Fishing Report - Spring 2025

by Nick Berenyi

Bow River browns, baby! Never gets old.

It's that special time of year again here in Southern Alberta, when the land finally breaks free of its dusty brown shackles and life returns to the prairies and foothills. Tender green spears begin to pierce the dead, desiccated leaf litter with increasing vigour as each warming day packed with that old Alberta sunshine jacks up the plant life just like Black Label Ice jacks up the Oilers fans. Even the glass and steel landscape of downtown Calgary sees spring stirrings as psychotic Canada Geese infiltrate city blocks looking for nesting sites in all the wrong places & battle hardened drug users for turf. You really don't want to turn down the wrong alley on your way to do a little urban angling and find yourself in the middle of a street brawl between cobra chickens and fentanyl dealers.

Early season fishing on the Bow has been encouraging, anecdotal evidence would suggest that there are plenty of healthy browns present this year. Seems like here at the shop, we've been nabbing browns vs. rainbows at around a 2:1 ratio, and we're not complaining! Trout spey techniques have been effective, fish seemed energized by sunny days and were willing to move for grizzly hackled Intruders on a slow swing. Dry fly anglers are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as BWO's take flight and other species are beginning to stir.

Snowpack accumulation was definitely lighter this year. In 2024, March and early April saw large amounts of snowfall in the mountains, which made up for a shortage throughout the winter, and got us through the hot months without water closures or time of day angling restrictions. Although snowpack was still below average, the late accumulation allowed the Eastern Slopes to hang onto snow well into summer. This year we experienced another March boost, but not enough to reach into the normal range for this time of year. A warm start to May means that the big melt is on, and looks to be about a month earlier than last year. Runoff may be a short period this season, and hey, that means Golden Stones will be early. A predicted La Niña weather pattern that may have brought cooler weather and precipitation from the Pacific to the West in spring 2025 has now faded, so we'll have to hope that more localized weather patterns will deliver us the rain. Thankfully, the forecast is calling for a solid period of precipitation this coming week.

The Bow has been fluctuating a bit this week, but has been looking pretty normal for this time of year.

Glenmore is drawing down, sitting at 55% capacity.

Ghost at 40% capacity. Let's go with the rain!

Low snowpack and the melt is on.

Logan nabs a perfect BRB. Big puppy paddles & an attitude, this fish could become a 30.

On The Bow River

Streamer fishing produced well this week. Make sure flies are getting deep enough.
Blue Winged Olive mayflies are now hatching in large numbers on the Bow. Overcast days will produce the largest hatches. Bring your 4 or 5 weight rod with a 4X leader for blue wing fishing.
When fishing a BWO hatch, try to find a consistently rising fish instead of blind casting. Look for grassy banks or shallow deflections where a fish will be gently sipping or porpoising. Sometimes a large fish will make deceptively subtle rises.
When a blue wing hatch is in full force blanketing the water, it can be hard to stand out from the naturals. Try mussing up your fly to make it look crippled, or if a specific fish has given you multiple refusals at good presentations, consider the Hail Mary play and just put on something completely different, like a midge cluster. I saw this work last week, but generally 60% of the time it's 100% effective.
Mother's Day Caddis have been seen this week, although several anglers noted that fish weren't yet keyed into them. Caddis hatches will grow in intensity as the weather warms. Try out a nymph or emerger if you see Caddis activity.
It's danger bird season again in Calgary along the Bow. Pissed off geese can be found everywhere as the annual nesting continues. Try to give nesting birds space if you're walking the banks.
Bow river boat launches are now open.
Waterboatmen are also present in the Bow. Try one trailed behind a streamer, this can result in some explosive takes, especially on the swing.
While Skwala season has pretty much wrapped up on the Bow, Golden Stone season is not far away and the eager stonefly angler might have luck dragging a nymph through the Bow.

Other Waters

ES2 Streams are now well into the season. Be sure to bring your bear spray. Grizzlies are very active at this time of year on the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies, particularly in ES2. Mind the blind corners and the tight brush!
Stealth is the key on these early season brown trout streams. It's not the same kind of carefree casting & catching like summer cutty waters, and you can't flog a run repeatedly with a nymph rig like on the Bow. You want to move quietly, upstream, and spend more time observing than casting. Your metric of success might shift - a single fish 20" or greater is a good day.
Remember - no one loves a crowd on the water, especially not brown trout. It can be tempting to fish where you see trucks parked, but if you're the second or third angler through a piece of water, that aint' great odds for you. Try to find unfished water.
Water temps will dictate a lot of the action. Mornings are often slow until water warms enough for insects to start hatching. Around 12C/55F is the magic number.
March Brown mayflies are hatching in modest numbers around ES2 waters.
Skwalas can still be found on some streams. Look for skittering wakes.
Most Alberta waters that hold pike opened on May 8th, so the ditch pickle gang can finally bust out the foot long flies and rejoice! Pike tend to stick to shallower water in the spring so even if you don't have a watercraft, there's opportunities for shore angling. Pike are happy to bite when water temps are 12-19C/55-65F.
Just over a month until mountain stream season opener for ES1 fish management zone, on June 16th. Soon enough, hordes of dudes in neoprene tights clutching euro rods will descend upon the innocent, unsuspecting cutties and commence the flogging. Luckily opener is on a Monday this year, so that should keep some weekend warriors chained to their desks instead of joining the pillage.