Reading Water
Breaking down the river is crucial. The Bow has a healthy trout and whitefish population and if you can find fish, you can catch fish.
Both inside seams and mid-river seams offer an effortless food buffet that big trout thrive in. Colour changes indicate buckets and drop offs, while surface appearance shows obvious current breaks and seams that are often overlooked. Many will often fail to notice what is not visible on the surface, such as rock or debris that provides underwater pockets and pillows for trout to feed. These areas of easy resting and feeding for trout are often stacked with fish, and those that fish all of them out-fish anglers that target only obvious features.
In spring trout can be found in slower moving, deep water pockets. Obvious eddies and pools are where the trout will remain after winter until water levels rise due to run-off. As spring becomes summer, trout begin to widen their ranges of habitat on the Bow River. Runoff provides deeper water and good habitat closer to the bank. It also dislodges a buffet of nymphs and trout are primed, feeding sub-surface at this time. Caddis, stoneflies, and other insects migrate into the smaller riffles and deflections nearer the river bank in higher water and trout respond.
As young fry and other baitfish become a prevalent food source in summer, fish will chase them into gravel, broken rock, eddies, and log jams. They can often be found capitalizing on the emergence of baitfish in mere inches of water, although this phenomenon happens throughout the river.
Fall brings a wide range of scenarios, and fish will often either be chasing backswimmers in shallow water or retreating to larger wintering holes where they can effortlessly feed and rest during the colder months.
Presentation
Two or three flies on a setup is common, and greatly improves success, but can be cumbersome to cast. Open loops and a slight lowering of top end line speed will help turn over your casts.
One of the most important components of nymphing is ensuring a natural fly presentation, or “drag free drift.” This can be achieved by high sticking, mending and even your body positioning in the water. When casting short distances, the easiest way to maintain a natural drift is high sticking. This is simply done by raising the tip of your rod so majority of your line is off the water and unaffected by current. One thing to keep in mind is the height of your rod tip when high sticking; too high and it will be too hard to set the hook, too low and your line will stay on the water and get swept away, possibly obstructing a drag free drift. Maintain the height of the rod tip and track the indicator as it moves until the drift is done and it is time to recast.
You often have to cross multiple current seams to cast to a seam that’s further away from you. In this case, mending is really critical in order to get a drag-free drift. A downstream mend can help keep your line flowing fast enough in certain situations, while the upstream mend can help slow it down in different scenarios. It is key to determine in which direction you should mend, and how aggressive your mends should be. You always want to be casting in front of you and upstream when nymphing. Remember to set the hook on any movements of the indicator. Big fish often do not pull the indicator under at all, rather, simply slow it down or slightly move it. This is why it is key to set even on small movements.