The Bow
 

Came down from the great northern city to babysit while my daughter was doing a trade show.

Late yesterday I had a chance to hit the Bow. As several others were in the area, I walked further downstream until I came to a likely spot. Tried nymphing the upper portion. No luck. Moved to the lower portion and started nymphing. Changed flies. Nope. Getting ready to leave when three fish started to surface. Surfacing about 3 min interval. Tried casting to the area. Nope. Changed flies. Nope. Went to a dry/wet fly combo. Nope. It was getting late, I could barely see the end of my rod. Since I was by myself I decided to play it safe and pack it in. Hopefully I will have a chance to hit the same spot today.

Try a zebra midge 18"-24" below the surface,size 18-20
I like using the hopper dropper method,the dry to get their attention and also used as a strike indicator.I have had takers on the dry even in the early spring
Doesn't have to be a hopper imitation
I'm going to try my luck later today
Good luck

I went out a few days ago and had good luck.

I was suing a triple nymph rig. Red Wire worm, a bead head phesant tail, and either a small boatman, or a chenille san juan worm.

Landed some decent rainbows on the top worm.

For streamers, I tossed a setup of a white clouser top with a trailing black woolly bugger. Which netted a beauty Brown.

That's the bow for ya lol.

I have been having some luck with rubber leg copper johns below hares ear nymph.

Thanks for the suggestions. Trade Show kept me busy, could not get out more than once.

Tough sledding on the Bow these days....anyone producing any numbers consistently?

A lot of the rainbows have left for the Highwood system to spawn.

Yes that is correct...been getting the odd one, and some action from the Browns, but boy, the last 2 weeks have been a ghost town! :scared0018:

Perhaps I'm lucky, but I've been catching about 1-2 rainbows per hour every time I have gone out the last 2 weeks. Haven't even seen a brown, just rainbows this year. And I'm not all that experienced either 🤔

Yoda
 

Care to share your recipe for success?:test:

Just nymphing deeper pools. Half of the takes are happening at the end when the nymphs are rising

Noted.
 

No rainbows yet this year. I hope the weather changes, I want to get back out in the sunshine!

This is what has been working for me.

Streamer fishing has been very good to me this in April.

Hey Guys, I'm going to be in Calgary the weekend of June 3. What are the chances the river will be fish-able with runoff that time of year? Worth packing the rod along?

Depends on runoff. I'd bring it anyways, with a bunch of streamers

The Bow is almost always fishable, if you are flexible. The only time it is not fishable is during floods (like duh) and chocolate milk run-off. The chocolate milk phase usually only lasts a couple days. In a year, there are probably less than 20 unfishable days (a couple days during runoff, immediately following a nasty summer storm, and during the first spring warming, which produces a great deal of slush for a couple of days).

During highwater, nymphing stoneflies right near the bank or fishing a big streamer has produced some of my best days on the Bow.

Thanks for the info, makes sense. I'll follow the number one rule, always bring the stuff just in case.

Keep telling yourself that!!

I've caught some of my biggest browns in the NW section in "Chocolate Milk" type water!!

LOL.

Personally, the only days that are non-fishing days are winds over 60kph, slush out when you literally cannot get your hooks in the water, and torrential city-destroying floods. But you and I also know where to fish. For someone new, with less than 2cm of visibility, even a seasoned trout angler fishing the Bow will be fishing blindly. Personally, I call it 'fishing with the difficulty setting set to insane'. :)

frustrated streamer
 

Guys;

felt the frustrations the last several times out on the Bow. How deep do the nymphs need to be? Tried streamers on a Lv4 sink tip also. What's the right streamer setup? Perhaps I'm not using the right streamers or not big enough ones? Thanks

Nymphs need to hit the riverbed. How deep obviously depends on where you are fishing.

With a sink tip streamer, I usually use a 1m straight piece of 15# fluorocarbon leader with a Rapala knot to tie the streamer on. Streamers are inconsistent. When they are hot, they are smoking hot. Clouser minnows in almost every size will work. Telling what colour to use requires voodoo. The mantra is basically, dark days, dark colour; bright days, bright colour. If you cannot decide, use an olive streamer.