Winter Fishing on the Bow River

Is it possible? Is the water not completely frozen over? How many fish can you catch when the water is that cold, if any? These are all good questions which I will address within this article. Many people believe that the river is totally frozen over and unfishable. I drove over the Memorial Drive Bridge today and looked over at the Bow River, ice covered from one bank to the next, and if I did not know any better I would have come to this conclusion; no fishing for the next three months around here. Yeah this is true, no fishing around the weir at Memorial Dr unless you have an ice auger, but not downstream of it. Why is there open water that is fish-able further down the river?

The city of Calgary has a water treatment plant called the Bonny Brook water treatment plant which is located directly beside the Bow River. They treat the solid waste here and purify the water at this facility. Once the water has been treated and cleaned up they dispel some of this water into the river system. As a result of this and some other factors, the water is warmer from here on down the Bow River system. This provides many anglers with some open water fishing opportunities from the Glenmore Trail Bridge all the way downstream well past Policeman’s Flats. Good news for those of you who think there is no fishing until June!

I packed up my fishing gear, put on some warm clothes and ventured down to the river this past weekend to try my luck. January fishing the Bow River can be a month when you can catch the biggest and fattest trout that live in these cold waters. I looked for some slower moving water and settled in for three hours of fun. I choose minnow imitations in the winter and fired out and three inch long gold lure. It does not usually take long to latch into some massive Brown’s or Rainbows at this time of year. Ice on the water for weeks straight combined with a low food source is a recipe for success. Big hog Brown’s and some really decent Rainbows was the catch of the day.

My best fish taped out at 26 inches long and was one of the fattest, most clean looking Browns I have ever laid eyes on. This fish was a big male and to say he was hungry is a huge understatement. These fish do not love tap your hook, they hammer it. To most of you this is not new news but for those of you that do not know that the winter months provide awesome fishing, get dressed, get your winter boots on and bolt straight for the river. After all what do you have to loose, a couple hours of your time. What do you have to gain……monster Browns! That’s what.