Have you ever been into your local tackle shop and started looking around for the next best fishing lure on the market, I know I have and sometimes you leave frustrated and dejected. This is the main reason why I am writing this article, to try and eliminate some of these frustrations while shopping at your local tackle shop. Tom Brodie and I have spent countless hours fishing all over Alberta and have pretty much narrowed down what works for Rainbow and Brown trout on the World renowned Bow River. We are by no means fly fisherman, so all information in this article pertains to spin cast fishing.

 What I have come to believe over the many years of fishing the Bow River system is that generally,” the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish”. When I fish for large trout I usually like to use either a large bait fish minnow imitation, or a large spinner bait imitation. These lures I’m about to list are also very effective on other species of trout such as, Brook trout, Cutthroat trout and probably the most aggressive of all the trout species, the Bull trout. The spinner bait that I most commonly use on the Bow River are as follows.  The Panther Martin. There are two sizes and various different color patterns of Panthers I use when I fish The Bow River or any other River system for that matter.

My all-time favorite Panther for either Rainbow’s or Brown’s has to be the solid silver with blue slashes and red dots on the spinner blade PMR-S. When I’m floating the Bow and bottom bouncing, I prefer to use a # 9 spinner as these lures have the proper weight to make them spin properly. I’ve used the # 6 sized spinner, and I find these spinners to be too small or rather, they do not have enough weight to make them spin properly. Another awesome color scheme is the yellow and red dotted body, with the silver spinner blade the PMR- SYR. These lures are what Panther Martin calls, the Classic Trout Series. When I describe these lures I will list the ordering information as well to make it a lot easier for you when you go to your local tackle shop. The next on my list is what’s referred to as the silver and orange with fly, or PMF- SO. This lure is all silver with an orange skirt or what Panther calls a fly.

The next Panther Martin I love to use, and is always in my tackle box, is the Salamander spinner blade, with the black with red dotted body. PMR-SAL-G. This lure works unbelievable for big Brown Trout. Last year, 2005, I pulled in my biggest Brown with this lure, the only downer of the trip was I left my camera at home so now all I get to tell my buddies is fish stories. The Brown was around 5-7 pounds and was measured at 28 inches. Another one of my favorite Panthers is what they call the Zebra pattern or PMR- ZRY. This spinner consistently lands me huge trout on the Bow River, weather it is Big Browns or large Rainbows, it works for both species. And last but not least is the Wild Brock spinner PM-WB. Try using this spinner on your next outing, I think you will catch some big Trout. So this is the list of my very favorite Panther Martin Sonic spinners I use most often when floating on the Bow River. When shore fishing however, I tend to use a larger spinner in size and weight ( # 15 ) which enables me to cast farther out into the river, therefore increasing my odds of catching fish that are sitting in the middle of the river system. So when you head out to catch some trout on your next fishing trip on the Bow River, be sure and stop at your tackle shop and stock up on the Panther Martin Spinners.