wildwoods
07-15-2015, 11:56 AM
My wife was away with the kids and a girlfirend in Manitoba for 9 days. I took full advantage of my abbreviated bachelorhood to get in a ton of fishing. It all started with a text from a friend to go on a guided float down the Bow River in Calgary to fish the infamous Stonefly Hatch. I couldn't say no! We made arrangements to shore fish Wednesday night and float on Thursday. We watched a handful of Stone's hatch and were swarmed by caddis, but couldn't get a rise on the dry flies. We called it a night as we had to be up early the next day. We met our guide at Fish Tales and departed for our adventure.
It has been a strange water season. The river flow rate on the Bow is waaaay down this year thus changing the pattern of the hatches. We were greeted on the water with small Tricos rising (a typical September hatcher). The Stonefly hatch we so wanted didn't materialize, so we adjusted to fishing nymphs with strike indicators. Our guide was incredible with his adjustments on the fly (pun intended). He handled the fish with great respect, like they were dear friends. I admired that. In 7 hrs we had around 25 eats and landed around 15 fish. Not a crazy day, but good, steady action. I was able to land my first 2 browns (one was a beauty with HUGE spots), a large Rocky and a bunch of Rainbows. I was a Cuttbow away from catching all 5 species we were after. It was an incredible day that still had a ways to go...
I boogied at around 2:30 from Calgary and made it home to meet 2 good buddies for a trip up to North Wabasca. We had planned on going for a few weeks now and finally the time arrived. So on very little sleep and a lot of simple carbs (junk food) we hooked onto the trusty ole Bayliner and headed up to walleye and pike paradise. The town is situated in a beautiful setting, right along the shores of North and South Wabasca Lake. We arrived shortly after midnight and crashed, banking energy for the long day ahead. We woke up a hair late the next day, grabbed some breakfast and hit the water. We saw only around 6 boats all day. We fished till 10:30Pm and had to get back to the launch before they closed the gated. Needless to say, the fishing (especially for July) was awesome. I'll jump ahead and say in a day and a half we boated between 100-130 fish in total. We kept a few for the fry pan and took off Saturday at about noon.
We threw a few different tactics at those cagey walleye and located them via: a friends advise, depth finder, and some educated guesses. The biggest walleye came in at around 5.5 lbs (24.75" w/ 10" girth), which my friend D caught. The longest Pike only around 28". It seemed like the big hens had vacated to deeper waters. I will hopefully go back next spring and pursue them when they should be cruising the shallows.
The order of the day was jigging along a steep break. Simple yet effective. The big walleye we nailed was on a spinner rig via trolling. Swim baits and grubs also produced fish, but nothing more effective than the jig (w/ flasher) tipped with "el stinkus baitus" i.e. frozen minnow.
I hope you enjoyed the scattered thoughts I just threw together. The pictures are nice but cannot possibly reflect the amazing time we had in 72 hrs and 1300 KM.
-Tyler
First Bow 'Bow
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2560_zpsnuz1vknj.jpg
First Ever Brown
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2564_zpsjonneaoj.jpg
Bow River
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2557_zpsugdeie6f.jpg
D's Walleye
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2599_zpssffajnha.jpg
Pike Breath
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2605_zps0il2skna.jpg
Yummy!
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2608_zpszehdhbik.jpg
Boneless Delights
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2611_zps5lnergup.jpg
It has been a strange water season. The river flow rate on the Bow is waaaay down this year thus changing the pattern of the hatches. We were greeted on the water with small Tricos rising (a typical September hatcher). The Stonefly hatch we so wanted didn't materialize, so we adjusted to fishing nymphs with strike indicators. Our guide was incredible with his adjustments on the fly (pun intended). He handled the fish with great respect, like they were dear friends. I admired that. In 7 hrs we had around 25 eats and landed around 15 fish. Not a crazy day, but good, steady action. I was able to land my first 2 browns (one was a beauty with HUGE spots), a large Rocky and a bunch of Rainbows. I was a Cuttbow away from catching all 5 species we were after. It was an incredible day that still had a ways to go...
I boogied at around 2:30 from Calgary and made it home to meet 2 good buddies for a trip up to North Wabasca. We had planned on going for a few weeks now and finally the time arrived. So on very little sleep and a lot of simple carbs (junk food) we hooked onto the trusty ole Bayliner and headed up to walleye and pike paradise. The town is situated in a beautiful setting, right along the shores of North and South Wabasca Lake. We arrived shortly after midnight and crashed, banking energy for the long day ahead. We woke up a hair late the next day, grabbed some breakfast and hit the water. We saw only around 6 boats all day. We fished till 10:30Pm and had to get back to the launch before they closed the gated. Needless to say, the fishing (especially for July) was awesome. I'll jump ahead and say in a day and a half we boated between 100-130 fish in total. We kept a few for the fry pan and took off Saturday at about noon.
We threw a few different tactics at those cagey walleye and located them via: a friends advise, depth finder, and some educated guesses. The biggest walleye came in at around 5.5 lbs (24.75" w/ 10" girth), which my friend D caught. The longest Pike only around 28". It seemed like the big hens had vacated to deeper waters. I will hopefully go back next spring and pursue them when they should be cruising the shallows.
The order of the day was jigging along a steep break. Simple yet effective. The big walleye we nailed was on a spinner rig via trolling. Swim baits and grubs also produced fish, but nothing more effective than the jig (w/ flasher) tipped with "el stinkus baitus" i.e. frozen minnow.
I hope you enjoyed the scattered thoughts I just threw together. The pictures are nice but cannot possibly reflect the amazing time we had in 72 hrs and 1300 KM.
-Tyler
First Bow 'Bow
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2560_zpsnuz1vknj.jpg
First Ever Brown
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2564_zpsjonneaoj.jpg
Bow River
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2557_zpsugdeie6f.jpg
D's Walleye
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2599_zpssffajnha.jpg
Pike Breath
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2605_zps0il2skna.jpg
Yummy!
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2608_zpszehdhbik.jpg
Boneless Delights
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o569/wildwoods1/IMG_2611_zps5lnergup.jpg