visiting my passion, my blog and my stories of the one’s Iv’e caught and the one’s that got away.
Take care and hope to see you out on the Bow this year Keith.
~Mike
Mike,
I’m sure I’ll see you on the stretch as I plan to be there quite a bit this summer – we’ll be making the float on the 21st of July as we’re camping at Wyndham that weekend. We always launch from Policeman’s Flats so chances are good we’ll bump into each other if your out that day. My buddy has an inflatable, much like yours that we use witha small electric trolling motor.
Thanks for the suggestion on line, I appreciate it! I’ll pick some up tonight for this weekends Adventure in the Kananaskis. We’re going to fish Elbow Lake, have you ever been there? If so any suggestions on spinners to use? We’re going to try a combination of Spinning and Trout Worm Bobbing (My little guy likes to bob, my older 2 like to spin fish.)
I’ll post the pictures of our trip afterwards – just setting up a website this week to chronicle our weekend adventures – it’s nice to have everything recorded kind of like a fish diary…. anyways, Thanks again!
Happy Fishing,
Keith.