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.

5 comments

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    • Keith on January 26, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    Mike,

    How far down does the water stay clear – I usually like to fish just above the Carseland Weir is it still somewhat clear there or would I be to far South? I’ve never been out in the winter and I usually wait until march/april before I begin fishing again.

    Just wanted to share with you an awesome Fishing Adventure I had Jan 26 2007. My wife and I traveled to Ontario for Christmas, near Sarnia – went to a small town called Arkona and I had a chance to get out and fish the Ausable river. we hiked in about 4 km’s before we found a decent spot we could descend to the river – we located a good looking run and on my second cast I thought I hit a snag….

    I was pulling trying to clear the snag and suddenly I felt the tell tale whip motion and hollered “FISH ON!!!”

    20 minutes of fighting and moving down river I landed the biggest fish of my life…. The most beautiful Rainbow Trout I have ever seen… 25″ exactly and just a hair under 10 lbs… You can see a picture of her here: http://www3.telus.net/public/kaudley/Fish/

    Happy Fishing Mike – maybe I’ll try the Bow around the highwood tomorrow…

  1. Hey Keith, awesome photo’s of your massive Christmas time Rainbow Trout. It looks as though that fish was nice and clean, almost like it was the first time it had been hooked and landed? Nice fish indeed. Sweet.

    As per your question, fishing at or above the Carseland weir is questionable this time of year. Slow moving water combined with large ice build up make it almost unfishable. The section I consentrate fishing is from the 22x bridge to say a little past Nature’s Hideaway camp ground. The water is open from bank to bank almost and there are hungry Trout waiting to chow down along this stretch of the river. Try the X-Rap by Rapala, use the pure white, the blue & white combination or the black with an orange under belly; the Brown’s seen to love that color scheme.

    Thanks so much for sharing your story with us here and please let me know how the fishing went for you when you arrive home tomorrow. Who know’s maybe you will even catch that 30 inch monster you have been looking for. Good luck and have fun, oh and stay warm.

    ~Mike~

    • Keith on January 27, 2008 at 12:48 pm

    yeah…. little to cold for fishing today – we gave it a try though, then my reel started to freeze into a solid lump of ice.. I thought that it would be a little warmer but with that storm moving in today it didn’t turn so well… lol

    Ah well, next time. Mike any pointers for sites that can help someone out whos never been Ice Fishing? My two boys 15 and 13 and myself really want to give it a go but have no idea where to start… I suppose I should start with an Ice Augar..

  2. Hey Keith, no joke it is a little cold out. I’m surprised you even went out and casted a line out. Much too cold for this die hard fisherman!

    I will write an article for you tonight and it will be posted first thing in the morning, I will give you the things and places you need to get started. I wrote a post a short time ago and it is called “Getting ready for Ice” I believe it is still on the home page of the site. A good start to anyone looking to do some ice fishing. Please feel free to ask anything you like here Keith, I will help you as much as I possibly can.

    Have a great day and we shall be in touch.

    ~Mike~

    • Av8r on February 16, 2010 at 10:01 am

    After reading this blog I decided to head out yesterday and try my luck. After about 3 hours of sightseeing I locked into my first brown of the year. A mix of rainbows and browns followed with one brown coming in at over 4lbs. The fish were pretty sluggish for the most part but one rainbow hit my rapala and took off like it was mid July! All in all it was a great day of fishing and I can’t wait to get out for some more winter trout.

    Adrian

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