Rainbow trout
Good
Fish shallower as the lake turns over; leeches and small lures along the shoals. Rivers fish best in the warmest hours.
Bow River at Calgary Fishing Report
Updated Fri, Sep 25, 2026 from live weather and water data
The Bow below Calgary: one of North America’s great trout rivers, rainbows and browns from drift boats, with a live gauge in the city.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
1.02 m63.3 m³/s
Air / High
7 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SW 3 km/h
Sources: Water Survey of Canada station 05BH004, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Bow River at Calgary rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 1.02 m, holding steady. Today brings cloud cover, wind SW around 3 km/h, rising pressure near 1002 hPa and a high of 21 °C. Water sits around 11 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Brown trout
Good
The pre-spawn fall bite: big streamers stripped along the banks and through the deep runs.
Tie on: Float and roe · Swung fly through the tailout · Jerkbait, long pauses · Hair jig on the rock. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Cooler at 9 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Alberta requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from C$30.00. Alberta fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with Alberta before you keep anything; the Rainbow trout page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Bow River at Calgary today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (07:27), sunset (19:27), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Water Survey of Canada station 05BH004 (BOW RIVER AT CALGARY).
River level, last 30 days
Water Survey of Canada real-time hydrometric data, station 05BH004. Latest reading 2026-09-25 04:05.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp7 °C
High / Low21 °C / 7 °C
WindSW 3 km/h, gusts 5 km/h
Pressure100.23 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 6%
Sunrise / Sunset07:27 / 19:27
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~11 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Bow River at Calgary
The best day on Bow River at Calgary this week looks like Saturday Sep 26, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Saturday, Sep 26 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, Sep 25 — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 07:27 to 19:27
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 27 km/h
- Rain chance
- 6%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Bow River at Calgary: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Rainbow trout
Lakes: ice-off to June and September to freeze-up; rivers through the open season
Canada’s most stocked sport fish, in thousands of BC, Alberta and prairie lakes and in the famous rivers, the Bow first among them. Wild rainbows in the rivers; stocked fish in most small lakes. Fish shallower as the lake turns over; leeches and small lures along the shoals. Rivers fish best in the warmest hours.
Brown trout
Best: spring and fall
The big-fish trout of the Bow below Calgary and of a handful of Alberta and Ontario rivers. Wary, nocturnal in summer and aggressive before the fall spawn. The pre-spawn fall bite: big streamers stripped along the banks and through the deep runs.
Westslope cutthroat trout
Summer and early fall
The native trout of the Elk River and the East Kootenay rivers, and of the Rocky Mountain headwaters of Alberta. Rises freely to dry flies; many waters are catch-and-release or have special limits. Fish slow down; nymphs and small streamers in the deeper runs.
Bull trout
Summer and fall
A native char of the cold mountain rivers of BC and Alberta, a predator of other fish. Protected in Alberta, where every bull trout must be released; limits vary by water in BC. Pre-spawn fish move upstream; large streamers in the pools.
When to come: the Bow River at Calgary calendar
Activity by species and month for the Canadian year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
Westslope cutthroat trout
Bull trout
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 11 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Bow River at Calgary today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 18 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at good. High of 21 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 20 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Alberta sportfishing licence, from C$30.00 for a resident adult, with higher prices for other Canadians and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and protected areas are set by Alberta and, in salt water and for salmon, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Alberta licence page before you keep anything.
Access
An Alberta sportfishing licence is needed from age 16 to 64 for residents and for all non-residents, bought through AlbertaRELM with a WiN number.
About this water
Bow River at Calgary is a river in Alberta, Canada, covered from the Alberta reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Bow River at Calgary: the full guide
The Bow at Calgary
The Bow River comes out of the Rockies past Banff and Canmore, through the reservoirs west of Calgary, and runs through the middle of the city before heading southeast across the prairie toward Carseland and Bassano. The stretch from Calgary downstream, rich in insects and weed, grows large rainbow and brown trout and is fished from drift boats by anglers from around the world. The Water Survey of Canada gauge at Calgary supplies the level, the flow and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Rainbow and brown trout are the fish, feeding on hatches of mayflies, caddis and stoneflies, with mountain whitefish in numbers; the browns grow fat on the river’s rich food. The Bow has special regulations in several sections, including bait bans and catch-and-release reaches, set out in the Alberta guide to sportfishing regulations.
Where to fish it
The river through Calgary is fished from the bank along the pathways and parks, including Fish Creek Provincial Park; below the city, the float from Fish Creek down toward Policeman’s Flats and the Carseland weir is the classic drift-boat water. Access to the lower river is through public launches and road crossings.
Planning a visit
Calgary has fly shops and guides who run the Bow daily in season; the river is big and fast in places, and drift boats need experience or a guide. The weirs on the river are dangerous: portage around them.
The water through the year
Snowmelt from the mountains raises the river from late May into July, sometimes in big floods, as in 2013; late summer and fall bring lower, clearer water and the best dry-fly fishing; the river is fished through much of the winter where it stays open below the city.
Reading this report here
The gauge at Calgary shows the runoff: a high, coloured river in June is hard to fish, and the drop in July opens the season. The chart shows the last 30 days; pressure and sky build the score.
Licence, access and rules
An Alberta sportfishing licence is needed from age 16 to 64 for residents and for all non-residents, bought through AlbertaRELM with a WiN number. The Bow’s special regulations are in the guide linked below, and our Alberta licence page has the fees.
Common questions
What fish are in the Bow River at Calgary?
Rainbow and brown trout, with mountain whitefish.
When is the best time to fish the Bow?
From the end of the spring runoff, usually July, into the fall.
Do I need a licence to fish the Bow in Calgary?
Yes, an Alberta sportfishing licence from 16 to 64 for residents, and for all non-residents.
Is fishing good at Bow River at Calgary right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Water level and flow readings
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Water Survey of Canada real-time hydrometric data, station 05BH004 — BOW RIVER AT CALGARY
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.