Frank Reid © 2008 wrote:
Right before Penns next year, I'll be traveling with my bride to
Calgary/Banff and Lake Louise for a 25th anniversary trip. She has
told me that I get a day on the water while there.
One, does the country close down on bank holiday Mondays? We will be
there over Victoria Day.

No, but you will be required to have tea, eat scones, and sing "God Save
The Queen". Proximity to a train station is optional. Long weekends in
Canada are celebrated by many people, but service industries will be
open. There will be little inconvenience, particularly in service
industries. Expect it to be busy.

Secondly, I've been doing some reading about the Red Deer and the
Bow. Are the browns on the Bow fairly nice? I would like to get into
some quality fish and I prefer browns.

I have not a lot of experience with the Bow, as I typically fish further
south in the Crowsnest region. There are nice browns in the Bow, as well
as very nice rainbows. The rainbows are very fiesty, you would be happy
with either.

As I said, I have limited experience with the Bow River, but one thing I
would be oncerned about is the run-off at that time of year. Usually
flows increase greatly about mid-May. You can look at the historical
flow data posted at http://www.thebowriver.com/stream_flows_south.htm

There are a couple of drop down boxes at the bottom of the page. Select
bow at calgary in the rivers box, and select 2007 or 2008 archive in
the stream flows box. You can see that flows increase about the second
or third week in May, which is when you will be there. Fortunately, the
web page does have good information on conditions etc. Also a lot of
information and pictures of fish.

One thing about the Bow is that foot access below Calgary is poor.
Alberta does have a right to access law that allows you to wade from
normal high water mark to highwater mark. The problem is that along the
bow, you have to cover private land to get to the water, there are
limited public access points. It is worthwhile contacting and hiring a
guide.

Hope this helps


Tim Lysyk