Bow River Trout – Fly Fishing Tips

May 19, 2015 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing

I’ve read a lot of fly fishing tips but living in Saskatoon does not afford one the opportunity to fly fish a river for trout very frequently. Never having done so, I didn’t think I was missing much. After all, there are plenty of ponds and small lakes stocked with trout within a couple hours drive of Saskatoon. But, as I was delighted to find out, there’s a big difference between a trout laying at the bottom of still water and a trout spending it’s life in a river moving 15 miles per hour. Wild trout vs. stocked trout? I’ll take the wild trout please.

I was fortunate to be fishing with someone who has fished the bow river many times and knows how to read the water for good fish holding areas. In fact, as my brother in law Terry was demonstrating how to cast the double nymph rig, he immediately hooked a fish. A small rainbow was sent back to grow bigger. Now I was pumped! Standing in the Bow River, fly fishing, one fish already caught, but not by me, yet. I decided to follow his fly fishing tips as I awkwardly cast the stone fly and san juan worm into the seam between the fast water and the slow water just in front of me, and let it drift through a pool. After three or four tries, I got one “not too bad” according to Terry and suddenly the strike indicator was gone. I set the hook with a quick tug and “FISH ON!”. Being a novice to river fishing, I gave it too much and it took off cross-river, got behind a rock, and worked it’s way free of the hook. thinking we may have “spooked the hole”, we waded down stream 25 or 30 steps to a spot Terry called a “classic nymph run”. I worked the nymph rig into place with a couple of casts and drifted through the hole, poorly, the first four times. On the fifth try, a decent cast, a decent mend to the line, and the strike indicator disappears again. I set the hook, the fish takes off. Terry not too gently instructs me to turn the fish to the bank. I manage to do this, while noticing the pull on the line and the bend in my 9 foot 6 weight fly rod is nearly 90 degrees. This one feels like the “Bow River ‘bows” I’ve heard about! It takes off, down stream, a strong fish with the current and my reel makes that beautiful ZIIIIIIIIINNNNNG sound of a good fight. On aerial display number of 4, we can see it’s a good sized fish. After a 3 or 4 minute battle, we have the fish in hand (see the pictures in the Campfire). My first fish landed on the Bow River is an 18″ Rainbow Trout. I was feeling pretty good about it, especially as we released it back into the river.

The gear we were using was a 9 foot, 6 weight rod, floating line, 9 feet of leader with a strike indicator, 2 feet of 4x tippet tied to a San Juan worm with an extra 18″ of 4x tippet tied to the hook on the San Juan and then to a stone fly nymph. “Why the two flies?”, I asked Terry. “Because the rainbows like the stoneflys and the browns like the worms he explained. I couldn’t argue, and for good reason. We moved another 25 to 30 feet down stream and I worked the rig through a similar seam and a few good drifts later had hooked into a big brown. It took off right away and I could feel the power of this fish. 5 minutes later, we discovered the 20” brown trout had taken the San Juan worm.

What I learned was that fishing a nymph rig was al about getting the right float. If you don’t pass through the hole looking like the way the food usually does, you get ignored. Get the right float, and your chances improve. With the fast moving water of the Bow River, a bad float might last 5 seconds, and your flies may never get in the right place, down low, into the pools that hold the fish. This is usually caused by too much fly line laying on the water ahead of the strike indicator. A good cast, about 45 degrees from the bank, and a slight mend to the line, seems to double the time the flies are drifting, getting deeper, acting like food. On all of my bad casts/mends/floats I caught no fish at all. That’s one big difference between river fishing and lake fishing, technique really matters. You don’t need to cast very far to catch the fish only 10 feet in front of you, but you need to use good technique. On a lake, many a bad cast have produced fish for me. In fact, I’ve hit the water on my back cast before when fly fishing for Pike and accidentally caught a fish, on the back cast. On the Bow River, it’s all about getting the right float.

We have more fly fishing tips in the journal. We encourage you to read them and add you comments.

We hope this story will help you land more fish the next time you go rainbow trout fly fishing or brown trout fly fishing. Keep the fly fishing tips from this story in mind.

How Do You Fish?

