If you are a newcomer to the sport and you have just completed your first summer with new gear you may have been spared the agony and frustration of the slinky line syndrome. I assure you this is a condition which at the very least has ruined many a good spring day of great fishing for more than one of us,  as we wrestled with seemingly perma-coiled ringlets, which adamantly refused to lay flat without memory thus denying us the necessary perfection in presentation required to fool our first hungry trout of the year.

It is likely not too late now for the fix;
Is your gear carefully stowed for the winter months with lines wound tightly on their spools and reels from their last cast in the fall?
If your answer is yes you likely will want to do the following sooner than later;
Step 1 Clean your line.  How? A simple process really…You will need; liquid dish soap, an aluminium bowl, strips of terry cloth or a terry towel, line dressing (purchase from your preferred fly shop, my preference is a product called “Glide” – use it and I assure you your line will.
Now do the following;
1. Prepare a solution of dish soap in a bowl of warm water, the solution should only bubble lightly when agitated with your fingers, have a number of strips of terry cloth or a hand towel (preferably white) ready to go.
2. Next pull your line off the reel and into the solution, pull the line from the solution through the terry strips or towel pinched between two fingers. Periodically look at the cloth strips, if you are seeing brown skid marks, you will need to repeat the process until the line comes through clean.
3. Prepare a a new bowl of warm water, no soap this time and repeat the process to remove all soap residue.
4. In a manner very similar to the washing process, you will now pull your line through an applicator pad (also sold at friendly neighborhood fly shop if it is worth its salt) or alternately apply line dressing to clean section of  terry cloth or chamois and pull line through. Be carefull to assure cleaned line surface does not make contact with dirty floor of other surface.
If you live with a “normal” (non fly fishing) person this next may be problematic – Umm..good luck with that!
5. Attach your leader end of the line to a chair, nail in the wall, or other anchor point, extend the line (all 90 feet of it) to as many anchor points as you need to keep the lines entire surface exposed to the air and allow time for the dressing to dry (some dressing recommend a further wiping after drying-Glide does not).
Once the process is over you will have rejuvenated an otherwise fatigued fly line, removing grit, grime, silt and “coil” memory including kinks in the line from being wound tightly to itself on a spool. Aah…don’t put it back on your little spool unless you are going to start using it again very soon, instead coffee cans or similar diameter containers will actually provide the best winter storage mediums untill it is time to start fishing again – TIP> spread the line out over the length of the cylinder as much as possible minimizing deep layers of line over line.
I guarantee this process is worth the time it takes, it can and will restore line that you thought was dead, to a slick new feeling line.

You will save money and oh yes there is another bonus.. clean line does “glide” through rod guides with much less friction and that my friends means increased distance.

May 9, 2011 - Hatches on the Upper Bow have begun, water temperatures have risen significantly in the last week largely due to increased snowmelt inflow. I recently enjoyed sitting and watching a group of aggressive Brown Trout rising repeatedly 2 feet from the shores of the walking path in town on a heavy Mayfly (March Brown’s) hatch.  Time to buy fishing license for this year!
Visit  http://themountainflyfisher.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/mayflies-on-the-bow-a-good-reason-to-rise/  for a short post on those rising trout.

The Headwaters North and South – Tremendous snowpacks from winter of 2011 created very significant spring flows in all headwater streams with no particular detrimental effect on the fisheries, inconvenient for the angler perhaps but refreshing for the aquatic systems, as areas of silting were cleansed and nutrient trapped in old silt deposits were once again made available to the streams and their residents. A nice perk actually from a fishes point of view.
I was not fortunate enough to fish as much around the province as I would have liked (not sure thats really possible), however I found the waters of the Livingstone and the upper Oldman and many of their tributaries in fine shape in early September, fish were abundant and fat, it is always a good sign when small (6-10 inch) fish have a full bodied appearance actually looking like minature adults.
This was true to the north also, where I found the Blackstone and a few neighboring streams in excellent condition with a strong showing from the inhabitants.
I do look forward to guiding more destination and multiday camp type trips in 2012, selfishly I aspire to seeing more of our lesser known bodies of water and revisitng many that I have not seen in better than 6 years now.

A lighter population of giants now than in 2010 for sure, however the fishing experience is more realistic and the really big fish now have an element of surprise working in their favor when they take the fly (or maybe they really are just much bigger than at close of last year), as everyone who encountered one of the big guys in the last week (myself included) has been beaten by the fish.

In the mid range there seem to be a solid number of fish between 14 and 16 inches that are now very plump, actually they are very heavy easily approching twice the weight of trout of comparable length in some other systems, as as for this years group of 12-14 inch fish their growth is formidable.

