Kananaskis river

[lds]

Never fishes it and don't know anyone who has. What's it like

[bergman]

The lower Kananaskis (below Barrier Dam) has No fish at all - the water levels fluctuate a lot, to the point that the creek is barely a trickle.

Above the Barrier dam, though can hold fish. I've heard right now early season is a good time to fish the mud Flats where the Kananaskis enters Barrier lake - water warms up over the mud and the bugs are good. Just what I've heard, though.

[chucky]

It's a beautiful looking river, but is pretty barren, even above Barrier... There is the odd one out, and some brookies on the side channels, but nothing like you'd expect unfortunately... The level changes are still quite significant with the upper dam which makes for poor habitat (be very careful when wading, it can change very rapidely, as I learnt when I was wondering why the water was suddenly well above my hips and much stronger...)

[Scott N]

I've only tried fishing it once, and I did manage to catch a little brookie near the Opal day use area. Like the other guys have already mentioned, the changes in water levels / flow make it a tough place for fish to live.

[greatbigdiddy]

Originally Posted by chucky

It's a beautiful looking river, but is pretty barren, even above Barrier... There is the odd one out, and some brookies on the side channels, but nothing like you'd expect unfortunately... The level changes are still quite significant with the upper dam which makes for poor habitat (be very careful when wading, it can change very rapidely, as I learnt when I was wondering why the water was suddenly well above my hips and much stronger...)

Those fluctuations can be brutal ... my friend and his girlfriend parked on highway 40 and crossed the river one afternoon then they scrambled up mount Lorette and misjudged there time and ended up decending in the dark with no flashlight after they finally got down after being lost and trapped on some ledges they made it back to the river at 130 am and it was now raging they decided to cross in the dark (stupid) they both got swept down him 30 yards her 100 yards scary stuff he found her crying and scared down stream they climbed back to the road and realized they lost the car keys brutal night ... they broke up a month later.

[greatbigdiddy]

Beautiful river could be amazing but those fluctuations hold it back .. however if you know where and more importantly WHEN to go it gives up it's share of Rockies, brookies and a certain German trout species but you may have to hike a bit and work hard to get into some good holes ... here are some photos of some K- river fish from back when Deano, Sparrow and I were mainly spin fisherman way back in the early 90s.

deano's brownie


sparrow and his brown


sparrow with a nice looking brown


deano with a whitey


me paying the price for a logjam brown


deano with a brownie


me with a whitey and look at me an oiler fan in a caps jersey I was a big Dino Ciccarrelli fan back in the day.

[gravelrider]

great pictures,tough river but gorgess

[lannie]

My brother asked me about fishing the river and I told him it was a waste of time from what I heard. He did very well from the pictures he showed me of Browns too.....

[WhitefishLady]

Great info on here guys! Speaking of Barrier Lake, does anybody know if you can use a gas motor in there?

[Jcpenny]

Originally Posted by bergman

The lower Kananaskis (below Barrier Dam) has No fish at all - the water levels fluctuate a lot, to the point that the creek is barely a trickle.

Above the Barrier dam, though can hold fish. I've heard right now early season is a good time to fish the mud Flats where the Kananaskis enters Barrier lake - water warms up over the mud and the bugs are good. Just what I've heard, though.

I just stumpled across this post and have to ask have u ever tried below barrier? lol its prob the best dam fishing in all of alberta!!!

[spinN'flyfish]

Originally Posted by Jcpenny

I just stumpled across this post and have to ask have u ever tried below barrier? lol its prob the best dam fishing in all of alberta!!!

How do you access this place?

[thedonald]

We had to camp at eau claire for Aug long so I hit the river to see how it was fishing. Got both brownies and white fish on drys, 6 out of one hole. It was a bit of a walk to find more fish and the browns although very willing for drys are easily spooked so you only get a couple of drifts before you put them down. Had to walk a mile between good holes and ended up spooking a bunch at opal before I saw them. If you camp there then it is worth putting some time in.

[Jcpenny]

Originally Posted by spinN'flyfish

How do you access this place?

Easy access with alot of trails off highway 40 aka the old trunk road from the trans canada. can access right from barrier dam and walk down from the transalta hydro dam or any of the pull in places off the highway or you can just access from highway 1 where the bow and kananaskis river meet honestly the whole river is great and as you get closer to the bow and camp grounds the fishes get bigger but there big all over the Kananaskis be carefull as the dams change times weekly and best times are when they turn on or off the dam if you time it all right you can bounce from hole to hole to hole also TA posts the dam scheduals online maybe ill see you on the river one day

These picks where from today..