i'm sorry about the late trip reports , just been way to tired at the end
of the day , i will do a update with pictures of some wicked fish we have landed to the net this year first chance i
can resize the pictures down
dutchie
JULY 2, 2011 - BOW RIVER
I hit the river early with Paul and Gary on a float from Police to MacKinnon's, the action was really steady all day.
The river cleared up as the day went by and the fish were just hammering our nymphs all day long. We probably got somewhere
in the neighbourhood of 50 to the boat, and lost double that many more on jumps and hard fights. Gary found a brown (or huge
rainbow or bull) that we never got the chance to see but it put up such a different fight, that heavy "you can't move me"
big fish fight that only a monster can do... we have nicknamed that fish "cement bag" and we will be revisiting his home again!
Paul got a nice 23 inch brown, and we landed several nice rainbows over 20. Most fish were in the 17-21 inch range. We had
several double headers including one where Paul had a third fish on before I netted the second one Gary was on! What a great
day!! Good times on the river right now!! - brian
June 20 2011
Ok who says you can't get big browns when the rivers in run-off , young Matt put to
net this big male on the swing at that , had his new Meiser stick out with a old hardy St John reel and this is how
he broke the cherry on his new stick , nice big buck , tough fishing when the river is dirty and flowing fast but if
you keep at it you'll be rewarded with a nice piggy brown like this one below
dutchie
June 3 2011
the river has been flowing high , fast and dirty from the rain we got ,
so with it the fishing has been slow and your working for every one , it's not even run-off yet and she's a smoke'n
river , be very careful wading and after the trip today , i don't think i'd run my drift boat down it till the
water comes down some more
i took Nick and his new wife Geena who just got married ,
now Nick is from Alaska and did some guiding himself , so this fast flowing water never bothered him at all ,
we were into the days trip about 20 mins and Nicks gets a nice brown on the swing with my 4/5 wt Meiser Switch rod ,
he was letting it swing in tight to the back and a nice slow retrieve back about 10 feet when he got his first nice
fish of the day ,
when we got down river some more , into the more calmer
waters was the place to hide for the fish , we even seen some fish show themselves on top today , they were coming
up right in front of us , like inches in front of us , holding just under the surface that we could get a good look at them
, really tight to the banks , then the weather turned nasty , more rain , lighting and we had to stop to let
it pass , last came the hard hail on us , and after a couple hours of the rain , up came the river and you could
feel and see the flow getting bigger , time to call it a day ,
couple pictures from the day ,
dutchie
May 3 2011
The old saying
every dog has his day , and this old dog had his day today ,
i
got my best brown of the season so far today , went out on a trip today just searching for a good piggy brown , day started
very slow , not a fish till 12 ,
Then all hell broke loose , they turned on big time , Greg and i
got some great fish for the afternoon , after i got this fish , Greg pulled a 22 inch hen from just behind from the spot i
got this big fellow from , i also got my best rainbow for the season today , don't know why she never left the river
to go spawn with the rest , but what a fight she gave me , we left the river at 5 for home in smiles , we
had 4 fish over 20 inch's today
Dutchie
May 2 2011
did a float trip with Matt , fishing was ok , we did get a few fish , couple browns , i got
one about 22 inch's , no real hogs , just some nice fish , we had a good one on and he gave us the slip ,
couple
pictures from the day
Dutchie
May 1 2011
well everyones wanting to see Dave's big brown he got while i was guiding him and
Sarah , he did a great write up on his website www.2handedtrout.com
check it out as i
enjoyed his story about his quest for a trophy brown
well the weather man says going to get cold and nasty for the next couple days so i went
to the river this morning , vis was not the best as river right had lots of mud flow from a creek blowing into the bow
river , so we fish the river left side all day ,
wasn't fishing for more then 20 mins and i got 3 browns
, one after the other , 2 were about 18 to 19 inches and one was a dandy hog , also got a bunch of rainbows today also
, i got rained on and even some snow for a few mins , then the bite turned on again good and another dozen fish landed
,
here is a nice picture of a thick brown i got this morning
Dutchie
April 26 2011
Dave and Sarah left for home , it was a great time , we got lots of good video's in
of fishing with Meiser light Trout spey and switch rods , Now Sarah always wanted a nice big brown , and she was
happy with her first fish , then on her last day she nailed this sweet looking trophy brown , just a dandy of a fish , one
i like to call '' piggy'' , i was so happy for her as she stayed with us and never gave up , paid her dues and
this is how she was rewarded , and i might add a fine spey caster who really enjoys the sport
now
Dave '' the king of kings'' LOL , had some great fish the last 3 days , in total , 8 over 20 inches ,
the one below was nice and then he got a few more , some more pictures from the last few days fishing ,
not going to say what was hot fly just yet , in my big cliff streamer box , one fly was the ticket the goto killer
fly the last few days , it out did the rest by a long shot and just triggered a attack if you got it close , i think
mostly as the water vis was not very good
i'm saving the pictures of the best big fish we got
till i have the video all done , lets just say it was bigger then any of these fish so far , a true once in a life time trophy
brown , and no it's not a 30 inch"er , but every bit as fine of a brown that you would want to hook and land ,
big hefty bad ass brown
i was so happy to get this fish to net , one of the nicest looking
browns i have seen in the last couple years , A big hooked jaw male , kinda nasty looking SOB with some nice colours
on him , if you like big wild river browns then keep checking back in as i'll him up in a day or so on my site
Dutchie
tight lines to you
April 22 2011
spending the next few days with my good friend Dave Henry and his wife Sarah searching
for browns and using trout spey rods as Dave has a website called www.2handedtrout.com , today we started around 9 in
the morning , we swung all day and was reward with some fine looking browns and a few rainbows , were working on a video for
