fishfreak

I was biking with my daughter this morning along the Bow in Inglewood and noticed a dude with 2 rods, one on the ground pointing upwards with a bell attached to the tip while he was rigging up another. It was obviously someone who was fishing with bait. I called it in, and a conservation officer was there in 15 minutes. He watched from afar with binoculars to make sure he had enough evidence, just in case the guy snipped his line. I just received a follow-up call and he said that this guy was caught last week by another conservation officer in Strathmore... 4 illegal walleye. The conservation officer said this is a perfect example of why we should ALWAYS call in poachers and bait fishers. If it's a father-son out fishing and making an honest mistake, then the officers deal with them differently with a warning. However, with a repeat offender like this guy, they will definitely be a bit more harsh. It was great to see these guys at work and how much they care for the river. This officer is an avid flyfisher so he's quite passionate about protecting rivers like the Bow. One less bad guy on the water!

It's not a monster, but this 24 incher is the biggest one I've caught since my 28 incher 10 years ago! Caught on my last cast somewhere in SW Alberta. It's a miracle I landed this with my 7.5 ft 4 wt rod using 5X tippet! Fish was landed quickly and sent back to her home.

Woah...

I use the Huge Thumbnail setting on imgur.com to get the big pics. I had to make the switch from photobucket this summer.

And finally, the mighty Bow River. This was probably my best summer/fall on the Bow. The biggest thing for me was not using a large wire worm and forcing myself to try other things. I had the most success in water less than 3 feet deep using various nymphs without any split shot. I found this to work quite well staying above the weeds. The Bow is one amazing river, and we are very lucky to have it flowing right through our city!

A couple of underwater pics. In early September, I saw a big dark thing underwater so I got a closer look. It was a big 30+ inch bull trout. I took a few pics and then left it alone.

Here are some from various streams that I went to this year:

Well, it was another great year of fishing. I thought I'd share some pics highlighting my season. I'm sorry for those that might take offense to these, but I do enjoy other peoples' pictures, so I hope you enjoy mine. No secret spots have been revealed with these pics. Let's start with some pond trout. These guys were super easy to catch when they were first stocked, but got harder and harder to catch as the season went on.

I bought some size 18 hooks last week and surprisingly, they aren't too bad to work with. I've been banging out tons of flies lately, but I thought I'd share a modified copper john that has been working well this fall on the Bow. The sparkle flash for the tail instead of biots was taken from the Reece's Fusion nymph pattern, and is much quicker to tie on. This was tied on a Umpqua Tiemco Nymph hook (TMC2488H), size 18, which is a nice strong hook for reeling in those 20+ inchers. The red thread seems to work better than black, while the rubber legs give it some life. The body is made with peacock black ice dub, and the head is a 3/32" beadhead. This should also be a good pattern for the small mountain streams. I'll test them out next summer. Let's call this guy the Fishfreak CJ:

Great pics! I was there the week before with my wife on a 5-day backpacking trip. We caught a bunch of 12" cutties, nothing like the hog you got, but a grizzly bear and crazy winds cut our 2 fishing sessions short. Great to see some big ones in there!

Thanks guys for your thoughts. I think I'll tie a few patterns with some pink/purple, and incorporate some purple foam just for kicks.

I've noticed a lot more pink and purple in flies these days. I even saw a recent Chernobyl Ant pattern with light purple foam that seems to be working really well. What I'm wondering though, is why are they working? Is it because they are different from the typical flies the fish see? Do the colours annoy the fish enough to hit them for fun? Do the feminine colours draw out the females? Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I may try tying a few just for fun! Thanks.

Well, today was a bit of a slump buster day for me. I was out for a few hours checking out a few different stretches of water. The second stretch of water was productive, as I landed 2, but hooked into a bunch more. I tried high sticking for a while, mainly because one of my hands was frozen and was warming it up with a hand warmer. I had a similar setup, 2 nymphs and a SJW on the bottom, but I guess shortening up the line got rid of some bad habits I must have acquired over time. Hopefully I'm getting my mojo back! Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

Not that I had much to begin with, but there was a time when I could consistently catch fish on the Bow, but suddenly, my nymphing techniques have left me frustrated and often skunked. Lately I've been a lot more opportunistic on the Bow, hitting it an hour or two before sunset in the summer, but my spring and fall nymphing days have resulted in 4 fish... all year! I'm not sure what I'm missing. When I don't hook into anything I move up or downstream, and when that doesn't work, I change flies. I cast upstream, mend, mend, and always strip in slack line. My indicator is quite sensitive, so I strike often. All this should work, but for some reason it hasn't. Has anyone else gone through a dry spell like this before? How did you break out of your slump?

Nice browns!

I had a great time on some river on this side of the universe the day after Canada Day. If it resembles some stream within a 100 hour drive of Calgary, it's just pure coincidence and I apologize. Oh, and sorry for all the pics. My camera just happened to be strapped around my shoulder and readily accessible, so it didn't take much to get a quick shot as I was releasing them.

I thought I'd throw this into the thread. I was in the US on business and took some pics of the Bow both ways. These were taken August 25 and 30. For those that are familiar with these stretches, you'll see some changes. Enjoy! Looking downstream - Highwood confluence Looking upstream - Highwood confluence at the top Close-up of Highwood at the confluence Fish Creek - 22x on the left More Fish Creek - Deerfoot on the right

We got flooded in Inglewood. Our block was the one on the news where the military intervened. If they didn't, our whole block, and probably more of Inglewood, could have been wiped out, which would have been catastrophic. Thankfully, what the engineers, military, city crews, 2 cranes, and countless truckloads of boulders did worked. We're just waiting for our basement to dry out, but I'll take that over losing a house any day. We definitely felt the love out there as we kept turning away volunteers to other houses as we had plenty. I love how people rally together in times of trouble, and it makes me love my community even more. Seeing people offering to help in any way is pretty awesome.

With baby #1 three and a half years ago, I've had to limit my fishing quite a bit. I can't do the long days on the Highwood or Livingston as often as I want, but I changed tactics in the summer. Rather than doing mornings or weekends, I am a lot more opportunistic. I live in Inglewood, and now every time I cross a bridge or am near the water, I take a look at the water in the evenings. If I see a riser, I suit up, catch it, and maybe one or two more, then drive off. Suddenly, I'm able to fish a few times a week, though only an hour or so at a time, but those short bursts are quite intense as I'm quietly trying to entice a riser. I've gotten to learn the inner city stretch quite well doing that. With #2 born 7 weeks ago, I'll still be able to do the same. I put the 3 year old to bed, and go out for an hour or so... hopefully. We'll see how that pans out post-runoff. In the mean time, I pretend to go camping and fishing with my 3 year old daughter quite often... she loves it, haha.

Nice fish! I've been out of the loop for a while now, but will be dusting off the ol' rod and the tying gear very soon. Pics like this just make a guy want to go out and slay a few bows and browns!

i haven't joined the hallowed 20/20 club yet, though i'll give it a try tomorrow. however, i may be one of a few that is in the 18/28 club.

Definitely better than catching 3" perch, eh?

Stop throwing steelhead into the lake!

Experience doesn't necessarily make one a good fisherman - it's what you do with the experience that does. It sounds like you're trying to define what makes a good fisherman. I'm not gonna touch that topic.

big slab o' cutty!