WyomingGeorge

Vagabond re: Kola Peninsula. An acquaintance of mine works the deep underground iron mines in Kiruna, in the far north of Sweden. He let me in on an amusing secret a few years ago, namely that ordinary middle-class Russians and non-rich Swedes go and fish the exact same water in the Kola Peninsula as the Euros and North Americans who pay $6,000 or whatever it is a week. They drive up to the Kola Peninsula and then stay in (much) rougher camps just down the river from the fancy ones, eating simpler food, and if I remember right paying about $1,500 for the week. In order to book, you'd probably need a Russian-speaking friend to surf the web for the Russian-language guiding outfits and camps catering to those folks...but it might make the trip of a lifetime affordable.

You're most welcome, best of luck with the project. I quail in fear at the idea of self-building a boat, and admire those who do. I'm sure the satisfaction of floating in one's very own boat will be intense, similar to catching fish on self-tied flies.

As well, a big part of ease-of-rowing is good tracking. One can waste a lot of effort on correcting undesired course changes. I recall renting and hating a high-sided 14' Clack, which felt like an unguided cockleshell in even a moderate wind. Honestly half my energy went into trying to control the direction rather than moving it in the direction I wanted to go. A longer boat should, generally, track better, although the best tracking comes from subtleties of hull design that various manufacturers claim to have the edge in.

Rowing effort will depend far more on the amount of rocker in the design. Lots of rocker means a middle that hangs low in the water, meaning you are always rowing "uphill" in either direction. Less rocker (although it has disadvantages, such as crashing into rather than smoothly taking waves), means faster rowing...as long as the boat isn't over-loaded. Which brings me to point 2: a longer boat should row easier because the overall draft should be less. You'll be especially happier to have the larger hull when you put in three relatively large guys. When I was in the market for my driftboat I agonized over size, and I've been continuously happy to have gotten the Clack 16 Low Profile ever since. Its overall length is 16' 10", very close to your boat. I enjoy rowing it solo, with one passenger or fully loaded.

Well there are a couple of other streams that open April-ish.

I agree that one should generally use heavily weighted streamers and/or sinking tip lines -- but not always. In shallower water, like riffles, heavy weight simply gets you hookups on the wrong items, i.e., streambed junk instead of fish jaws. The largest fish I've ever seen on the Bow took a streamer on floating line in 18 inches of water. When the fish are aggressive, they will rise to streamers from far down, coming towards the surface or even exploding right out of the water as they scoop up their prey from below. One time a couple of years ago I got crushed streamer-fishing by my wife, who was using a much lighter rig. My weighted stuff was being dragged right past the fish, who ignored all of it, while hurtling up out of the depths to grab the smaller, slimmer streamer my wife was stripping barely a foot below the surface. Despite being a slow learner, after a couple hours of humiliation I switched over and started catching.

Good advice on the last few items, especially varying the retrieve and using loop knots. I should have qualified the "be patient" part by adding "when it makes sense". On a bright hot day and gin-clear water, don't streamer fish. If fish are rising methodically to an obvious hatch, don't streamer fish. If they're languidly taking nymphs 8 feet down and your streamer rig won't go deeper than 2 feet, don't streamer fish. Be patient and stick with it when conditions are favourable to streamer fishing, i.e., when it's cloudy, the water is murky, or at dawn/dusk. The best approach is to have a streamer rod permanently rigged, using it during times when you have one of these advantages, and emphasizing the most likely streamer water, like riffles and banks (swinging in runs can also be very good). If your cast is muscular, fishing two streamers can increase your prospects, or adding a larger nymph behind the streamer. Three anecdotes to give you hope. One time the best fish after three consecutive days on the same river came on the ferry towards the takeout ramp at the end of a very long day that had brought almost no streamer results. Another time a wonderful brown was hooked on the first rod-lift of the day, 30 seconds after leaving the launch, after I sloppily flung the streamer in with all kinds of loops and slack, just to get some line out. The best time of all came after seven hours of almost fruitless solo fishing the town section. My wife hopped in the boat at Fish Creek park and, seven minutes into her fishing afternoon, hooked and landed a five-pound brown on a streamer in a shallow riffle beside some rip-rap. Over the next two hours she landed another six fish on streamers, two of them browns over 20". She always puts a prince nymph behind her streamer. This kind of stuff can happen...along with the hundreds of casts to get one strike.

