[scel]

Originally Posted by mihai.bunda

Hi, have any of you done any winter fishing this time of year on the Bow in Calgary? Next week is looking pretty nice as a Chinook is coming in and im wondering if there are any good areas?

I might take a day off and go fishing

thanks!

To be honest, this is just unseasonably warm weather. Even Edmonton will be getting positive temperatures. Fishing in an actual chinook can be challenging since they are necessarily accompanied by the 40-60kmh west winds.

But being pedantic aside, fishing can be stellar, but when the weather warms up, after a long cold spell, it takes a couple days for the river to equilibrate. I would expect it to be slushy for a couple of days after the first truly warm day.

I used to love fishing in the winter, but after the flood, the good, deep, slow runs are harder to get to. The good thing about winter fly fishing is once you find one fish, you will usually find many more. The bad thing about winter fly fishing is trying to find that first fish.

Be very, very careful though. The ice shelves along the edge of the river will be quite sturdy after such an extended cold spell, but trust none of them. If you are wading, watch out for the ice floes. My most sincere near-death experience involves being taken out at the knees by an ice chunk. I floated down the river 50 or 60m consoling myself that drowning and hypothermia are supposedly pleasant ways to die. When the chunk hit some choppy water it threw me off into chest deep water. I scrambled to the bank on the opposite side of the river. It took me over an hour to get back to my car. So, be careful.