the 3 days about Meiser spey rods and fishing for trout with the lighter 4 and 5 wt spey and switch rods , plus some Simms
stuff for our sponsor's , here is a couple fish from today on 4 wt and 5 wt rods
Dutchie
April 9 2011
weather warmed up some , did a few trips last week , fishing
was ok as it's still cold , not great numbers caught , but the big ones made up for it in action , landed a couple nice big
buck rainbows all dressed up for the prom with the females , really coloured up nice for this time of year ,
here
is a sweet healthy looking big brown Greg landed while fishing in the cold , still lots of snow on the banks of the
rivers , won't be long now
March 17 2011
you know it's going to be a good day when your first fish is a piggy brown , sun was out
and it turned the fish on today , the water was sorta clear with about 2 1/2 ft of vis , some winter slush still flowing
, soon the big ice banks will be gone , bad weather coming for the next few days , as soon as it clears up then i think
it will be another few good days of getting some nice fish
Dutchie
Got a new ride for 2011 season , when i'm not double booked up , or using it myself , i'll be renting her out to
people for the day to just float the bow themselves , it's another hyde for me , a Low Side Pro in alum , alot of guys
don't need a guide for a day , they just need a boat to cover the water and float ,
Gone steelhead fishing for the rest of the season
and will see you all in 2011
Augs 26 to Sept 1 2010
trip reports for Bow River and some mountain streams
well
the last bunch of days Steve and i have been fly fishing mostly the Bow River , we did a couple days down south , first
day was good and the second day was crap , way to windy , almost blow you into the river wind , so we drove back and fish
the bow at night , we did a one night float in the dark , left at 7 and was going to get off the water by 7 in the morning
, but so much fog we couldn't see to be safe to run the boat back up the river , it cleared at 10 , it was ok as the fishing
was really good in the morning after 8 it turned on , we stopped at about 4 and got a fire going in the woods as so cold ,
it warmed us up and we started back again at 6 when daylight first came on ,
we both
had a blast , we both pretty well speyed casted streamers all night , hit 11 good pools before daylight ,
Steve's
last day we spent fishing well into the dark getting the feel for when the tug came , i drove him to bass pro shop befor
putting him back on a plane for England , he's off now for some fall atlantic salmon fishing across the pond
Dutchie
,
oh ya , good fishing to you and watch out , some big browns have been hitting hard , they on
the move for the fall prom and getting some nice colour , check this bad piggy out
Augs 22 to 25 20120
have Steve in from England for fly fishing on the bow river, we did a few days float and
so far one day down south for cutty's , today the sun was high and bright and fishing was very slow and tough , were
going out tonight till early morning as the browns have shut down , i think in all the heat they will only feed under darkness
here's
a few pictures from the last 3 days
dutchie
Augs 21 2010
i have in Steve '' bamboo handle '' Norththumberland'' Hardy reel collector from the UK in
for the next 14 days fishing all over Alberta rivers and streams , as he came a day early i had Greg take him and do a walk &
wade trip on the Bow River for his first outing , today we did a float trip on the river and for fly fishing
steve is a big atlantic salmon guy so we spent most of the day swinging streamers for fish hoping to hook into a big brown
, no luck but we sure got some nice rainbows to the net , we lost 2 good fish that clean broke us off , the game plan
for the next few days is cover lots of water and always throw big stuff till the arms get sore and tired , then most
likely it will be back to nymphing , we did see some noses sipping today but they were small and we just kept searching and
pounding the banks looking for the bigger fish ,
it's the game now as the water low and fish have moved all over the place , no pattern now , just keep trying new
things
we will do another post in a couple days , bringing out the Meiser trout spey rods in the morning to cover lots of water
dutchie '' tight lines to ya ''
Augs 18, 19 , 20 2010
had a couple brothers in for a fly fishing trip on the bow river and a day
down south on some smaller waters , Greg and Chris , now Greg is a bamboo rod fan and he has a couple dandys , his main
rod is a Mairo Wj penta in a 8 '6 for a 5 wt , i got to be able to cast it and even hooked a nice fish on it , it is
a very smooth rod that leaves you thinking that such a rod needs to be fished every day
so
on to the trip report now , the first day we floated the bow and it was the hottest day so far in the year , we landed some
good fish earlly and it just quit at 2 o'clock in the heat of the day ,
we spent the
next day down south and it was the windiest day i ever fished in , gale force winds almost blew you into the river
at times ,
we all caught some fine cutts on bamboo rods
in between the breaks
from the wind , just had to time your cast right to hit the spot
and the fish of the day got
off inch's from the net , it was the biggest cutty i ever seen , we had to work that fish as he sure was picky , Greg had
a great fight and this fish really put up a battle , wish we would of got him in the net but we all seen him and it
will always be a memory with us ,
last day we spent on the bow again , this time we got up
to a smoke fill sky from the forest fires , it was great for overcast and we really pounded fish good today , lost count on
numbers landed , yet i know we got 5 browns and Greg landed a sweet big rainbow , best fish was Chris's hog brown , again
on my special fly , they just go crazy for it , this fish pounded it so hard and it was a good fight on a 6 wt rod , Chris
was all smiles after this fish , in 3 days he got the biggest brown and rainbow and cutty he ever got in his life fishing
with me , it was a great way to end his trip by catching such a wonderful classy brown
few
pictures of the best fish
Dutchie
Augs 9 to 13 2010 trip report
This week i guided a couple great guys from Maine U.S.A for
some float trips on the Bow River and a couple days down south to other rivers , Bill and his friend Kurt , Bill is a bamboo
rod lover and he had a Sweetgrass Penta rod and a few others with him for fly fishing , He has always wanted to catch and
land a nice trophy brown plus some cutt's which he had never caught before
we started
the first 2 days on the bow and really got into nice fish , some great browns , then in the evening the guys would go out
