Images are smaller now… but, they’re still coming off of a modest web server… be patient.
I’ve been meaning to post about a trip last fall to RiverRanche on the Bow River in Canada. My wife and brother and I spent a week floating the Bow with our guide (and owner), Tom Brooks (who actually lives in Charleston, but, spends his summers at the ‘ranche’). River Ranche sits on a Blackfoot reservation on which the native Indians have exclusive fishing rights. Combine that with the fact that very few of them actually fish and you have 80 miles of pristine Bow river with nearly no one on it. The entire 5 days we were on the river we never saw another boat and only saw one group of 4 Blackfoot Indians fishing from a bank.
If you’re looking for the Ritz Carlton, this is not the place for you. However, if you’re looking for a very comfortable stay in a 2 person cabin with a shower and in door plumbing, and a small, but, beautiful lodge sitting right on the edge of the river, this is a neat place. Most of the electricity comes from solar panels and the lighting is 12v LED. It works surprisingly well.
I’ll let a few pics describe the scenery and fishing.
The front of the lodge overlooking the river.
Some libations and fellowship at the fire pit beside the lodge.
Kitchen and dining area. Good food on the way…
In the small but well stocked fly shop in the lodge talking flies and strategy for the next day’s float.
Great pix of the Bow!. Brings back very fond memories. Back in the days when I could afford it, we would go to Fernie, BC. Drift fishing the Elk River around Fernie and the Oldman River in Alberta. We also waded the Crowsnest and Livingstone and some of their tribs. I never saw a brown trout up there, West slope cutts and wild rainbows and an occasional Bull trout. The fishing was great, but the scenery was even better. To a flatlander from Bluffton, the Canadian Rockies are a spectacular site. Banff and Lake Louise, outstanding!
If you ever go to Fernie, check out Dave Brown @ ElkRiverAngler. Super guy…
Ft, I don’t think you can find a better opportunity. 80 miles of nearly unfished pristine Bow River with a host/guide as good and as nice as you’ll find. The fishing is great. The people are great. The scenery is amazing. I’m not rich, by any stretch. But I’m saving my nickles. Hope to get back up there this fall. Also, if you have a spouse or brother or child or friend that fishes, this is the perfect trip. I sound like an advertisement, but the trip was that good.
I have more pics of you guys are interested. I did not want to put up a bunch unless there was someone who was interested.
First day on the water was 40 degrees and drizzling… yielded the first brown from the Bow… Once the first fish was on (about 10 minutes in), we completely forgot about the weather.
and the first rainbow… Tom was so keyed up that my brother and I hardly got to touch our first two fish before Tom had netted, posed, and released them.
The rest of the trip, the weather was perfect… cool enough to be comfortable in waders.
A typical launch. Just a flat place where you could back the trailer down off the grass onto the cobbles… then slide the drift boats off and fish.
Tom always had a great lunch on the water. This day he had a little propane stove and huge pot of chili (prepared by the ladies at the lodge the previous day - good stuff). After a full morning of fishing, we had our fill and then I got my favorite picture of the trip…
Wading the Bow… Nearly every bend in the river had a cobble stone inside bank with a trailing point that pulled up a nice little rip and which always had a deep hole and quiet back water behind it. We generally stayed in the boats (floated a long way each day). But, several times, got out and waded places like this…
