Great video, Lornce. Thanks for posting it. On rivers, backswimmers mostly hunt in the top foot or two of the water column so fly patterns are generally unweighted or lightly weighted. When feeding, sometimes in large swarms, they will land in moving current, usually starting at the drop off into a pool/glide. They are predacious and feed on the emerging or spent mayflies, midges and caddis in the upper water column. Then, when they run out of air, they resurface and either swim to shore or fly back upriver and repeat. During egg laying flights, the females dive bomb and swim down to deposit their eggs in suitable habitat on the stream bed and oftentimes in nearby ponds and sloughs found along the river. In the Fall, I've seen epic swarms show up on a couple of occasions on the Bow, which has the largest backswimmer species in Alberta, Notonecta borealis.

They managed very poorly. Restocking efforts are finally paying some dividends but it's been a very long road to recovery.

Thanks Jason. We need to consider the grim evidence that we already have concerning the Bow river. The collapse of one - two year old Rainbow stocks. I've seen AEP boats out doing their survey recently, so if this year's numbers show no recovery, it would suggest a worse case scenario, like the lower Crownest and, that we may only have a couple of more years before there are no longer sufficient numbers of adult spawners left in the river to sustain reproduction. I'm expecting the worst...

It was inevitable that it would end up here in southern Alberta, in spite of any attempts to prevent it. It's like trying to stop a common cold virus from spreading. Question is, where to from here?

Thanks for posting this, Don. Not good news for our Alberta fishery.

Turn the waders inside out. Then, go to a dark room like your bathroom and shine a flashlight from inside the legs of the waders. You will see all of the holes, instantly. Use a black marker to draw a small circle around any holes. Apply sealant to the inside of the waders. If the socks leak they will need to be replaced.

I agree, felt for the Bow.

We saw a Whitefish on the Bow near Carsland, with what was likely Whirling disease, in 2010. It swam down the river on the surface, right next to our anchored boat. We tried to scoop him up with the long handled boat net but missed him. His spine/tail was bent in the classic WD shape. There are hardly any RM Whitefish left in the Bow these days.

Can you tell us what stretch of the Bow to keep an eye out?

There have been a few dead trout showing up this week on the Bowness stretch. My neice found a couple along Bowness park on Sunday. Might be worthy of an AEP investigation. Water temps have been pretty normal for this time of year and there hasn't been much angler traffic. Just the rubber dingy crowd.

Used to be lots of them down near Policeman's flats, before the flood.

I would suggest that you try casting them both at a fly shop and see which one "feels right" for you. Choosing the right rod is about matching your natural "casting tempo" to the corresponding rod flex. Some folks have a faster casting pace and most often prefer "faster" rod actions. Others have a slower casting pace and prefer a full flex type rod. By casting rods with different flex, you will find the perfect match for you.

It was slow, but fast....

Floated from Glenmore and took out at Fish Creek yesterday Not aware of any closures.

Well done. The fishies thank you!