Cover water, never fish the exact same piece twice, fish lots of different water and be patient. Sometimes hundreds of streamer casts are needed to get one good fish. In summer, the largest browns can be in foot-deep riffles. Low light is a major advantage, either cloud or dawn/dusk to full dark. Never give up.

Jayhad, you'll have to declare a fishing emergency. I'm feeling one right now, with no relief in sight.

Good points Jorge. I'm right in the middle on this one, an unusual place for me. It's impossible for jet boats not to be annoying, no matter how courteously piloted. Then again, so what? Multiple piercings and full-body tattoos are annoying as well, but I wouldn't ban them. They're just ways for people to express their individuality and freedom. I have been cut off and poached by discourteously rowed drift boats far more often than by jet boats, including by rowers who almost certainly knew better. But I obviously don't want to ban drift boats. A large proportion of our society seems to be of the view that if something exists, it ought to be government-regulated, and if one or two negative aspects can be asserted, the assertion by itself is proof the thing ought to be banned. There are negative aspects to jet boating. Is that proof by itself it ought to be banned? Jayhad, if I see you hurtling up and down the Bow, crashing through Harvie Passage, spinning doughnuts below the Centre St. Bridge, and shooting rooster tails along the Bowness eddies, I won't rat you out -- I'll drink a toast!

Truly unbelievable. That's some of the best fishy cinematography I've ever watched. Thanks for posting. That made my afternoon!

All of you misunderstand Jayhad. In person he's an incredible pussycat, dispensing fishing knowledge and insight to strangers and stepping out of the way so they can fish. If you encounter him he'll probably lie down on the ground purring and hope for a tummy-rub...before he gives you a couple of free flies and tells you about three great secret spots. The raging lunatic is pure on-line schtick. He's trying to provoke vociferous fulminations from the easily guiled...and it has been a multi-week delight to watch the fun!

Water running down a slope. Sounds eerily familiar, somehow. What could it be from? I've got it: rainfall! Gentleman, once again, from someone who doesn't like jetboats, the kinetic energy from a transient event like a jetboat is a microscopic fraction of the kinetic energy and water displacement delivered by nature, whatever direction you describe it as occurring. Any heavy rain event results in "vertical movement", i.e., drainage, which moves soil, silt, clay and small rocks into the river. Again, you can see it with your own eyes, occurring by the cubic foot and more during heavy rains along any sandy or muddy bank, often from many metres above the water line. There are good arguments against jetboats on the river, especially within the city. But panic over erosion on a river like the Bow just isn't one of them.

I'm not a jet-boater, and I find them annoying. But to opponents, some perspective: it's simple physics that a large river's own hydraulic power is thousands of times that of a jetboat, and the water it moves is millions of times that of a jetboat. The erosion caused by continually moving water that is even slightly higher than normal is obviously -- or it should be obvious -- vastly greater than that of a transient event like a jetboat passing by. The two or more posters who claim that high water happens once a year are mistaken. The water on the Bow rises several to numerous times per year, after every significant rain event and dam release. The erosion caused every time the water comes up even inches is vastly higher than that caused by jetboats. I have been out in normal rain events and have seen the river rise from 120 cm/s or so to 200 cm/s in a couple of hours, at which point the river wasn't just ripping sediment off the banks, it started to cause portions of muddy, rain-soaked banks to collapse into the river, cubic metres at a time. How many pounds of suspended sediment might there have been per cubic metre, hurtling downstream? One would require earthmoving equipment to equal this effect. It seems unlikely a jetboat would suffice. In addition, describing annual runoff as causing an event "once" is misleading. If a given year's runoff lasts four weeks, then we have four weeks of continuous erosion, 24 hours a day. The cumulative effect is substantial. Emotions are high on this one and opinions are strong, but we need to keep facts and physics in mind. Again, this is coming from someone who doesn't really like jet boats.

And the extra super-beauty of the B.C. fishing scene is that you'll always be a single-fly purist whether you feel like it or not! Nymphing with one fly: the dictionary definition of awesome.

Your video had a lot of heart and real charm. One can tell that you guys love to fish. The final brown was breathtaking.

