Although the Bow River is open year-round, we don’t start guiding until late April. Our season runs through until the end of October.Click this link to see  Our favorite months to Fly-Fish the Bow River which are May, July, August, September and October. We suggest booking your Bow River Fly-Fishing Trip during this timeframe.The fly-fishing on the Bow River picks up for the season in late April, with corresponding hatches of Baetis and midges. There are a few Skwala stoneflies around then as well. Towards mid-May the trout really start to look up as March Browns and caddis make their appearance. Although many rainbows begin moving up tributaries to spawn about that time, the fishing remains excellent as there are still plenty of ‘bows in the river to keep things interesting. The browns – which don’t spawn until the fall – get very aggressive, providing great action on streamers, nymphs and dries.

During August the Bow River drops and the fish are much more selective than they were earlier in the season. Trico spinner falls in the morning usually entice Bow River trout to look up. During the day, hopper fishing can be fantastic and evening skies are usually filled with newly-hatched caddis flies. Hopper fishing remains strong as summer blends into fall. The color changes that line the valley with reds, yellows and oranges also bring on strong hatches of blue-winged olives, midges, water boatman, caddis and October caddis. The aquatic and terrestrial diet is unmatched as the trout gorge to put on weight before winter.During the course of a day you could find yourself fishing streamers, nymphs and large attractor dry flies from a moving drift boat. At times your Bow River Fly-fishing Guide will want to pull over, anchor the boat and stalk large, surface feeding brown or rainbow trout eating small caddis or mayflies along the banks.

Most of the Fishing on The Bow River takes place downstream of Calgary and we recommend fishing the different floats there. But if You are short on time or the lower Bow River is dirty the City Stretch of The Bow River  is a great fall back. The average size of trout is not as big as compared to the Lower Bow River and its mostly a Brown Trout Fishery so it can be quite moody. However there are some big Brown Trout that inhabit this stretch. This is a favorite stretch of the Bow River that our Calgary Fly-Fishing Guides like to fish on days off For more Information Read our Blog Post on The City Stretch.

For some anglers Fly-fishing Alberta’s Bow River is their destination of choice; it’s very easy to spend 3-4 days fly -fishing The Bow River.With more than 50 miles of trophy trout water beckoning. The Bow River also makes a great way to wrap-up a trip to Fernie in Southeast British Columbia Fly-Fishing The Elk River or Southwest Alberta Fly-Fishing the Crowsnest River. This is an easy add-on for Fly-fishers booking multi-day, multi-river trips and traveling out of Calgary.

Dave Brown Outfitters can readily conduct day trips from Calgary to the Red Deer River, Upper Bow, Crowsnest River and Oldman River tailwater. We also have some very good small streams located northwest and southwest of Calgary. These waters range from spring creek brown trout fisheries to freestone Rocky Mountain streams – home to native west slope cutthroat trout and monster bull trout.For the Intrepid Angler we also Guide Fly Fishers on Montana’s Missouri River which is 5 hrs from The Bow River and Calgary Alberta.

A Guided Fly-Fishing Bow River Float Trip is extremely easy to co-ordinate.Most U.S. carriers fly into Calgary and there are direct flights from Dallas, Denver, Houston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Calgary is also accessible from Detroit via West Jet Airlines out of Windsor, Ontario.