The Bow River - Asking For Insight.....

[Sage]

So I'm almost one year into the fly fishing thing and am getting owned and constantly schooled by the trout residents of Bow River.

 

I head down this afternoon, walk the bank looking for insect signs and find this guy (see picture) about a foot from shore. Tie on a stone fly nymph with prince nymph trailer and think I've got a good rig for the Bow today.

 

Nope.

 

Three stonefly patterns later and zero interest from our trout friends. Meanwhile LOTS of Stonefly nymph shucks are floating by....I mean LOTS.

 

I hear some splashy rise sporadically and watch mayfly's touching down on the water. Also have caddis flys landing on the cork grip of my rod. Just a regular trout buffet today....

 

So being new, my ask is what should I have been fishing given the scenario I shared above??

 

Mayfly emerger nymph or dry?

Caddis nymph or dry?

Stonefly nymph or dry?

 

Clearly I was "0 for today"....any insights appreciated!

[Sage]

Hi gang, any insight before I head out again this weekend? Any coaching appreciated

[fishinglibin]

Look through the archives in ask the pros and fishing related. Loads of great info.

[SilverDoctor]

Dry -> Emerger -> nymph -> Streamer

You need to spend time on the water. Look instead of fish. Many times the fish are where you are wading so fish accordingly. the bow is an ever changing brooding mistress. Change with her.

[WyomingGeorge]

Gents, if we're going to have a section entitled "Ask the Pros", then we're going to have to do better than "check the archives", or we'll need to rename it, "Ask the Pros Whether the Forum has an Archive."

 

Sage, the thing I found interesting about your anecdote is that there were stonefly shucks floating by. Stones normally crawl out onto the rocks and transform into adults there. Could the shucks simply have been dislodged by the sudden bump in flows? (The river went from 170 several days ago, back to 230.) I.e., the river providing some devious misdirection of her own? With the fishing having little to do with adult stones that day.

 

As for what to fish with, personally I don't blind fish dries on the Bow except during hopper season. Hearing some rises or seeing a "one and done" doesn't get me convinced I'm about to slay them on the dry. I need to see a fish working, and then I target that fish, watching how it rises and what it eats, then tying on the corresponding fly.

 

With just isolated rises, I would likely have nymphed, swung wet flies or streamer fished.

 

Lots of people are reporting that this spring's profusion of bugs has led to such fat, full fish that they just don't seem to need to eat that badly a lot of the time.

 

Persevere.

[fishinglibin]

Gents, if we're going to have a section entitled "Ask the Pros", then we're going to have to do better than "check the archives", or we'll need to rename it, "Ask the Pros Whether the Forum has an Archive."

 

Just saying there is a lot of great info from the past posts if you look for it. Nothing wrong with asking otherwise, but why not look and ask.

[Sage]

Thank you for the replies....Lornce and WyomingGeorge very helpful. Appreciated you helping with my specific scenario. Off to chase some trout!

[SilverDoctor]

There are 2 things I do when I hit the water. Flip rocks in the areas you intend to fish. and check spider webs streamside to get a bit of a roadmap. You can find a lot about the insect life from spiders. I was on a stream yesterday where we found not only small stone-fly shucks but also stones (just because you find shuck don't mean much, are they an hour old a week or month). The trout fishing was great for about an hour then turned off. Webs told us quite quickly that small may flies (March Browns) where the next target. again about an hour of fun. Then the water went into a stupor and we needed to prospect to find the next helping on the plate.

 

I actually love to start blind and often fish dries at the beginning, it gets me into a rhythm on the water. you'll find there are may types of flies that are called attractor patterns. These resemble a little bit of everything and trigger a strike, not a specific stage of insect or terrestrial but a generalization. That's why sometimes a fly that has been torn up by trout works so well. For example a "Club Sandwich" fly is a prospecting one , it could be a hopper or stonefly. Its a starting place till you can zero in on what the fish are feeding on. This is actually a pretty enormous subject but a fun one to get into.

 

Have fun on the water Sage.

[WyomingGeorge]

Doc, you are a prince! I've been fly-fishing for 20 years and your spider-web tip was news to me. What a clever tactic.

[Hawgstoppah]

Another thing to do is just try and try and try again until you find that magic combination. Study the river. Sit down for fifteen minutes at a time and just watch and see what's going on. Study the birds, what are they doing? If they are hovering over the water picking bugs off the fish are likely to be eating dries farther down the flats... or feasting on the nymph stage of the hatch up in the riffle. Study, read books (blue ribbon bow is a must) and if you are so inclined, hire a guide for the day to take you for a walk and wade on it who can show you exactly what to do.

[Vagabond]

QU/"So I'm almost one year into the fly fishing thing and am getting owned and constantly schooled by the trout residents of Bow River./QU"

 

I've been flyfishing near 30yrs and the Bow kicks my ass more often then not......cue tiny violins.

[bigfry]

theres a guy on youtube his name is Hank Patterson. hes got some amazing tips that totally changed my catching percentage. Im sure he would answer whatever questions you may have

[darrinhurst]

I would strongly recommend Jim McLennan's intermediate fly fishing class, Befriending the Bow. I took it a couple years ago when it was called Listening to the Bow, and I have to say, it was a great class. He teaches you the different structures to look for, different techniques on fishing them, etc. He's a great instructor, and reasonably priced for an all day course.

