Beauty Day on the Bow: Update 24/3

[BeeGuy]

Figured it would be warm enough not to have to bother with freezing guides this afternoon so I ducked out to Valleyview for a couple hours.

Boy was it nice out.

t-shirt weather for sure.

Worked some decent water with some ridiculous lures looking for pike. nada

Bounced some small spoons looking for bows. nada

So went with the tried and true and landed a handful of browns. Took a quick pic of the one decent one.

Not bad for a sunny hot spring day.

DK post up your pike

http://i1242.photobucket.com/albums/gg523/elbee69/photo83_zps6453769f.jpg

[Cal]

Nice trout but is that a Rapala I see? What happened to the plain red hook ya sellout :)

[MtnGiant]

U lucky bugger to have caught what seems to be the only really nice sunny day in the near future while others gotta work.
Nice fish....but aren't they all

[fish gunner]

Stunning brown BG.Yer a lucky dog out prowling the banks today. Congrats. Thankx fir the pic.

[DiabeticKripple]

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb410/DiabeticKripple/95D8D7EA-2A4E-4710-BC03-E7AF0F1C1FC6-4129-00000300F7626DBA_zps316210d2.jpg

thats the pike i caught today. he was following my bugger so i stopped and twitched it and wham. got him 2nd cast.

on the 3rd cast what i think was a brown (rounder head than the pike) was following but i couldnt get it to bite

[MtnGiant]

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb410/DiabeticKripple/95D8D7EA-2A4E-4710-BC03-E7AF0F1C1FC6-4129-00000300F7626DBA_zps316210d2.jpg

thats the pike i caught today. he was following my bugger so i stopped and twitched it and wham. got him 2nd cast.

on the 3rd cast what i think was a brown (rounder head than the pike) was following but i couldnt get it to bite


Did you ask Mr Bee if you could post your pic on HIS thread???? (joke :))

[Guitarplayingfish]

haha.

You bow river fisherman sure love the raps... They certainly seem to produce though!

[DiabeticKripple]

Did you ask Mr Bee if you could post your pic on HIS thread???? (joke :))

he told me to :)

[catchandeat]

I have the exact same rap! Seems to be a great fish producer for a lot of people, but to be honest i've never caught anything on it yet haha. My goal for this year though is to catch a trout over ten pounds that isn't stocked.
Nice fish!

[bwackwabbit]

Fantastic Brown!

Sure was a beauty of a day.

[BeeGuy]

Nice trout but is that a Rapala I see? What happened to the plain red hook ya sellout :)

The plain red gamagatsu is for ice fishing.

Jigged or dead sticked, your choice.

I'll try bottom bouncing a p-rig with red hooks and see what I can uh, get to bite...

Slow start but not bad for fishing from 230-5 in the glaring sun.

[DiabeticKripple]

The plain red gamagatsu is for ice fishing.

Jigged or dead sticked, your choice.

I'll try bottom bouncing a p-rig with red hooks and see what I can uh, get to bite...

Slow start but not bad for fishing from 230-5 in the glaring sun.

i thought i was gonna get a sunburn.


i shouldve texted you and we couldve gone together haha

[JReed]

Beauty fish boys! Those pike just can't resist a wooly bugger, works every time.

[RayL42]

A couple of great fish there, and I have to admit I’m jealous I was stuck in the office all day.

[EZM]

Real nice brown - they are such a beautiful fish.

[OneGirlWolfPack]

Real nice brown - they are such a beautiful fish.

They really are.
Nice job you guys :)

[Eddy62]

I have the exact same rap! Seems to be a great fish producer for a lot of people, but to be honest i've never caught anything on it yet haha. My goal for this year though is to catch a trout over ten pounds that isn't stocked.
Nice fish!

bow river fishing with a cd9 brown trout or rainbow pattern will catch you tons off trout...... try a light pink with white back buzz bomb the next time your out on the bow works awesome......later

[catchandeat]

bow river fishing with a cd9 brown trout or rainbow pattern will catch you tons off trout...... try a light pink with white back buzz bomb the next time your out on the bow works awesome......later

Thanks for the tip! :)

[BeeGuy]

Buzz bomb in a river is the quickest way for a noob to be in the market for another buzz bomb. $0.05.

[Reddin]

Same with a rapala with 2 treble hooks.

[Cal]

Just a question but do bow river trout not like Len Thompsons? Although plenty of people use LT's to catch trout all over the country, when the matter of favored Bow river lures comes up they are rarely mentioned.

[EZM]

Just a question but do bow river trout not like Len Thompsons? Although plenty of people use LT's to catch trout all over the country, when the matter of favored Bow river lures comes up they are rarely mentioned.

They do ..... but a floating Rapala allows depth control - pauses to rise, crank and twitch to dive - absolutely the best river lure in my opinion.

[MtnGiant]

Just a question but do bow river trout not like Len Thompsons? Although plenty of people use LT's to catch trout all over the country, when the matter of favored Bow river lures comes up they are rarely mentioned.

I use the blue/silver LT on the Bow.
I bought 5 of them after I found out how many fish my spouse was catching on them.
She sometimes will outfish me w/ this LT while I fly fish.
Mostly a Rainbow killer though.

