Smiling guest holding a Bow River rainbow trout under a bluebird sky on a guided fly fishing trip with King Trout Outfitters near Calgary

Fishing Reportgood

Bow River Fishing Report

Week of August 28, 2026

By Dan King · Lead Guide, King Trout Outfitters

Bow River fly fishing conditions in downtown Calgary on August 28, 2026 — low, clear late-summer water below the skyline near the Centre Street Bridge, where King Trout Outfitters runs guided Bow River trips. — The Bow running low and clear through downtown Calgary on the morning of Friday, August 28, 2026, looking across to the skyline and Centre Street Bridge. Point-in-time snapshot from the DELTATECH Calgary live river camera. Source: DELTATECH Calgary Live Camera →

Bow River fishing conditions for the week of August 28, 2026 are good. Flow is 83 cubic meters per second and stable. Water temperature is 17°C. No angling restrictions are in effect. Active hatches include Trico, Terrestrials (Hoppers/Ants/Beetles), Blue-Winged Olive (BWO), Caddis.

Flow (m³/s) →

17°C

Water Temp ↓

good

Overall Conditions

None

Restrictions

iFlow context: Low, clear, and settled heading into the weekend. The Bow read 83 cms this morning, the bottom end of the daily dam cycle, and it's still parked right on that 90 cms late-summer baseline it's held for weeks. High 80s overnight, back into the mid 90s through the afternoon, and that's the whole range. I pulled a shot off the downtown camera at first light and it's a bluebird Friday, gin-clear water under the skyline. No rain, no runoff, nothing to move it. This is the best wading of the year and the most predictable the river gets. The floats run skinny in a few of the shallow lines so pick your water, and at this clarity the fish see everything, so fish light and fine. The nights are cool now and September starts Monday, so the season is right on the turn. Source: Environment Canada

A red FLYPOD drift boat with two anglers on the Bow River near Calgary, ready to launch for a guided fly fishing trip

On the Water

Do You Need a Boat to Fish the Bow River?

You can wade the Bow in spots, but most of the best water sits along banks and seams you can only reach by drift boat. That is why guided trips here run from a boat. It covers miles of productive water in a day and keeps you safer when flows are up, like the 83 cms running this week.

What Are Conditions Like on the Bow River This Week?

“

Dan King

Lead guide at King Trout Outfitters · 15+ years on the Bow River

Dan here, and it's a bluebird Friday to kick off the weekend. I grabbed a shot off the downtown Calgary camera this morning and you can see it: the Bow low and clear under the skyline, not a cloud to speak of. The river's running 83 cms, the low end of the daily dam cycle, and it's been dead stable for weeks now on that 90 cms baseline, so this is the settled, predictable, best-wading-of-the-year river. The fishing's genuinely good. Tricos are peaking on the calm mornings, best up above Bearspaw where the water stays coldest, the hoppers are in their last strong stretch tight to the grass banks in town, and the real shift is the fall BWOs, which are coming on strong on any grey afternoon. Down low it's still a first-light deal, so land them fast and keep them wet. No official closure as I write this, but on a hot afternoon temperature still runs the show, so check My Wild Alberta the morning you head out. And here's the honest truth: September is filling up fast. Cool water and fall browns is the best fishing of the whole year, so if you want a float, grab a date now.

Close-up of a wild brown trout held gently in hand showing distinctive spotted markings

What They're Eating

What Flies Are Working on the Bow River Right Now?

Right now the trout are keyed on Trico, Terrestrials (Hoppers/Ants/Beetles), Blue-Winged Olive (BWO), Caddis. That is why our guides are fishing patterns like Trico Spinner, Foam Hopper, BWO Parachute this week. Match what is hatching, get a clean drag-free drift, and you will move fish. The full fly chart for this week is right below.

What Hatches Are Active on the Bow River?

Insect	Hook Size	Activity
Trico	#20-24	heavy
Terrestrials (Hoppers/Ants/Beetles)	#8-16	moderate
Blue-Winged Olive (BWO)	#18-22	moderate
Caddis	#14-18	light

See the full month-by-month Bow River Hatch Chart →

What Flies Are Working This Week?

Close-up of a hand selecting a fly from a well-stocked fly box

Trico Spinner

#20-22dry

Foam Hopper

#8-12dry

BWO Parachute

#18-20dry

Foam Ant/Beetle

#14-16dry

Pheasant Tail

#16-18nymph

Olive Woolly Bugger

#4-6streamer

Pro Tip

No restrictions this week. Fish from dawn to dusk. The best window is mid-morning through late afternoon when the hatches are active and the water has warmed a few degrees.

Where Should You Fish the Bow River This Week?

Upper Bow

Above Bearspaw Dam

Above Bearspaw is the play for a weekend morning. The Ghost feeds cold water in at the top, so this reach stays cool and keeps fishing when the rest of the Bow wants an afternoon break. Tricos are the headline on the calm mornings. The spinner fall drops an hour or so after the sun hits the water, and when the fish lock on it's a #20 to #24 spinner on a long, light leader. Size down as the fall thins toward month's end. At 83 cms of gin-clear water you get one clean drift before a fish slides off, so kneel down, pick your target, and make the first cast count. On a grey afternoon the fall BWOs are coming off now, a #18 parachute through the riffles, and when the Tricos taper late morning a small hopper with a Pheasant Tail a couple feet under works the inside seams.

City Section

Bearspaw to Carseland

Town water is fishing well through the weekend, and the cooler nights have the midday window back open. Mornings don't slam shut by lunch the way they did in the early-August heat. The hoppers are into their last strong stretch, so work a foam bug tight to the grass banks, inches off the edge, and if a brown flashes it and turns away, hang a small ant or beetle behind it. That's the game along Carburn and down through Policeman's Flats. Catch an overcast afternoon and you'll get a proper fall BWO hatch with heads up in the flat water. Evening caddis is still trickling off in the last hour of light, thin but enough to lift a few. Only a hot bluebird afternoon still asks you to back off the warmest hours, and those windows are shrinking as the light comes off earlier.

Lower Bow

South of Calgary

McKinnon Flats to Carseland is the warmest water on the river, so it's still a first-light program down here, but the cool nights are pulling the afternoon warmth off faster now. Launch early, fish the cool hours hard, and read the day. The steadiest thing going is a hopper-dropper worked tight to the banks in that early cool, and swinging an Olive Woolly Bugger through the deeper runs before the sun lands still turns the biggest fish of the morning. The lower-river browns are strong and healthy, and with the water cooling into September they're starting to think about the fall. Land them quick, keep them wet, pop the hook, and send them off with gas in the tank. When the water's this low, a long fight into afternoon warmth can still hurt a fish, so if the day heats up, you're done down here by early afternoon.