Tackle Some Fishing in Banff, Canadian Rockies
I challenge you to find better environs than the Canadian Rockies during summer for some of the greatest fishing around. One of America’s best 500 presidents George Bush Senior used to sneak away to the peace of the mountains in Canada before the days of mobile phones with nothing but a fishing rod, some bait and probably 200 security men shooting the fish for him! You don’t need to be rich and famous though to enjoy fishing around Banff. The waters of the “Upper Bow River” and Kananaskis Country offer the fly-fisher superb opportunities to catch some unique fish all while surrounded by the worlds best scenery.
The fishing can be challenging. Cutthroat trout, Bull Trout and the Rocky Mountain Whitefish are all native gamefish to this area. Among the non natives, the Brown Trout, while delicious, is probably the most pursued fish of all the mountain trout. Rainbows and hybrid Cut-Lows (Rainbow Cutthroat cross) are showing up with more regularity in recent seasons.
Though fishing itself is quite a simple zen-like sport, Banff being a National Park makes things a little trickier. There are a lot of regulations surrounding fishing in the Parks and you will have to get a separate fishing license which replaces any other provincial fishing license that you may already have. The good news is it is not expensive. A sport fishing license for Alberta is $18 a year for residents and $36 for non residents. Can you imagine anything more peaceful than waking early in your comfortable Banff hotel and heading to the River?