FraserN

Yes, it is true. Lots of whitefish, and vast numbers of 6 to 10 inch Rainbows. But finding the haunts of the bigger trout has taken years of fishing. They are in very specific spots, and it is a large, wide river, so finding them is difficult. Far more of the larger trout below Bonnybrook, where random casting can catch them. Up here, random fishing is a waste of time for anything sizeable, unless you get lucky. Good summer hatches of caddis, golden stoneflies, lime sally stoneflies and PMDs. Makes for decent dryfly fishing; but, again, the majority of trout will be the plentiful small rainbows. I like the stretch for convenience of access. I can accept not getting as many large trout as downstream if I can be on the water in 10 minutes.

No worries. I have fished the NW stretch of the Bow up here in Bowness/Montgomery for over 20 years. In all that time, I have never noticed a rise in water levels over the course of the day, except for very heavy rain. They moderate the flow from Bearspaw dam to keep the water levels below the dam in this stretch very stable. If you try the stretch of the Bow river above the dam, up towards Cochrane: It is an entirely different story. The peak release flow from the Ghost dam leads to a huge rise in water level during the day, and it can be downright dangerous if you get caught in it. But the fishing below Bearspaw is much better than above, so take advantage of the proximity to the river, and enjoy the flshing. It opens up for fishing every season on June 1, after a closure of 2 months in April and May for protecting the spawning Rainbow trout. There is lots of good water, and plenty of fish.

Not a bad start at all. Those stonefly imitations will definetly catch fish in the bow river. When I first started tying flies 25 years ago, they were not as good as your creations, but I still caught trout on them in the River. But back then it was MUCH easier to catch trout in the Bow than it is in our day and age.

The anchor ice is always very extensive by this time every year up here in Bowness, and the fishing is pretty much the same year after year. Not as good fishing as down at Fish creek, but pretty decent nonetheless. It just makes the conditions that much harder on the trout to survive, so I leave them alone until March. Trout in the Bow are indeed hardy and tough creatures, to survive these conditions every year.

Great stuff. We definitely need this to get through our long winters in Alberta. I have not touched a fly rod in over 2 months, and do not plan to until at least mid-march. You could say that by this time in winter, that I too have trout fever!

Those are really amazing pics of the large Rainbows spawning in Boulton creek, Beed head. I agree that it is worth doing whatever it takes to preserve these quality fish and get these new regulations in place ASAP. The image of Jim Stelfox holding those huge trout is inspiring. Keep up the good work.

It is a good, forward thinking move. If they did not do this (ban the felt), invasives like didymo would inevitably contaminate their best trout fisheries, such as the Missouri, Bighorn and Madison rivers. We only have to look at the Bow up here in the Northwest to see how extensive didymo can get. It dominates this stretch, and I doubt there is a rock on the bottom of this stretch of the Bow without some of this awful stuff stuck on it.

I believe the rainbows that were stocked in both lakes are the "Red band" strain of Onchorynchus mykiss. You will notice if you catch one that they tend to have large, dark spots: a wide red or pink band along the side of the body, and a fairly "stocky" body-form. They persist in the fishery because some of the spawning age adults that survive have found adequate conditions in the lake or inlet stream environments to successfully reproduce.

I have fished the Upper Kananaskis lake extensively in the past years. I have noticed the decline in the Rainbow trout population, but they have not completely disappeared. I have observed rainbow trout spawning redds in May, in the shallow areas of the back bays at the NW end of the lake, near where tiny rills of flowing water enter the lake. If we get the 1 over 50cm. limit in place, the fishery can only improve. Just look at how quickly a decent Bull trout fishery developed in this lake where beforehand there was none, and a huge population of suckers. So many, that literally hundreds were seen in schools swimming by while I fished in vain for even a single fish. Things can only improve with stricter harvest regs.

I dont fish the bow in the winter season much, even though I live close by. When I did I would fish off the ice shelves, walking along them. Sometimes they would break off in big flows and you slide in. The water was low and not moving fast, but its still scary to have the platform your fishing on collapse from underneath you. I was younger then. Now I never do things like that.

Sorry about that. Just read the article. The Bow claims another fisherman. Sad to hear.

Apparently he had a heart attack. Hope he is alright.

Thanks for the tip. I just purchased mine from Bass Pro. They are going to send me the reel in the mail. There are only 5 left. It was the correct size at the right price, so I could not pass it up. I have always wanted one of the newer high end reels to replace my (now almost destroyed) Hardy marquis #7. But over $200.00 is still too pricey for me. I cannot wait to try it out. Thanks again.

Signed. A great concept which I fully support.

Very nice. As usual, Dave did a superb job on the video.

That is a sweet looking vice. Beats the one I have been using since 1985.

Thanks for the tip, because I will be hitting that pool in early april/11 for sure. I will tie up some midges and give them a try.

I find that if it gets too cold, my fly lines get brittle and have the cracking you observe in relatively new line. That is why I don't fish the river in winter, unless its in a chinook.

I have fished that pool many times. Mostly, the browns I get are like those, only on streamers and some nymph. Never had much luck on the dry fly there. Nice to see the surface midge action. Great video!

A little pricey for me, but I might consider it. My hardy marquis #7 is getting so badly deteriorated after 25 years of use, it no longer functions adequately.

Nice pictures. When cutties "roll" a dry fly on the surface, sometimes they miss. I have hooked them in the exact spot where the scar is on your fish. I suspect the injury is from a fly hook.

wooly buggers with a painted lead head. The lead helps the fly sink. Dark colors, black, browns and variagated chenilles.

It is very effective on the pics of the large Bull trout.

Beautiful imitations of nymphs of Plecoptera.

I would bring: 1. march brown nymph 2. PMD 3. elk hair caddis 4. Wooly bugger (for the Bulls) 5. adams