August Martin and Pat Raymond returned once more and fished early in the month. They had some good streamer and hopper/dropper fishing with both browns and rainbows (in the 20 inch range) being landed. It was a good day by all accounts. By the end of the first week the flow rates had dropped down to similar flows to last year, in the 100 cms range. We had more heat by the end of the first week with temperatures in the upper 20s C. Next up was a fellow from Mexico. This was the strangest booking ever. After many phone calls and emails the trip was set. He flew in only to get a case of “Montezuma’s Revenge”. Seems he ate something on the plane that didn’t agree with him and he apparently was under the weather for the next several days. I tried to get him out a few days later but to no avail. I thought you had to go to Mexico to get this stomach condition. As it turns out he was non communicative and never did go fishing. Somehow I think I’m better off that we never fished!

Next up – Serge and Tim fished. It was hot (29 C) and we drifted 22X to McKinnon's. We fished streamers briefly in morning then switched to hopper/dropper. They took some trout, about 18 to 19 inches on both hopper and dropper. Later in afternoon, about the top of the Mansion run, we went to deep nymph rigs. We hit a few trout fishing deep. It was a bright and hot day and the fishing was slow. Sometimes the weather and fishing conditions get the upper hand and you just have to “go with the flow” – so to speak. We had a heat wave with forecast highs of 35 C. As you might expect this adversely affected angling. 

Big Dick and Little Dick fished August 26^th. Morning was miserable with rain and wind. It was so cold Little Dick almost froze his hands until I gave him some fingerless gloves. Served soup at lunch which warmed the insides and the sun came out. It continued to be windy but we were able to put the streamer and nymph rods away and fish hopper/dropper for most of the afternoon. Caught about 15 to 20 trout in the 18 to 20 inch range. Finished the day fishing streamers and Big Dick picked up one more good rainbow. We drove back into town and ended the day with pizza at Tops Pizza after which the “Dicks” drove back to Edmonton. Late in month (Sept long week end) temperatures dove into the low double digits and on the Sunday the forecast high was only 8 C. As I said earlier – this is Calgary and we expect the unexpected. 

September Early in the month John and Lee came to fish. They got pretty “bent”. For a pictorial account of their fishing visit http://www.thebowriver.com/bent_on_the_bow_2008.htm. Suffice to say the anglers were very good, the trout cooperated and consequently the fishing was wonderful. Trout were eating pretty well everything during the 3 days the boys fished. Good sized trout, both Bows and Browns ate dries, nymphs and streamers. When the weather turned a little nasty we fished the usual streamers. John fished two streamers and just hammered them. Lee fished one streamer and did very well. When the weather improved we fished hopper droppers. Again the boys did well. I believe our best trout was just shy of 24 inches – a tough Rainbow hooked along the Fish Bowl bank. The boys did so well here we walked the boat back up the bank several times to fish it again and again. On one pass we doubled up with Rainbows. This was not the only double during their time here. We had about 4 other double hook ups. I don’t know about others on the river but I’ve found “doubles” not a common occurrence. I’ve also noticed a lack of hooking up Rocky Mountain Whitefish. Now this can be both a good and bad thing. Good that we are catching fewer Whitefish and more trout. Bad that I believe the Whitefish population is down. Hmmm, I wonder if the absence of fish exclusion devices on the irrigation canals (such as the one at Carseland) might be responsible for their decline. Good job Fish and Wildlife!  

Next up – Roy Millar. Slower fishing but gorgeous fall day. Roy took these great photos of scenery and wildlife. Notice the snow covered Rocky Mountains in the photo on the left.

Place mouse on thumbnail images to view larger image. 

 3^rd week of the month Lee fished a couple of days. He got “bent” as well. We drifted Police to McKinnon both days and spent time on the Fish Bowl bank each day. Lee did very well here the first day hooking a dozen or more Rainbows before we had to move on. The next day we returned to the Fish Bowl bank. The weather was cooler and I heated up the soup as Lee nymphed the drop off.  Again he had a great time on this bank. Some trout were netted while others ate and then were gone. It bears repeating – if the river is fishing tough, anglers that are willing to change tactics and fish different methods will have more success. 

October Trips were slow this month and I did some fun fishing. Temperatures were all over the map. One day it was –5C in the morning with a high of only 5C. The next day it was 18C. The mountains had snow the end of the first week. Stream flows continued to be high with flows around 95 cms for most of the month.

What a difference a few months make! As of the 1st of November oil is hovering around $65 per barrel, gas at the pumps is selling for under $1 per liter, the greedy bankers and financial people on Wall Street created a global melt down of economies. From North America to Europe, Russia and Asia, the stock markets the world over are in serious trouble. Governments started throwing billions of dollars at the crisis hoping to free up credit to alleviate the possibility of a world wide recession. The markets varied in response. One day up and the next, they were tanking. My belief - the financial market ran amuck with next to no regulation, the greed of bankers and Wall Street reached epic proportions and everything came crashing down. After all the trillions of dollars thrown at this crisis and the world economy "on the edge", the populace has no confidence that Government knows what the hell they are doing. Even during these times some Wall Street companies were throwing lavish parties and handing out huge bonuses. Makes you wonder just how many megalomaniacs are CEOs of these large companies.

Needless to say, trout fishing on the Bow was also affected. Having talked with several sources they all indicated it was an off year. I can only hope that Government gets it together and repairs the financial stability of the world markets. Once this is done - things should return to normal.

Given these troubled times, it is good that we can go trout fishing and decompress. For those of you that ventured north of the 49th parallel, I enjoyed fishing with you this season and hope to do so next year. To my fellow Canadian anglers - the Bow River is unsurpassed as a trout fishery. We are lucky to have this stream in our backyard and we should decompress as often as possible. Everyone have a safe and uneventful holiday season.

Best Regards,

Tom

PS. Good luck to the US in the upcoming election. We all could use a favorable outcome!