May 8, 2015 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing

Some people fish with a spin cast rod and reel while others will take up nothing by a fly rod. How about you? Do you Fly Fish or Spincast?

Take the survey and make your opinion known.

Fly Fishing for Pike

May 5, 2015 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing

Fishing for Pike doesn’t normally turn my crank. On a recent trip, I tried fly fishing for Northern Pike. My opinion has changed largely because any fish on a fly rod is a lot of fun. Even a big slimy toothy ugly Northern Pike is a challenge to catch.

If you find a pike infested area and the bite is on, almost anything will catch them, as long as it’s gaudy and moving. That’s what makes fly fishing for pike a challenge. In order to keep a large spoon moving with a spin-cast rod, just reel it in. Then cast it back out and reel it in. If there are hungry pike nearby, they’ll chase it down and bite it. Often, if you stop the retrieve, they’ll turn away. With fly fishing, it’s a different game with casting heavy flies called streamers used to imitate bait fish or other prey. Some fly fishers (myself included) will use a mouse pattern and cast it into the reeds then yank it through. The big Northern Pike lurking in the reed think it’s a rodent that has fallen in and attack with a fury. Pike have been reported to strike their prey, or your lure, at speeds up to 30 mph. With a mouse pattern floating on the surface, the ambush is swift and vicious. You’ll definitely know when something has struck your fly.

With the speed of Pike being much faster than you can possibly strip in your line, you may as well strip quickly to attract a strike. Pike will attack if the food looks at all edible so make your streamer swim quickly with a fast stripping action.

Once on the line, you can’t hog the fish in like you would with a spinning reel or bait cast reel. You need to remember you are using a lighter tackle and different equipment. When possible, play the fish from the reel. If it wants to run, let it run. There are few sounds like the zzzzzziiiiiinnnnnng of a fly reel with a strong fish pulling at it to get your heart pounding!

Maybe the most important piece of tackle is a steel leader. Not the same steel leader as your casting line but a fly line pike leader to fend off the sharp teeth. If you try to use normal leader and tippet combination, say goodbye to your streamer and your Pike. Shock leaders, as they are normally called, are made for casting streamers with a fly rod. Another important important tackle tip is to use a heavier weight fly rod. If you normally use a 5 or 6 weight for trout, step up to an 8 weight for pike. You’ll cast the heavy streamers easier and the extra strength in the rod will help with the bigger fish.

If you’re in for an adventure, try fly fishing for Pike from a belly or float tube. Unlike trout fishing from a belly boat, pike are much large. Your net might not be big enough if you hook into a 36″ plus pike” Laying a big fish across the bow of your belly boat gives you a real indication of how much bigger a pike can be than a trout. Not only the length of the fish but the power that goes with the larger size. It’s a real thrill when you actually get towed in a belly boat by a pike or when the fish you have hooked turns you 360 degrees.

Don’t Leave Your Flies on the Table

April 28, 2015 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing

My house is quite often a hurricane of activity. My kids, ages 7, 5, and 2 have boundless energy and are involved in any sporting activity that includes a ball, a club, a stick, or a puck. That means I’m often rushing from one floor of the house to another to be the intervening referee, sometimes the goalie, sometimes the pitcher, many time the retriever or objects thrown, batted, shot or kicked too high. The point is, I rarely have more then 5 minutes of time in a row to spend on any activity until after the kids go to bed. Nonetheless, one day this spring, I was getting organized for a week long get away.

My various rods, normally stored in my gun cabinet to keep the kids from tangling all the lines together, were in the living room. My tackle box was sitting on my desk. My fly boxes, 3 of them, were in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. I was testing the sinking rate of some of the flies in a tub full of water in the bathroom when I was summoned to solve a “who hit who back first” argument in the toy room. At the same time, my wife was busy cleaning the living room for some company coming that night, and swearing at me for leaving my rods all over the floor.

After getting the hockey game back on track, I decided to sort through some of my dry flies in the kitchen. I pushed the rest of the stuff on the table aside to make room for the flies and began to remove them from the fly box one by one. I organized them by size and colour, knowing full well after the first full day of fishing my box would be in complete disarray again. With about 10 flies out of the box, a crash was heard from the downstairs toy room. I arrived moments later to discover a broken light fixture but no broken kids. No opportunity to try out alternative uses of head cement today! Shop Vac to the rescue and the game was back on.

