What to use on the Bow in the fall?

jschmidty · #1 10-19-2008, 12:47 PM

So thanks to some helpful people here I found a few places to fly fish the Bow river down by the 22x last week. I had no success and I think it's due to my inexperience with wet fly fishing. Obviously there were no hatches going on and I tried some nymphs, but I don't really know how to nymph fish. Browsing the internet it looks like I should get some indicators and try floating nymphs using that technique. Does anyone know what wet flies and nymphs work well in the fall for the Bow? Also, some people recommend putting 2 flies on the nymph drift setup - is that legal in Alberta?

goldscud · #2 10-19-2008, 02:08 PM

You can use up to 3 flies at a time in Alberta.
There are still midges coming off, so you can use chironomids patterns (#16,18). There will also be days when blue-winged olive mayfles are emerging and fish will be on the surface. You can try a #18-22 dry mayfly pattern, emerger or even fish subsurface with tiny mayfly nymphs.
San Juan worms work pretty much all year in the Bow (size 12-4), as do wooly buggers (size 8-2).
I would suggest getting some indicators, 9 feet of leader (8-12lb mono works), and putting a small split shot above or between some nymphs. Cast upstream, mend your line so the indicator doesn't drag, and set the hook when the indicator does anything out of the ordinary. Picture the river as a bowling alley and fish all the "lanes" from close to shoreline and out. Walk upstream another 10 feet and do it again.
Look on Youtube for nymphing videos

bobalong · #3 10-19-2008, 04:17 PM

I just got back from fishing on the Bow for two days, awesome day on Friday quite a bit slower on Saturday. We used hopper dropper, or nymph rigs most of the time. We had our best luck with a two fly setup, the first one about 5 ft below the indicator the second fly about 2 ft below that. Best results on beadhead prince, beadhead evil weevil, and a brown or black tungstud for the bottom fly

#4 10-20-2008, 07:07 AM

Nice pics Bob!!!

slingshotz · #5 10-20-2008, 10:31 AM

I too have little experience with fishing the bow and so far I can't seem to get anything on my fly rod. I've hooked into some big fish spincasting with flies so I must be doing something wrong with my fly rod. Does anyone have pictures or websites of leader setups with nymphs or the worm with the bead dropper? I guess the best thing I should do is try and hook up with someone more experienced so I can watch them fish.

bobalong · #6 10-20-2008, 10:59 AM

I am no expert but IMO the key to nymphing or hopper dropper fishing is keeping a short/tight line to your indicator. When casting this means a lot of mending and stripping line while your indicator moves downstream. If your not on the hookset instantly your fish is gone. If you are not doing it now while nymphing try and get used to using your stripping hand for the hook set, as using the rod pulls the fly completely out of the zone and you must re cast. A short set with your stripping hand only moves the indicator/fly a couple of feet, if you can not hookset this way you have too much slack in the line. This works really well if you are shallow and constantly contacting bottom with your flies.
I used to run longer leads (regular 9' and then an 18-24" off that) while nymphing but have found that I am not only having more hits, but a much better hookup percentage running the two hooks at about 5'-and 7'. Another thing that has increased my hits is using heavier dropper flies (tungstun), on short runs this makes a big difference, as the flies are down through the whole run not just the last few feet. If you are always getting your hits at the end of the run this could be one of the reasons, as the lighter dropper flies are not down enough until they are almost at the end of the drift. The shorter dropper lenghts of course do not work very well in the deeper pools, but they do work great in the riffles or really any water about 8' or less.

Gerry · #7 10-20-2008, 01:02 PM

Here's a web page that shows the knot.

http://www.animatedknots.com/dropper...matedknots.com

Hope this helps.

jschmidty · #8 10-21-2008, 11:14 AM

Wow - you guys sure know your stuff. I have pronounced my goal is to catch a single fish on my fly rod on the Bow River. I think with your help this hopefully non-lofty goal may be possible. If all works out I may have a chance to get out again this coming weekend. There's been a lot of mention of length of leader, but what length and weight of tippet do you normally use when nymphing or wet fly fishing?

Also, great pics - love to see pics of fish. One other random question, I'm really missing seeing the salmon runs from when I was in Ontario. What's the closest place to see some salmon runs? Though it's probably getting a bit late this year.

Scott N · #9 10-21-2008, 11:22 AM

bobalong gives some good advise about the need to mend your line while nymphing. You want to have your nymphs right along the bottom of the river, but you want them floating through the water without your fly line causing them to drag and therefore look un-natural.

One of the standard nymph set ups for the bow is to use a 9' leader with a heavy San Jaun Worm (the worm can be used instead of weights if it's heavy / large enough), and then tie a dropper fly to the San Juan on about 3' or so of tippet. The San Juans will work all through out the year, and some of the standard nymphs (pheasent tails, GRHEs, Prince, etc.) will also work fairly well all year round.

goldscud · #10 10-21-2008, 10:04 PM

Nymphing leader: I have just used staight 14lb mono for my nymphing and streamer fishing for over 20 years. If you are going to use flies sized #16 and under you will have to down size to about 8 or 6lb mono. I always use as strong a line as possible to decrease fighting times.
Other than fishing extremely slow water, heavy leader has never been a problem. Good luck, hope you get one of these:

jschmidty · #11 10-24-2008, 05:43 PM

That is one awesome brown! Nice!

Thanks again for the advice. Today I went down to where the 22x hits the Bow and tried for a bit. No success. I tried a number of different setups, but all mostly with a wooly bugger at the bottom and a prince nymph as a dropper - all with an indicator. I played around with the height of the indicator. Who knows maybe it'll work out one of these days. I'll refine my setup and see if I can get any success in the upcoming weeks. Maybe try a San Juan - though I have to pick one up somewhere.

With the dropper, how do you keep it from getting tangled with the other line? It seems fine when it's in the water, but when you take it out it tends to tangle itself up. Also - any recommendations on using a split shot? Where in the setup if at all? Some people have shown the sinker at the bottom, others above both flies?

Canuck44 · #12 10-24-2008, 05:53 PM

You will want to add split shot on if you are not hanging up once in a while. You want to get the hooks down on the bottom. You should be dragging bottom on more casts than not. I add split between the two hooks.

Try the big wire worm (SJW) on the bottom and a 12-14 beadhead prince, hairs ear, pheasants tail or copper john on top. It will get akward to cast with a bunch of weight on there but you don't need long drifts to catch fish nymphing. I have found the key to it to get the hooks to the bottom.

Good Luck