New to the Bow...need advice Pls

[Calgary59]

Hello,

I recently moved to Calgary, and just fished the Bow for the first time today. I followed a map to a fishing access point about 10 km south of hwy 22x. Used a caddis and midge dropper and didn't have any luck over a couple of hours...nor did I expect to.

Any ideas on successful flies right now? I've read about chernobyl ants being a successful dry here? Possibly nymphing is more successful on this river?

Also, I am confused to which portions of the Bow are public. It appears fish creek provincial park is all public, however portions of where I was today south of 22x appeared public/private and it was difficult to to tell.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thnx

[Calgaryguy1977]

My advice is not to go fish the bow any earlier than 8 pm. After 8 PM to midnight they start rising like crazy all over the river. Go check out the river at 11 pm sometime. You can barely see your fly but as long as you can hit near the numerous rises ,you will likely catch something. I'm a pretty big noob to the bow myself, but if theres a few things I learned quickly it is that you need to learn the water and how the fish swim it....eg they usually sit in the seam between fast and slow water. I've also learned that if you use a cheap fly it's as though they can tell the difference. Some fish are soo aggresive and dumb that they wll bite just about any fly in some stocked waters...the bow is different! The Bow river trout will rise, look at your fly, and alot of times back off if it's cheaply made or looks fake.
I've had very good luck with dry flies (use 2 a simulator up top and a smaller dry fly on the bottom) I also had a little luck with some prince nymphs and a bob once. I haven't had good luck at all with the San Juan worm (red worm) but many people claim it's killer on the bow. I think it may also be beneficial to learn the hatch (find out which bugs are hatching for that time of year) and try to duplicate the bug.

Hope this helps some!

cheers

[Heckler]

Evening is definitely the best for rising fish, as Calgaryguy mentioned already. I know guys will fish nymphs and streamers deep during the day - you can get fish like that for sure but its not really my thing.

I have found in my experience on the Bow that even when the fish are rising and there are bugs in the air this doesn't mean you'll get them on a dry. My advice is to fish emergers when the fish are rising - trust me you won't be disappointed.

Sometimes though if you have a fish rising along a seam or something and its fairly fast moving water you will get him to take a dry, but I have had the best success in this manner with a dry pattern that rides low.

Good luck! :sHa_shakeshout: