BWO’s on the Bow River
The past few days on the Bow River have been fairly productive; steady blue-winged olive activity has brought a new level of surface action in the Brown and Rainbow Trout 
.
Up until today the cold and windy weather has kept the angler action down. When I arrived on the river this afternoon I found a number of people beating the banks in areas I enjoy fishing. When I made it down to the water it was evident that a decent hatch was underway. Moving away from the crowds (well, the 4-5 people fishing a regular stretch) I found some water that was ideal for hatching BWO ’s - slow to medium speed water with good bank cover. I’ve noticed the one thing that a lot of anglers seem to miss on this river (similar to the Grand and other rivers) is that the fish orient themselves closely to the banks. The cover and feeding options provided are ideal to many of the big browns and rainbows.
This guy here was holding in water only a few inches from the bank - the chrome appearance of this ‘bow is typical of many of the rainbows in this river…
When the fish are feeding on the surface it’s fairly evident where they’re holding, but during the rest of the time it can be tough to locate fish (to sight fish to at least). I’ll spend a significant amount of time slowly creeping along the bank while carefully scanning the water upstream for active fish. Once I’ve noticed a feeding fish I’ll slowly lower down and observe it’s actions. Is the fish moving about picking up emergers or nymphs or is it stationary..? Once I’m in a good position I’ll toss a light cast up stream leading the fish by a few feet. While searching water I’ll often use an indicator - but when sight fishing I’ll get rid of the indi’ and use only a small bit of weight if needed and just rely on the current to get my fly where I want it. Once I’ve placed a cast to the fish I’ll try and pick a bubble or object on the water to time when my fly is coming close to the fish. When the trout pick up a fly it’s easy to see as it will flare its gills and open its mouth (creating a white flash if seen from an angle or in front); another indication would be movement of the fish to pick up the fly. If I see that indication when I think my fly is in place I’ll add tension to the line. With the small hooks and downstream position the fish will naturally set the hook for you if you’ve hooked it, otherwise you won’t spook the fish (or snag it) by setting the hook unnecessarily. Mandatory on many rivers, I think barbless hooks make the hookset easier too.
Thanks to Game #7, for the Calgary Flames, the river was abandoned by about 6:30pm. After a while the fish seemed to settle back into position and some surface action started to come forth. I spotted one guy moving around gulping emergers fairly regularly. I moved into a position downstream from the fish and eased slowly into the water so I could get an easier cast off to the fish. Due to the strong wind and trees on shore a roll cast or overhand cast was hard to accomplish. Fishing from a few feet into the river I was able to get a backcast out and get the line speed to put my fly where it needed to be. My first cast was a little short so I waited a sec to give the fish time to come up again. When I thought the timing was right I shot out a bit more line and got a perfect drift. Nothing. Then a rise came a few feet up stream and out. There are so many insects at this point that the fish are just cruising around picking up flies in groups. It sort of reminds me of fishing to cruising rainbows in still water situations; predicting the path and pattern of the fish is key. I tossed my fly out again and got a better reaction this time. A telltale snout pokes out of the water and drops back in; 1-2-3 and I set the hook. A few minutes later and I’ve brought to hand a very healthy rainbow.
Upon netting him it became apparent just how many flies were coating the surface. The spinner fall was in swing and there were still other mayflies emerging - lots of options for the fish. I picked up a few specimens to get a pic of and tossed down the fly I’m using for a reference.
I’ve been experimenting with a few patterns
over the past little while and have arrived on a CDC loopwing emerger. It’s a very versatile fly: As a dry it sits flush in the surface and will pick up fish looking for dries or new emergers; fished wet it goes down slowly and looks just like the spinners that are submerged or floating along the surface; a light split will get it down quicker for fish picking up new emergers during the hatch.
I spent most of the evening stalking different risers as well as some of the fish feeding along the shore. One of the nicer fish from the evening is this rainbow - it went for a sunk fly. Detecting strikes can be challenging as it gets dark, a decent spidey-sense is invaluable
BWO action can be found throughout most of the season - it’s a great hatch to spend time on. Hopefully this fly helps you out. If you’re on the river try and keep it in mind that the fish will often be in closer to shore than you think. When the BWO’s are doing their thing take the time to study the river and observe any signs of fish in close before trudging out into the current!
DanJ
