The Bow River: A Tough River That's Hard Not to Love

Depending on the weather, late fall in Alberta can be a bit of a down season for anglers. Most of the streams close on the last day of October and early snow and cold weather, along with depleted fish populations in the numerous put-and-take ponds, tends to keep us off of the spots we fish in the spring and summer. Also, it may look like winter outside but I am certainly not ready to trust any of the early season ice that has formed on some of the higher-elevation lakes.

Still, hope is not lost. In my experience, cold dreary weather can mean successful days on one of Alberta's most famous fisheries, the legendary Bow River.

The Bow River WITHIN Calgary

The Blue Ribbon rated Bow is a phenomenal trout river with most of the best fishing either directly in, or right below the city of Calgary. The river has self-sustaining populations of rainbow and brown trout with fish into the 10 pound range. There are also some large pike and bull trout lurking in the deeper holes. Best of all, warm water expelled from Calgary's water treatment facilities keep lower stretches of the Bow fishable all year long.

Amazing as it is, the Bow is a hard river to fish. It's a large river so it can be difficult to find fish-holding water and even if you know where the spots are, it can be hard to reach them without a lot of walking or by drift-boat. Adding to the challenge, the fish in the Bow are also quite big and therefore experienced, making them wise and weary of the thousands of artificial baits they see day after day.

My personal relationship with the Bow is a tumultuous one. Relatively speaking, I haven't been fishing the river for long as I only moved to Calgary 6 years ago and I have been skunked many times on the Bow. In fact, I wouldn't even bother fishing this river if it didn't offer me a decent trout once or twice a year. If you caught me in a worse mood I may even tell you that the Bow is a grumpy old bag, who makes you want to hate her and when you're almost ready to give up on her, she gives you a fish to remind you who gets to have the last word.

And these fish are almost always beauties. 

My first Bow River Brown. This one had no spots!

Like I mentioned above, the Bow has offered most of these fish to me on dark, dreary, cold days. When it's dark and grey I typically tie on a dark coloured lure, such as a Mepps Black Fury spinner or a split-shot rigged black Wooly Bugger streamer. Also, even though I still haven't bit the bullet and bought a fly rod, I like to dead drift nymphs under floats with my spinning gear.

A typical Bow River brown

A Bow rainbow that fell for a wooly bugger

A Bow brown I caught when I should've been writing report cards

A big brown I caught when everyone else was watching the Super Bowl

A better picture of the Super Bowl brown

Not all of the fish are huge but they are pretty!

With no other angling options until the lakes freeze solid, it may be time to see if the Bow is ready to reaffirm my love for her by giving up another hog.

Well, not all the fish are pretty. A Bow River burbot.