The Bow river never ceases to leave me in wonder. Fishing on this river can be off-the-charts or can leave you wondering what the heck is going on. Thursday's fun float was more of the latter.

A few decent-sized fish were landed. But the fish - for us and for others we talked to - were challenging to come by which kind of makes sense given that spawn-sized rainbows have headed up the spawning channels and vacated the mainstem of the river.

We opted not to fish triple nymph setups, at least not for long, but we put our time in with a streamer rig as well as dry-dropper setups throughout the day.

Despite hearing some early-season hoppers at the launch site and seeing a handful of skwallas on the float we didn't have any eats on our large dries. Droppers like a small tungsten san juan worm, jimmy legs, and jig-headed pheasant tail did work. 

There were lots of mayflies and midges around as well as a few early caddis but we didn't see any rising fish. 

That said, tomorrow could be one of those stellar days that'll be remembered for years. You never quite know what you're going to get, which makes each day on the water that much more intriguing and special. 

Flies to try: 

Streamers: Black and White clouser, skiddish smolt, Bow River bugger, flesh eating sculpin. 

Dries: Watch for risers..... BWO patterns, large dark stonefly dries, dark stimulators

Nymphs: tungsten beaded san juan worms, weighted jimmy legs/chenille stones, TJ hooker, jig head pheasant tail, prince nymph.

Bow River boat launches are now open including McKinnon's Flats. 

Effective Saturday, May 1 we switch to summer hours as follows: 

• Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Saturday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. 
• Sunday 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Happy Fishing.

NS