Post-Flood Highwood Report

This June, as most people know, Southern Alberta experienced severe flooding that halted life in Calgary and basically destroyed several smaller communities, most notably High River.

Many people are still struggling to get their lives back in order but as life returns to normal in most flood-affected areas, people are getting their minds back on regular life stuff...like fishing.

After seeing the flood waters in Calgary first hand, I could not help but wonder what our favourite trout streams would be like this season. Late summer is the best time to walk and wade the many beautiful streams that flow out of the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains. My favourite of these is the Highwood River.

My friend Adam and I were especially eager to get down to our regular stretch of the Highwood this year to see how the raging flood waters had changed the structure of the river. We knew things would be different but truthfully we didn't expect much more than a few new trees brought down from the mountains and maybe some new undercuts.

We did certainly did not expect what we found.

What the Highwood River looked like this time last year.

Even before we got down to the river we noticed a difference. As we approached the edge of the coulee Adam asked, "Can we usually hear the river like that?" We could clearly hear the river roaring below which is definitely not normal this late in the summer.

When we actually got close enough to see the river we really couldn't believe what we saw. The water was still very high and chocolate-milk brown. The bank across the river had been washed away and there was rubble and exposed rock where the once grassy, tree-lined bank used to be.

The river as we arrived. It's usually half as wide.

As we got down to the river and began to walk up stream, the force of the floodwater became more and more evident. There was wooden debris a good distance up the coulee walls and a flat rock that we used to stand and cast off of was now at least 50 feet away from the river. The river had carved out a new channel as the floodwater pounded the cliff on the outside of the bend.

Wooden debris deposited well up the bank.

We used to cast off that flat rock in the middle of the picture.

This used to be the river bed.

On the inside of the bend, the willow bushes that used to come right down to the edge of the old high water level were now flattened.

You can see where the floodwater flattened the willow bushes above the high water line.

Most disturbing was the level of sediment that had and was still accumulating on the river bed which leads me to wonder what this will mean for the resident fish populations and the Bow River rainbows that spawn in the Highwood.

Despite the murky conditions, we did try to cast toward the undercut banks to see if there were any fish hiding from the rushing currents, to no avail.

One glimmer of hope is the new structure carved out and dropped off by the flood. I truly hope the river will recover and clear up soon so we can take advantage of what the flood left behind.

I can't wait to fish this when the water drops.

A nice new piece of fish holding water?