Xplorer

Hi Guys, I have been tying some streamers and I am having difficulty finding long marbou where the stalk of the feather is not too thick and the feather is long enough. I am looking for something like the Hareline extra select marabou. I have opened some packages of marabou in store and the bag will have a couple of long feathers but most are short with thick stalks. I am going to head down to south calgary tomorrow, can anybody recommend a flyshop that may have what I am looking for? Thanks

Hi Guys, Every year I go and hike the upper Elbow to see how it is doing and try to catch a few fish. Most years are more hiking and fishing but less catching, but thats ok the scenery is great! This year was better than most with more fish caught and a decent variety. I caught 3 cutts, 3 bulls and 1 brookie, years past I have hiked 3-4kms for 1 cutt. The river looks amazing, but the fish are still few and far between. Heres a few pics

Hey guys, I was looking at the photo closer and think you guys are right, the first fish is a brookie. Guess I failed the brook/bull trout id test....doh! cya

Hey Guys, I went out to NW section of the bow this afternoon to see how it was fishing. I caught a bull/brookie hybrid (I think) first and then a Laker second. Moved a couple of rainbows fishing streamers but nothing hooked up. Here's a couple of pics The first pic(only pic of bull) is not very good but he looks like a bull except for the black spots on his dorsal fin. He ate a streamer almost as big as he was... The laker hit the same streamer and put up a decent fight.

Thanks guys, I will try some different color combos to see what works.

Hi Guys, I have been tying a bunch of streamers for the bow, getting ready for the runoff and whatever. I primarly tie Olive/White or Black/White plus just Black, Olive, and White. I have tried Yellow with little luck. I seem to have the best luck with Olive/White but will admit I don't try enough other colors. What color streamers would you guy recommend for the Bow? Thanks Lance

Hey guys, I have been fishing streamers on the bow quite a bit lately and last year. I have been using a floating line but keep reading that a full sinking line would be better. Do I need a full sinking line or will a sink tip work? Thanks Lance

Hey Guys, I saw this in the NW a couple of years ago, it also had a white spot under its chin(the photo doesn't show it). I never did figure out what it was. It moved pretty good through the rocks.

Thanks Terry!

Hey guys, Great nets, very impressive. I recently decided to try building my own net or nets. I was wondering where you guys buy the wood? Thanks Lance

Sorry, The hooks are Mustad 3407DT size 4, the tail of my streamers vary from 1/2" to 3". I thought that adding stingers to the flies with longer tails would help and it did, but the shorter tailed flies(any flies without stingers) still do not seem to stick(penetrate?). I was wondering if a straight eye(my hooks) vs a down turned eye is making a difference? Thanks again Lance

Hi Guys, I have been fishing alot of streamers lately and started tying my own. I am having some problems hooking fish on my own flies. I will feel the strike, set the hook(sometimes a strip set) and then the fish shakes his head a couple of times and is gone. It has happend many many times and has me thinking it is not coincidence. I added stinger hooks to my flies and started catching more fish, but sometimes the smaller streamer(no stinger) seems to work better. So I checked the hooks I have been tying on to find out that they are for saltwater. Would this make any difference? I have also upped my leader to 2.5' of Maxima 20lb and 2.5' of maxima 10lb with no real change in performance. It does not feel like the leader is stretching too much on the hook set, like it did before. The fish that I have caught on my streamers(without stingers), the hook falls out as soon as the fish is in the net or tension is released. I even had a rainbow miss and get foul hooked and the hook barely penetrated his skin, maybe a 1/4" or so. The fish I have caught with the stinger hooks, they are usually in the corner of there mouth or in the jaw and are tough to get out. I am going to buy some different streamer hooks but was wondering if this is part of my problem? Thanks Lance

Hi guys, I was wondering about the land just downstream(west side of the river) of the Glenmore trail bridge over the bow. The land is marked as a wildlife refuge and that it is private property with no trespassing. I was interested in fishing some of the back channels that are on this property. I am assuming the high water mark rule applies and I should be ok if I stay in the water. I have tried to find out more info about this property/refuge with no luck other than what the signs say, so does anybody know anything about this property? Any info would be great! Thanks Lance

Hey Guys, I have been fishing all around southern alberta in the last 2 weeks and have found that alot of the bull trout(some cutts too) seem to strike a little short missing the hook and in some cases ripping the rabbit strip off my streamers. So I thought that adding a stinger hook would help. I attached the stinger hook to the main hook using toothy critter steel leader material 15lb. My question is, should the stinger hook be tied to the rabbit strip or should it be left seperate to move on its own and not hamper the action of the rabbit strip? Here is a picture, it is not attached to the stinger in this pic.

