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Blue Ribbon Bow Fly Fishing Full day - 8 am to dark - flyfishing on the Bow River. Time is really what matters - FISH. I guess his client was happy because, he called again. That was 1994.

So lets expend the effort to get the most - fishing, catching, understanding - out your day. I was asked to guide for one night, by one of the 1st Bow River Flyfishing Outfitters. I guided as much as I could through my 20's and 30's until my son was born 2008. After this, guided only friends and family until he was old enough that I now had more time and the chance to guide summers again. I start in April and finish in October generally. I've fished steelhead, trevally, bonefish, pike, trout streams, spring creeks, lakes in many places that most Alberta Flyfishers never go. Easy trout I'm happy to guide but they generally are not Bow River fish. My opinion, I've seen very few trout that pull like Bow River rainbows and I believe that this is directly associated with the strain in the Bow River. The best fish to catch - is the toughest fish to catch and also BIG. Big Bow River Browns are longer than 26" 's. ( Taped from Nose to fork and not estimated). My opinion as well - if you aren't catching Bow River fish often, whatever it is that you're doing... you have it wrong. The numbers and sizes were always different each day in the 90's and cyclical, as they are today.

Tuesday - 15, but only 1 mattered.
06/09/2026

Tuesday - 15, but only 1 mattered.

Monday.
06/09/2026

Monday.

My 2024 luck….
26/12/2024

My 2024 luck….

Bugs, bags, buckets and belly’s or “ Wha cha usin ?”I posted this pic a couple years ago.It’s the stomach contents (no f...
03/05/2024

