Flood Impact Update

Everyone is certainly wondering how the flood events of June 20 will affect things in the coming weeks.
As we are kind of getting sorted out after last week we wanted to give you some information that we have.

For our Flyfishing school clients: Bow Habitat Station did receive damage from the flooding. Only two of our schools are affected as Bow Habitat expects to be restored for use by July 13. In the next couple of days we will coordinate with Bow Habitat to reschedule new dates to allow students the ability to reschedule. As soon as wee add the new school dates we will e-mail all registered students and update our Blog and facebook.

For our guiding clients: We are contacting booked guiding clients based on chronological booking to advise and allow for reschedule or cancel. We have contacted all clients booked until, and including, July 8. Over the next few days we will be contacting all clients booked from July 9-13.

HOWEVER, TO CLARIFY, BASED ON CURRENT RATE OF FLOW LEVEL DROP WE EXPECT THAT WE MAY SEE FISHABLE CONDITIONS IN AS LITTLE AS 7-10 DAYS.

Three criteria need to be satisfied and we will resume guiding operations:
- Flow levels and turbidity improve to levels that will allow for quality fishing.
- Flow levels and turbidity improve to levels that are safe for clients and guides.
- Infrastructure (boat launches) repaired to a level suitable for use.

Our shop staff and guides have been monitoring what launches we can. We will be working in the coming days for solutions to access issues.

In closing, some of you might remember 2005, where people said we wouldn't fish the river that year, the quality of fishing on the Bow would never be the same, etc. None of these things came true!

Thanks again to all of you who have offered support for the shop and our families!

Shop is open! Sort of.

Starting Tuesday, June 25, the shop will be open on modified hours.
Through Friday we will be open from 10 AM to 6 PM.

We will keep everyone posted and hope to be back to normal around
the weekend.

Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the flood. We will, in each
of our communities, clean up, rebuild, and move on! It's the way
Albertans are wired!

As for our rivers and creeks, Mother Nature is way more organized and
efficient than we are. Before you know it we'll be able to enjoy what our
awesome province offers.

Thanks again to all those who have offered support and help. You're amazing!

Bow River Access Maps

Our newly designed Bow River Access Map/Hatch Chart just arrived!

Available at the shop.....and they're free!

Deep Water Cay "Chunk-O-Permit"

Another great friend of ours, David Leake, from Tailwaters Travel in Dallas just sent us these two photos from Deep Water Cay today. An absolute chunk of a fish at 39.25" long!

Way to go Davey!

And then there was Ken Ferderer's Permit impersonating a GT from Palometa Club last month.

More Photos from Kevin Sproule

Kevin Sproule joined us at The Palometa Club last week.

As usual, he takes some great photos.

Check 'em out at http://www.pbase.com/kevinsproule/080613

Fishing Reports-June 18

Bow River Report –June 18, 2013


Considering it is June 18, the river is in pretty awesome shape. Visibility is between 2 and 3 feet and flows sit around 187 cms. The pre-emergent Stone thing is definitely happening, with good success with a large Stone nymph hung under and indicator or even a dry fly.

There have been a few fish up on Caddis here and there.

Forecast rainfall amounts for Wednesday and Thursday of this week may give us somewhat of a “restart” on things but if the weather clears things should start to improve after a bit. Cal us at the shop for updates on condtions.

Hatches: Caddis

Streamers: C/H R/L Bugger-Black, Geek Leech, Marabou Clouser
Nymphs: Karnopp’s Keystone, Conestone, Morrish WMD-Dark Stone,
Reeses Pieces
Dry Flies: Better Foam Caddis, Plopper Stone, Chubby Chernobyl

Crowsnest River Report – June 18, 2013

The Crow is down to a semi-wadeable level of around 13 cms. Reports from the Crow (and Oldman) have been very good since the end of last week. Fish are very receptive to both Stonefly nymphs, and dries.

Conditions may evolve for the worse depending on how much rain we get with the system coming in later this week. Give us a call if you’re thinking of heading down to make sure conditions are OK.

Hatches: Stoneflies

Streamers: Bead Crystal Bugger, Jawbreaker
Nymphs: Rock ‘n’ Roller Stone, Karnopps Keystone, Pink B/H Stone
Dries: Fluttering Stone, Chernobyl Ant, Plopper Stone


High Country River Report – June 18, 2013

Only reports we have had so far are from the Oldman, and those were very good. Likely a little early for most of the high country but the Lower Sheep and Highwood are in good condition, which bodes well for the upper sections.

Hatches: Stoneflies

Streamers: Gartside Leech, Sleech, Clouser
Nymphs: Karnopp’s Keystone, TB Golden Stone
Dries: Plopper Stone, Chubby Chernobyl

Bow River

So, we keep getting people stopping in and calling to ask "how bad are the condtions on the Bow?".

We thought it might be a good idea to fill everyone in.....the river is in awesome shape! Yesterday it had about 3 feet of visibility and running at a flow of about 220 CMS (remember the 300's of last year?).

Kev was out yesterday and had very good fishing. The usual (for this time) Stonefly nymph thing is happening, with the odd foam bug eat and some fish on Caddis.

You should try and get out there before the tropical storms predicted later this week.

High Country Now Open!

The high country streams are open as of yesterday!

Get out there and let us know how things are fishing.

Howler Brothers Buffs

Limited quantities of special edition Howler Brothers Buffs now in store!

Get 'em while they last.

Summer Hours

Just a quick reminder that summer hours are now in effect.

Hours as follows:

Monday-Friday: 8 AM - 6 PM

Saturday: 8 AM - 5 PM

Sunday: 8 AM - 4 PM

Fishing Reports

Bow River Report –June 3, 2013


The river dropped quite substantially last week and was certainly fishable. Today’s rains will alter that somewhat with a bump in level and drop in visibility. Better weather after today should mean things get better in a few days.

Prior to this rain today, the reports from many indicated better fishing than we had seen for a number of weeks with good streamer fishing as well as some nice fish caught on bigger Stonefly nymphs and worm patterns.

A few (accent on the few part) fish eating up on top here and there.

Hatches: Caddis
Streamers: C/H R/L Bugger-Black, Geek Leech, Marabou Clouser
Nymphs: Jimmy Legs, Conestone, Reeses Pieces
Dry Flies: Better Foam Caddis

Crowsnest River Report – June 3, 2013

Crowsnest is pretty big right now. Before this rain it was at 18 cms, which is kind of impossible to wade. Having said that, there are Salmonflies around and if you fish the soft water edges you can do very well with a big Stonefly nymph.

Hatches: Salmonflies
Streamers: Bead Crystal Bugger, Jawbreaker
Nymphs: Jimmy Legs, Rock ‘n’ Roller Stone
Dries: Fluttering Stone, Chernobyl Ant

High Country River Report – June 3, 2013

High country streams are closed until June 16, 2013.