IN PRAISE OF "WHITEY"
Jim Maclennan calls whitefish "training fish" for aspiring fly fishermen and
they certainly are all of that. They can be easy to catch on nymphs or dries (sometimes too easy) and provide excellent
training in presentation and line handling once you get a hook up. However, I admire "whitey" for other reasons as well.
For example, I find them a fine fighting fish that can give you all you can handle in fast water. I have landed whitefish
on the Bow that have peeled line like some of the biggest rainbows and have forced me out of the boat and well down the bank
to land them. I can remember hooking one downstream of "guide's corner" that had me convinced he was a trout of very
large caliber before I finally got him in.
In addition, they can provide some terrific dry fly fun on bright autumn afternoons
when the leaves are turning colour, the birds are flocking together and preparing to head south, and you're waiting
for the trout to really get interested. You have to be vigilant and set the hook softly though, because their small
mouths all too often fail to hold the fly for long.
I grew up in Hinton, Alberta and many of my earliest memories are of catching
coolers of whitefish (yes we're talking a LONG time ago) from holes on the Wild Hay along with grayling and trout.
We knew that when the whitefish were "running" we were going to have some great fishing days. I also remember going
up to Jasper with my neighbor Joe and fishing for big Rockies in rivers like the Snaring and the Rocky. We'd cast into
little patches of pocket water and pluck them out with "helgramites". It's hard to say how many beginning fishermen
cut their fishing teeth on the Whitefish in Alberta, but I'd guess that there are many!
When I first started fishing the Bow, Todd and I would pile into a canoe, troll
a #2 Panther Martin as we went down the river, and land many trout and whitefish during the day. It was an easy, fun
and relaxing way to fish and would still produce fish if I wanted to try it again. Unfortunately, the lure of the fly
rod now means my spinning gear is used for trips to reservoirs and walleye lakes like Lesser Slave.
I owe much to the whitefish though, because this fine sporting fish has
taught me much about how to hook and land fish on the Bow as well as providing some great entertainment at times.
A LITTLE WHITEFISH SIDEBAR
When I was a much younger kid than I am now and was growing up in Hinton,
a fellow named ART DUNN owned the local fishing store. He also held the Alberta size record for many
years for Rocky Mountain whitefish.
As luck would have it, many years later I was teaching school in Calgary
in an area close to the Elbow River where it runs into the Glenmore Reservoir. Some of my students loved to run down
to fish the Elbow after school. One day, a student of mine named RANDY WOO came running in to tell me about
the "huge whitefish" he had caught the day before. It certainly sounded big and it was! Randy eclipsed Art Dunn's
record and still holds the Alberta record! I find it ironic that I knew both record holders.
Over my years of fishing on the Bow I have caught some whitefish that I
know have been very close to the Alberta record. I think most fishermen on the Bow can't be bothered to measure their
whitefish and therefore we may never see an Alberta record come out of this river, but I firmly believe there are certainly
Whitefish in the Bow that could break it.
