In Search Of Bow River Trout

A Foggy Winters Day.

It was a cold and fogy Saturday morning. Boredom was creeping in like the cold air from an open window. There was nothing to watch on television and my fishing tackle was staring me right in the face. The thought crossed my mind that a trout would be nice today, just as I stopped staring at my newly acquired tackle the phone rang. It was almost like the fish gods were telling me something, a great sign from above. Andrew’s on the phone and the first words of his tongue are “so are we going out fishing today Mike”. Hearing those words to me is like giving candy to a baby, I just can’t refuse. So we make the plan and we meet at the watering hole for coffee.

Andrew begins loading his gear into my vehicle and immediately we start talking about who is going to catch the monster today. Were off and then vehicle rumbles to an abrupt stop and we pile out near the river. The fog is thick by the river and the wind is nippy. On go the layers of clothing, two pairs of socks, heavy winter jackets and toques on the head. We both tied up or hooks in the parking area to save time by the river side; after all we need to maximize the number of casts we make; its -8 degrees below zero not including the wind chill. Surprisingly there are quite a few guys out fishing even though it is cold and windy. We walk and fish at the same time as we move up the river in search of hungry large trout. The cold air is starting to get to my hands and upper body, doubt then fills my brain. I felt like it might be just too cold for the fish to feed.

Many casts are chucked outward and finally the rush of a fish is mine. My heart pumps rapidly, warming me and my hands up quickly. I get the fish to turn around as he is running down river to get free of my hook. He turns and heads back up river tugging hard the complete distance before the shoreline. I see it is a rainbow and gently remove her from the water. As fast as the she came to shore she was gone out into the river again after I released her back in the ice cold blue.

Andrew and I decided that we would head back downriver towards the vehicle and see if we could catch a few more trout along the way. We arrived at the van and cranked the heater up to warm our freezing hands. We stayed in the van ten minutes and decided we would cross the river and fish the other side. Like true die hard’s, we parked the van and continued to seek out more trout. We walked back upriver again this time with warm hands, eager to catch the big one. We arrived at a bend in the river, usually a great spot to catch fish. I was working my lure through a deep seam and happened to look to my left as I was following my lure downriver. My eyes caught Andrew’s rod bent over and loaded with a big fish. I knew he was into a big trout so I dropped my fishing rod and quickly walked over to him to snap a few photos. The battle was on and then we both saw the fish breach the water. WOW what a massive specimen!

I don’t think Andrew knew just how big this fish was until he was right beside him on the shoreline. We both knelt down to bring this fish up past the ice that lines the bank. I snapped three pictures of his fish and then he released the trout back into the Bow River. The weather was just too cold to continue on fishing so we wrapped up and headed home for the day. Soon we will return to the Bow River to battle those monster trout’s on a warmer day. Until then we will have to deal with the boredom and sharpen those hooks for the next adventure.