Bugs, bags, buckets and belly’s or “ Wha cha usin ?”
I posted this pic a couple years ago.
It’s the stomach contents (no fish were hurt during the filming) of a single feeding 20’ Rainbow.
BWO’s, Caddis nymph, Water Boatmen, Chironomids, various other beetles and even a Stonefly. ( I have a collection of 100 + bags, little buckets and Tim Horton’s cups in my freezer with these critters in them…yeah…I’m single so it’s MY Freezer and I can fill it with what I want.)
Sept.15,2020. A 20" Rainbow ate a CDC Caddis dry variation during a midge/BWO hatch.
Yes – I had BWO’s, Caddis nymphs, Water Boatmen, Chironomids, various other beetles and even a Stoneflies with me.
The rule for Bow River rising fish is not complex…when fish are eating Caddis – fish a Caddis. When they are (I hate fishing cliché’s) “on” BWO’s – I fish a ….Caddis. If I find fish eating Trico’s – I fish a Caddis. ( seeing a pattern here ? ) .
If there isn’t anything - “coming off” (stupid cliche phrases) …I search with a Caddis.
Last fall while guiding. I took a client into some water I really like …and hate. The fish are super tough, getting close enough to cast - 90%+ of the time makes them aware that we are there. ( I think this water - is little silly full with fish, but they aren’t all always rising. I’m probably pushing unseen fish up, that spook and during the process, alert the rising fish. Kerry, Dave, Rob, Mike M. and Jim – you know what I’m talking about.)
Extremely slowly, I walked the boat up, my angler in the bow, me pulling the boat with him towards the fish. He was NOT wading with me. I’m 100 % certain that having him walk with me would have spooked these. We were chasing one fish. It’s a Rainbow and BIG. ( 24"+ class – thick and firm - like steelhead big.)
I did some of that "secret guide stuff", us "secret guides" do to get his set-up just right, you know the kinda stuff you don't read about.
The client and I were talking strategy, spotting, tracking this fish and then he asks –“What is it eating ?”
I’d tied on my Bow River Caddis. It’s a fly I developed, has some very special qualities like – floats high, lands super soft, you can see it REALLY easily and when a fish eats it – they feel nothing until it’s deep in their kisser. To me, a pretty special little bug.
I’d once had one of these Caddis eaten by a sighted fish…I said to that client – Brady, “ Brady – set the hook.”
Brady, having fished with me for years by then did exactly what every guide wants and said “ No Glenn. That wasn’t me.”
My reply, “ Yes Brady, that was you !”
I’d seen the fish eat the fly, then drop back down in the water column, slowly the leader developed a bend as the fish after 15 seconds felt something was wrong, line tension I think, and started to swim downstream…
Again he said “ Nope – Not me…”
My reply was very un-Glenn Guide like and I won’t insert it here – I’m sure you can guess something similar though …but he did lift the rod.
The line went tight …followed by the stuff you have all seen before…Brady’s fish ate that Caddis, I’m certain never felt the material or hook, never shook it's head or attempted to spit the fly out.
Brady did not get a guide “I told you so” with me sauntering back to the boat with a wet smells like fish net.
Instead - with great understanding and professionally : “ Brady next time a guide asks you to set the hook, just trust us and set it.”
So when this client asked what is it eating ? I told him.
“ Trico’s – they’re eating fallen Tric’s” (Pronounced “ Tryk” like a kids Tricycle) . This was a spinner fall and the fish were eating Tric’s.
He looked down at the fly he was holding to ask me with a small hint of disapproval : “ What fly is this ?”
“ It's a Such n' Such Caddis” ….then it happened - again.
My client told me that he was NOT going to do something I asked.
No way was HE going to cast a CADDIS to a fish, if the fish was CLEARLY eating TRICO's.
(Picture now - a petite but powerful nuclear explosion occurring in my head.)
I went into my spiel about “trusting me”, fishing to these fish before, blah blah blah.
What I should have said would have been very frank – “ If I know enough to know - exactly - when we need to be here, - exactly - what to look for and I’m able to get you from 100’ to 30’ away from the fish - so you can cover it ? Do you REALLY think I’m going to let you cast a fly it won’t eat?”
I appreciate him though – despite it feeling a little odd to him to cast a Caddis to a Trico fish – he did. Better yet, from his casting - I could see that he clearly understood and was as committed to the process as I.
1st cast right 6” ‘s and a little short, the next cast left but long enough, the fish was moving side to side looking for food – the 3rd cast – Absolutely Fu…umm…Absolutely Fishing Perfect !
This ..ummm… is wa**er an appropriate word to describe a fish ? This wa**er, swam downstream right at us, turned cut to deep water, across and under aquatic grass…and jumped – with a counter clockwise spin…beside us - then it hit the slowmo button on the remote - …and gave us the “fin”-ger as the hook came out. Wa**er!
Assumptions I've made were confirmed and lessons learned :
#1 – we actually don’t KNOW what fish see when they look at a fly from below. I have my theories and assumptions. But we don’t KNOW know. Did it think it was a Trico? A Caddis ? Or just food…I dunno?!
#2 – Fly fishermen often think its ALLLL about the fly. There’s some crazy stuff being tied out there. Perfect imitations, sexy bright colors like the Lamborghini color palate, “lips/legs and butt holes” a friend used to say. My point being that we- fly fishers- often get tunnel vision, maybe the magazines and articles over sell “Matching the Hatch”.
# 3 - I often spend a day, trying to introduce an Alberta or Western angling habits to someone who has – New York, Pennsylvania, Steelhead, Cutthroat or Saltwater skills. A Montana Guide would likely watch these fishers on his water for a few minutes and drawl out deftly “ You Ain’t from round ha’h is ya?” All fly fisher people develop a naturally organic skills set that suits their home waters. McLennan once told me : “ Fish lots of different places and you will learn different ways to catch trout”.
I know these Bow River fish, they have been my teachers for 35 yrs now, only 5 minutes away. For those of us that live in Calgary – that’s kind of special. The Red Deer contingent – you have all kinds of creeks with magnificent fish just half an hour away and some closer (NO - I will not drop names/locations). My clients from Toronto, Texas, LA – they are 4-5 hours or a whole day's drive away from quality fishing. Alberta water is pretty special, close and allows us all to hone skills and have some fun – we need to keep protecting it. Not everyone is so lucky.
That fish ate that fly because we did everything right – even if it wasn’t a Trico. It also ate the same fly again a few days later. That time it swam downstream, under the grass, jumped and – heavy guide guy sigh here - pulled loose again. The hatches ended, water changed - I looked for it but didn't see it again.
So, on the topic of flies and fly selection…yeah it matters. But to the trout, so do the other dozen or so types “BUGS” that drifted by that day, we never saw and ended up in my little bucket/bag or a trout belly.
It’s May.2 – we are in it now. Have fun out there and maybe if you have a few minutes – get involved with the protection societies that are looking out for our trout water.

