Born in the glacial lakes of Banff National Park, the Bow River rolls 587 km through the Rockies and prairie grasslands before meeting the South Saskatchewan. Bottom-release dams at Lake Louise, Ghost and Bearspaw ensure cool (8-12 °C) flows that nourish prolific wild brown and rainbow trout right through downtown Calgary. With year-round open seasons, a famed blue-winged-olive hatch and kilometres of city-park access, the Bow balances world-class angling with latte stops only blocks away.
Anglers divide the river into three distinct reaches. **Upper Bow (Banff NP → Ghost Reservoir):** fast freestone pocket water harbouring cutthroat and bull trout. **Blue-Ribbon Tailwater (Bearspaw Dam → Carseland Weir):** 55 km of cold, nutrient-rich flats and riffles slicing through Calgary—home to trophy browns. **Lower Bow (Carseland → Bassano):** slower prairie meanders where browns mingle with pike and walleye. Most public access and guiding occurs within the city reach and the stretch from Police Outpost to Policeman’s Flats.
Wild brown trout average 35 cm with regular 60 cm trophies; rainbows run 30–45 cm on nymphs and emergers. Mountain whitefish school below riffles year-round, while invasive brook trout persist in cold upper tributaries. Lower reaches host northern pike, walleye and lake sturgeon. Provincial electro-surveys estimate 2 000–2 500 catchable trout per kilometre in the tailwater.
March midges and blue-winged olives coax early risers. Late-May caddis blizzards create legendary evening dry-fly sessions under Centre Street Bridge. Golden stones and PMDs fuel June-July, while windy afternoons blow in hoppers, spruce budworms and carpenter ants. Autumn browns crush olive or black sculpins ahead of their October spawn. Winter trout pod in slow seams, sipping size-20 midges and sowbugs flushed from weed mats beneath city outfalls.
A fast 9-ft 6-wt covers most conditions; add a 7-wt sink-tip for articulated streamers. Run 12-ft 5X leaders to size-16 BWO duns, 9-ft 3X to foam hoppers, and 0X fluoro with 7.5-ft poly leaders when stripping leeches. Euro-nymphers succeed in side seams with 10-ft 3-wts and tungsten Perdigons. Indicator rigs—5/7 g split-shot, size-14 wire worms and #18 pheasant tails—dominate shoulder seasons. Drift-boat anglers favour 10–15 km floats between Glenmore, Policeman’s and McKinnon.
City-reach favourites include Edworthy riffles, Shouldice outflow and the “Graveyard” run below Glenmore. Downstream, Policeman’s Flats to McKinnon Flats offers long nymph lines and hopper banks under cottonwoods. Upstream of Calgary, the Ghost check-station and Highway 22 bridge yield summer cutbows. Local etiquette: give drift boats right-of-way when wading tight bends.
The City of Calgary maintains free boat launches at Fish Creek, Glenmore and Shouldice, while Alberta Parks manages Policeman’s and McKinnon flats ($5 day). Upstream forest lands host Ghost Reservoir PP and Waiparous launch. Low-head weirs at Harvie Passage and Carseland demand portage—observe signage. A bicycle path parallels 20 km of urban shoreline for easy walk-in scouting.
Dry box: #16 BWO emerger, #14 Goddard caddis, #10 tan hopper, #12 stimulators. Nymph box: wire worm (#4 red), #16 2-Bead stone, #18 Pheasant Tail jig, #18 sowbug. Streamers: #4 gold/olive dungeon, #6 black leech, #6 white Sex Dungeon for dusk. Always carry 3–6X fluoro, strike indicators (½″ Air-Lock), and MaxGrip tungsten putty. Felt soles are legal but Clean-Drain-Dry is mandatory at AIS stations May–Oct.
Storm-water runoff, whirling disease and Eurasian water-milfoil threaten Bow trout. Trout Unlimited Canada’s Bow River Chapter tags fish to study survival post-2013 floods, while Calgary River Valleys removes invasive weeds each June. Report suspected zebra-mussel veligers to Alberta Environment, and decontaminate watercraft at provincial stations. Anglers can volunteer for annual “Trout Count” snorkel surveys or riparian willow plantings near Policeman’s.
Ghost and Bearspaw releases can rise 30 cm in under an hour—check TransAlta flow forecasts before wading gravel bars. Summer Chinook winds gust 60 km/h; anchor or shore-up when whitecaps form. In spring, glacial runoff chills water to 6 °C—wear a wading belt and carry a throw rope. Urban bear sightings near Fish Creek demand bear spray in dawn/dusk sessions.
**Bow River Troutfitters** (Calgary) offers daily flow texts and drift-boat shuttles. **Country Pleasures** (Calgary) stocks Euro-nymph gear and hosts free casting clinics in Stanley Park. **Out Fly Fishing** (Calgary) provides rental rafts and year-round tying nights. All sell Alberta Fishing Licences and AIS decals.
Support **Trout Unlimited Canada – Bow River Chapter** for spawning-habitat work, join **Calgary River Valleys** for shoreline clean-ups, or back **Alberta Conservation Association** funding culvert remediation. Citizen-science flow logs and macro-invertebrate sampling strengthen proposals for thermal-pollution controls at storm outfalls.
Bow River **ES1 reach** (Banff NP boundary downstream to Bassano Dam) is catch-and-release for all trout; mountain whitefish limit five; pike and walleye as per table. Barbless hooks are mandatory and bait fish are prohibited. Open season year-round, but from 1 September – 31 October the reach 50 m below Carseland Weir is closed to protect spawning browns. All anglers aged 16–64 need an Alberta Sportfishing Licence; Clean-Drain-Dry inspections required for trailered boats. Consult the 2025 Alberta Guide to Sportfishing Regulations for zone boundaries, AIS rules and in-season changes.