I started back upstairs, but remembered the sink rate experiment going on in the bathroom and resumed that activity for another 5 minutes before I had to rush to referee the next dispute. I finally returned to my fly sorting about a 1/2 hour after I had left it, to discover all my dry boatsmen were gone from the neat row I had placed them in. I also noticed the supper dishes had been removed from the table and the dishwasher was running. I quickly surmised that my wife had whirl winded her way through the kitchen on a cleaning spree, and swept the table free of debris. “Wife!”, I called out. “Did you clean up in the kitchen, ’cause I was just about to?” Her reply was “Yes. I don’t have time for you to get to it.” “Where did you sweep the stuff from the table?”, I inquired. “Into the empty corn flakes box by the back door. Why?”, came her puzzled reply. “Because you just swept $20 worth of my flies into the trash.”, I answered. “I thought they were crumbs from the kid’s plates.”, was her guilty reply.

I dumped the flies out, back onto the table, along with a few crumbs the kids had left, and continued my sorting and replacing back into the fly box from which they came.

Other places not to leave your flies (and you can imagine why):

your bed
the living room floor
seat of your truck
floor of your truck
your pocket

German Field Dog Trials

April 14, 2015 / galen / Hunting

I had the great fortune of participating in a sporting dog trial in Germany this spring. A business associate of mine was one of the judges, or training to be a judge, I was never quite sure how that worked. He was also the breeder of one of the dogs in the trial. In total, there were 20 dogs and owners divided into 5 groups of 4 with several judges in each group. The predominant breed used was called the Deutsch Drataahr (know in North America as German Wirehair Pointer). Other dog breeds were allowed. All dogs were just one year old. The dogs went through a series of trials, one by one, with judges watching closely.

The first trial was to test pointing skills. Dogs walked a tree line and had to hold a point on a rabbit or a bird for 4 seconds to score well. Each trial produced 11 or 12 points as a maximum with defined criteria. Being young dogs, some had difficulty holding point until their master arrived at their side and they often spooked the bird/rabbit. The second trial was the Gun Test. Actually, I have no idea what the test was called as everyone was speaking German, quickly, and I was left to guess what the object of the trail was. In the Gun Test, the dog and one hunter simply walked about 50 paces into a field, then two shots were fired into the air to see if the dog would run away. Interestingly, all guns were double barreled shot guns. All dogs passed this test, I think. The third trial was Track a Rabbit. This was the longest trial, most difficult to judge, and the trial that likely had the greatest variation in scores for the dogs. Everyone spread out width wise across a cropped field, dog all on leashes, to flush rabbits. When a rabbit took off, the judges would call a nearby dog and it would be put on the trail. Dogs were judged by how long they tracked the rabbit, how they acted when they lost the trail, and how quickly they regained the trail. Some dogs took off for 10 minutes on the track. Others had a difficult time getting on trail and were finished in a minute or two. The dog that eventually won the trial, spent about 15 minutes on the trail, across two fields, through a tree line, under two fences, and a road. When he lost the scent, he went on a circular search pattern until he found it again, then he was at full speed again.

At the end of the field trials, they did a physical inspection of the dogs, checked teeth, and matched tattoos to the breeders records. In the end, from the trial of 4 dogs I participated in, the dog bred by my business associate finished at the top of the group and among the top of the whole trial. At the conclusion of the field trial, all participants and judges met back at a country restaurant for a few pints of beer and a meal. Owners were given their score cards. One of the most interesting parts was at the conclusion of each field trial, Pointing, Gun Test, and Rabbit Track, the head judge would do a dog by dog report. Not understanding most of what he said, it sounded like he was scolding the dogs and their owners for every mistake, and maybe offering suggestions on how to improve their score.