[Alberta Bigbore]

Nice fish!!

[Gust]

Small anything len thompsons are good but I find the cheaper or tinnier spoons easier to control in the swifter spots. The small silver and blue lt is killer though.

[Cal]

They do ..... but a floating Rapala allows depth control - pauses to rise, crank and twitch to dive - absolutely the best river lure in my opinion.

I pop little rapalas on the surface for goldeye, works realy well. I'd like to find some little topwaters, goldeye on topwaters would be a blast.

What size LT's do you guys use on the bow? I usualy use the second smallest size for trout (#7 I think?) but it seems like guys like bigger lures on the Bow.

[Kokanee9]

U lucky bugger to have caught what seems to be the only really nice sunny day in the near future while others gotta work.
Nice fish....but aren't they all


I like your ending!

[Kokanee9]

Good looking fish - both of them!

[MtnGiant]

So in keeping w/ the OP's title....

Today will be a great day....

Maybe some are already out there.

Will be busy me thinks?

[BeeGuy]

I spent many years chucking spoons and spinners for trout in BC with great success.

I can still catch fish on them in the Bow, but for whatever reason I find that cranks will out produce the shiny hardware 5:1.

I do use spoons still, usually b/s, r/g, o/g cleos from small to big, gibbs crocs in large size ~4in+, and lucky strike "lizards' in watermelon color scheme, size 5"+.

They seem to work better later in the season.

[BeeGuy]

So in keeping w/ the OP's title....

Today will be a great day....

Maybe some are already out there.

Will be busy me thinks?

With a high of -4C I dont think I can be bothered.

Can't stand fighting freezing guides.

[MtnGiant]

With a high of -4C I dont think I can be bothered.

Can't stand fighting freezing guides.

Well thats not good....
but it's not windy yet like yesterday when I tried.
I lasted 5 min on the Bow LOL
Worth a shot though....take the dog for a walk anyway.

[cranky]

Beeguy
Do you remove one treble or cut any hooks off for catch and release with Raps?
Just wondering. Believe it or not ive never used a Rapala is all.

[BeeGuy]

Good question.

Not really.

On some sizes, esp. the small ones, I dont like the hooks and will replace them with better quality/meaner trebles. Alternatively I will bend them in a tiny bit and offset them as I find I get a better hookset that way.

As you could see in my pic, that fish had a single, barbless hook of the 3 on the back treble stuck in his upper lip.

I have in the past run a single barbless gama-octo on the back for rivers in BC, but usually just preferred to spoon it instead.

[Cal]

Good question.

Not really.

On some sizes, esp. the small ones, I dont like the hooks and will replace them with better quality/meaner trebles. Alternatively I will bend them in a tiny bit and offset them as I find I get a better hookset that way.

As you could see in my pic, that fish had a single, barbless hook of the 3 on the back treble stuck in his upper lip.

I have in the past run a single barbless gama-octo on the back for rivers in BC, but usually just preferred to spoon it instead.

Changing the hooks on Raps can change the action if your not carefull. I generaly take one of the trebbles off their three hooked baits and it seems to give them a slower, wider woble. Sometimes the fish like this and sometimes putting the third treble back on can get you more strikes.

[cranky]

Guess a guy could bend the not wanted hooks inwards and not upset balance?????
Actually a question as ive not used Raps before.

[BeeGuy]

Went down and had about the same action as the other day. Nice clean spot in the NW.

Got a couple smaller ones in the 14" range like the other day and this one. Looks almost like the twin of the one the other day, just a wee bit smaller. and greedier.

http://i1242.photobucket.com/albums/gg523/elbee69/photo84_zpsd88db4d0.jpg

[DiabeticKripple]

caught this fat 16"er today. had a brown follow twice and hit once but couldnt get a hook in him.

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb410/DiabeticKripple/4690924F-F11C-4957-B1F6-92B99F8D679A-4699-0000040B26FE63E6_zps96a98524.jpg

he had 2 hooks in the bottom jaw, and one in the top. did a bit of damage to his face. released with spunk though!

[EZM]

Changing the hooks on Raps can change the action if your not carefull. I generaly take one of the trebbles off their three hooked baits and it seems to give them a slower, wider woble. Sometimes the fish like this and sometimes putting the third treble back on can get you more strikes.

I always try and "match the weight" from the treble I remove when I replace it with a heavier and bigger size single.

The action, you are correct, never is quite the same - so I've simply went to grinding the barbs off with a dremmel and opening up the gaps on the trailing hook.

I used to live quite close to the bow river (a few blocks) and would spend hours casting hardware. It was hard to beat the floating Rapala - just seemed to be the "go to" lure.

I caught my personal best brown there never to be duplicated.

[cranky]

Guess a guy could bend the not wanted hooks inwards and not upset balance?????
Actually a question as ive not used Raps before.


So how bout it anyone. Ever just crimp one hook in rendering it inoperable on a treble? Probably wouldnt change the movement.

[BeeGuy]

I've only ever had problems with the smallest sizes of jointed floating raps

[billycap]

Nice fish!