for late night dry fly fishing with my good friend Greg till midnight ,
They hired Greg to show them
some big fish taking drys , they just had a blast and Greg put them onto some wicked good fish in the dark , i would
have them back up at the break of day light and back on the water chasing big browns , it was a tough 5 days fishing with
very little sleep but they were rewarded well for the effort
We spent a couple days down
south chasing cutt's and bulls , Kurt landed a nice bull trout and we all had some dandy cutt's for the 2 days , was again
lucky and caught the green drakes coming off and the river came alive ,
on the last day we
fished it hard in the pouring rain storm and nasty wind , we stuck to our game plan that we talked about late the evening
before and it paid off , we stayed with a special fly even when it got slow , just kept hanging in and paying the dues
, we pretty well had the river to ourselves as so dirty out and only crazy people would be out fishing in it
and
with some luck the big browns moved in very close to the banks , it was Bill"s lucky day as he just couldn't keep em off his
line , he at last got his world class trophy brown after 1.5 hr's in a good long run swinging the special fly and working
it slow
here is a few pictures from the last 5 days of fishing
dutchie
July 31 to Augs 8 2010
spent the last 8 days fly fishing on the bow river mostly , Tom &
Mark from N.Y , decided to use Bow River Adventures as there guide for checking out just how good the Bow river could be when
she is on , we also spent one day down south on the crowsnest river as the bow river got blown out with muddy water from all
the rain ,
the week was spent mostly on the hunt for big browns , i can't even guess how many fish
we hooked in the last 8 days or the big ones that gave us the slip , many many rainbows caught , i don't think we had a day
go by that we didn't get at least one good big fish ,
the one fish from the week that sticks
out in my mind is a big ass nasty brown that was just huge , that Mark had hooked in a super fast run and the fish jumped
twice and he still had him on , we both had a really good look at this fish , and he was a monster , solid thick and wicked
big ,
after his big jumps in the air he then ran upstream so fast and with the long sink tip he had
on it got hung up on a rock and the fish was just going so hard it ripped the fly from his mouth , that fish was a easy 27
inch's + , if i ever saw one big brown that i'll never forget it is that fish , was just great seeing that fish ,
Mark
and Tom both landed some world class big browns and it was a wonderful week of fishing with many laughs by all of us
, Marks big '' one eye fish '' was all i could stand for laughing , long story and just ask me sometime about
it
on another one big fish i even had Mark run the oars so i could net Tom's big brown , we
came in hard for a crash landing to the banks , did we ever laugh over that ,
the best
day we had for landing fish we ended up with 5 browns ,
we also had a day that we lost 4 really big fish ,
they just always broke off the light tippet we were using , you have to use it to fool these big fish ,
such
strong fish this time of year , we caught em on everything , but my secret fly again was the ticket for the week , it really
out produce everything
the main trick was just finding them as everyday the river would change
, high water then low water , then clear water and off colour water , never the same each day we fished , it was very tough
a couple days with the bright sun , yet the bite always seemed to come on , fish found up in very fast ripples and very tight
to the banks in inch's of water , we lost a pile of flies throwing that close to the bank and hooking up on many rocks , yet
the reward was well worth it as you can see from the pictures below ,
here's a few pictures
from the last week with a couple great hard core die hard brown trout hunters
Dutchie '' tight lines
and big fish to ya ''
AUGUST 1
I had Travis and Colin join me for a southern walk and wade today, and we started by heading up to the Oldman. What looked
like a clear river in the wee hours of the morning quickly turned to dissapointment as we got our first really good look at
the river. An overnight storm had turned it sour for us, and it was up and vis was about 2 feet at best, maybe even less.
We decided to pull the plug on that spot, and head farther upstream. As we passed by the gap I couldn't help but see
no one in a popular spot, so we quickly rigged up and went to give it a try. We fished for bulls, and landed one of a possible
5 or 6 takes. Once the sun was fully on the water we decided that the cutty action was slow (we couldn't even nymph them up!)
so we headed for the crow. The clarity on the Crowsnest river was a bit better when we started, and the first hole was very,
VERY kind to us. We landed fish after fish from it... at least 15 or more, with some real dandies in the mix, in about the
hour or 2 we spent at it. One of the first really big ones was a suprise, becuase it was the largest fish I have seen from
the particular strecth we were fishing that day. The 22 inch brown Colin had on thought it was a rainbow, and with each succesive
jump I was worried it would pop off. He kept his cool and we slid the net under this beauty. Then Colin continued to slam
fish so heavy that Travis was joking about how much a bus ticket home for Colin would cost. Travis started turning up the
heat though, and finished with some real dandy rainbows of his own too. The fishing slowed considerably for us after that
first hole, and we noticed the river had risen by at least 6 inches and dirtied up. All the hail melting up in the mountains
must have been coming into the system, and it sure slowed the fishing down. it was a great day though, and the guys got to
experience a couple excellent spots and some great fishing!
- Brian
JULY 30
I had Paul join me down south for a walk and wade, and we hit a section of the Oldman today. Paul was after his first
Bull trout, and I had a great pool in mind for that. We fished our way up river, and it seemed almost everywhere we stopped
to fish we were catching fish. We were resorting to the nymph though, becuase the fish just weren't looking up (though, our
very first fish of the day did take a big foam hopper). Paul got his bull, matter of fact 2 of them, both about 17 or 18 inches.
A couple he missed may have been slightly bigger, but they were sure exiting blasting from out under the whitewater to slam
his streamer right at his feet. One even came clear out of the water in a failed attempt to get the fly as Paul was
bringing it out for another cast! It was awesome! All told we probably had well over 50 fish today... mostly on the nymphs.
