- Minimize air exposure
- Eliminate contact with dry surfaces
- Reduce handling time.
We also encourage everyone to pinch your barbs! Pinching your barbs will help ensure that releasing fish is easier for both you and the fish.
Water clarity is excellent right now. Lots of weeds in the river as a result of our light run off and hot weather, which has resulted in a ton of bugs! Still lots of Tricos, and Caddis flying around. Avoid the weeds and load up on floatant. Keep an eye out for rising fish, and maybe give Payette Paste a try, floats leader and tippet, and is excellent for large dries.
Lots of hoppers! Fished as single flies, or as part or a hopper-dropper rig, hoppers are working well. Small leeches are always a good choice for a dropper fished 3-4 feet under your hopper, smaller nymphs should be dropped about 18-24 inches.
Streamer fishing has been pretty awesome. Give trailing a leech 18-24 inches behind a larger point fly a try. Results can be spectacular.
Water Boatmen are in the rivers.
Mountain Streams are in great shape with hatches of Drakes, PMD's and Caddis persisting. Water clarity is excellent.
Bow River Flies to try:
Dries: Hopper patterns like the Yeti Hopper, Dave's Hopper, Heneberry Hopper, and the Otter Hopper. Attractor patterns like, Skid Bitch, and Orange Chernobyl Ants are also worth a try. Dead drift, or skitter across pools to provoke strikes. Peacock Caddis, Parachute Purple Haze and Para Caddis are great options for smaller dries. Other terrestrials, ants and beetles, Arrick's Para Ant and Jake's Gulp Beetle are good choices.
Streamers: Small Leech patterns like a Aaron's Leech, Hot Head Wooly Bugger, or a Jig Peacock Leech stripped or dead drifted under a hopper have worked great. Kreelex Minnows, Bow River Buggers (both Conehead and OG), Wooly Buggers (Black or Brown), Seasoned Geezer, and Flesh Eating Sculpin are good streamer choices.
Nymphs: Will's Chai T, Kaleidoscope, TJ Hooker, Aaron's BT Rubber Leg, Tungsten Prince, Copper John's, Dee's Boatman Tungsten, and Wagler Boatman.
Cool evenings should help to further improve river temperatures. Tight lines and happy fishing!
FTFS