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Public Access
Red Deer access is difficult because the river is lined by private land with only three public access points in the prime area between the dam and the Innisfail bridge on Highway 54. In Alberta, once you obtain legal access to the river, you can walk upstream or downstream as far as you wish as long as you stay below the high-water mark.

There is a good boat launch at the Dickson Dam. It is a three- to six-hour float from there to Range Road #20 (south of Highway 54). The river offers diverse fishing in deep troughs, along logs, tailouts, flats, riffles, and drop offs. This reach is a gem.

The rough boat-launch at Range Road #20 was damaged in the 2005 floods and is now just a foot access unless you can drag or carry an inflatable boat a short distance. It is a six- to ten-hour float from Range Road #20 to the Highway 54 bridge. This stretch has many of the same features as the upper river. At the halfway mark, the river widens to a seemingly featureless lake. With an east wind, life for the rower is miserable.

Below the Highway 54 bridge the river remains slow with wide and deep sections. To the untrained eye, it is difficult to find trout. It's a three- to six-hour float from Highway 54 to the #591 bridge west of Penhold. Below this takeout the river is wide, shallow, and warm during the summer months. While it holds large trout, it is less reliable than the upper river. This is a long reach where headwinds prevail.

During normal flows it is a 10-hour float from Penhold to the next takeout under the Highway 2 bridge or another hour to the boat launch in Red Deer at Great Chief Park. There can be good fishing in the city and for the first six miles below but anything downstream of the Highway 54 bridge west of Innisfail is hit-or-miss. The upper river is much easier to read if you are visiting for the first time. [The web site maps.google.com shows the roads mentioned in this article as well as satellite imagery of the river below Dickson Dam. Use the search term "Innisfail, Alberta." The Editor.]

The Red Deer is a destination for fly fishers looking for the largest brown trout of their lives-on a dry fly. Since your best route of travel is through Calgary International Airport, combining days on the Bow River and the Red Deer makes a superb fly-fishing vacation. There are also countless streams with wild browns and rainbows and native cutts in the Rockies west of both Calgary and Red Deer you can investigate on your own or with a guide. [For information on Ram River westslope cutthroat trout west of Red Deer, see flyfisherman.com/canada/ramriver. The Editor.]