October on the Water: Where to Fish Around Calgary Before Freeze-Up
What else is on this week
All Calgary events →The crowds are gone, the browns are moving and the Bow is at its best, so here's where to fish around Calgary this month and which spots you can skip.
Every October I watch the paddleboards vanish from the Bow and think the same thing: good. The river's back to the people who wanted it all summer, the water's dropped and cleared, and the trout are feeding like they know what's coming. If you've only fished around here in July, you've been fishing it wrong.
Start with the Bow, because there's no real argument. The stretch from downtown to Carseland holds some of the best wild brown and rainbow trout water on the continent, and you can reach a lot of it without a boat. Fish Creek Park gets you onto the river from the south end, and Policeman's Flats is the access I keep coming back to. Park, walk down through the cottonwoods, which smell like wet leaves and cold mud by mid-month, and you're fishing in ten minutes. On grey afternoons, watch for blue-winged olives coming off around 2 p.m. Small flies, light tippet, patience.
One thing about October on the Bow: the browns are spawning. Learn what a redd looks like (a clean, pale patch of gravel) and don't wade through it. Fish the deeper runs below instead. Most of the river through and below the city is catch-and-release for trout anyway, so check the current Alberta regulations before you go and keep your fish wet.
Now the opinion. Guided drift trips on the lower Bow are a fine experience and a lousy deal on a Saturday. You'll pay somewhere north of $600 for two people, then spend the day watching six other boats leapfrog you through the same runs. Book a Tuesday or Wednesday if you can swing it. You'll have room to breathe and the guide will be in a better mood.
The Elbow is overrated for fishing. It's pretty, it's close, and it gets hammered.
If you want lake fishing, drive west. The Kananaskis lakes and Spray Lakes Reservoir are where you go for lake trout and big bull trout country (and bull trout are strictly release, no exceptions, so know how to tell them from a brookie). October's a narrow window up there. Mornings sit below zero, the larches have mostly dropped, and the parking lots that were full in August are close to empty. Bring a thermos and gloves you can still tie knots in. Ghost Reservoir is closer and easier, but the wind off that water in October will cut through whatever you're wearing and plenty of days it's not worth the trip. Check the forecast. If it says gusts over 40, go to the Bow.
Chestermere gets mentioned as a fishing spot by people who don't fish. Skip it.
A few practical notes. You need an Alberta sportfishing licence, which you can buy online in a couple of minutes, and if you're fishing anything in Kananaskis you'll want the Conservation Pass for the car. Waders matter more now than they did a month ago; the Bow runs cold and the banks get slick once the frost starts sitting on the rocks in the morning. Felt soles are banned in Alberta, so if you've got an old pair kicking around the garage, they stay there.
And go early in the week, late in the day. The best hour I had on the river last October was a Monday at 4:30, standing below the bridge at Policeman's Flats, olives on the water, two rainbows in twenty minutes, and the only other person around was a guy walking his dog along the bank.
