Bow River

[Mish]

Is there anywhere open to fish on the Bow between Calgary and Banff right now?

[willy]

Its always open below calgary after the turds get dumped in.

[bobbypetrolia]

Sorry Mish. I'll stick to the topic.

[theduke]

if you can find some deep holes its some amazing fishing

[Mish]

Any suggestions on where?

[theduke]

deerfoot south right when u pass anderson and before the 24th turn off theres that lil section should be holdingsomefish

[Mish]

Oh off that little landing there? I've seen people fish it a lot.

[theduke]

ya its very productive usually float through there in the summer catch lotsof big bows and browns, try also behind the lafarge plant if your not gunna fly fish it use small lenthompsons and little spinners, or small crank baits

[theduke]

theres also a driving range there aswell, and tenis courts

[Mish]

Perfect, thanks for the tip!!

[Lethalconnection]

I fish that spot alot during the summer and have lots of luck, im also one of the idiots that you may see jumping off the bridge, so yeah its pretty deep under the bridge Also above the glenmore bridge there are some nice deep holes along Beaverdam Park and the train bridge. If your spin casting i would suggest a red and white spoon(red stripe), black and white spoon(black stripe), five of diamonds is good too, tend to catch more whities on that though, or i also have good luck on a panther martin spinner with a silver blade, yellow body with red or black dots.

[Cowtown guy]

Mish this is where the flyfishing lessons are great. I remember you saying a few weeks ago that you were thinking of giving it a try. While you can and will catch fish on hardware at this time of the year the fact is that fish tend to be more lethargic in the colder months. If you can slow down your presentation to a natural speed or slightly slower and downsize a bunch say to a size 14 or 16 prince or pheasant-tail nymph you can get more fish to hit. You have to remember that a fish is always worried in the winter about calories being burned. If a fish can sit nice and still and slurp in little nymphs all day long without burning lots of calories he will be in better shape than the fish that has to chase down a spoon or spinner. While we sometimes don't realize these things they are instinctive in the fish. I firmly believe that fish tend to hit spinners or such if they are dragged right in front of their face. That is much harder to do than people think.

[Mish]

Thanks for the tips!

[Doc]

Mish, I haven't fished a whole lot right in Calgary. I've fished the pooh hole, southland and fishcreek but most of my fishing has taken place from the 22X bridge to Mckinnon flats. The trick is to look for fish holding water and there is lots of it on the Bow. Problem is there's even more water that doesn't hold fish. Try looking for shallow riffles (this is where the water is shallow and fast), right after that you should see some deeper choppy water (not white water, just water with a some chop on it), this choppy water is where the trout will hang out in the summer and at times in the winter. Right after the choppy water you'll see slow deep water. This deep water is overwintering water for the trout and you'll find most of your winter trout in here. Really productive water needs all three of these elements as the shallow riffle is where the bugs will hatch due to it's high oxygen, these bugs are then flushed down into the deep choppy water giving the trout an easy meal and the choppy water has structure like big boulders giving trout a break from the current and the chop gives trout cover from predators. In the winter the trout are more lethargic and will sit in (for the most part) the deeper water following the choppy water as they can hunker down and feed, expelling little energy. The trick is to get your presentation right in front of their snout. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Doc

P.S. I forgot to mention, you'll usually need temps above 2c as ice chunks will be floating on the river making it next to impossible to get you presentation below the surface. You need warm enough temps and time to burn the ice off. I've found Southland will give you your best idea of what the river hold for ice chunks as it's downstream of the pooh hole where the warmest water has had time to melt the chunks.