 

Check them out: http://www.mclennanflyfishing.com/

[Sage]

Is Jim's class actually on the Bow and do you fish with his coaching.....small class size as well? Is it kind of a walk and wade concept? Great suggestion.

[darrinhurst]

Is Jim's class actually on the Bow and do you fish with his coaching.....small class size as well? Is it kind of a walk and wade concept? Great suggestion.

 

Yes, he takes out on the Bow and shows you structure and techniques. Classes are limited to six anglers.

[Blackant]

Sage,

You got the right idea, go out and try, and research some more and keep trying until you get into fish.

Best to try dries in the evening with a elk caddis and hoppers/Stimmies this time of year. Look for rising fish to target, keep walking/watching otherwise, they are there.

 

Some Tips about this forum:

Lots of people on here are very sensitive about giving advice on fishing. So do not expect lots of people on here to help you, there is the odd one willing to provide some value to this forum. As you can already gage from a few posts.

Oh yeah and do not bother posting pics on this form until you are good at fish handling. Again people on this form get very cranky, especially if you have a nice background shot that shows where you were fishing. Chances are where you fished is someone's secret fishing hole also known as "French Mans Creek or Lake".

This will save you a lot of nasty comments on here, and hopefully will make your time on this forum more enjoyable.

 

Have fun and keep trying.

 

Black Ant

[SilverDoctor]

Some Tips about this forum:

Lots of people on here are very sensitive about giving advice on fishing. So do not expect lots of people on here to help you, there is the odd one willing to provide some value to this forum. As you can already gage from a few posts.

Oh yeah and do not bother posting pics on this form until you are good at fish handling. Again people on this form get very cranky, especially if you have a nice background shot that shows where you were fishing. Chances are where you fished is someone's secret fishing hole also known as "French Mans Creek or Lake".

This will save you a lot of nasty comments on here, and hopefully will make your time on this forum more enjoyable.

 

Have fun and keep trying.

 

Black Ant

 

Actually... I find people very free with advice here, we have a variety of personality and ages participating in a very focused sport, a great many people have made lifelong friends and have hooked up with fishing buddies. We absolutely love having pictures posted, the more the better. What any good steward of the water would frown on is disrespect of our resource, then they become cranky. Fish handling is one of many skills that is learned and should be studied as much as casting skills and hatch charts. A comment is sometimes taken as negative because of a lack of knowledge or understanding. Catching a Trout is only one very small part of the equation of our Sport. "Hotspotting" is also frowned upon; many of our small streams for example are sensitive and won't take pressure. Good Sportsmen are not the only ones who read forums; there are a host of poachers as well. Once an area has been stripped of trout it is often a season before trout move in again. Learning the sport can be a lifelong reward in itself.

 

Keep safe on the water

Lornce

[jgib01]

I haven't found French Man's Creek yet either Is it contradictory for me to kinda agree with both BlackAnt and Lornce? Lots of great advice on here has come my way in the past year, along with some criticism, for example for "hotspotting" for the mere mention of one of our southern rivers (and not a small, hidden, high elevation creek either). When you post on any public forum, you need to be prepared to take the good with the bad & ugly I suppose. Wish I had something to offer you about the Bow, but that water is way up North for a Lethbian like me. In fact, I'm venturing north tomorrow to meet up with some folks from here to learn from them on some skinny water. I did take the intro course from the McLennan's last year, and am wading through his book right now... great stuff! I can only imagine that Jim's course on the Bow would be excelllent.

[Vagabond]

I guess hotspotting is kind of a sore spot for me.

In my personal experience,hotspotting is akin to firing a bullet from a gun,once it's out there,ya can't take it back.I could only wish that hotspots would recover in only a year....I watched a little known trout stream that I grew up on within walking distance of my childhood home go from relatively unknown outside of a few locals to a literal parking lot overnight when a local newspaper reporter published a picture and community interest/feel good type of story featuring a photo of a 3lb searun Brookie.

For the first 30 years of my life,it was not unusual to spend a May evening there with only the beavers and deer for company,and occasionally run into another local from the hood.

Since day one of the newspaper article,you'd be lucky to find a parking spot during sea trout primetime in the latter half of May,with bait chuckn' meat hogs in lawn chairs lining the banks......My buds and I spent hundreds of spring/summer days on that stream in our youth,and rarely ever bumped into anybody that we didn't know. I haven't fished there since the day after the newspaper photo was published when no less than 20 vehicles showed up...was literally run outta my own backyard.

[Sage]

I'll continue to read and take coaching and advice. When you are new you inadvertently may step on some toes but are simply trying to get better and read and seek to improve from any sources.

 

Thanks to all forum posters for their help so far.

[jtaylor]

fly fishing etiquette! that's my sore spot but my therapist says I'm making great strides.

 

I no longer have "episodes" which involves loud noises and eye twitching. I believe she called it tourettes

 

I think the hard part about the bow is that the sport of fly fishing has taken off and bow is getting pretty crowded. So I can see that there are some of us that would rather not hand out fishing advice in hopes that a newbie gets frustrated and throws in the towel.

 

The only advice I have is that the Bow is a Bitch! Experiment. I have actually caught a fair number of fish, in unusual places on odd fly patterns.

 

Best of Luck

 

JT

[Sage]

Thanks for the post.....the towel will not be tossed. Advice will be heeded and perhaps experiment with odd fly patterns as you suggest.