- Brian
July 31 & Aug's 1 2010
trip report for bow river
i have this
week in from New York , Tom & Mark , the last 2 days we been hunting for big browns on the bow river , both are
fly fisherman and Tom is a bamboo fan , his rod of choice for fishing has been a 8 ft Parker bamboo hex in a 6 wt
we
caught some great fish the last 2 days , but Tom really caught a wicked piggy brown today , what a battle it was to land this
fish , great healthy thick fish , and he sure didn't want to be netted ,
it has really paid
off with me for doing all that searching since april looking for the prime area's that these big fish hide out at , now that
it's getting tougher and tougher as each day passes , at least i'm still finding great fish
here's
a picture from today of a world class trophy brown
now guy's don't drool on your
keyboard when you see Tom's big brown
i will try to add a trip report every couple days while
they here ,
Dutchie
July 26 to 30 2010
This week i had the pleasure of fly fishing with Steve and his grandson Reagan from MO USA , I met Steve a couple
years ago as he's a big collector of fine classic dingley red agate reels and bamboo rods , we plan this trip 18 months ago
for him to be with his grandson Reagan and for us to at last get togeather on the mighty Bow River .
First day was tough as bright and sunny , we hooked and landed some fish , but the best 2 fish of the day
were both really good Browns and Reagan lost em both , one jumped himself free and the other just broke him off in the
battle ,
second day on the Bow River again was hot and bright and tough fly fishing , we did get more fish to the net , but again
this day Steve lost a really good fish and Reagan was having even worse luck on the big fish as they just seemed to win every
time , had one big brown to the boat and just about ready to get him and he slipped away , next big brown just jumped high
and came free , he was about 22 inch's as we had a good look at him
we decided to give the Bow River a rest and head to the mountains for some cutts , weapons of choice were all bamboo
rods , a Sweetgrass quad in 7'9 for Steve , myself was using a Bob Summers 856 and Reagan used a Don Schrouder
hex in 7'6 5 wt
it was a good day fly fishing with drys and Steve got into some very picky fish that you had to give'm what they want
and a perfect float , was nice to see him break in his new sweetgrass bamboo rod on some fine fighting cutts , his best
cutt of the day came on a small size 18 PMD , we fooled that fish at last and away he went down this run and broke him off
, line got caught up on a big rock , tough luck
last day we decide to let Reagan make the pick on what river he wanted to fish , after lots of chatting he wanted the
Bow again , he had good luck getting into fish the first 2 days , just bad luck landing them , well we started out earlly
and this time he was really on target with his casting for putting the streamer where it needed to be , he this time got his
big brown and best fish of the trip , not bad for 16 years old , he made up for the first 2 days as befor it was over
he had 3 good fish that were over 20 to the net , we ended up still looseing some good fish but he had much better luck the
last day , Steve got a nice rainbow and a whole bunch of other fish , just not a big brown ,
here's a few pictures from the last 4 days of fishing
dutchie
July 25 2010
did a float trip today on the bow river with Nate an his lovely wife Jen from Buffalo
NY , it was the first time they got to fly fish the bow river , Jen is new to the sport of fly fishing and she did just fine
today nymphing , took her a bit to learn how to fight the fish with out them breaking off , she had some nice
rainbows to the net by the end of the day , now Nate he has been fly fishing for some time and could cast really well , and
he had the touch for big browns , broke a few good fish off , but landed enough to have a epic day on the bow river , ''even
in the bright sun light '', few pictures from the day of Nate's browns
Dutchie
July 23 2010
today i did a float trip with Murray and his brother Harry , It was a trip that i gave
to a auction called Streamwatch on FFC to help raise funds and which is such a good cause , it helps puts enforcement officers
on the rivers during the summer to keep them SOB poachers away , we all have to keep calling them in to the game wardens or
our great rivers will suffer from it
Murray was the high bidder and he decided to bring his
brother along , i took a few mins at the start to teach his brother the fast basic's of nymphing , crash course in 10 mins
and then we were on our way ,
well Harry was into the fish all day , lost count but was well
over 20 fish to the boat and just as many lost from jumping or not mending , stripping in , or just plan bad luck , he did
get 2 that were 20 inch's ,
now Murray was not having much luck , he first started with throwing
drys to the banks in the earlly morning , it just was not happening and after seeing his brother pounding them for a
few hours then decide to try my way with nymphing , well it was catch up time and he was really getting into them good ,
it
was just about 2 in the afternoon in the midday heat and Harry had to be back , i said let's give one more pass down
a good piece of water and would only take about 5 more mins , well Murray you could tell was all for it but Harry was like
''well ok then '',
we started the drift and right away Harry was all smiles and into
another good rainbow that was 19 inch's , while the boat still floating and me trying to net his fish , i told Murray cast
it as far away from the boat out to this seam , within a min he had his fish and the fish of the day on and this time he was
hooked good and not getting off ,
well no stopping my boat as just to big and this fish was
running up the river , i really was worried as it was getting lots of line out , i told Murray you have to turn him into the
fast water and he pulled really hard and swung him around and away he came following us down the river , Murray got him close
to the boat and this big brown was coming along for the ride ,
when we hit the bottom of the
run i could at last see the fish and he was a dandy , pulled in and dropped the anchor and i just flew out of the boat down
