Quick Report - August 12, 2026

by BRT Staff

New short format reports will be published each week.

Water Levels

Bow River Flies

Dries

More-or-Less Hopper

RIO's Chernobyl Hopper

Pavlovich's Yellowstoner Hopper

CDC Spinner Trico

X-Caddis

Streamers

Coffey's Conehead Sparkle Minnow,

Galloup's Peanut Envy

Galloup's Silk Kitty

Brammer's Skinny Dipper

BH Simi-Seal Leech

Nymphs

Rubberlegs Stonefly Bead,

Smethurt's Stone Bomb

Tungsten Jig Pheasant Tail

Tungsten Daddy's Caddis, Olive

Hotwire Caddis, Olive or Tan

Flies for Other Places

Rubberleg Stimulator

Mongo Hopper

Humpy, Red or Yellow

Glo Ant, All Colors

RIO's Hi Vis Parachute, Purple

Tips

Hoppers are coming into play and fish are starting to pay attention to them.
Change flies often if fish aren't interested. Fish a fly for 10-20 minutes, then change.
Try fishing a single hopper and add a dropper if you can't move a fish even after a fly change.
Fast stripped streamers have been working well but vary your retrieve rate at times to see what works.
August Tricos are starting to hatch. Look for shallow spinner sippers.
Large rain events will dirty the water for up to a day after.
Terrestrial season is on in the mountains and foothills. Ants & beetles are working well.
PMD hatches have been strong on creeks in ES2.

Bottom Line

It has been a mixed bag this week as big thunderstorms spiked flows, with more rain in the forecast. Try to fish dropping, not rising water. Flows are generally down considerably from the end of July but the river is still in good condition for fishing as the precipitation has helped keep the water cool and the reservoirs are mostly full. Streamers will be the ticket after large storms. Caddis hatches contiune in the evenings. Hopper fishing will continue to get better especially after the rainy stretch ends. Leaders 1X-3X for hoppers but keep a couple 4X for Tricos, and maybe even some 5X tippet. Be mindful of proper fish handling practices as August rolls on & water levels continue to drop.