Fishing Report - August 15th, 2018

ES2 - AKA Central Alberta

Water levels are continuing to drop in central Alberta resulting in fish that are going to be more easily spooked. It’s important to approach fishy water slowly and try to stalk more and cast less. If fish aren’t rising to anything on the surface, you can always try casting an ant, or fish an ant just below the surface as your dropper, as ants don’t swim very well to begin with. With streamer fishing in low and clear, it can be effective to fish larger streamers that have less weight to them (such as an articulated fathead) on sink tip lines.

Nymphs –  Caddis Pupae, Olive Hare’s Ear, Gold-Ribbed Hare’s Ear, Soft Hackle

Streamers – McCune’s Sculpin, Weise’s Love Bunny, Articulated Fathead, Sex Dungeons

Dries – Para Humpy Black, X-Caddis, CDC Elk Hair Caddis, Ants, Donkey Kong Hopper, Fuzzy Wuzzy

Bow River

There has been some consistently hot weather lately which means that it’s important to keep an eye on water temperatures in order to take care of fish. Try and avoid fishing during the heat of the day and keep fighting time to a minimum if at all possible. Fish can still be found eating stoneflies in the early morning, tricos in the later morning, grasshoppers and small baitfish patterns throughout the day, and caddis in the evenings. During the hot summer days, fish tend to be hunkered down in mid river buckets and off the banks where the water can tend to be too warm. There are a lot of small fry in the river these days which means that dead drifting smaller streamers through these buckets can be very effective.

Nymphs – Caddis Pupae, Olive Hare’s Ear, Gold-Ribbed Hare’s Ear, Soft Hackle

Dries – Grasshoppers, Caddis, Tricos, PMD’s

Streamers – Muddler Minnows, Conehead Marabou Muddlers, Kreelex Minnows

Southern Alberta

Southern Alberta streams have seen some angling pressure throughout the first couple months that they’ve been open and trout are starting to be more selective with their diet. Properly matching the hatch is now essential to having success in these streams.

Nymphs – Lightning bug, Tungsten Salvation Emerald,

Streamers – Small white, olive, black/purple, or flashy streamers depending on the brightness that day.

Dries – Grasshoppers, PMD’s, Yellow Sallies, Callibaetis, Parachute Adams, Purple Haze, Griffith’s Gnat, Ants

Other Recommendations:

· Keep an eye on water temperatures when planning to fish during the day, or simply fish in the morning and evening instead.

·Make sure to practice safe fish handling. If you need a quick refresher on how to properly handle fish, check out our blog on Fish Handling Best Practices.

· If you make it out and feel like sharing a story of photo we always like hearing what you are getting up to.