BowLurker

I understand @matt1984 it probably was a perfect water day for the fish. We cannot have it both ways! Obviously, there is more to the closures than just making life inconvenient for Bow River anglers, one example is dead fish on the Crowsnest...another is an angler (me!) getting a 66ºF / 19ºC at 9:30AM in a riffle ,which was a shocker for the NW! One more example is a person coming into the shop and bragging about a football Bullie, showing bloody TikTok videos, fought for 30+mins on a 5 weight, then breaking the rod...? I asked if they knew the water temp... The examples are endless, and IMO the Daytime was at least 10 days too late. Is the temperature measuring station at Carseland the only way to shut down an entire region? As anglers, do we need to push for a separate 'Eastern Alpine Slopes' region that is based on another few stations out in the woods? As anglers, do we shift to lakes and other regions, if possible? This year has been epic, and hopefully the Daytimes won't have to be extended with hot weather on the horizon again. I had called a CO already, @matt1984 and I don't call in on a whim. I thought the CO folks were probably super busy, so took a short walk to speak with the angler. IMO, it was the right move. Fish on everyone! If the local Calgary shops can adapt to the early-bird hours, I'm following suit..now where's the coffee grinder that doesn't have dubbing in it!

Just read the email notice I received over again, and all the reservoirs on the Bow River are also affected, so Ghost - Bearspaw - Glenmore - Bassano and the St. Mary's bodies of water are also under the TOD restrictions. Sheesh...we need a lot more manpower to cover all of those as well! I noticed someone casting in the Bow on the way home from work, I parked and took a quick walk down to the angler. He was an older gentleman, that didn't need to buy a licence anymore, and didn't sign up/wasn't aware there were emails or forums that would notify him of shutdowns. He mentioned he had enough fishing/tying materials to last his life and hardly ever went into a fly shop anymore...so how do anglers such as this ever find out about closures? At any rate, I saw him walking along the bike path with his rod broken down, probably heading back to the car - turned out for the best on this one.

Okay, time to revive this thread! Weird things over the past year...hmmm., well, one big one is that I hardly see any Ospreys around the Bow River anymore. Coyotes are really strong swimmers, a big Beaver can look just like an Otter and Minks can catch pretty durn big fish! Last weird one: I was fishing river-left, and there was another angler who was fishing about 150m away, also river-left, and I was slowly nymphing up towards. We were both heading upstream. Really rocky / slippy banks, narrow canyon river and raining hard. I got fairly close to this person (!!) with no response or eye contact from them. This angler had to have seen me. I finally spoke up loudly, 50-60M away from them and asked if they would mind if I went around them on the bank and continue on past....this is where it gets weird. This 'angler' literally jumped away into the bushes and was gone...Ohh--kay!? Well, I kept fishing on up for no more than a minute or two, and literally the same distance away from me upstream as the last time, was this same angler...? Again no response... it happened one more time and I spooked for real and quickly headed back to the car. There is no way this 'angler' could have covered that much ground in 1-2 minutes, and not been breathing hard. Cool as a cucumber...but always wearing dark sunglasses in the Pacific NW rain....hmmm. It was a really weird one!

Spoke with a guide on the BC side of the Rockies that fishes around Fernie - Elk River, and they have opening day on the 15th of June. He cannot remember the last time all the waters they are able to fish will actually be fishable at this time of year. Most years, the water is too high and silty with runoff, and they must wait at least a couple weeks, and they had 80% of average snowpack for the area this past winter....eeesh. Get yer thermometers out, folks!

Thanks, Lornce. I'm pretty sold on the new hooks...now to convert some more fish!

Keel - balanced rubber band grub, Sz 12, using another style of hook from the new brand. There is no barb, the hook point is angled out from the factory. Can't wait to get this one wet!

Olive pheasant rump / peacock eye nymph with a rubber band abdomen. Sz 10, using a new brand of hook.

DM'd...and no I don't know how. I can point you in a direction...

Saturday soft hackle. Sz 12, purple holo tinsel, peacock herl and Partridge feathers from a local Alberta hunt. Caught a couple with this guy today. Cheers!

UV Fluorescing Loon coating on the body...

UV Red Butt special. Sz 12. Fluorescing Loon UV treatment on the body, Olive UV dubbing collar, chartreuse 140 Denier hotspot, and the weird 'Insta Jig' tungsten bead in gunmetal. Whewph... lots of steps for a bottom-bouncer!

Just remember to leave said coffee grinder in the tying area...don't ask me why I know this.

Rusty squirrel sculpin fish skull thing...haha. Sz6 Van Klinken bomber hook. It's surprisingly thin once the fish skull goes on.

I have witnessed salmon and trout spawning, both in BC and also trout on the Mighty Bow - it was a humbling experience. To see the true Steelheads continuing to do so in such "skinny" water, in tributaries of the mighty Skagit is equally as exciting...and important! We need more people like Bill McMillan on all the rivers these crazy days. Watch fish spawning if you can...it changes everything!

Well done @ggp, you beat me to it! Gorgeous fly. Here we go!

Beauty fish, @monger Do you have them painted first, then catch them?

Hoo boy, the experts are tying #20's again....sigh.

Hadn't tied an Intruder for a while, and decided on blue! Squirrel tail, pheasant rump feathers and then guinea hen feathers, with a rabbit zonker strip. I kinda like it!

Thanks monger ya it's bigger than I thought, so 7W for my single-hand for sure, and the medium Spey rod (550g) as well. Would like to say I'll get some fish, but only one bump last time, on the dangle. They're fishy!

Maybe only 2-3 lbs, but maybe up to 6 or 8 depending on the runs. I chose two rods for the first visit, and had completely the wrong rods/lines! Shoot..oh well, always learning. When I get back for the last visit of this season, I will have the heavier, longer setups for sure, as the water was much wider/deeper than I thought.

Hey folks, Let's say you only had a couple days to pack, and had maybe 6hrs on a Private prime, freshwater location, some deep pockets, but rapids too and riffles with calm sections. Anything under 6W is not an option, ( they're big ) and I have a couple 'go-to' rod/reel/line sets I'm thinking of. Lots of casting distance might be/will be required. (switch? ) Very spooky population of larger fish, and it's my first time there. It's going to be an adventure, but amazing. Thanks for any input.

Bow River, September 1, upstream Crowchild bridge run, 61ºF (16ºC) at 0700....side channel SHP, 57ºF (13.8ºC) at 17:30. The fish were happy.

As of this morning, Sep. 1, there are no Time of Day restrictions in ES1! Now we can chase the caddis into twilight. Keep 'em wet! https://mywildalberta.ca/fishing/advisories-corrections-closures/default.aspx

Bow River, Crowchild bridge run, water was 60ºF (15.5ºC) at 0930 on Sunday, the 28th.

Bow River at Crowchild Trail bridge near Kensington, in Calgary, water was 58ºF (14.5ºC) at 0730 on Sunday, the 21st.