Speycasting In Calgary

[Keith]

Good to hear Max,

I take it the Bow river runs past Castle Mountain on the road out of town, so looking for some info on the river there and i know you fish out of town alot, is it possible to fish the river there ? is it any good, and can you fish it all year round ?

Any help would be greatfully appreciated, as i will be over with a good friend and House of Hardy casting Instructor and it would be cool to stop for a day and fish that part of the river if possible.

Cheers Gordon.

DTX Pro Staff.

 

Yes, Gordon, the the upper bow is fishable, and it fishes quite well. It doesn't get as much attention as the river below calgary, but there are still plenty of larger fish up there. Because it's in the mountains and the national park, it's not as easily accessible to walk in fishing, but people still do it. The best way to fish it is to arrange a float.

[speyghillie]

Thanks Keith,

Max had sent me some detail, i do that drive each year and it always looks a great place to fish, river looks great and the scenery is stunning, maybe this year i will stop for a day and fish around there.

Cheers Gordon.

DTX Pro Staff.

[lethfisher]

Just wondering about swing speed and what the optimal speed is. I know you can speed up the swing by mending downstream to create a large J in the line causing the fly to whip across quickly, I'm guessing this isn't a desirable speed because it's moving so fast? So I mend upstream which allows the fly to go deeper right? Seems easy enough if the water is moving at a slowish speed... What if the water is moving quickly should you be casting at 90 degrees across to allow more time for the fly to sink but risk a faster swing across or cast say 45 deg down and across which will slow the swing but the fly won't be very deep? Are you forced to use a heavier fly/sink tip in faster water? I'm always wondering if my fly is actually getting deep enough when swinging flies.

Then I listened to an interview with Kelly Galloup and he just casts his streamers straight across and strips it back in as fast as possible without even letting the fly sink lol

[Blake]

I picked up a 5 weight 12 foot spey rod to start using on the Bow not too long ago. I'm hoping to gain some proficiency with the smaller rod then move up to an 8 or 9 weight for steelhead.

At least that's the plan anyway...

Between work and runoff I haven't been able to use it yet but I can't wait to get on the river and try it out.