the river to get below him as he could still try to run to the next fast water run , Murray pulled him into the bank and the
first time i missed him with the net , he almost went through my legs , he made a last hard run into the river and Murray
pulled him around and this time he just slid into the net
what a sweet fish of a brown , big
, thick and healthy as could be , and really gave us a good battle ,
and i was so happy
for Murray as he paid his dues all day and hung in there never giving up and what better for me to get him his best brown
ever after bidding and winning my float trip for streamwatch
made it all the sweeter for me , what
a way to end the day , 2 big fish in less the 5 mins ,
thanks Murray for stepping up to the
plate and helping the good cause of streamwatch , maybe next year in 2011 you can keep a eye on the auction and we will try
to beat this fish if you win it, chances are low but you just never know
Dutchie tight lines
July 20 2010
Here's the trip report for the bow river yesterday , took out Johnny and his brother in-law Thaun for
a float , they don't get out much for fly fishing and this was the first float trip they been on , it was hot weather in the
afternoon and it did slow down some , but they still managed to get over 35 fish to the boat , mostly rainbows , but a couple
were browns which was tough to get , with it so sunny and bright out , we did use drys first thing in the morning and then
switched it up to nymphing the rest of the float , water vis was wicked clear and only seen a couple bugs coming off with
no action
couple pictures from the day , i'm hoping it cools up some as if it stays this warm the bow river
fishing will slow down for sure
dutchie
July 11 - 18 , 2010
well at last I have a day off and can catch up on some things , spent the whole
week with Master bamboo rod builder Bob Summers and Mike and his son little Joe , the trip was booked a year ago after i took
Mike and his son last year and they got hooked themselves from catching a few good browns plus the fight the rainbows have
in the bow river is unmatched anywhere
Bob's been building bamboo rods since he was a young
kid himself working for the Paul Young shop , till he went on his own , lots of great history i learned from him during the
week , it was a pleasure to take one of the best bamboo rod builders in the world for a week trip , always nice to watch someone
fly fishing and who can cast
i guided and showed him lots of nice fish and on the last
day he at last hooked into a brown that was over 25 inch's , we lost the fish but it was nice to at least see him , thickest
fish i have seen in awhile , big male brown and a world class trophy of a fish , made my jaw drop ,
we
fished the bow river mostly but we did slip away down south for a day of fly fishing in the mountains for cutties ,
which was good but the water still high
the week was really good on the bow river with
big stones coming off and throwing streamers to the banks , caught many good fish , it was only slow in the midday
heat with such bright sun out , at that time we switched it up to nymphing ,
water in
the river cleared up good and vis was at time 5 ft , it has come down some but with the rain the weatherman calling for should
help bring it up and even make the fishing better ,
here's a bunch of pictures from the last
week of fishing , and you can see they had a hell'va week for nice fish caught and landed , don't want to talk about all the
good one's that got away
Dutchie '' tight lines''
July 10 2010
Mike and his son '' little Joe'' from CO. U.S.A here for a weeks trip , plus Bob Summers
the bamboo rod builder flying in tonight to join us for the week , we decide to do a float first today , little Joe's birthday
in 2 days and he told me all he wanted was a good brown , well he got it today , water is down and i sure hope we get lots
of rain , temps of the water very high for this time of year ,
little Joe spent the day nymphing and has it
well figured out ,
here's a couple pictures of him with a couple nice browns
dutchie
July 7 2010
Did a float trip today with Emery and his father who just happen to turn 70 , Emery booked a few months ago and
paid for the trip for his fathers birthday gift , the trip was mostly for him ,
Well we started at 8 in the morning and worked at it all day in the hot sun ,
first good big fish is one i'll never ever forget , what a piggy brown and what a wicked fight he put up , i'm
so sure it's the fish that i seen rise a couple days ago , might of been one that Julian broke off on the dry also ,
who really knows , but when they this big it's tough to land em on small drys ,
Story is while floating i was calling out to Emery who was throwing drys to the spots as they came up , I knew this spot
and told Emery to get it really close , Emery made the perfect cast to the spot and we seen him come up in slow motion and
turn and follow it for a split second and then he slash at the fly on top , was a take of a lifetime , Emery set on him and
had him hooked good or we would of lost him for sure for what he did next was one smart brown that i'm sure has broken alot
of guys off
Picture this
we were in the main river flow when hooked , he started running crazy hard and was try to make a run down a back channel
while i couldn't row hard enough to hold the boat and was going past the channel , i hollowed at Emery to put the wood to
him hard and NOW , as i just knew he'd be gone if he went into the back channel ,
Emery lifted as hard as he could and pulled his head up out of the fast water while he just kept rolling down the main
river flow just past the channel , and right in front of the edge '' within inch's , when he was past the mouth of the
channel , i just chuckled
At that time i knew we had him , i even started laughing , it was just so cool to get this fish after seeing him
turn and take the fly hard on top , 2 mins later we had him in the net and took our time getting some great pictures of such
a wonderful trophy brown ,
What a great day to be a guide , Emery got his best brown of his life and he sure was all grin from ear to ear after
we had him in the net .
