miked

Hey everyone, I realize no one can ever know for sure. But I'm looking for some opinions from all you knowledgable people here. I fly out this upcoming Monday for a week in Calgary. I was originally planning a 3 week drive out trip to do some serious camping and fishing, the floods changed that idea. I am now trying to decide if I will bring out any equipment at all. I will not have a vehicle and only one maybe 2 days to fish if I did, so would be limited to the Bow. Do you think by next week there would be anywhere fishable? Not to mention safe to fish. Really trying to make this decision. Dont wanna bring equipment out and not be able to use it as it will cost me extra luggage fees, not to mention I'd have to buy a new piece of luggage to fit the rod and waders and such. Thanks for any help and opinions. Mike

Thanks jayhad! Pm will be coming closer to the time. Mike

Hey everyone, I hope everyone is keeping safe and as well as possible. My trip is changing due to the current hapenings out there and some issues here at home. Still heading out there, but only for about a week and am flying so will not have a vehicle and only limited gear. Plan on fishing the bow through the city a couple days while there. Question is does anyone have any thoughts on what I should be thinking of fly wise? I'm sure hatch charts aren't gonna be much good for this year after all this flooding. Also I'll be posting again closer to the date, but if anyone would be looking to get out to any other rivers in the area and wouldnt mind having an out of towner tag along. I'd certainly be up for that. Gas and coffee/ beers/ whatever would be on me. Take care all and thanks. Mike

I'm kinda curious about this too. I've got a trip planned for Calgary next month. Going for a wedding but plan on spending a couple weeks fishing. Really starting to re think my plans right now. Was planning some time on the mountain streams but I'm guessing the infrastructure out that way will be out for a while making things un accessible.

Seeing the pictures I'm able to find is just crazy! I cant even begin to imagine whats happening to you guys out there. It just seems impossible for things to happen so quickly. Begin to rethink my vacation out that way next month. Headed out there no matter what but thinking I may have to rethink plans. Again thoughts and prayers out to all involved, stay safe out there!

Some crazy stuff you guys have happening out there! My thoughts and prayers go out to those areas already severely affected. I hope things settle down quicker then expected. I cant beleive how quick things happened looking at the graphs with a dead vertical spike! Thats nuts! Take care out there guys! Be safe. I hope everyone comes out ok and hopefully things will turn quickly. Mike

Thanks for the replies! Hawgstopah: yes the highwood is on the list for both the fishing and photography opportunities. I am pretty lucky on this trip in that time wont necesarily be an issue, I'll be able to spend as much time out there as I want. Unfortunately money will be a much larger and the ultimate decider on how long I'm out there for. The joys of being unemployed lol! I do plan at least 3 weeks total for the trip, so after travel and family obligations while out there I should be able to dedicate close to 2 weeks to just fishing and photography. Hoping to have some time to be able to do lots of both and not feeling like I missed a lot. The big thing is just gonna be getting over my fear of having my good camera with me while fishing. Need to find a good way to have the DSLR with me and safe while fishing so that if good shooting oportunities come up I dont miss them! Thanks again. Mike

Thanks for the replies! Makes things easier to plan that way! Well I'm sure I'll be doing a little alcohol consumption during my time there as well! lol!

Hey everyone, as mentioned in a previous post I will be in calgary in July for a wedding / visiting family. I plan on making it about a 3 week trip with some time spent in the mountains, camping, fishing and photography. Sorry as this may seem very beginerish, I used to camp a fair bit but that was many years ago, and rarely in areas with as much wildlife as can be found in the mountains. I plan on sticking to main campgrounds where I can have my vehicle with me as I just not into the hiking and real roughing it anymore lol! Not to mention with 30 pounds or so of camera gear alone it would not be enjoyable. My question is, is keeping the food in the vehicle good enough? Or do I need to be getting crazy with other methods of keeping food? I have seen stuff on government websites and such but often they seem way overboard, I mean having your cooking/food area 100 yards away from sleeping area just doesnt seem realistic in organised campgrounds. Just to add a little more info it will likely be racehorse creek or one of the other campgrounds in the SW corner that I will be staying at. May also do a few days in Banff area. Thanks all. Any tips tricks from the seasoned campers here would be greatly appreciated, even food ideas. Saddly my days as a boy scout are long gone and all i learned also gone due to lack of using those skills.

Thanks for the replies! Racehorse creek is looking like it would be a great spot to use as a home base for a few days of fishing! Thanks for mentioning it! A decent Scotch is certainly not a problem there will be some traveling with me for sure

Thanks for the reply! Some great very helpful info there. Gives me some good starting points. I have been wanting to get the forestry trunk rd book for a while I have just never jumped on it yet. Might have to call fish tales and hope I can get the book here with enough time to read it before the trip. Gonna study up those couple rivers you mentioned. Gotta try and stop myself from wanting to fish dozens of rivers and just explore and focus on a couple good ones. Thinking that should also help make it a more succesful trip. Thanks again Mike

Congrats! nice Brown!

Hey everyone, been a little while since i really been around. Have a wedding to go to in Calgary in early/mid july. So I have decided to make a decent trip out of it and am going to be taking 2-3 weeks for this trip. Plans are to spend a good chunk of the time in calgary with familly and fishing the Bow, and to take at least a few days, throw the tend and a sleeping bad in the truck and explore into the mountains a bit. Looking for recomendations on where to start looking to plan this trip. Ideas for flies for this time of year is also great. In the mountains I'm really hoping to get into some cutthroat and bull trout water as these are 2 species I'd love to finally get the chance to hook into. Also will likely be looking at getting as far up as Fox Creek AB (northwest of Edmonton I believe) for a day or two. So if anyone knows anything of that area it would be much appreciated. Any help would be very much appreciated. I already have a couple books on the area (not sure which ones they are at the moment lol) but always looking for ideas on books or sources for study info. Thanks in advance. Mike

That was a great read, thanks for posting. I try very hard to support flyshops and will often go out of my way and spend more just to do so. There is just something about a fly shop that I hope will be around for a long time still.

Well after about 8 months of no fishing I finally made a trip to Calgary and got to wet a line on easter weekend. Unfortunately I arived on Wednesday along with the snow, which defenitely seemed to slow things down. That coupled with the fact that 8 months of no fishing at all had me feeling and looking like a total beginner! lol!!! it literally took a few days to shake off the rust! Well Saturday was my last chance to fish, and finally my Uncle was feeling well enough to join me. We tried a couple spots and finally I landed my first fair hooked fish of the trip, a nice rainbow, followed about 10 minutes later by a beauty of a brown. Both my biggest trout to date, and absolutely made the trip worth while, especially considering all the money i spent to get equiped lol!