There's a reason why the fishing is so good at Bow Narrows Camp and it's not just because Mother Nature smiled on Red Lake with excellent habitat.

Bow Narrows' anglers themselves are dedicated to ensuring this spectacular fishery continues for future generations.

We do it in three main ways: we keep fewer fish to take home; we don't keep big fish except to mount and we are careful not to harm the fish we release.

Free Conservation Licences
Bow Narrows' provides free conservation fishing licences with all our packages. These entitle you to keep and take home 2 pike and 2 walleye rather than 4 of each. Lake trout are catch-and-release only on our lake.

Releasing big fish
These are the big spawners and have the genes for large size that we all want to see passed on.

Also, most people now simply take a photo of the big fish, release it and have the taxidermist make a graphite replica which actually looks better and lasts longer than the traditional skin mount.

Smart fishing techniques

• Keep for eating those fish just under the no-keep slot size(27.5-35.4 inches for northern pike) and beneath the one-over reg for walleyes (you can only keep one over 18 inches).
• Use the keep-sack we provide rather than "trading" fish from a stringer or live-well (they die later).
• Pinch down barbs (they're easier to get out of you too).
• Hold your breath when taking photos (when you need to breathe, the fish needs releasing).
• Use quick-strike rigs when dead or live-baiting for pike.
• Use non-lead sinkers, especially split-shots (lead kills birds).
• At lunch, keep just enough fish for your boat, not others.
• Control discarded monofilament and put in cabin's stove.
• Control loose hooks. They are a hazard to humans, animals.
• Release lake trout by grasping the single, barbless hook which is mandatory only for trout fishing and pulling it free while the fish is still in the water.

It comes down to this
Ultimately, we have a choice when it comes to our fishing experience. We can be thrilled by the kind of fishing most people only dream about, or we can take home full coolers of fish for awhile and then complain for the rest of our lives about how good the fishing used to be.