was just a blast , lots of laughs and the rest of the day didn't matter , even as we ended up getting over 30 fish today
, a few rainbows that were really good , just nothing came close to this big brown ,
congrats Emery , you really deserved that fish for putting the fly , shall i say '' on the spot '' and listening
to your guide when needed , it was a team effort to get him into the net , I know that You and Dad and I will never
forget that fish , thanks for the memory
dutchie
July 6 2010
today was the last day of Julian's '' Speydoc'' '' JVG '' , 3 days on the bow river fly fishing
with me , we started the morning off with the drys again and he was rewarded with some great fish again , fast action
for about 3 hours
when it slowed down around 10 we seen Greg '' Toolman '' fly fishing on the bank after walking in and Julian asked
him if he wanted to join us , seems Julian and Greg know allot of the same Pro staff in the spey world , while they hit it
off and bull shitted each other and the drys were now over ,
it was time to switch it up to nymphing , well after 3 days it was time for Julian to try it , he did get some fish on
the rig before the day ended , so in 3 days he got some fish on drys , nymphs, streamers and spey casting even with
spey casting and taking them on the swing good , of course the 3 days of drys were the highlight of his trip , he had his
share of piggy browns over the 3 days , he's spoiled now and wants to come back next year same time
we packed it in earlly as i then drove him to Fernie B.C to visit family befor he flys out to home and i had to
come back after the drive as i have float trip in the morning ,
here's a few pictures from the day , tight lines
Dutchie
July 5 2010
what a epic day on the river , of course Julian was so excited after yesterday that
he was up and ready to go at 4 in the morning , even before me , we started the day off very early throwing drys , the
water vis was not as good as yesterday because of the rain last night , but the fishing was still wicked good ,
today
the old fellow was on his game and not busting them off , he had a whole bunch of fish caught that we didn't even keep count
, only on the good big ones of which was 4 to the net , best was a big male brown , later on the water cleared a bit and he
just had to swing some streamers and they were really turned onto the swing today , we did pound the banks with streamers
and just a couple picked up that way ,
today was a day for caddis , PMD's and stones again
we
hit the river tomorrow for day 3 and i think it will even be better then the last 2 , nice to fish and not have to use nymphs
, couple picture's from the day of Julian's good fish , today best fish was a male and yesterday was a nice big hen
brown ,
now were going to have a sip of good scotch '' Glenmorangie'' to celebrate before bedtime as were tucker
out tired
dutchie
July 4 2010
happy july the 4'th to the Yank's , today i took the ol guy Julian , aka '' Spaydoc'' on Speypages
and also know as JVG on the bamboo forum on a float trip , it's day 1 of 3 ,
so to start the
day off right , he decided to sleep in , we still hit the water in time and spent our time watching big floating bushy drys
, we did get a couple on streamers , but today it was all about the drys and we were rewarded for it , the best fish of the
day we lost after a wicked fight , was a piggy brown around 25 inch , tough luck , the next good one busted off and julian
said from my bad knot ,'' LOL '' i don't think so myself ,
more like he just got a little
to excited and tried to rip the lips off the big brown ,
were going to hit the river at daybreak
if he can haul his ass out of bed in the morning , ''LOL''
pictures from today , his best fish
of the day , or should i say his best fish to the net , no only joking it's still a great piggy brown on a dry
dutchie
July 3 2011
i did a float trip with Derek from Scotland today on the bow river , we caught fish
on drys and nymphs and streamers , fishing was good till mid afternoon when the sun came boiling out , that shut it down ,
seen a few fish rising for caddis and stones and PMD's , when it slowed we hit em with streamers , here's some pictures
from the day of Derek's fishing , he's one heck of a fly fisherman and can cast as good as anyone i'v seen
dutchie
July 1 2010
I
Did a special float trip today with Doug from Calgary , what was special was Doug had took a few years off from fly fishing
to chase other hobbies , he starting fishing the bow back in the late 70's and fished up into the 80's , grew away from it
and now is back chasing them big fish ,
we chatted about what he was really wanting to do for the float ,
he said he would rather catch one big fish then a bunch and was hoping for a big brown over 23 as that was his best ,
and he was into throwing streamers for as long at it took
For the first 30 mins into the float
we pounded the banks and had a near hookup , and some chasers , then right beside us in a 5 min span we saw 3 fish smack
some big stones on top , time we switched it up , threw some drys and seen some fish , just not the one we were after
, then we slid back into some good deep side pools and starting throwing the streamers again , picked up a couple
nice rainbows , after about 3 hours we had the big take on one of my streamers '' no name '' he was a wicked heavy
brown for sure
i had rowed the boat hard to the bank and anchor down and
was climbing out to net him , well didn't he roll himself free , i felt so bad for Doug , was one of them kind of fish
that when they break off on ya , you just want to grab your knife and slit your throat ,
Doug he took
with a smile and said it was all he needed was the fight , well most guys would be hopping mad ,
it
put the push on me to really hunt for a big one , we just kept at it , we stayed with my streamer and in one spot Doug
had 4 cast and 4 good rainbows on ,
We then turn around and went to nymphing , again we had
lots of good fighting jumping rainbows on and one brown, still not the piggy we were hunting for , later on into the afternoon
while back to throwing my streamer.
It kinda died down with the sun out , we switched up to
the same pattern of a streamer with a dark brown colour , moved to the top of a run and on the very first cast Doug let it
make a big slow swing with a couple upstream mends to really slow it down and across , i just knew it was perfect the second
it started across , even before the hit i said to Doug , '' thats the perfect cast to get him ,
and
then the water blew up , he nailed the big one , the fight was on and the rod was bent and that SOB brown run him into his
backing and just kept rolling down the river and he slip us the tail goodbye when he came undone ,
i was just
heart broken , sick for Doug , he paid his dues all day , it's very tough to spend a day doing mostly streamer fishing , it
tires you out fast pounding the banks and both big browns gave him the finger , he took it in laughter and said he enjoyed
the fight and just the raw power felt so good , nothing comes close to have them slam you hard on a streamer ,
to
finish the day in a good note , we slipped back into a hole and caught another nice thick rainbow on the swing to end
the day ,
it was a great day fishing and it was my kind of fishing , just looking for the piggy and if you
catch others thats a bonus , next time Doug '' your due '',
Dutchie
June 29 & 30
