The Upper Bow River
The Upper Bow River is a fine trout stream that would be more highly regarded were it not over shadowed by it's reputation downstream. If the city of Calgary and all it's means to the Bow downstream didn't exsist, anglers would spend alot more time fishing the upper river -- and loving it. The Bow in it's extreme upper reaches -- above Lake Louise -- is very clear and cold, and pure enough to lake the nutrients essential toprolific aquatic insect life. And like nearly all high mountain streams, it is subject to server scoring each spring during run-off. This prevents the growth of algae,which is a fundamental link in the food chain of a trout stream. Consequently, it's overall quality as a trout fishery in it's extreme upper protions is only fair, though it carries a wide variety of fish -- native bull and cutthroat trout, whitefish, brook trout, as well as rainbows, which often hybridize with the cutthroats.
The Bow River near the town of Banff where warm water and nutrients enter the river from both the town sewage treatment facilities and the Cave and Basin Hot Springs. The number of whitefish and brook trout increase,and brown trout make their appearance to anglers.
Serious flyfishers prefer the river between Banff and Seebe Dam. The Bow here holds a decent population of brown trout, including some real hogs, and provides very good fishing to those who know the river.The river is not generous to those who spend little time on it. Fish numbers are not oparticularly high,and it's easy to cover alot of water before finding them.I consider local advice a necessity on this portion of the river, for it's idiosyncrasies will not be easily uncovered by a casual angler.
The Bow here is big, with lots of braided side channels. It gives both big river and small water anglers plenty of their favorite type of water. This part of the Bow stays open all winter thanks to numerous springs that entre the river directly and through some of the side channels.
| The river is naturally relatively stable in it's upper reachers. Because it's head waters lie in Banff National Park where there is no logging done, runoff is heavy but short, and the river does not easily become dirty with summer rain storms. However, this natural stability is compromised somewhat below Banff by the presence of power dams on the Cascade River and at Spray Lake Reservoir, which cause noticeable flow fluctuations in the Bow. |  |
Between Seebe and Cochrane, the river is interrupted by more power dams, which further increase the serverity of flow fluctions. Fish cannot adapt well to frequent extreme changes in water level, and consequently the river is not as good a fishery here as it is above Seebe or below Bearspaw dam, which regulates these fluctuations before the river flows through Calgary.
As well, below Seebe the river flows through Stony Indian reserve, and access to the Bow through the reserve is unrelaible.So all though white fish, rainbow and brown trout are present in the river and may be caught by various angling methods, the power dams and restricted access limit the fishing that take place in theis section of the Bow.
The best fishing in this area is in Chief Hector Lake, wher the stoneys collect a daily fee from anglers who wish to try for huge rainbows that the lake produces. The waters of Bearspaw reservoir also provide a quality rainbow trout fishery, though access is somewhat difficult. One problem with the fishery is the fact that the catch limit is left at five fish per day, even though limit on the Bow proper here was reduced to zero on June 15th, and two per day for the remander of the summer.
So the upper river is at it's best reach between the town of Canmore and the Seebe Dam -- not coincidentally the section that has the best combination of stability and abundant aquatic life.
What is the main difference in fish between the upper and lower Bow River? The upper Bow river has a predominance of brown trout while in the lower Bow river it is rainbow trout.
© Jim McLennan -- Virtual Flyshop's Western Canada Regional Editor.
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