| HOWLIN' WOLF'S BOW RIVER PAGE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This page is for all those fishermen who love to fish with a fly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This page is designed to provide information to all those fine souls who find their lifeblood fishing on the wonderful flowing waters of our continent. Hopefully, this page will provide some useful information about the Bow River, my favourite flyfishing river,as well as some tips and links to other sites that flyfishermen might enjoy. I like to get down to the Bow as frequently as possible during the spring, summer and fall, and most evenings you can find me casting (rather poorly) on my favourite pool 5 minutes from my house in Calgary. My preferred method of fishing the Bow is with a nymph, (usually short line, dead drift) or down and across (occasionally) and this fine river has very seldom let me down when nymphing. There are certain nymphs that seem to produce well and I'll talk about some of these later. In fact, the Bow has been the site of many days and evenings of as close to personal flyfishing "nirvana" as one person could ask for in their lifetime. I've also been known to throw a dry fly frequently, but I usually won't turn to the dries unless I'm convinced I can come close to "matching the hatch" and getting in contact with fish on the surface. This is not always easy on the Bow with its prolific hatches, but seasonal patterns are quite predictable for dry flies and summer months are often evenings of heavy caddis action. I've enjoyed many great dry fly days on my favourite river and honing my dry fly and nymphing skills is an ongoing journey which I hope will never end! | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| THE BOW: A NYMPHING APPROACH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Bow is a tumbling, freestoner that is best characterized as a large, vigorous western river with many personalities or "seasons". At its source, in the beautiful mountains of Banff National Park, the Bow begins its journey from the foot of Bow Glacier, through the Rockies, gradually losing altitude and gaining attitude until it hits the rolling foothills country west of Calgary. In these surroundings, the Bow begins to hit the first of the dams built along its course. By the time the Bow reaches Calgary, it has already been through two major dams and has created literally miles of superbly fishable water. However, it is perhaps at Calgary where this river really seems to acquire some spectacular characteristics! For one thing, there is probably not a city in the world that can boast the spectacular fly fishing the Bow offers in Calgary. All along its course, the Bow contains Rainbows, Browns and Whitefish, but within the city limits and south (downstream) of Calgary, the fish begin to assume some tremendous proportions. I have personally caught Browns up to 27 inches in size as well as Rainbows in the 25 inch range 5 minutes from my house in the city. Like all great western rivers, the Bow presents many challenges to those who have never visited it. For starters, the sheer volume of this river can be intimidating. New fishermen to the Bow, particularly those who fish on smaller waters, often are left wondering just where to start to cast. The best rule of thumb for those who are new to the Bow is to look for the "seams" in the current that show the transitions between fast and slow moving water. The trout in this river love to sit just off the fast water, feeding in slower water, preserving their energy John Gierach describes the Bow as a river that is best fished with a nymph and my experience shows this to be true. This is a little ironic considering the Bow's reputation as being such a fine dry fly river, but the truth is that more fish are taken on the Bow using nymphs and subsurface flies than are taken on top. However, this is not to say that the Bow is overrated as a dry fly stream; in actual fact, this river can produce some specatacular hatches at times and huge Browns and Rainbows can be taken on dries when conditions are right. There are few rivers in the world that can produce such spectacular trout on dry flies. When nymphing the Bow, I prefer a "short line" method and usually use split shot to get my nymph down quickly and to keep it as close to the bottom as possible. Recently I have been using a wire San Juan worm with a bead head dropper fly fished dead drift with very good results. (The huge advantage here is being able to do away with casting split shot) The idea here is to fish the nymph as close to dead drift as possible on the bottom and ALWAYS working hard to keep close contact with your fly. I prefer to use a 5 weight St Croix rod to do this and lift my rod as my nymph tumbles toward me on the bottom. This type of fishing can be very tiring because you are not only physically working, but the concentration level required is very high. Takes can often be nothing more than small pauses in the drift of the nymph and close attention to the end of your line as it enters the water is a must. I seldom cast more than 15-20 ft of line and work very hard to keep any slack out of my line on top of the water in order to keep contact with the fly. The principle is the same one as dry fly fishers use to combat current by mending. The drift MUST appear natural to the fish for this type of nymphing to work effectively. Howewver, if one can master this, it is a tremendously effective way to fish at any time of the year. Casts are made along any current seams and upstream and the fly is drifted down and below, keeping close contact with the fly. I usually pause slightly before retrieving my fly and recasting. Be ready, fish will take the fly at any point in the drift! For this reason, a small strike indicator of any type can be very useful for detecting "takes". | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| SOME FAVOURITE BOW RIVER FLIES AND GUIDES | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Over the years, I have developed a definite fondness for certain nymph patterns and I seldom fish the Bow without these "old buddies" in my pocket. | SAN JUAN WORM - Fly fishing purists turn their noses up at this hook and many can often be found debating wether this is indeed a "fly" or just a "hook". Personally, I could care less. The only thing that I know is that this "hook known as a fly" catches a ton of fish on the Bow and many of the fish it catches come in large sizes! This fly is usually fished deep, dead drift and is used when nothing else seems to be working! My first indoctrination to drift boat fishing was done with a San Juan worm at the end of my line and it proved to be a spectacular day! Since then, I have used it frequently and with great success, particularly on the Lower Bow where the fish seem to gobble them eagerly. I prefer to tie my San Juan worms using a fairly heavy red wire over a bare English bait hook, but there are many variations of the San Juan worm pattern on the Bow and it is a pattern that will produce fish on most days when it is fished properly. BEAD HEAD HARE'S EAR - There are also many varieties to this well known nymph, but I definitely find this pattern seems to produce best for me tied "bead head style". I use traditional dubbings and dressings for this fly but prefer to tie a tinsel wing case for added flash. I will fish it dead drift and as a searching pattern. It is a consistent producer on the Bow. I prefer to fish it in sizes 12-16. BEAD HEAD PRINCE - Again, there are many varieties of the "Prince", but I prefer the weight and flash of the bead head style. This fly has produced some absolutely incredible days for me in the drift boat and I would never hesitate to put one of these on an 18 inch dropper below a San Juan worm. The Bow produces some heavy stone fly hatches at times and this nymph works as a fine imitation here. BEAD HEAD RED SQUIRREL NYMPH - This is an adaptation of a Dave Whitlock pattern I found some years ago and tied bead head style has proven to be a very effective nymph. JIM'S BEAD HEAD - This is a pattern I found in Jim McLennan's Country Pleasures Orvis shop in Calgary and it is another nymph that can fool you with its simplioity. Like all great patterns, its effectiveness lies in its tying ease and the way it catches fish. I tie it almost exactly as I found it in the store, with a brass bead head and gold tinsel wrapped over a brown dubbing. I find this an extremely productive pattern in the spring. It is a pattern many fishermen might overlook, but it is never missing from my nymph box.
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