Elbow River

About 8 km of urban tailwater through Mission, Roxboro and Stanley Park, with riffles and runs over cobble and bedrock, riprap banks and bridge pools. The City of Calgary sets the flow at Glenmore Dam, so this reach often carries much less than the river above the reservoir. Brown trout run up from the Bow to spawn every fall, so watch for redds and leave spawning fish alone. It is the only Elbow water open all year, all of it public parkland along the Elbow River pathway, from Sandy Beach down to the Bow.

Best for: Brown trout, rainbow trout and mountain whitefish on midges and BWOs on mild winter and spring days, and nymphs and small streamers the rest of the year.

Lower-gradient water through ranch and acreage country, with longer glides, undercut banks and cobble runs, ending where the river braids through the wooded Weaselhead delta into Glenmore Reservoir. It runs warmer than the upper river in late summer and holds bigger brown trout and rainbow trout. Most of both banks are private land, so use the public crossings at the Highway 22 and Highway 8 bridges and ask landowners before you cross. Above the Weaselhead the river passes through the Tsuut'ina reserve again, where you need the band council's permission. The bottom end is reached on foot from the city side of Weaselhead Flats.

Best for: Brown trout and rainbow trout on nymphs and streamers, mountain whitefish, and hoppers on the banks. The only reach where a little harvest is allowed, though releasing cutthroat is the right call.

The river widens into a foothills freestone, with longer riffle-run-pool sequences, gravel bars, braids and log jams, many of them reshaped by the 2013 flood. It is the most-fished stretch of the upper Elbow and Calgary's nearest roadside trout water, with day-use areas at Paddy's Flat, Station Flats, Allen Bill Pond, Gooseberry and the Elbow River Launch. The upper half is Kananaskis public land, the lower few kilometres private land and the hamlet. Every trout and whitefish goes back. Below Bragg Creek hamlet the river enters the Tsuut'ina Nation reserve, and you need the band council's permission to enter or cross it.

Best for: Dry-dropper fishing for westslope cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and mountain whitefish, hoppers along the grassy banks in August, and small streamers in fall.

Steep, cold, bouldery mountain water beside Highway 66 in Kananaskis Country: pocket water, short runs and plunge pools, very clear and not very fertile, so the fish are small but eager. Native westslope cutthroat trout are the main fish, with bull trout in the deeper pools and a few brook trout. Park at Little Elbow, Cobble Flats, Beaver Flats or Elbow Falls with a Kananaskis Conservation Pass. Open June 16 to October 31. The 2.5 km below Elbow Falls, down to Canyon Creek, is closed all year, so the plunge pools under the falls are off limits.

Best for: Westslope cutthroat trout on attractor dries, and bull trout you release at once. Leave spawning bull trout alone in late summer and fall.