Elbow River Skunked

[slamilton]

Was out on Elbow River at Bragg Creek Provincial site yesterday between 12-3pm and not a single bite or sign of fish. Some great pools but nothing. Tried stimulators, royal coach, woolly bugger (few different colors), prince head, and a couple other adams type flies with not even a rise. I realize that it is not prime time, but before the floods I would still catch a few mid day as I like to avoid the evening rush. Anyone have any luck out there, or any portion of the Elbow for that matter?

[upstream]

I have fished elbow and its trib for years. The further you go upstream, the less action it is. Try the stretch by highway 22. I usually have success, with bigger in size as well.

[Calgaryguy1977]

Hey buddy......have you tried just above McLean creek on the highway where Allen Bill Pond used to be? I've caught some nice fish there on stimulators but fishing was slow at best.

[upstream]

I used to fish that stretch before the flood. Haven't been back ever since. Caught nice bulls at that "corner pool" just a little down stream of where the pond used to be. You should know the pool I am talking about and I hips it is still there...

[upstream]

Typo correction "hope it is still there"

[jeprli]

Try evenings.

[slamilton]

Havent tried Mclean but will give it a go.

have a lot of spare time in the afternoons and just like to get out, but may have to give the evenings a shot.

Thanks for the ideas.

[jeprli]

Last time I was there, darker dries worked well. No obvious risers but they did come up to take a dry. River is fishing a lot slower than before but there are fish, just have to search a bit more to find them. Some stretches that look like trout heaven are void of fish, I found most action in tailouts, slick water.

[gnugen]

Locals in Discovery Ridge has landed good size fish outside of the band land. Spinners and fly. tribs have already been good. I had a few bites back in June.

[slingshotz]

On the weekend was out downstream of 22 and landed/ldr over three dozen whitefish including a monster whitie that was over 20" that surprised me. However, only trout of the day was a little 9" brown. Saw a few other smaller trout, but nothing was rising during the day, most likely due to the heat though.

This was on a stretch of the river where there is extremely little pressure as there are miles of private access both directions so I'm surprised at the low numbers of trout. I think it is still taking time for the trout to come back after getting flushed down to the reservoir.

The nymph of the day was a classic beadhead prince nymph, or anything else dark bodied with white/grey wings. Nothing wanted the san juan.

[Flynatic]

I have never seen the Elbow so slow, I fish it a lot 3-4 times per week. Since August 28th I've caught 1brown, I do not even see fish!
In my opinion the fish count is down by ar least 80%
My next call is to the hatchery to see if an expert can offer anything up.

[gnugen]

Landed some smaller browns on an Elk Hair Caddis south of Discovery Ridge. Not a lot of action but I usually fish early mornings.

[kmacisaac]

I was out on the weekend and pulled a few trout from under the bridge near Allen Bill Pond or what once was AB Pond. There were a handful rising and we're reluctant to take to my dry fly unless I stayed low to the ground and hidden....I'm sure they've been fished for there before. Downstream was quiet with nothing to show for.

[rycoma]

The elbow used to be good but not great. Lots of white fish and big bulls but never really good for trout. The river is beat really hard in the summer with all the camp sites and rec. Tourists in the area. I started one morning near paddys flats and fished up stream by ten am the river was swarmed with people and none of them were fishing. Most of the fish were caught early am or later in the evening. Plus the water is completely clear you can see 12' down no problem