Gone Fishing- Bow River

We seem to be getting some very nice weather here in Calgary, Alberta with today’s forecast at 9 degrees Celsius. My friend Todd and I arranged to meat down at the Bow River at twelve thirty to do some trout fishing on the Bow River. When I arrived I could not help but wonder if the big Brown’s have started to make their way back down from their fall spawn. The Brown’s here on the Bow make their way upstream in August then make their way back down stream after they have spawned out. I decided to start fishing a deeper pool on the east side of the river with a Berkley Frenzy crankbait. The color I chose first was the black and silver combo.

I tie up and fire away, nothing on the first cast so I keep plugging away. About the fifth or sixth a cast a massive 25 inch Brown hammers my lure and the fight is on. I land this massive hog and release him to fight another day, but not without a few photo’s first. The next fish turned out to be the biggest fish of the day, another massive Brown Trout measuring 27 inches in length and weighing in at 7-10 pounds. I then clue in that there are probably some more huge fish occupying this deeper hole that we are fishing in.

Gone Fishing- Bow River

I proceed to move down stream and fish the tail end of the pool, on about my third cast I see a large fish following my Berkley Frenzy and I’m running out of room so I stop my retrieve and wham-o; a 25 inch Rainbow hammers my hook and goes on a big run. I try to reel this scrappy fat Rainbow in to shore, but he straightened the hook and swim to freedom before I could land him. That’s the really cool thing about the Bow River, you can go down and fish for three or four hours and do very well almost any time of day or year.

So were only here for a half an hour so far and I’ve landed three fish over 20 inches, our day has just begun. We fished for a while longer in this hole and I managed to pull out two more trout, one Brown that was about 21 inches in length and one Rainbow that was over 20 inches but very fat. We then decided to move further upstream to try our luck in another deeper spot on the river.

Gone Fishing- Bow River

Todd made his way to the hole before I did and he was able to land his first fish of the day, an 18 inch Brown, we snapped a picture and gently released him. I changed hooks to a Minnow Spinner and shortly after pulled in a smaller Brown. Todd banged in to another bigger Rainbow shortly after which brought a big smile to his face. I changed lures again to a Zinger (blue magic finish) and piled into a scrappy Rainbow Trout. The sun was going down by this time and we decided to end our trip off in the deeper pool we started at.

We got back to the hole about an hour after we moved upstream and I switched color patterns from the silver I was using to gold, and landed three more fish as a result of smart fishing. I can honestly say that this was one of my best days of shore fishing I’ve ever had. Nobody around all day, a nice warm sunny day and big fat trout. Two words to sum up this awesome fishery, totally unbelievable.

General Info- Bow River

Hello all you fisherman and women out there. It’s November now and it has gotten cold here in Alberta. The temperature here has been around zero to minus five or so. Last weekend it was pretty nice, eight degrees; so I decided to head out to the Bow River to see what the Trout were up to. I arrived at noon and fished till two o’clock with some success. I took quite some time to get into my first Trout but I was able to catch four fish that day. It was the Sunday afternoon so I think there was some fishing pressure on Saturday so I wasn’t able to catch anything of size.

It really pays off to be the first one out on the river or go somewhere on the river where there is limited access so you get all the big fish for yourself. I’m a firm believer that one has to go off the beaten path to catch the big fish that any river system has to offer. I look for peace and quiet when I go fishing so I will travel the extra mile to see no one. I am hoping that we get some better weather here in Alberta so I am able to go and do the thing I love the most, Fish.