sorry it's taken me so long to do a post , been just to crazy busy , here's the
last couple days
took Tedd from N.C USA out for 2 days looking
for a good brown , on the 29 was wicked bright out and only got into rainbows , we did lose a good brown at the start in the
morning , water high and fast ,
on the 30 , it was a better day with 3 browns caught and a bunch of rainbows
, water clearing up , see a couple fishing taking caddis today , lots of stones out and about ,
few pictures from
the day
Dutchie
June 11 & 12 2010
did a float with a couple gents from Texas in town for the big oil show ,
Rob and Shaun , we had a great day for weather and the water is high , we ended up getting about 16 fish to the net , a couple
good browns , not bad for there first time ever fishing the Bow River ,
12 june
also
did another float with a FFC member who came up to try the Bow after all the chat on how were pounding big browns , well for
it being a tough hot day and bright we still managed to get over 20 fish to the net , a couple good rainbows and a couple
piggy browns , best fish for the day was the male brown , such a nice looking fish , we caught some of em on dry's , most
came on small nymphs , little bitty ones ,
just a great day to be on the river , in the heat
of the midday , found a nice spot up on the banks to have a little snooze for a hour or so , i always like to
have that little nap when nothing is happening on the river and just relax and enjoy the moment . always seems when you wake
up and start again the fish have turned back on into feeding ,
a few pictures from the last couple days out
dutchie
June 8 2010
So who like's catching big bad browns
Today the weather started out
nice , then turn into rain later , never fails the dirty and nasty it is , the fishing is always the best before if you can
handle being soaked and feeling rotten later ,
I did a trip with John before he heads back
down to Texas , again we caught fish on everything , drys and nymphs , and even streamers , John caught a really
nice brown to start the day off , some fair caddis dry action came midday ,
i ended up
getting myself a really good piggy of a brown , one of the best fish i got this season without a doubt , wicked nice male
that ran me into the backing on my fly reel a couple times during our battle ,
a great fighting
fish and just a hog of a brown , thick , rock solid , fat and healthy as can be , and a nice big blue halo on him ,
i
won't ever forget this fish for the battle he gave me , my turn to win for a change '' LOL '', check his sweet big
head out , he's not the biggest brown i ever caught on the bow river '' personal best is 28 1/4 , but he's close
and one of the nicest i ever caught for good looks , a very well put togeather fish , from head to tail
a
few pictures for you to enjoy of John's and my brown
Dutchie
June 4 2010
Did a float today with FFC member and most know him in the bamboo world as '' Silver Doctor''
'' Lornce ''
Greg came with us to keep us humble and kick our butts again
, for the day we had many good fish , Doc's first 3 fish all really big rainbows with thick thick shoulders on them
, his best fish of the day hit hard and run so fast out into the middle of the river and clean straighten out
his hook ''' teach ya Doc for using cheep hooks on your fly's'' LOL .
I watched
the whole action , It was a good fish while you had him on , my first fish was a big brown ,i seen him coming after
my fly , he jumped so high when i set on him that he broke me clean off , was one of them fish that left you with your
mouth wide open , he would of been my best brown of the season if i would of kept my cool and not set on him so hard .
i
had another good brown on during the day and we lost him at the last second going into the net , Greg said he was around 23
, low water and he was bouncing all over the place ,
Greg was onto them again with drys and today
he nailed a brown that broke the 20 inch mark on a small size 20 fly , his best fish was again a brown that really put him
to his skills , he has the magic touch for just knowing when to put the pressure to them, they give the least bit and he puts
the wood to em
and he's a master at fine presentation , it's all about taking your time
and making that perfect cast , he fishes like he has only one chance at them so he really tries to make it count ,
and
it shows in the amount of nice fish he lands , a few pictures from the day , look at the size of the rainbow the Doc got ,
Dutchie
June2 2010
did a float trip today , weather was nasty with wind blowing super hard in the morning and
rained till mid afternoon , fishing was slow at first , then we got into a few good fish , hardly a caddis seen , none on
dry's today , all nymphs and some good fish swinging for em , best fish of the day was another fat piggy brown
caught by Greg , she was a wicked fighting fish and a very pretty big female and i thought we were going to loose
her a few time's , we had lady luck on our side for getting this fish to net
Dutchie
June 1 2010
So whats a couple guides do on the day off ,
of course
, we go fishing , today was one of them epic days of getting into big fish , we started looking for fish feeding on caddis
, it was slow so we switched up to nymphing and hooked into some really good fish in the morning while it was still chill'in
out ,
by midday the caddis were about and the feeding frenzy was on and out came the dry rods
, later on when it slowed down ,
i went to swinging fly's and nailed some good browns as thats
what i'd sooner catch anyday is piggy browns , plus it lets me try out new streamers i'm working on thats a secret right now
and they are killer hot on big browns
Greg kept at the dry's and caught a couple big rainbows
over 20 and a nice brown on the dry , total was close to 30 fish landed and 13 were over the 20 inch's , and even better
of which 9 were browns and a couple really good piggy's
was a special day on the river after
the weekend of snow and one i won't forget
here's few better fish pictures from the day , also
plan on putting up a new video tonight ,
anyone want to spend a day on the river with Bow River
Adventures and try for a few of these , give us a shout ,
Dutchie
May 29 2010
weather has turn nasty with lots snow and rain , river came up high and vis went way down
, i did some float trips early in the week and she was good with lots of dry fly action , best i'v seen in a long time
, fish going crazy for caddis and lots of mid day action and in the evenings it would turn on again
we got
some great fish on the dry's , few over 20 and one really good brown
best day was just befor
the snow , wind was blowing hard and you had to wait for it to die down and make your cast in between it blowing again and
be on target as they wouldn't move to much for em
sounds like it should be nice again in a
few more days , water will be high and off colour but they still got to eat and they will be used to the change by then ,
i think it will turn on again when this weather breaks ,
a few pictures of some nice fish we caught
for the week
Dutchie
May 24 2010
been busy on the river and haven't had a chance to do a post , river was fishing really
good till friday when she came up , saturday was just as tough , took a couple days for the fish to get used to it ,
did a float trip today with Brad & Greg , today they were just going crazy for caddis , we got
a couple rainbows over 20 today and lost some on the 5 X tippet ,