The bad news is that unsettled weather patterns has yielded a number of days to date with extremely high winds well beyond anything close to manageable either for boat operator or rodsman. Well perhaps the upside of the extreme winds is the retention of pints of blood that I otherwise would have lost to this years crop of mosquitoes.

As rivers are scowered, nutrient trapped in silt is released and for nutrient starved mountain waters like the Upper Bow River this is equivalent to a multi vitamin shot in the arm, a shock treatment of goodies. Trout, although somewhat hard pressed by heavy flows are designed for their environment and as a result the likelihood of any significant suffering or population decimation is not likely, actually not likely at all.

Spring spawners such as the Rainbow Trout stand to lose the most, if in fact there was to be any significant mortality, however in most waters Trout that would normally be present in early spring pre-runoff (May) moved to other locations in noticeable amounts, seeming to sense the building snowpack would transform eventgually into a hydological colossus. If only we as humans had retined a few deeper survival instincts.

May 9, 2011 - Some signs of winterkill are in evidence at the lake now (as is likely the case with most Alberta mountain Lakes this year), definitely aging out is a contributing factor to some of this mortality. A number of large cruising fish have been seen and getting a drifter on the lake and fishing it to the Mother’s Day Caddis hatches which should be starting any day. Recent warm weather and a bit of rain in the last 48 hours has freed most of the lakes surface from its winter cloak of ice and snow.

So the predictable cries of despair from anglers lamenting the unfishable state of the river have begun. Truth be known, this is truly the best time of year and the type of year (really big snomelt) to see and have the opportunity to cast to the largest trout in the Upper Bow River system. All adjacent waters to the UBR that are carrying overflow or flood feeds will become the temporary home of the biggest and the best, these waters will clear quickly and offer a genuine smorgasboard of invertebrates and terrestial insects.

Imagination and a spirit of adventure will open the curtains to a seperate reality of superb fishing opportunities to anyone who cares to get off the couch and go for a bit of a poke around, using brain and eyes first and rod last. I urge you to be a part of a very elite group of Fly-fishers who broke out of their little boxes and have truly learned to fish.

Remember, you are the only limiting factor! This little truth likely applies well beyond fishing, I try to keepo it that way for me anyway!

Interestingly perhaps only one in ten of these erstwhile anglers appeared to evaluate the lake on any quasi logical basis. For example other than not catching any fish there was apparently no need for other qualifying observations which might have adjusted somewhat the conclusions reached. In the past three weeks there was a noticeable absence of any hatches (midges included until just the last 5 days, the water carried much particulate in suspension yielding next to to zero visibility – these “little” clues pointed to a body of water that had not yet begun the process of “Turning over”, critical photo-synthesis had not yet occurred.

Being at the lake pretty much  every day for the past three weeks I have watched the awakening process, and happily in the past three days have sat contentedly and watched (not fished) as midges, caddis-flies and two species of Mayfly have emerged, as well as the annual spring spawning swarm (occurs multiple times during the year -spring spawn seems to be the largest migration) of Gammarus shrimp a.k.a. Scuds. Oh and yes with these awakenings came fish!

The short answer to the burning question; Alive or Dead? is Alive! The effect of any winter kill will only be truly measureable in the weeks to come as the lake quickly comes to full life and the “Greening” of the lake is complete. At time of this writing I have no doubt that the survival rate is sufficiently high to assure that Hector Lake will provide many with hours of tremendous Rainbow fishing this summer.
I will keep you posted and I suspect that I may well start to fish it this week, as the number hatches increases and correspondingly the numbers of rising fish will negate further specualtion as to the state of the lakes health.

A few balmy days, lots of wildlife movement then finally today in the early evening some showers and warm temps. Snow pack will definitely beginning to go deep Isothermic, influencing flash changes to water flow and temperature, with a net result of an awakening instream orchestration of life. Invertebraes and close behind Trout, will all as rapidly shift from zero perceptable (to us poorly sighted humans) activity to a genuine frenzy comprised of absolute change keeping pace with the changes in flow and temp.

A walk tonight along the shores of the Bow yielded “the island” herd of cow elk many already with calves of the year, an awesome sight with the soft evening light on the three sisters. The river never ceases to amaze at this time of year, I will remember to begin shooting it daily, for its change is truly dynamic and for many completely unimaginable.

Should I be fortunate enough to be sharing this with someone who is new to Canmore Kanananaskis and the “Valley Bow”, it is time to buy and carry Bear Spray (or rent it) on your strolls and hikes for we are blessed to reside in what I like to call the “Serengetti North”.  No need to walk in fear, but be sure to walk informed, in tune, and in synch with where you really are.