Bow River Fishing Report - June 12, 2013

Photo, Copyright Bow River Shuttles All rights reserved 2013

Bow River Fishing Report - June 12, 2013

22X/Fish Creek/McKinnon Flats
Courtesy 'WyomingGeorge',
Fly Fish Calgary http://bit.ly/1a8NwLr (scroll down)

Floated Fish Creek to MacKinnon yesterday and the fishing was close to excellent. Fish began taking nymphs by 9 am and there was steady action until 1 pm, with a hit or a fish on every 10 minutes for the entire period. Fish were taking large golden stones, bright red worms and virtually any kind of caddis pupa. Streamer fishing was very slow with a variety of colours and retrieves tried.


The fish appear to have moved into high-water positions and gotten comfortable there. They were found in a variety of medium-speed water, anywhere the river wasn't super-pushy or full speed. They're not "hunkered down" in back eddies, but positioned to feed in riffles, runs and along banks. Water temperature reached 54 degrees by early afternoon.

All fish hooked fought hard and long for their size. Sizes caught were good, only four small and all the rest over 15". Only one brown was brought to the net but it was a magnificent 19.5" buck, very thick for its length, and completely unmarred by scars or fungus, simply wonderful to see. Rainbows were a mix of post-spawn and apparent non-spawners this year (i.e., very fat)

Fishing slowed down markedly at about 1 pm and was spotty until about 7, and then shut down altogether. A strong southeast wind came up, preventing an evening dry-fly phase.

Only a few risers were seen. We managed to hook one on a tent-winged caddis but didn't keep him on. There were a few small stoneflies fluttering about but what we presented didn't move the fish and eventually they went down.

The Bow yesterday was running at 215 cm/s and the Highwood at about 85 cm/s. Overall the river's fishability was remarkably good. Visibility at Fish Creek was about 2 feet looking down into the water. Even the Highwood is no longer truly chocolate brown, with close to 1 foot of visibility before it mixes with the Bow downstream.

All day, we saw only one other driftboat and one jetboat with a solo fisherman.

Photo, Copyright Bow River Shuttles All rights reserved 2013