Incredible Bow River Trout Fishing
welcome to the new fly fisher i'm your host jenna mcewen and this week we're in the city of calgary and we are fishing the bow river imagine a city that has incredible restaurants shopping tourism sites and much more then also imagine the same city has a river flowing through it populated with large brown and rainbow trout well this is not a dream but a reality welcome to calgary the world's largest fly fishing lodge come join us as we learn about this fantastic city and the wondrous bow river one of the top fly fishing destinations in the world oh that's a nice size fish i will catch these all day that is what you're in for on this episode the new fly fisher is supported by tourism calgary travel alberta orvis fly fishing adipose boat works scientific anglers trout unlimited weathertech canada as a relatively new fly angler i am constantly searching for exciting new locations and experiences to add to my fly fishing bucket list at the very top of this list is fishing from a drift boat on the mighty bow river without a doubt this is one of the most highly recommended locations i've heard of when it comes to fly fishing for trout in western canada and for a very good reason the bow river begins in the canadian rockies winding across the province and right through the heart of the city of calgary located approximately three hours north of the u.s canada border the city of calgary is a one-stop destination for world-class shopping cuisine accommodations and of course fly fishing perfect for anglers and even anglers with their spouses there is something here for everyone and starting in the heart of the city flows an epic brown and rainbow trout fishery while the bow is accessible to anglers year round the prime time is may through october with each month offering anglers different conditions and opportunities to catch a trophy fish with dry flies streamers and nymphs best of all you can walk and wade numerous locations up and down the river or hire a local outfitter to take you out on a wonderful drift boat trip the key here is lots of public access and all of the benefits of being around a vibrant city this is why calgary is becoming known as the world's largest fly fishing lodge this week i have the honor of working with fish tails fly shop one of the many great fly fishing stores and outfitters in the calgary area owners nancy storwick and david blair are both passionate anglers and for over 20 years have been dedicated to creating a welcoming environment for anglers of all skill levels to find what they need so tales is a full-service fly shop located in calgary we offer guided bow river floats our float trip experience includes guides attention for the day transfers to and from the river a full day float on the river lunch is included as part of that so it's sort of a full service experience to experience the world class bow so some of the other stuff that fish tales offers is a full in-store experience with everything from rods and reels to all things for fly tying we also do some various classes introductory level classes for people just getting started in the sport and then some more advanced stuff for on river learn how to fish the bow and fly tying and then the other stuff that we love to do is uh hosted destinations to the caribbean primarily so cuba and mexico would be two of the top on our list while i couldn't wait to get out on the water i'll admit that i was a bit nervous about my first drift boat experience this is a style of fly fishing i was not very familiar with however i shouldn't worry as nancy is joining me and has set us up with professional guide terry johnson terry has been fishing and guiding on the beau river for over 20 years through fishtail's fly shop in fact he guided my father on the bow river 20 years ago and my dad still raves about the two incredible days fishing he enjoyed with terry before we even started fishing terry took the time to go over the essentials of drift boat fishing with me he does this with all beginners to ensure they understand how it's done and make them more comfortable so just let it hit the water on the back and then the water on the forward cast each cast and you're just letting out a little each time until you get it to where you want it then mending it a minute yeah okay and once we get out there you and wait till it's parallel and the boat yeah i want it right out to the side here okay it's down below there you'll catch fish but the problem is the fish is going to run straight back at you right right and you want to be able to set the hook so if he's coming back at you you're going to lift but he's still going to be coming back okay so when you want to cast just strip it up high up over top if you're trying to do a sidearm cast that wind's going to blow it right back and as long as you're going slow you get it out there little mint line under the finger you're ready with such incredible instruction and guidance from terry it wasn't long before i hooked into my first bow river brown trout in this glassy water to the left you'll see fish rising eating those little tricos that's a fish little guy yep so just strip him in nancy's gonna get through the line out of the way yep just keep stripping just like that we'll get him off real quick get him back in there awesome yes this is the future there's lots oh i see how that works that's cool that's very cool yeah it just goes down to the bend of the hook and fish pulls himself off good job nice okay okay okay let's see oh nice fish yep so should i be trying to get it on there no no don't just keep that rod high and bent okay just wear them out a little bit okay keep that tip nice and high that's what you want to fight him with the tip and not the butt okay good so strip strip strip yep strip strip keep that rod up though keep that tip up there you go good good then you just slide them over to me this is a nice nice rainbow forget the cows and at the end here when i scoop for him if he takes off you can just let him go that's it okay one more time strip it right up to the end right up to the indicator gotcha and then slide them over okay strip more more and more strip strip strips that's it once he kind of gets on the surface like that you can water skim right in the net nice fish another pretty rainbow on the boat gorgeous yep he's about 18. off you go well done right in that little seam there so much yeah we're doing this now beginner anglers on the bow really have to figure out how to read the water a guided trip is a great way to sort of take your fishing experience on the boat an extra level the guides are really versed in in working with anglers of all different ages and abilities we have you know folks who have been fishing the bow for years and first-time anglers out on the river with the guides they'll teach you about how to cast some of our gear we use is a little bit challenging it's not necessarily pretty it's uh it's not as traditional of a cast it's more of a kind of a lob and the guys will go through that with you so it's a good way to have an experience on the bow when you're just getting started if you book a guided float with fishtails for your day on the bow we will provide all the equipment that you need the guides all have boat rods we have loaner or rental waiters we loan them to guided clients for any days you actually need waders on the river oftentimes we're just fishing mostly out of the boat you don't even really require waders but on cooler days it's nice to have those as a as a bit of warmth for you so yeah you don't really need anything you need your fishing license and a good attitude and you're ready to go so the average size of the fish in the bow 16 inches maybe a little more it's not an uncommon to catch a 19 or a 20 inch rainbow or brown when you're out for a day on the water i feel so fortunate to have that resource right in our backyard on a personal level it's just a great place to go and sort of get away from the craziness of the city and you really do feel like you're outside of the city in just a few minutes so terry i don't have a lot of experience fishing with an indicator or fishing a three-fly rig what's the best way to cast this so i don't get all tangled and once it's in the water how should i be working the fly well you've got three flies on there if you tried to cast this like a normal dry fly you'd you'd end up with a bunch of tangles so we basically use the water load so on the back cast you let it hit the water on the back cast same with a forward cast so you're going back and forth to get your distance once you get your distance out then you just lay your cast down and you're and you're you're fishing but you want to make sure that you let it hit that water especially with the wind if you don't those hooks are going to blow right back into your face so okay on that back cast let it hit the water and on the forward cast as well until you get it where you want and then when it's out there yep you're just drifting trying to get that indicator to drift as natural as you can you want to make it look like those hooks were just knocked off the bottom and they're just dead drifting down through the current okay as natural as you can so just like that remember find them with the tip yes like that okay fighting with the tip nice rainbow yes that was nice i think i'm getting better at reading the indicator bobbing i didn't have to say anything she did it all herself i didn't even know she had a fish on well done thank you yeah slightly over here okay not a monster but a good good fish pretty little filler whoa there you go in my opinion one of the best parts of fishing is making new friends and spending time with them on the water this is made even better when you're both having success after a quick and relaxing lunch break nancy hopped into another boat and we continued to fish our way downstream and it wasn't long before we had trout on our lines testing our skills again this is so much fun i certainly understand why my father raved about this river and the fishing okay that's a fish little guy oh that's not a little that is a decent that was right on that seam exactly what you were talking about terry i was trying to cast to the foam cast to the seam where the slow and the fast water and meeting off this riffle here and that's where that fish hit perfect i did not think it was this big a fish until it jumped oh my gosh that was fun oh let's see if i can get him up here trying to remember all the tips that terry gave me i'm gonna need that net thank you and i think my line's a little tangler on my bag okay about that's a nice job let's see let's see because i think i'm almost get his head up and just get it oh my god that's it slide them right in here come on buddy there you go there you go yeah keep them coming keep them coming up ready yes that is a beautiful beautiful fish and terry's been so helpful about telling me exactly where to put my fly and just following his instruction i've been getting into fish all day it was right where he told me to on that foam right where the fast and the slow water meet that's awesome thanks terry oh that's a fish for sure nance okay then send him right down here i'll net him oh here he comes that's a nice fish nance oh yeah there you go yep just keep casting till you get to it one more nice and easy like so yeah let that go okay good good good not a little upstream yeah strip out your slack now you can go out a little farther nice good cast there's fish i saw that indicator and then you just keep stripping that got okay if he takes off he can let him go that's it just like that this rod tip high right rod tip high okay just like that here it is late afternoon sun is starting to dip a little bit let's see okay now put the pressure on him yep strip strip strip keep his head up just like that and just keep oh just keep sliding over there we go well done oh that was awesome a nice fish calgary is a vibrant clean and beautiful city nestled on the edge of the rocky mountains lots of great restaurants shopping malls attractions and outdoor activities have made this city one of the top places to live in canada for visitors this city has it all coupled with a