It is the middle of January and here in Southern Alberta we are seeing spring like conditions and not surprisingly the fishing on the Bow downstream from Calgary is quite good. Right now the weather is great but we have seen two very cold deep freezes. One in November and one in December with temperatures hitting as cold as -38 centigrade. Luckily the river didn’t freeze completely over as it did last during last winter’s cold freeze although the low flow areas did freeze narrowing much of the river without freezing enough that one could safely walk to the ice’s edge. It is best to stay away from the five or six feet of ice from the river’s edge where the water is deep or where water may be flowing underneath the ice. Keeping safety in mind there is still water available to either wade or fish from shore.

November 27th, 2022 was the day before winter’s first very cold snap. I went down to the river with my glass 3wt switch despite the temperatures being well below zero. The forecast high that day was -3. A day one would be wise to watch for guides on the rod freezing and making sure to clear the ice. A thoughtful fly fisher might even use Stanley’s Ice Off Paste on his line and guides to keep the water from sticking and freezing. The paste does work but of course only lasts for so long before wearing off. I didn’t think to use it despite having two containers of the stuff.

At the head of the first run I was able to fish I hooked up with and landed a big rainbow on a small streamer. Definitely made it worth freezing my fingers for. As I continued to step down the run casting and stripping I notice the ice build up on my guides but it didn’t impact the thin running line attached to the short skagit head from sliding through the guides so I continued casting and stripping down through the run. (It is worth noting that while I have broken a few fly rods I have never broken one on a fish.) About half way down the run I got a another hook up. As it was a small rainbow I quickly stripped it back to me. That is I stripped it until the loop of my head jammed against the ice built up on the eye of the rod and, bang, the tip of the rod broke cleanly an inch and a half from the top. That day ended quickly and on a gloomy note because even though I knew better I did not use a readily available product nor pay attention to the factors leading to my rod breaking on a fish. A small fish at that.