Hey guys, I have been driving around this wonderfull province of ours looking for places to fish. I didn't get very far from home these first few days. I fished mostly stillwaters with a few headwater streams, with the best action so far in the lakes/ponds. I fished a few stocked lakes with decent results I went to kananaskis lakes for a couple of days, with good results from both lakes. I fished the lower lake today in the pouring rain. Once the rain started the action with the Cutts slowed right down, so I went and tossed streamers in the lower lake. I lost one bull on my second cast and then landed two more in the next hour. I had quite a few follows and some short strikes in between fish. The only decent photo is this one, the rest have rain on the lens and look like crap. This fish was missing part of its gill plate and the other one I landed was missing a frt fin and had line scars around its head,the line might even be still there(grown in?) This fish also had a tag, so I recorded the number and will report it to Fish and Wildlife. I drove over alot of streams/rivers with many being too high and dirty still, looks like I will be heading north to check out some lakes up there next week. I hear the forestry trunk road is washed out around peppers lake, so that should make things interesting. cya Lance

Thanks for all the advice guys. I am done at my current job June15, I have already been hired by another company and it starts Aug 2, so that's my 6 weeks off. They would have took me right away, but I needed a break. I plan to hit the forestry trunk road alot and just drive until I see somewhere to fish. I plan to have quite a few, just throw the gear in the truck and go days... Quote by ruff "Haven't been there since I was 10. What is special, other than great scenery, about those locations?" I have been past those lakes many times and never fished them, so I think I just have always wanted to fish there. Thanks again guys, if you have any more ideas...fire away Lance

Cool thanks, forgot about those two lakes.

Hey guys, I am going to be changing employment this summer and as a result the wife suggested I should take 6 weeks off, 2 weeks I will be camping with her but she said the remaining 4 weeks would be mine to do with as I please. What to do? Hmmmm fly fishing comes to mind. I am thinking of trips to the Oldman, Livingstone(and tribs of both), Crownest, Ram, Elk, St Mary's in BC plus various lakes and ponds. Also many trips to the Bow from Banff to Carsland. What do you guys suggest? What would you do? It is too much free time for me to think about right now. Thanks Lance

Hey Bigtoad, Here's a link to the Srd Website . This page contains some of the trails/areas for atv's in Alberta. Alot of the remaining areas are not designated as FLUZ's but are part of what used to be the Bow Crow Forestry Reserve, atv use is allowed and there is somewhat of a trail network, not as well set up as the FLUZ's though(not an excuse, atvs should stay on trails!) Thats all I can think of right now, I will post more if I can find it. cya

Hey Guys, I used to fish the Nw section alot as I live about 10mins away. I agree with everyone about the trout being smaller and less of them, but if you fish it enough and are not afraid to investigate some different parts of the river you will find bigger fish. I don't fish the Nw as much anymore because I started travelling down south in the last few years and got kind of addicted to the larger and more plentiful fish avaliable there. I have heard some fisherman talking in the fly shops about the removal of the wier may allow more trout to migrate upstream and improve the fishery. Not sure about that but it can't hurt. When I was a kid we used to fish the river with a fly that sounds like the one Triploid is describing. Here's a photo, the hackle is a bit too long but you get the idea. These flies used to work awesome for whitefish, I caught hundreds, maybe into the thousands of whitefish on these. We tried tying them in all different colors but always came back to orange being the best. The river hardly ever seem to fluctuate water level through out the day. I can only remember one time when the water level changed for no real reason(I am sure the people at the dam had a reason). It dropped while I was taking some pics and releasing a fish, so I took a photo of how far it dropped. Here's that pic... I have fished the river in the Nw in the winter with very little luck. I have found some midges hatching with an odd whitefish rising to them here and there. I just like to get out and wet a line in the winter to keep myself from going nuts cya Lance

Hey Guys, Is there some science to determining what the bow river conditions might be like regarding open water vs slush. I have tried to hit the river 3 times in the last few weeks with it being slush everytime. I have tried warmer and cooler days with no luck. Do you just have to keep trying until you get lucky? Thanks for all tips. Lance

Hey Guys, I have been fishing a Hopper dropper quite a bit lately on the Bow and down south on the Livingstone. I have been having some trouble with detecting takes on the dropper. There are times when my dry fly doesn't move but then I see a fish jumping trying to throw the hook(my dropper). Then the fish is hooked for a few seconds if at all. It doesn't happen all the time but enough to make me think my set up is off. I usually have about 24" between the dry and dropper. Should I shorten it up a bit? I tried a little more weight on the dropper to keep the slack out of the line, but even the smallest splitshot sinks the dry. When I was down at the livingstone, The water was crystal clear and I could see the flash of a fish and set the hook, I rarely had to wait for the dry to move to detect strikes. But here on the bow, I don't see that flash very often. A couple of times when I was picking up to cast again there was a fish on that I had no indication from the dry was there. This maybe normal for a hopper dropper set up, not really sure, so I thought I would ask. Thanks everyone Lance

Thanks for the advice Hawgstoppah. I did not call it in due to the stains looked to be over a day old, so I thought there would be nothing SRD could do. There were no campers or vehicles where I was on the river. I will still call it in at least they can check the area out in future, maybe they will get lucky and catch them another time. If they did it once, they will do it again. Still pisses me off. Lance

Thanks for the comments guys. My camera is a Pentax W90. It's my second waterproof camera and has lots of features my first one did not.

The last fish of the day...... It was a great day Hope you guys enjoy....