Other interesting observations were made. If you want to hunt pheasant, almost every field we entered held at least 10 of the prize game birds. Every time we flushed one, my trigger finger reached for the safety on the gun that was missing from my hands. I love hunting pheasant. Here was pheasant hunting paradise, and me without a gun (I’m working on my invite to return for the fall). We also spooks a number of Roe Deer (no idea if I spelled that correctly). They are a small deer with a short pair of antlers. I understand they make their way onto the plates of many a German hunter. These are usually hunted from short hunting stands (ironically called ‘tall stands’) about 10-12 feet high and usually positioned against a tree or in a bush line.

I’m looking forward to my next return to Germany, next time scheduled during hunting season, when my business associate assures me there is ample supply of Roe Deer, Red Deer (much like Elk), pheasant, and wild boar to satisfy any itchy trigger finger. I am trying to return the favor by inviting him to a meeting in Saskatchewan in early September for the start of the legendary snow goose migration near the Quill Lakes. To those who allowed me along on their dog trial, ‘Danke ein Auf Wiedersehen’. By the way, the only English you will need in Canada is ‘Take ’em!’.

Bonus Day

April 12, 2015 / galen / Outdoors

I’ve been practicing the idea of Bonus Days on business travel for a couple of decades now. Here’s how it works.

You have an upcoming business trip, the business portion of the trip begins on Day X and ends on Day Y. You add another day to the trip, after Day Y, and schedule some outdoor activity for that day. It’s a great way to unwind after a week of meetings, or a conference, or whatever your business requirements happened to be. The great thing is that the majority of your personal expense is already covered by your company, and the additional expenses you will incur yourself are minimal compared to footing the bill yourself.

Where it Started

I’m sure I’m not the first one to come up with this idea, but here’s how it came to me. I was at an international dealer conference for the company I worked with. Three days of meetings and presentations along with social functions, requiring that I, and my co-workers, were on the clock from dawn until midnight. The conference was at a very nice resort on the Mexican Mayan Riviera. My wife came along for the trip, relaxed on the beach, or by the pool, with a cool drink by her side. Other spouses were along and they had a great time while I watched the palm tree sway in the breeze through the windows, made presentations, and lead dealer forums. The final night of the conference was the big awards gala. Next morning we packed up and headed to the airport, passing beach resort after beach resort. I realized that the company has paid my way, airfare being the biggest expense, and I paid them back working 18 hours a day. The next conference was already being planned, in a similar location, and I had a brand new plan. My wife and I added a couple extra days, at our expense, to the end of the trip the following year, went snorkeling, toured the Mayan ruins, and drank rum on the beach. It was the cheapest breach holiday ever.

Before or After

I know some people that have the same Bonus Day idea as I do, but they take the Bonus Day before the travel. Often when I travel I have a substantial amount of new material to develop or prepare, and every day/hour/minute of preparation is often needed, especially last minute changes and pre-meeting run through. This makes the idea of a Bonus Day more attractive, as it’s the prize after the hard work, it feels more like I have earned it at that point.

The Bonus Day Plan

Now the Bonus Day Plan is part of my regular travel routine. It’s not hard to find an outdoor experience near to where you are traveling. Here are a few examples of Bonus Days I have added:

snorkeling at Turks and Caicos
golfing in Scotland
fly fishing for trout in Alberta
Skiing in Ontario
catamaran and snorkeling trip in Jamaica
golfing and carousing in Vegas
relax on the beach in Bahamas
desert tour in Hummers in Phoenix
mountain tail quad trip in Puerto Vallarta
surfing in Hawaii

For all of these Bonus Days, the out of pocket expenses to my self have been limited to a hotel bill, meals, plus the cost of the activity itself. It has been a cheap way to do a few things that would otherwise cost me a few thousand dollars.

What is your Bonus Day Plan. Don’t you think you have earned it?

The Man Challenges

April 7, 2015 / galen / Fishing, Hunting

Here’s a few suggestions to add some friendly competition to your outdoor outings. Purely in the interest of research for this artivle I can say I have participated in all of these events, numerous times. Take these suggestions with you, or come up with your own Man Challenge and send me a description and I’ll add it to this article.