started off
the morning into some really good coloured browns , ''butter yellow '' , i landed a really good one and lost a
bigger one which was just a wicked looking fish for colour with big spots , had him 5 feet from the net when he slipped away
,
Brad had a big pig of a brown on and lost him also , Greg landed his first big brown
of the day and caught some other super fish ,
today was great for rainbows on the dry
, plus Greg lost a dandy of a rainbow that would most likely of been around 24 inch's , just to big for them tiny small
flies
your going to lose some fish as they just so strong
today
the weather was good , river clear and coming down , might get a few more days fishing in before runoff starts , here's a
few picture's of Greg"s and my big browns ,
all in all it was a darn good day to
be out on the river enjoying the outdoors
Dutchie
May 18 2010
today i had the pleasure of taking a father and son out for a float , first time for
Travis fly fishing , while dad Vince was catching the fish first it took Travis some time to figure out the hook setting
and handling the line and mending , for the day we had about 2 dozen nice fish hooked
by 12 noon he had it dial in enough to start really catching some good fish , was allot of fun and laughs and
i think Travis learned a few good tricks for fly fishing , for his first time out i guided him onto a few good fish
and he nailed a piggy brown to top the day , that's a sure trophy in my books , a big healthy hen with wonderful
colours , it's been a great year so far for trophy hunting these big browns ,
Dutchie
May 13 2010
did a float today with Andy and his friend Taylor , they booked it on short notice
as couldn't get a drift boat to rent for a fair price , i need to get a couple extra drift boats and start renting them out
,
was a good day to be a guide as it was just great to look for these big fish and they were
in the spots you'd think they were at , couldn't get any better then it was today on the river
it
was hot and the fish were turn onto the bite , we ended up getting about 30 fish to the boat , mostly rainbows
, we did get a few browns , and 3 were piggy browns over 20 ' , a couple good hooked jawed males and a very very
fat female , and the stones are out and about , seen the first few today , big juicy black one's , most fish were
caught up in less the 2 feet of water , lots of mother's day caddies on the water also , we did see some good splashes
for takes , here's a few pictures from the day of the 3 best browns , best brown was Andys and he did some good jumps , looking
forward to taking you both out again guys next time '' maybe a night hunt ''
Dutchie
May 11 2010
Weather turn nice and the fishing really turned on big time today , i had a great time with Colleen and her Dad
'' Don '' , it was Colleen's first time fly fishing and she really got the hang of it after a few
hours , her first fish was a big one that busted her clean off , it was a good big fish , she did get a few to
the net today though , it was just a joy and lots of laughs to fish with her , i'll never forget her laugh , and i
hope to take her again , she's now a new MD '' doctor '' and moving to Terrace B.C '' steelhead country''
i'll be showing up at her door for sure this fall to do some steelhead fishing , congrats Colleen and i wish you
all the best in your new place , and i'll stay out of the cookie jaw , ''wink wink ''
now her dad Don hooked into some really good fish today , first was a big brown that busted him off , next
was another piggy big brown that stole everything he had on , we kept at it all day and at last he hooked into another
big brown , this was a special good fish , great fight and took him into his backing , we taped him and he was just a tad
shy of 24 1/2 , what a great brown , nice and fat , big thick shoulders on this fish , first brown Don ever got and
what a bow river trophy , i did get him on video and just added it as it was such a great day to be on the river with
2 very special people
Dutchie
May 5 2010
Today i had the great enjoyment to fish with Greg and his long time friend Bob , Bob is a
big time atlantic salmon fisherman and also holds a guide lic for salmon in N.B , we spent the day chatting about
how the salmon are on a good comeback from years gone by , we caught some fish and had 1 good one on and he broke off , seems
to be happening lots lately
May 1 & 2 2010
spent the last couple days floating with Greg and his side- kick Brad , fishing
was slower the first days as the water vis was down after the snow storm and rain , we did get some fish but nothing the first
day to get excited about
second day the water vis was good , 3 feet and the bite was on , had
some good fish to net and we lost some really good fish , best brown for the day was Greg's taped at 22 inch , brad lost a
hawg that would of ate the 22 , was just a pig of a brown , broke him off '' cheep old leaders '' LOL
best
laugh of the day came when a nice rainbow that Greg had hooked started jumping and after about 4 jumps he decided to join
us and jumped clear high enough into the boat ,
few pictures from the last couple days
Dutchie
April 24
did a float with Ryan and his buddy Jeff from Idaho , fishing was tougher as the
cold front was coming in , we got slammed with the snow and freezing rain , was just nasty , fishing was ok '' if you
like big fish ''
was Jeff first time on the bow river and his first time fly fishing , so of course
i had him set up ?? to break his cherry ,
well lady luck was on his side today
as his first fish was a nice solid 20 inch rainbow , the rest of the day he caught all browns , his best was almost 24 ''
and was a wicked looking male , big hook jaw ''kype'' on him , and a nice blue halo ,
Ryan
had a good brown on and he lost it at the end , just broke off , was one of them tough luck days for Ryan , i'll put
some pictures up of the nice brown when i get done on the river after monday ,
Dutchie
today was just a rotten dirty day for weather, cold and raining in the earlly morning , i took out
today on his first ever float '' Doug'' and his fist time on the bow river , plus his first time going after fish with
nymphs , he's a dry fly man that Doug ,
up till today ,
and now he will be hooked forever on the bow and nymphing
he picked it up fast , Doug hooked and landed over 20 fish today , lost 2 really good rainbows
and lost a big brown that broke everything off on the power jump , even after breaking free this brown kept jumping
at least 5 times from the sting of the hookset
Doug still got alot of nice fish for the day to the net , the best is this dandy of a big ol brown
, was a great fight and i thought we were going to lose that fish as he took us into the weeds , luck would have it on our
side today ,
what a great colour this brown had ,
oh Doug he"ll be back again for sure , you can't beat getting such
a great looking brown , i just love these big browns , i could just hunt for them all the time , it's the look to them
that's such a turn on for me , smart they sure are , and crafty when they get this size , almost as tough as hunting for a
trophy B & C Whitetale Buck
and thanks to Dougs wife for getting him a trip with Bow River Adventures for his 40"th birthday
, this is one birthday i'm sure he'll not forget and i'll not forget this trip
here's a picture of Dougs sweet looking hog brown
Dutchie
Bow River Adventures (403) 995-3677 dutchflythebow@yahoo.ca
