Kananaskis River

The Kananaskis below Barrier Dam is a short tailwater, about 12 km from the dam to the Bow at Seebe, along Highway 40 in Kananaskis Country. TransAlta runs Barrier Dam for power, so this river follows the dam more than the weather. Between releases the station below the dam can read under 1 m³/s. When a release starts it can pass 20 within the hour, and it falls back just as fast when the release ends.

That swing is the first thing to know. Check the flow tile before you wade, and keep watching the water while you fish: when a release starts, a run you crossed at ankle depth can be too deep and fast to wade back across within minutes. Fish at low release, when the riffles and pools are clear and slow enough to read, and stay on the bank when the dam is releasing. The river holds brook trout, rainbows, cutthroat and mountain whitefish. Rainbows and cutthroat go back, as does any bull trout, and brook trout may be kept.

Above the Trans-Canada Highway the river is open April 1 to October 31 in three periods, with a bait ban, and closed November 1 to March 31. The last 1.3 km below the highway is open all year. A Kananaskis Conservation Pass is needed to park at the day-use areas along the river. Wapiti Sports in Canmore, about 25 minutes away, is the nearest fly shop.