Fly fishing the Bow River

      Last year, Cory Bourdeaud'hui, Lee Hart, John Morriss and I went walleye (pickerel) fishing on Lake of the Woods. Derrick Rozdeba from Bayer CropScience came along. This year, Derrick organized a fishing trip on his home turf — Calgary's Bow River. Tom Button, editor of Country Guide, joined us.

Tom and I were in the same boat with our guide, Chris Iskiw. Chris guides for Fish Tales Fly Shop in Calgary. I caught two small trout within the first hour or so, then Tom went on a tear, bringing in good sized brown and rainbows. I was skunked for the rest of the day.

We were fly fishing from boats, so most of the time we let our "wet flies" just float along attached to a small bobber. This is an easier and less exhausting way to fly fish. But "easy" is not a word I would use for fly fishing. It takes more dexterity than just dropping a jig off the side of a boat. I had lots of tangles and some degree of trouble keeping my bobber and hooks in a good place to catch the fish.

Even so, we had a great time, floating 25 km in eight hours. The rock-bottomed river is clear and fairly shallow. The steep banks and fall colours were spectacular. And the temperature reached the mid 20s. Not bad for September 30.

Photos:

1. Tom Button and one of his trouts.

2. Lee Hart (left), field editor for Grainews, and Cory Bourdeaud'hui, ad sales manager for Grainews

3. John Morriss (left), editorial director for Farm Business Communications, and Derrick Rozdeba, communications manager for Bayer CropScience. Their guide is in the middle.