world-class trout fishery something truly unique and special for couples or even anglers who want to do more than fish calgary provides easy access and the opportunity to indulge in whatever your heart desires fishing the bow river is definitely a bucket list destination for many anglers including host bill spicer bill was visiting a friend in calgary during my trip so we decided to get together and spend some time fishing this magnificent river another great way to fly fish the bow river is to walk and wade for this fishtails fly shop set us up with one of their guides blair yorksa blair took us to a great spot on the river that's actually within city limits to start our day there are lots of locations throughout the city and down river where anglers can have easy public access to good quality fishing so jenna i understand that you don't have a whole lot of experience throwing dry droppers so i thought i'd give you a quick rundown of what we're going to be doing today the reason we fished the dry dropper is it offers you a little bit of an alternative from nymphing so you have the benefit of fishing subsurface where 90 of the trout eat but you also have the opportunity to get one to eat the top fly which is the most exciting part of fly fish um second to that it also allows you to fish a little shallower water than you would with a traditional nymph freak so in a scenario like this we'd walk up we have a riffle on our right we always kind of start casting short first so we don't put line over fish so our initial cast will kind of be short closest to the bank so we're not covering any fish with line before we get there so we throw a cast somewhere in that zone what we want to do the trick to this type of fending and fishing is controlling your line so keep a lot of the line off the water mend it constantly and that'll get that dropper down as well as you don't get a lot of drag on your dry fly that way um as we progress through this run we'll work a little further out each cast once we think we've covered this area down here we'll take a few steps up repeat maybe three casts at a time till we work up to the top of this pool which would probably be the most likely spot especially for the dry fly the shallow water the fish doesn't have to rise very much to eat the dry fly and that'll be our most likely spot even on a windy day you can catch trout here mind you it's not a lunker by any means now if you turn the trout upside down like that they calm down come on little guy there we go just a little guy but it's a start many novice anglers wonder when it's time to mend your line i'll give you a demonstration of when you do it this this goes with indicator fishing or dry fly fishing this is a windy day so i'm only going to work a short amount of water the more water you try to control the less the more problems you're going to have on a windy day so here i'm gonna cast my fly in control my line when the fly is across from me here i'm end upstream and then i can get the drift all the way down here for this trip i came prepared with nine foot five and six weight rods matched with large arbor reels as per nancy's recommendation i made sure my reels had good quality drag systems in order to properly fight these strong trout as with many bodies of water the most effective flies for fishing the bow river depends on the time of year and the current water conditions our guides recommended that since we were fishing in late summer we would likely have the most success using black and white clouds or minnows natural foam golden stone flies size 10 and bead head prints nymphs on jig hooks size 12. we also used a variety of san juan worms including the san juan worm pattern called reese's pieces in size 8 verneel san juan worm blood colored size 8 and red wire san juan worm size 10.
after having so much fun fishing from the drift boat earlier this week i just had to try it one more time before my trip to calgary came to an end this time though my goal was to try and catch a big bow river brown trout on a dry fly this isn't always easy as trout will often only feed on the surface under certain conditions lucky for me the timing was perfect good job now just let the drag do the work okay when he stops she can reel you got it just keep that rod bent well done yeah real real real real bring him back over okay that's it that's it that's it when he gets close here he'll take off again okay awesome well done that fly landed just above him he just he ate and the fly landed above him and he came over and ate it again yeah those mayflies have been hatching this morning so he ate that little adams and there's probably a couple more that is a pretty little little fish get that hook out silver silver they don't really get too pink here they're more silver bullets than they are off he goes well done thanks so much terry that was awesome there's a little bit more rising out there eh yeah they're still going out there we'll slide back up there see we get another one but they we kind of pulled over because we saw one and then he then they stopped for a little bit and we were about to pull up anchor and we looked back and they started going again so there yep there's one right lunch time there's another exactly there's a few more in here so let's try that fly off and see if we can get enough waiting to eat my fly well done we're back here at fish tales fly shop at the end of another great day fishing the bow river and unfortunately it means our time here in calgary has come to an end huge shout out to fish tales fly shop for the amazing guiding services they've provided me with this week and a big shout out to calgary tourism for the amazing experience this has been if you'd like to learn more about fishtail's fly shop or fishing the bowl river here in calgary or our show visit us on the web at www.thenewflyfisher.com from all of us here at the new fly fisher thanks for watching and we'll see you soon the new fly fisher is supported by tourism calgary travel alberta orvis fly fishing adipose boat works scientific anglers trout unlimited weathertech canada do you
2021-02-20 01:23
