FISHING REPORTS

Bow River Report –May 24, 2011


After a pretty good clearing trend on the Bow last week conditions have degraded noticeably. Over the weekend the visibility, even in the city above Fish Creek, started to get worse. All of the tributaries (Elbow, Fish Creek, and the Highwood) are starting to bust loose.

The Sheep and Highwood more than doubled their flow yesterday and are very dirty. The Elbow, after running quite clear, is pretty dirty now as well.

The Bow at Banff has started to rise, from about 25 cms a few days ago, to 62 cms this morning.
Forecasts call for rain through Monday so if you wondered when runoff was coming it will likely hit at its fullest in the next week to ten days, barring any weird weather events.

This is, in our opinion, a good thing, the Bow is due for a significant runoff, not seeing one since 2005. It cleans things up, moves fish to the banks and more interesting structures, and provides a ton of food for them to put on weight. A lot of people shy away from the river in high water but when the water stabilizes and starts to drop, with anything more than 6-12 inches of visibility, the fishing can be spectacular. You can normally expect that around the middle of June.

If you are hard core, a large San Juan Worm with a lot of lead can be very effective in these conditions.

Normally only cover the Bow in this report but circumstances dictate an expansion….

A lot of anglers have been out trying the Pike fishing south and east of Calagry. It’s been OK but not great. The next round of warm, sunny weather should turn on the Pike fishing as the water in the shallow bays warms up.

The ice has not been off of Hector Lake for very long. Kevin stopped in there over the weekend and says there were a few fish winter killed but only saw a few.
Supposedly they left the aerators on so it could be very good in the coming weeks. They are also planning on releasing more fish in the next couple of weeks.

Hatches: Midges, BWO’s, Caddis, March Browns

Streamers: ¼ Pound Bugger-Brown #4, Clouser Deep Minnow-Black #2, Geek Leech-Purple #4, Darth Zonker-Black #2, Bush’s Town Run, Dirk Wiggler-Black, Articulated leech-Black, Jawbreaker-Black

Nymphs: Reese’s Pieces #8, San Juanabe Worm #6, Yeager’s TB Soft Hackle-Hares Ear #14, Morrish Conestone-Golden #6, Morrish WMD-Golden Stone #8, Tungsten Soft Hackle-Pheasant Tail #14

Dry Flies: Yeager’s Neversink Gnat #20, Palomino Midge-Black #18,
Quigley’s Film Critic-BWO #18, Quigley’s Loop Wing Dun - BWO #18

 
Crowsnest River Report – May 24, 2011


The Crow continues to run at over 20 cms and their snowpack has only started to drop slightly. Unless we get extended freezing at high altitudes, or some sort of miracle, I would expect the Crowsnest to be out for a little while.

Looks like the Salmonfly hatch might go unmolested this year.

All of the snow accumulations south of Racehorse are incredibly high so a significant runoff is almost a certainty.

Summit Lake did see a major winter kill. It’s not even a nice place to be right now with a lot of dead fish littering the water edges.

There are sectional closures on the Crow until June. Check the regulations before heading out.

Hatches: BWO, Salmonflies

Streamers: Brunette Leech, Chamois Leech.

Nymphs: Pheasant-Tail, Hare's Ear, Copper John, Tung Stud, and San Juan Worm

Dries: Quigley’s Film Critic-BWO #18, Quigley’s Loop Wing Dun - BWO #18, Hopper-Popper-Golden #6, Chenobyl Ant-Brown/Tan #6


High Country River Report – May 24, 2011


The high country streams are now closed until June 2011.

Hatches: ?

Streamers:

Nymphs:

Dries: