Flyfishing in Alberta

Post by **Bass assassin** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:17 pm

Anyone here fished in Alberta?? I am headed there in 2 weeks for a week. Hope to get out a couple of times - perhaps in the Rockies. Thing is, I have only ever fished for trout once in Vermont. Can anyone recommend anything to take along? I plan to check out a couple of fly shops there. I plan on fishing some creeks and streams, maybe the Mighty Bow in Calgary.
Thanks!
BA

Post by **wongrs** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:07 pm

i just moved here from alberta in january. i fished both in Calgary and in the mountains for the past 4 years.

where abouts are you planning to stay?

Post by **Bass assassin** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 5:59 am

I am staying with family in Deer Run. He lives 5 min walk from where Fish Creek flows into the Bow. We are also spending a day in Kananaskis around the upper and lower lakes picnic area.
Thanks!

Post by **wongrs** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:49 am

well, there's really a ton of places you could go depending on how much time you have. first off, for current fishing conditions, i'd recommend you sign up to the board flyfishcalgary.com. there are weekly reports on the bow and other alberta rivers. lots of members also post pics there which is nice. i can also recommend some guides that really know what they are doing and could guarantee some quality fishing.

you could also call up a few fly shops in calgary for up to date conditions. i'd recommend calling fish tales or bow river troutfitters but any fly shop in calgary could give you up to date conditions.

for the bow, there are a number of spots you can go. lots of big fish up to 30" for both bows and browns. just got to find them. fish creek (on the bow) is a really popular place both upstream and downstream. lots of people fish downstream from the confluence of fish creek - bow down way past the 22x bridge. at fish creek, there's lots of fish at the rock beach. there's also a nice stretch just upstream from there along the picnic tables. there's a stretch where browns/bows travel up to a nice little hold where the creek actually comes into the bow. stand up on top of the bank to stalk fish. there's always 20"+ fish there. for other spots on the bow, check out policeman's flats and fish downstream to the island with the house on the other side of the river.

for mountain streams close to the k-lakes, i'd suggest that you fish the highwood river, the oldman tributaries (such as livingstone, dutch creek, racehorse creek, the oldman gap). here you'd catch cutthroat trout, bull trout and whitefish.

for mountain lakes, there's a few choices with short hikes. rawson lake has decent cuttie fishing with a <2 hour hike and is a short hike out of the upper kananaskis lake parking lot where you're heading. picklejar lakes is about 2-3 hour hike with a genetically pure cuttie population (most tribs see hybridization with rainbows). fish at picklejar are small (<12") but pretty. there's also elbow lake (small brookies), lower kananaskis (big bulls and big others but tough fishing). you could also try for the ultra intelligent stocked grayling at wedge pond on hwy 40.

you could also try banff national park but you'd need another license. if you want to swing by my place, i could give you my backroads mapbook to borrow and point out some access points if you're interested. i could show you some pictures from various trips i've done as well.

anyways, sign up to flyfishcalgary and let me know your thoughts. most of these places are suited more to fly fishing (lots of dry fly action) but there are still people that spin fish. alberta is also entirely barbless and there's a high probably that you'll get checked by a CO if you're at a popular location (just a heads-up).

Post by **Bass assassin** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 6:55 pm

WOW!

Thanks for such a great reference. I will check out the site for sure. I know that we plan on going to Elbow Falls for a picnic on the one day. As I said, my bro lives near the confluence of FC and the Bow. Now I have so many places to go, I need to extend my trip

Thanks again.
BA
(Off to check out the site - will post with questions I am sure)

Post by **wongrs** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:23 am

so, how many days do you have for fishing in calgary and in the mountains?

for calgary in the city, there's a number of places i could send you to. if you only have 1/2 days in the mountains i can recommend some more specifics.

so the questions i have are:
-how many days are ya fishing in the mountains and in calgary?
-who are you going fishing with?
-are you fly fishing?

by the way, you can find the regs online here for the area you're fishing (ES1):
http://www.albertaregulations.ca/fishingregs/

there are other regulations you should read about as well (bait-bans, barbless regs etc).

Post by **Bass assassin** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:39 pm

Thanks for this. I checked out the site. Still lurking around.
I figure I MAY get out 2x in the am around Fish creek/Bow area, and once in the Elbow falls area of Kananaskis. There is potentially 1/2 a day in Waterton Nat'l park.

Thanks for the regs as well.
BA

Post by **Bass assassin** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:44 pm

Do you think I will need waders??

Post by **wongrs** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:50 am

it should be wet-wadable. the mountain streams are certainly colder but to fish for a single day i wouldn't bother bringing your waders. you could post on the FFC board to see the current conditions. the mountain streams you're only really in the water to cross; you're not really standing there fishing in the water.

if you fish the bow near fish creek, then you can go both upstream and downstream. there's a rock beach which is a big outside curve with a deep pool (shallow near shore). we've caught up to 24-25" fish here and i wouldn't be surprised if there were 30" fish there. from there you can walk upstream through the shallow rocky area (small fish here) up to the picnic tables on the left hand side. from there, i'd suggest climbing the bank and looking for cruising fish that migrate up and down to where fish creek enters the bow. there's another small pool under the big tree just downstream of fish creek that has more big fish. after that, you can cross fish creek and fish all the way up to the fish creek wastewater plant outfall. after that i'd work your way back downstream.

going downstream there's lots of pocket water and deep structure further out which is fairly obvious. the faster water near shore also holds fish along this bank. there's a nice bank just downstream of the fish creek boat launch where there should be fish in the morning and pm. just downstream of there is some slow water where pike have held up for the past few years that sun themselves (still upstream of 22x bridge). there's lots more fish downstream of 22x also. of course, there's the other side of the river which is a big of a hassle for you to get to.

if you have a car, you might consider heading to the southland dog park. there's good water on the west side just upstream of the footbridge. also some good water downstream on the west side. i can give you more specifics here if interested.

again, i'd check the FFC board for current fly selection. i'd also suggest learning to nymph with an indicator if you don't already. the standard bow rig is a corky indicator with 9 foot of leader/tippet to a sanjuanworm (wireworm) in a size 1 to a size 8. then 1-2 dropper flies after that in a caddis/mayfly/stone nymph. for nymphing, i wouldn't go lighter than 4x tippet.

i've never fished elbow falls. i have fished the elbow near bragg creek with mixed success. the elbow tends to have smaller and few fish than other mountain streams.

any other questions, please feel free to pm or post. i hope you hook into a bow river rainbow over 18". they are 'energetic'.

Post by **Bass assassin** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:16 am

Wongrs!
I got out once so far and am heading out this evening. I sent you a PM.
BA

Post by **Bass assassin** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:16 am

Wongrs!
I got out once so far and am heading out this evening. I sent you a PM.
BA