|
Angling
Season 2006 The flood waters washed away most of the access. It remains unusable. Overview The
river seemed to recover from the flood events of 2005 pretty quickly.
Only one year later and the rainbows have spawned, the trout are as big
and nasty as ever, the insects rebounded and the weeds started to
return. Much like a forest after a fire, the river has rejuvenated
itself. Calgary grew to be over a million in population this year and
each of us is responsible for our own footprint on our river and the
environment as a whole. In 2005 I found myself saying, “I wish we had
some weed in the river.” I know, what an awful thing to say.
Especially after we had several low water years in which the weed growth
became a real angling problem. Last years floods remedied that and now
in 2006 we are back to fishing conditions as if the 200 year flood event
didn’t even happen. That
is except for the river access points. Access is a completely different
matter. As of mid November, the damaged access points have been repaired
– partially, not fully. Every access from Highway 24 (access to the
Reserve reach) on up to McKinnon Flats has been patched together.
Repairs were only partially completed. In some cases the silt was not
entirely removed, parking lots were only partially graveled,
miscalculations were made regarding the concrete/rebar slabs and in the
case of McKinnon Flats the repairs were totally ineffective. If not for
Mother Nature dropping a gravel bar slightly upstream of McKinnon, that
access and its repairs would be totally unusable. Sustainable Resource
Development, with Fish and Wildlife contracting out the work, totally
wasted their efforts to repair this access. Until things dried out
sufficiently people were getting stuck in the river trying to launch or
trailer their boats. Nothing says, “I was really stupid to do that”,
quite like getting stuck in the mud. Clearly the people doing the
repairs have no idea of what is required to call a place a “river
access point”. I’ve yet to mention Policeman’s Flats – an access
that was totally destroyed in 2005 and to date nothing has been done
about it. Seems the powers that be are still discussing what to
do about this vital access. We might be without this pivotal access for
a 3rd year. Fish & Wildlife says that Policeman's will be resurrected
somewhere in the area. I will believe that when it happens and not until
then! The wheels of Government turn slowly, if at all. I think the
fishing community ought to donate a large sum of money to the Provincial
Tories and that might buy some adequate repairs. But I digress..... In
general 2006 was a pretty good angling year. When the river and weather
conditions cooperated so did the trout. Anglers that adapted their
fishing methods did quite well. Streamers worked well for most of the
year, especially at run off. Deep rig nymphing continued to produce all
year while dry fly had its moments. Hopper fishing was sporadic with
hoppers making very little noise on the banks. It just wasn’t a good
hopper year. Maybe next year. April/May Mid
April and the river has been fishing pretty well. Fish Creek and the
Highwood are dirty so visibility is down to about 12 inches. The left
bank remains fishable down to about Police where the effects of Fish
Creek lessen but the Highwood has put the Bow out below the confluence.
The last week of April turned fair and the river started to clear. The
Bow and the tributaries are all running clear. Streamers and nymphs
produced trout. Early May and the BWO were hatching with trout up on the
surface. Caddis have also been hatching and trout showing interest. Run
off has started by the end of May. June The
river levels are dropping and fishing reports are improving early in the
month. Both Rainbows and Browns seem to have wintered well as they are
in top fighting shape. Streamer fishing has been good. Anything big and
black, due to the off color water has been effective. Trout seem to be
holding on “streamer banks” as well as mid river buckets. Mid month
we got heavy rains and the river dirtied as it rose to a high of 257
cms. The weather cleared and the flow started to decrease. Temperatures
hit the low 30s C the third week and stayed warm until the end of the
month. As the water dropped and cleared the trout have been chasing
streamers off the banks and out of the mid river buckets. July
George Sanjoy Lisa Rick George and his friend Father Eric fished early in the month. Run off was over with the river in good shape. George landed his biggest trout to date and his smile says it all. Next my friend Ken came to town to fish the Bow with friends. They had more anglers than boats so he called me to guide he and Sanjoy. Fishing was hard but with perseverance Sanjoy landed this good rainbow. Rick and Lisa were here the 3rd week and although they had never fly fished before they both did well. They were suitably impressed with the sport and indicated they would take up fly fishing. July brought on the heat, and the month was hot! This produced afternoon and evening thunderstorms, which helped to cool the river some. Water temperatures started around low to mid 50s F in the morning and would rise to upper 60s to low 70s F by late afternoon. This is starting to reach the upper temperature tolerance for trout but fortunately there were no problems. The heat didn’t help the fishing, and it was tough. Of course, the more skilled the angler, the better the experience. August
September
October
Once again it is time to reminisce about days spent on the water this year, to dream of days to come next year and attempt to remain sane through the long winter months of tying. I will surface about next May eager to float the river. Until then, stay warm, travel safely and have a very happy holiday season. Best Regards, Tom
|
Rick
Frank
Doug