Cast, cast, cast again. Being able to cast a fly well and hit your target at various distances and under windy condition...
18/04/2024

Cast, cast, cast again.

Being able to cast a fly well and hit your target at various distances and under windy conditions is a skill that needs to be learned to benefit your fishing – especially in the West.
A basic straight cast at any distance is wonderful.
That basic cast gets the fly out but does not address what happens when your fly and line contact the water.
Current speed and diversity, water depth, the fly set-up all become factors.
The success of the fly is then determined by - how the line lands and line management.
Back to casting we go.
Why ? Because an angler needs to set the line up as it’s been cast to fish it properly.

Reach Cast – aim at your target, drop the rod to the left or right on the forward cast - to compensate for the difference in water speed between the current the fly is in and the water at your feet. A good reach cast can add 20’ or more of drift. This should be practice to your left and right.

Tuck Cast – aim at your target water, on the forward cast, hold the line back slightly and stop the rod high. Your casting loop then rolls past flat and tucks under. This tuck removes tension and creates slack – allowing the fly or flies to sink. Tuck casts are used most often to allow nymphs to drop straight down into a seam or bucket.

Curve cast – essentially a side arm tuck cast. This cast is used with dry flies, streamers most often and allows you to present a fly around an obstacle or back into a current seam. In the case of a dry, the fly will track down the seam with out drag and stay available longer. With a streamer, you can cast at and hit the head of a seam and move the fly down the seam rather than across and fished slowly it gets deeper in the water column.

Belgian cast – your forward cast is essentially vertical, your back cast pulled to the side ( 80 degrees or less – the forward cast being vertical is 90 degrees in relationship to the ground), when the rod is loaded on the back cast , come forward vertically again. A good Belgian cast keeps the fly line away from itself, no wind knots or tangles The line is under tension all the time, nymphing set-ups shouldn’t often tangle. The Belgian cast delivers weighted/multiple flies really well and also keeps them from hitting your rod ( I think that’s a bonus)

Roll cast – this cast actually really does take effort, I won’t go deeply into detail because videos really capture it the best and you can find those online. Essentially, the line is on the water, you pull the rod to your ear, creating a small belly in the line, then punch the rod forward and aim at your target. There isn’t a real back cast, the fly moves from the water, through a roll and it’s back on the water. Refined – this is an excellent way to cover a rising fish across from the angler, very efficiently , with no false casting or risk of the line spooking the fish. (also done Left and Right)

Belgian-Roll Cast – combine both casts. Pull the line off the water, like roll cast and cast it forward like the Belgian - directly at the water you want the fly in. Very difficult to explain without some video, but if you watch videos on both, you should be able to identify the similarities and see where the methods can overlap. It’s the best cast I’ve ever learned and useful for nymph, dry or streamer fishing. No false casting - eliminates tangles, unless your using 2 flies and they tangle at the water, my fly spends wayyyy more time fishing – ie : the more water I cover, more fish I catch.

Double haul – on both the front and back casts, you are “hauling” on a loaded line to increase line speed and length, then an additional haul as you shoot line – for either distance or to fight the wind.

