Bow River Winter Fishing

[jriad]

Anyone had any luck this winter. Ive been to southland dogpark a couple times and got shut out everytime. Was thinking on heading down to policemans this weekend but was hoping someone had some adice for me to catch my first winter trout.

[pondstomper]

try it out, go east from the parking lot, oh a few hundred yards, its good, but watch the ice, can be scetchy. Go around 10am to 2pm the ice isn't flowing as bad around then. Big White wooly buggers, bow river buggers(white), white streamers with a little red in em works wonders too. Black leach imitations and brown ones work too. This usually gets the bigger trout, but I have caught a burb on the fly using the white streamer too. Fun stuff. :D

[aulrich]

As a follow up the general rule in winter is fish deep and slow water, is that right?

[fishstix]

i went to the bow last week. It was too cold. The ice in the river was like soup. There was so much ice floating that my line would 'nt even dip below the surface. my line and rod were icing up so bad i had to stop. Oh well, next chinook i'll be out with my white streamers and wolley buggers. Better go tie some up.

Fishstix!!

[rustynailz]

Fish in the winter tend to hold in slower and deeper water than in the rest of the year, and the best part is that they school up hard. I've had good winter days where three or four guys can land damn near a hundred fish. That's not in the type of conditions (cold and ice and slush) that you're getting out there right now.

You want water that's slower than walking speed below the runs. Think 4-5'ish depthwise. I rig longer leaders and less weight than I would otherwise and tend to fish smaller flies. My go-to winter pattern is a small #20 bloodworm. Fish three nymphs if you can manage to keep it from tangling.

The single largest mistake that most guys make nymphing is not setting the hook enough. Hits in that slow deep water on those long leaders are often very light, and you need to hit them hard and fast. That's why I use a little less weight - you want to get down there, but not dredge the bottom.

If you're fishing the dogpark and not getting whites you're doing something wrong - that place is infested with the buggers.

If you've got the coin consider a day with one of the local walk and wade guides. A day with Maxwell Robinson will take no less than 2 years off the learning curve, and his rates are really reasonable.

[jriad]

I am a spincaster so my crankbaits are a lil big for whitefish. I'm looking for browns.

[Crusty]

Winter time = Bow River ice fishing. I usually stop @ 40lbs. The river ice tastes so much better than city water ice. Goes great with rum this time of year!!