Ripple: Probably the biggest single thing you can do to make the experience best for you, on either river, is ensure that you are here mid-week. Both rivers get busy on weekends, and that can include some grumpiness at the ramps, and some very close cutting in on the river -- both by clueless newcomers and people who know better but do it anyway. I would also classify Friday as part of the weekend, with the number of flex days, etc., that people have these days. If you can fish sometime Monday through Thursday, you'll find dramatically less boat traffic on either river. Regarding the guide, having someone willing to stay out until dusk is absolutely key. Getting behind the flotilla will let you fish slowly and deliberately in key areas, and being out at dusk hunting the giant sippers is simply magic -- going for a 22"+ fish using a small caddis, pmd spinner or even a Griffith's gnat is unparalleled fly fishing and will be a lifetime memory. You'll also be out for the suppertime streamer bite. If you go with the standard random 9-5 guide, you are likely to miss the day's best fishing.

They are both great. The Bow is fickle, it is crowded in summer, and you would need to choose your guide carefully (I've posted before about quizzing them about the length of the fishing day and their willingness to rig multiple rods and do streamer and hopper-dropper fishing as well as worm-bobbering). The Elk is gorgeous but the fishing scene there has some shortcomings. Can you row? If so, there might be some forum members who, if they're around when you visit and are in a generous mood, might let you hop in their boat for free.

FFA: The issue in winter isn't whether a stretch holds good water, it's whether the water you want to fish is iced over. As I mentioned in my last Bow River Conditions report last Sunday, which you can read, the ice is already covering some of the best fishing water below Policeman's, and in other places is making wading treacherous to impossible. As the ice thickens further the walking will become safer, but even more of the good water will be covered. If you go below Policeman's to area opposite the red-roofed white house, virtually all of this area is deep enough to count as wintering water, so if you can cast to it, you have a shot at fish.

You're most welcome. My sources tell me size 16 and 18 flashy mayfly patterns as well as midge patterns such as the snowcone in 18 have been working within the last several days.

Some of my very best Bow River days have been in the second half of October. I've written before about the need to present the fish with a range of large, medium-sized and small nymphs to see what might work. If I nymphed only with a worm and a prince I'd feel naked. You need to make size 16-20 nymphs part of your arsenal, particularly baetis and midge patterns, e.g. copper johns, pheasant tails, zebra midges, etc. In addition, at this time of year you need to hunt actively in varying kinds of water, especially non-summer water -- soft inside bends, the slow side of seams, flats and tail-outs, the quiet water behind drop-offs. Still, even at this time of year, there's likely to be a phase in the day when the aggressive fish move into fast water like riffles and the upper portion of runs. This is also water boatman season, and quite a few Bow River devotees like to slowly strip a boatman back through a quiet pool.

I haven't made it out since the flood myself, but one of my close fishing buddies, who reports accurately and does not exaggerate, said the bankside hopper-dropper fishing in mid-September was stellar, and on one outing he landed 6 rainbows over 20" plus 10 other nice fish. He did say that big and little fish seem to have switched places, catching numerous small fish in what used to be big-fish lies. Take heart, gentlemen! I'll do my best to get out before the end of October and will file my usual long report.

How about the Missouri at Craig, Montana? Drive via Cardston, 464 to Browning, then down to Choteau, total drive about 5 hours from the south end of Calgary, a very quiet border crossing, lovely mountain views nearly the entire way. October is BWO month on the Missouri, so great dry fly action, great nymphing, good streamer fishing. The fly shops rent driftboats for about $150/day including shuttle. Flows are low and the river is very wadeable. Accommodation is generally a bit pricey, but there are many options up and down the river including B&B's, catered houses, all-inclusive lodges, rustic cabins, etc. Fished it with a guide a week ago and it was great from ramp to ramp (although still pre-BWO).

From the way Eagle initially described the encounter, it sounds like Lincoln man wasn't even on the ramp yet, he was telling people they couldn't even go past him in order to launch. Did I read that right Eagle? If so it wasn't just rude, it was downright bizarre. What's it to him if other people launch while he's getting ready? My weirdest similar encounter came last fall at Policeman's, where a young man and his girlfriend decided to spread all of their equipment out right on the ramp, including their deflated raft, and then take as long as they felt like to get every last little bit good and ready, including inflating the raft with a hand pump. They had -- this is the unique part -- orange-coloured coffee mugs which they deployed on the ground like a little arc of pileons, like at a road construction site, so that nobody could get past them or roll over their gear. After they launched, they kept the raft in the middle of the water, and then set about their next phase of careful preparations, and absolutely refused to let me ease my driftboat on past them. When I asked them to shift their raft two feet to the right so I could launch, they got surly. These weren't old curmudgeons set in their ways, but youngsters who evidently thought they're the centre of the universe.

I was in tears the whole time. Thanks for posting, Shimmering Medicine Man.