These are all casts I use daily or I’m teaching people to use. I read about them, watched all the video tapes the fly shop had – a few times. I’ve had them demonstrated for me by a bunch of the greats – then practiced – a lot. The only cast I’ve neve seen mentioned before is that combined Belgian-Roll Cast. I’m certain that there are many other flyfishers that use it and maybe don’t realize it. For me, it’s become such a constant, that I’ve separated it apart from other casts, refined it and use it apart from the other types of casts.

The point to my post is simple – casting is so important to catching fish and if the angling public gets better at catching fish – regardless of which water body it is – we will have more voices standing up to protect the water fish live in. ( I hope).

The above is probably familiar to many and just a follow up to yesterdays post. The fun info for me, is coming.

Catching fish with a fly rod is simple and easy - right ? Know where the fish is, what it's eating and then cast the fly...
16/04/2024

Catching fish with a fly rod is simple and easy - right ?

Know where the fish is, what it's eating and then cast the fly - simple.

But your not catching any...why is that?

Simple as well.
- Your casting to water only, the fish aren't there.
- Your casting the wrong fly.
- Trout are not seeing the fly.
- The cast is wrong.

#1 - Casting.
The best local Bow River flyfishers and fishers I see and watch...can all cast REALLY well. No this isn't " A River Runs Through It" shadow casting, a Sage catalogue cast...and often it's not considered a pretty cast - but it's a fishy fishable cast. Open loop, line placement during the cast, slack or no slack...and a key - after the fly lands, they fish the fly.

The cast itself, in all cases for these fly fishers - has come from some serious hours spent casting - not fishing - but casting away from water and really developing a feel for their fly rod and the ability to cast it in all kinds of windy conditions and even around structure.

A fishable, fishy and fishing cast is very different. As a guide, instructor and watcher - I see the effort people go to, to get the fly in the exact spot. For some it's easy, others tough. After the fly is "there"...fishers often relax, take a breath, watch - during this pause many, too many, stop controlling the fly. The fly landed and now it should be fishing. Instead, it's simply in or on the water.

In my opinion, when that fly has landed, the real work begins. Taking in or feeding slack line, mending at the current the fly is in or right at the fly to keep it at depth, lifting or dropping the rod to control the fly's depth, movement and speed of that movement.

Recently on Nelson's Spring Creek, the midge hatch tapered off, I'd been watching fish rising in various spots while fishing to other trout. After the midges were done, I changed from a midge pattern to a Cressbug. Cressbugs were clearly active in the water, darting about, close to the bottom, each dart a few inches, but less than 1'.

A Cressbug, cast well above the fish, 10' or more, then allowed to sink but under enough tension that it didn't catch the bottom, in the water column at times and then twitched as it approached the fish - caught all but one of the fish I'd been watching (that fish may have moved out in search of more food). The best one, not large but a cool eat, actually created pushes of water following the fly with each twitch until it ate.

I don't have a name for this strategy but I do it with every single fly cast - you could call it " Cast and Control".

Being able to cast the fly across the creek was the 1st essential and that ability did not come easily of quickly. There are thousands of fly fishers that fish trout, steelhead, salmon and saltwater species that can cast that far but it wasn't that simple. The fly had to stay well above the grass and bushes behind me, land away from trees across the creek, stay above snags, and still make it into each fishes line of sight.

The casting, I learned efficiency and accuracy from casting in parks and the control from fishing - trial and error ? Nope- trial and try all. There is no error here, your goal is to learn how to make it work.

Time spent with a fly rod AWAY from water is so important.

Fly selection, finding fish and really big fish, approaching them and how to set your flies up - I'll get into later.

Birthday Brown...Thanks Garrett and Kerry
14/05/2023

Birthday Brown...Thanks Garrett and Kerry

A cool find on the Bow....
02/05/2023

A cool find on the Bow....

River's hot and hot...getting sun burnt, burnt by fish...it really fun right now...wanna go ? Call me.
02/05/2023

River's hot and hot...getting sun burnt, burnt by fish...it really fun right now...wanna go ? Call me.

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