Bow River Fishing Report - April 17, 2026

Customer Appreciation Day is tomorrow (Saturday April 18, 2026). Come on in and help us celebrate 29 years of serving the fly fishing community. Enjoy in-store sales, giveaways, food from nearby restaurants, and more. It was a pretty tough week for fishing, but persistence paid off in some cases with some nice fish being caught. All of the snow over the last two days may turn off fishing for a couple of days, but things should clear up pretty quickly. And next week is supposed to be beautiful.  

The fish were not chasing streamers off of the banks, but were most often caught on the dead drift in mid-deep, medium-speed water. There were plenty of midges, but not many frequent risers.

Bow River Flies - Staff Picks - Daniel

Left to Right from top: Kreelex Minnow, Hunter's Miller Time, Bow River Bugger, Tungsten Pheasant Tail Jig, Jimmy Legs, Tungsten Gummy Jig, Trina's Hi-vis Sprout, Jakes Trigger Belly, Double Vision BWO

Bow River Fishing

Blue Winged Olive and Midges hatches continue to happened, mostly mid-afternoon to late afternoon. Concentrate on heads of pools and sheltered backwaters. If you spot a consistent riser, or two, try to match the hatch, or throw on your smallest Adams, and give it a go. The occasional Skwala has been spotted, so maybe give fishing a Skwala dry, or dark stimulator, a try. 

Continue to focus your nymphing on deeper pools and runs. Fish as slowly, and as deeply, as possible. A tandem rig with a 9 ft. leader to the first fly, and then 18 inches to the bottom fly, should be almost ideal considering the, mostly, lower water conditions. Try tying the first fly off of the tag end of your double surgeon's, or blood, knot. If you are really brave you can fish two flies off of tags, with split-shot underneath. Effective, but truth be told I do call this rig, "helicopter knot machine." It takes some getting used to. But when you figure it out, it's gold.

Lot's of light choices from Nebo. It will soon be time for "out until dark," or "up before dawn" fly fishing situations. A light will help you tie on flies, and find your car, all in the same evening.

The initial high, dirty water may put the streamer fishing off for a short time, but if the high, off colour, water persists, large dark flies fished deep off of the banks might bring in the "big one."

Spey nymphing is exactly like it sounds. You are using the length, and distance, provided by a spey rod to improve the length of your drag free drift. A great way to catch early season fish. Try your favorite nymph pattern, or a good old San Juan

Events

Wednesday, May 6, 2026 - Pike on the Fly with Jean Ducharme. Come to this session to learn pike tactics from someone who fly fishes Alberta pike more than almost anyone else we know. Jean will touch on fly selection, gear, leader, tippets, habitat structure, water temperatures and other key ingredients to help you be successful fly fishing for pike. Whether you're just getting started in fly fishing for pike or wanting to up your game in search of trophy fish this session is worth attending.

Water Not Coal is Corb Lund's Citizens Initiative Petition to protect the Eastern Slopes of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains. Please sign the petition!

Books

Take a break from the screen. Remember magazines?  Those old-timey, manual, hard copy, sequential, pre-websites. Great photos and articles just like the olden days.

Bow River Flies to try:

Dries: Stillborn Midge, Silverman's Crystal Stimi, Rio's Skater Tot, Dornan's Water Walker, Winged True Skwala, Double Stack Chubby Chernobyl, Harrop's Last Chance Cripple, Booty's Cripple, Double Vision BWO

Streamers: Bow River Bugger, Clouser Minnows, Slum Lord Jig Leech, Tungsten Found Ya Bugger, Galloup's Mini Bangtail , Skiddish Smolt, Lynch's Mini Drunk and Disorderly, Precious Metal

Nymphs: Will's Chai T, Perdigon, Smethurst's Stone Bomb, Goldie Hawn Stonefly Nymph, Dirty Hipster Stonefly Jig, Tungsten Red Tie Pheasant Tail Jig, SP Tungsten Bead Mop Fly, Werminator, Gummy Worm, Wire Worms,

Trout Spey: She Ra Tungsten Bead Jig, Soft Hackle Hare's Ear, Tungsten Energizer Squirrel Jig, Jerry's WMD Sculpin Steelhead Intruder, Stu's Mini Ostrich Intruder, Brett's Klamath Skater, Bead Head Perpetrator

Goodr Sunglasses are a great and affordable option. All of the sunglasses available at Fish Tales are polarized.

Please remember to try to keep fish wet and remember to pinch your barbs. Pinching your barbs will make releasing the fish a lot easier for both you and the fish.

We ask that you handle your fish with care by:

FYI - As per the Government of Alberta:

The river may be high and, off-colour, for a couple of days due to snow melt in the city and foothills, but things should settle down for some better fishing by Monday, or Tuesday. Higher water levels may persist for longer than a couple of days, but run-off is still aways off. Get out there and get after it before run-off possibly shuts things down. 

Got leaks? We got solutions. 

Please continue to wade with caution. With the melting snow don't get trapped by rising water, which may happen during warm spring days. Be careful crossing side channels, or on to bars, and watch for rising water. If the water starts rising sometimes you have to cross back before things get too sketchy. Use common sense.

The forecast is for much nicer weather starting on Sunday, but only lasting until Tuesday, after which things cool off a bit.

Get out there when you can, and if conditions allow. Enjoy some spring!