Man Challenge #1 Rods n’ Irons

Golfing and fishing are parts one and two of the summer triple crown. Add sex with your wife for the trifecta and your day is complete. Just remember, it’s okay to fish alone and golf alone. Eighteen holes of golf set the stage for the soon to follow fishing tournament. Take the leader board from the round of golf to the boat and each fish makes up a stroke. Pick a time to shut it down and add the scores to determine the champion. For example, after golf, Eldon has a 5 stroke lead over Galen (impossible, but it happened), Galen will need to catch 6 more fish to pull ahead in the scoring.

Man Challenge #2 Build a Lure

Using only the tools available in a common tackle box, and the items you have with you (hint: beer caps), design and construct a lure that catches a fish. It can be any of the stuff you have with you. Bottle caps, pull tabs, foil wrappers, your watch, pieces of string, shoelaces, belt buckles, wedding rings, false teeth, prosthetic limbs, sun glasses, car keys, coins, lug nuts, speaker wire, and your imagination. I’ve seen fish caught on the most unlikely contraptions, but then have you seen some of the lures out there? Most likely fish to be caught is a pike, Walleye are harder to fool, and Perch sometimes will go after anything shiny (like tin foil). Send us a picture of you winning lure and your fish and we’ll post your proff, and bragging rights, on our site.

Man Challenge #3 Blast n’ Cast

This one’s my favorite. Spend the morning on a flock reduction exercise and bag your limit of ducks and geese. Spend the afternoon and evening tempting the behemoths from the depths and build up your fish fry inventory. You can make this into a contest if you wish, but it’s often disputed who fired the killing shot as geese invade your spread and all guns are blazing. In many hunting jurisdictions, goose hunting is not permitted past noon so make sure you know the local regulations.

Man Challenge #4 Jigs & Shots

Before you go out, designate someone to be the designated boat driver in this event. Jigs and shots is quite straight forward, use your jig and whatever bait to catch a fish and do a shot of what ever your favored poison happens to be. Hit the honey hole and your fishing memories may soon fade into a blur. Take a few extra cool ones with you in the event the finned foe is in deep hiding. Add some interest by designating a type of shot per species of fish.

Keep a Journal

March 31, 2015 / galen / Fishing

If you are serious, or even half serious about fishing, start and keep a journal. A journal is a great way to make notes about what technique and what settings have produced success so that you can replicate them or adapt to your present or future conditions. A journal is simply a factual record of your outdoor experiences and easy to maintain. You need little more than a spiral notebook, small enough to fit in a pocket, and a pen. What information you will want to keep track of will vary with your type of activity, but here’s a good answer for fishing. (Bird hunting and big game hunting will be covered in later articles.) For fishing, record the obvious first, such as date, time, location (be as specific as possible) and tackle used. If you have a GPS receiver, take advantage, especially if you are trolling. Other electronic devices such as a depth finder can add key information. Also record your technique. If you are spin casting or bait casting, how are you retrieving? How deep? Fast or slow? Steady or jerk and drop? If you are trolling, how fast? Straight-line or S-pattern? Are you trolling near or over structure? If you are fly fishing, what retrieve speed are you using? Are you deep or shallow? Where are you casting from/to? For a dry fly or a stream, what drift technique are you using?

When you are busy fishing, when the bite is on, mentally keep track of what is working and if you change tackle or technique, how it affected your results. When the fishing is good, your memory will stick with you. Later when the action slows down, or in the evening, take a few minutes to jot some notes. You are there to fish. Take care of that first! Also be sure to write down what didn’t work.

Many factors besides location, date, time, tackle and technique affect your fishing results. So take notice of these additional factors: temperature, wind strength and direction, sunny, overcast, rain, water temperature, water level and anything else of note. Changes in conditions often lead to changes in behavior by fish. Fish are not among the mentally elite of this planets species, but they are highly instinctive and highly reactive. If you can identify similar circumstances when you had success before, your odds are better if you can reproduce your own actions. A change in air pressure or wind direction may cause the bite to begin or stop. With some species of fish, especially trout, a sudden increase in wind speed or change in direction may result in insects from shoreline trees and bushes being blown into the water and the trout will react. If this happens, make a mental note of the conditions, check the water for the type of insect, tie on a similar fly and get ready.