Cutman Posted January 3, 2010 Posted January 3, 2010 I've been fishing the Bow for a few years now. I fish more in central AB, where I do reasonable well. More often than not, I catch fish. Not on the Bow. In over 30 trips, I've caught two fish. One up near Canmore, and one in the city. I have been all times of year, from April to December to August and September. I've tried dries, nymphs, traditional wet flies, and streamers. I can't figure out what is going on. I think I have narrowed down to a few things, or a combination thereof: 1) Not deep enough 2) Bad drift 3) Not where the fish are The first is easy enough to correct, and has brought me no luck. I think it is probably the last one. I see other people fishing and catching fish around me, so I don't understand. I am using pretty standard flies (hell, I've tried everything) and the San Juan has never worked for me on the Bow. It's a mystery. Quote
jdangler Posted January 3, 2010 Posted January 3, 2010 Parker, Check out this Primer on Nymphing by Rickr. It will help a lot. http://flyfishcalgary.com/nymphing_primer.php Quote
headscan Posted January 3, 2010 Posted January 3, 2010 The Bow can be a tough river to fish. Reading the water on the Bow can be difficult, especially if you're used to smaller rivers. I'd suggest hiring a guide to show you some spots or post in the get togethers section next time you're here to see if someone will head out with you. Those two options will help lower the learning curve. Quote
maxwell Posted January 3, 2010 Posted January 3, 2010 do some research on the forum dude.. tons of good topics started on having more success on fishing teh bow.. with nymphs i find most people are doing only a few things wrong.. propper mending is key, same with quick strikes and moving through the run covering as much water as possible.. depth can be a issue aswell but if you getting down and bringing up some debri every few casts or so u are in the right place forsure! a juan and a few smal beedheads should produce for you.. so my guess is in your mending and striking.. as for dries.. unless there is a good hatch its hard too bring fish up off bottom too strike.. the visability in teh bow is hard for fish too see whats on top onless they are already there feeding on the hatch/egglaying bugs... streamers is all about covering ground.. u are looking for active fish.. i find the biggest flaw in most people when streamer fishing is not covering enough water looking for those aggressive fish.. Quote
dutchie Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 parker you look me up in april or earlly may ,as i don't get to busy in them months , i'll take you out and show you a few good tricks on me free , me and my other guide will take you for a float to get you into them good , anyone who's done 30 times on this river deserve to catch more then 2 fish Quote
SteveM Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 parker you look me up in april or earlly may ,as i don't get to busy in them months , i'll take you out and show you a few good tricks on me free , me and my other guide will take you for a float to get you into them good , anyone who's done 30 times on this river deserve to catch more then 2 fish There ya go, Parker; if you go out with Dutchie & Brian, your Bow River Blues will be cured! You're a good man, Dutchie; real nice of ya to make that offer... Quote
robert Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 I only wish we had a river to fish almost year round. Don't feel bad, i've been on the NSR here in edmonton many times with both flyrod and spincast and i'm yet to catch a fish at all. pretty sure i've tossed my entire arsenal into that river and been skunked every time tho I had one rise for a floating mouse lure I bought. I've destroyed so many spincast lures from them beating off the rocks, it's not funny anymore but thankfully i've reeled in more lures that others have lost than i've destroyed - none of the lures I caught were debarbed BTW and that really upsets me. Can catch and release till the cows come home on any other body of water but that damned river. Quote
Cutman Posted January 4, 2010 Author Posted January 4, 2010 Thanks to everyone for the advice and to dutchie for the generous offer. I will take him up on that. Robert - try for Goldeye in August on the NSR, although I heard they were scarece this year. Quote
Taco Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 parker you look me up in april or earlly may ,as i don't get to busy in them months , i'll take you out and show you a few good tricks on me free , me and my other guide will take you for a float to get you into them good , anyone who's done 30 times on this river deserve to catch more then 2 fish How about me?? I haven't caught a fish in that damned river since the mid 90's................................................................ Quote
dutchie Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 taco i think you's telling big lie's , might be something to do with all them sweet looking glass rods you have , maybe try a bamboo rod , Quote
Taco Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 No BS but I should maybe do a Paul Harvey and tell you the rest of the story. I can't remember exactly but I ain't fished the Bow since somewhere in the mid 90's. Lets just say I have a short fuse around jackasses. Quote
beedhead Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 Lets just say I have a short fuse around jackasses. There are no jackasses that involve themselves with flyfishin.... .... ... Quote
darrinhurst Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 parker you look me up in april or earlly may ,as i don't get to busy in them months , i'll take you out and show you a few good tricks on me free , me and my other guide will take you for a float to get you into them good , anyone who's done 30 times on this river deserve to catch more then 2 fish That's awesome of you guys! I coulda used an offer like that when I was just starting out This here is the reason why I keep coming back to this board. Quote
Heimdallr Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 That's awesome of you guys! I coulda used an offer like that when I was just starting out This here is the reason why I keep coming back to this board. I person gets a bit discouraged with this board sometimes with some of the bickering and negativity, but damnit there are some decent people on here. Quote
trailhead Posted January 6, 2010 Posted January 6, 2010 I person gets a bit discouraged with this board sometimes with some of the bickering and negativity, but damnit there are some decent people on here. Yes kind of like the world in general. Quote
Hawgstoppah Posted January 6, 2010 Posted January 6, 2010 I should be just out of school by then and I'm gonna need some "bow river therapy" Quote
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