Clearwater River

The Clearwater is Central Alberta's big brown trout river. It rises in Banff National Park, runs east out of the mountains through the upper Clearwater valley, crosses the Forestry Trunk Road, passes the Tay River confluence and Ricinus, and turns north at the Highway 54 bridge west of Caroline. From there it winds through farm country past Dovercourt to the North Saskatchewan at Rocky Mountain House, about 200 km from its source. Brown trout are the fish most anglers come for. The province stocked them from 1927 into the 1980s, and they now spawn on their own. In the Alberta Conservation Association's fall survey of the middle river they ran from small fish to about 60 cm (24"), and most were near 40 cm (16"). Brook trout live in the upper river and its creeks, and mountain whitefish are common throughout. Bull trout are native here, but few are left, so every one goes back.

Read the Dovercourt gauge, at the Highway 22 bridge. The river opens April 1, low and clear after winter. Snowmelt and June rain usually push it up from May through July, often to about 30 m³/s (1,060 cfs) or more at Dovercourt, and it runs high and coloured. Most anglers wait for August and September, when the river drops and clears and the wading gets easy again. At those flows, nymph the riffles and runs, swing or strip a streamer along the banks and through the deeper corners for the bigger browns, and try a hopper along grassy banks on warm afternoons. October is a good month for big browns on streamers, and the season ends on October 31. Above the Forestry Trunk Road you may keep 2 trout only until August 31, and from September 1 every trout goes back.

Plan around land and access. Above Caroline the river runs mostly through public land with open access, from the Cutoff Creek Road and Seven Mile campground water down past the Forestry Trunk Road to the Ricinus area. Below Caroline it runs through private farm land with far fewer public access points: start at a bridge and stay below the high-water mark, or ask the landowner. The upper river above Elk Creek is trail and horse country, far from any road. Brook trout and bull trout are easy to confuse, so learn the difference before you keep a fish: a bull trout has no dark wavy marks on its back or dorsal fin, and the limit for it is 0. Carry bear spray in the upper valley.