Hang around the shop at the start (or end) of a regular business day this time of year and you'll get a good feel for how the river is fishing. 

Happy clients/guides =  happy fish. 

And we've been seeing a lot of happy faces recently. 

With the dog days of summer in full swing and the wet start to the season now behind us it's definitely time to enjoy the river. 

If you are able to "pick your day" opt for one that's overcast over bright and sunny. You can still catch fish on sunny days but you'll have to work harder for them. 

Flow rates are on the higher side of the historical average and definitely different than we've had the past few years. Generally speaking,clarity is good at one meter-plus however area rain can quickly impact conditions. (As per last weekend's rain in the Highwood system that quickly impacted river-right below the Highwood - photo evidence of the impact of rain courtesy of G.K.) 

A large buggy dry with a dropper or streamers have been productive. Leeches and jimmy legs have been the dropper of choice although that is changing to smaller bugs. Caddis have been productive as the sun goes down. 

As always on the Bow, your success rate goes up if you're willing to change up your fishing method. 

Flies to try: 

Dries: Skid Bitch, Pavlovich's Yellow Stoner Chubby, Swisher's LLS Chernobyl, Jake's trigger belly foam bug, peacock caddis, Swisher's Dancing caddis, Bloom's parachute caddis.

Nymphs: Leeches (can be dead drifted or stripped like a streamer), jimmy legs, Smethurst stone bomb, caddis pupae; jig-head nymphs like the pheasant tail, Hogan's Red Headed jig-a-low, jiggy red butt. 

Streamers: Black and white clousers, flesh eating sculpins, kreelex minnows, skiddish smolt, Coffey's sparkle minnow.