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All this talk about AEP conducting fish population surveys, creel surveys and monitoring the quality of the water in the Bow River is just not true! The last true fish population survey was conducted in 2007 and that represented the fish population on the Policeman's to McKinnon's stretch of the Bow. - not the entire river from Harvie Passage to Carseland. What ever the data showed at the time, the true Blue Ribbon Bow River trout population was probably half what was reported. If any fish population enhancement programs are put in place by AEP, how could we see if there was in fact an enhancement in fish population if the baseline data is questionable. The first thing to do is to get the baseline fish population data. The last creel survey on the Bow River was conducted in 2005 and showed less than one trout being caught per hour across the entire stretch on the Bow River. All this talk about routinely catching 20 - 30 fish days is just a figment of ones imagination. There are probably 4x anglers on the river nowadays with an increase in drift and jet boat use from probably 50 in 2005 to well over 200 today, The creel survey data also indicated that the Bow River fishing pressure was the highest of any river in Alberta. AEP is conducting another creel survey this year that will show an alarming increase in angler pressure and a decrease in catch rates. Calgary's water treatment plants have decreased the phosphate levels in the river. AEP conducts ongoing monitoring of phosphate levels and with their modeling programs indicate that the current water treatment facilities will meet regional population increases for some time. What is surprising is the lack of data collection for invertebrate population changes during the same time as the phosphate levels have been reduced. I have asked AEP to gather what information is available. What I expect to see is a need to do more research. The Bow River water management initiatives that are now in place and in its simplest form will see higher flows in the early spring when reservoirs are exempted in anticipation of spring runoff flooding. Starting in mid June, flows will decrease to fill upstream reservoirs to normal operating levels and by the middle of July when flows will hopefully be stable. Increase storage capacity will hopefully increase flows through August and September. All sounds very good for the fishery, but unfortunately daily changes in dam discharge can see 15 cms change in flow per hour. We have seen 100 cms / day increases and decreases this year that could impact invertebrate survival. Discussions between the water operators and the government will hopefully see some improvement in operating procedures in the best interests of the fishery. What does all this tell us? The common thread in this topic has been government and NGO's need to make changes to accommodate the fishing pressure that now exists. No one has commented on the fact that the Bow River fishing resource is overfished. We need to face this reality and address it now before the fishery reaches a level of no return.

There are things that tear us away from the thing we love to do most, which is fish. The primary time suck is the job. I can't do anything about that, we need money to feed the habit. Kids and wife are next, neglect those at your own risk. Next is yard care. Yard care sucks. But the negative attention of ignoring it can be severe. Here is my advice on maximizing fishing time while minimizing yard care: 3rd Worst Yard Guy

Found out after the fact. Anglers have to be better at reading county maps before they leave the city. They are available online. Try ihunt app. No excuses #notmyproblem

Thanks for the replies, got some new brands to check out that i’ve never heard of. I try not to explore fishing gear too much until I need it, keeps my wallet and wife happy hahah

Year after year, AEP spends it's resources doing Angler surveys, fish counts, reviews of fishing regulations and continually say they are "monitoring the situation closely", yet, year after year fish populations continue to decline. All of the focus remains on C&R fisherman. We continue to look in the wrong direction to identify all of the reasons for the decline. There can only be as many fish as the system can support. Degradation of the habitat leads to degradation of bio mass. So, what are the stressor's that are contributing to habitat degradation?. That's where AEP needs to put their resources and leave us fisherman alone. We are not the problem. Our impact is miniscule in the big picture. Yet the discussion keeps going round and round us, like we all have "whirling" disease. There is no other user group that collectively, contributes more too the Bow fishery's well being, then C&R flyfisherman. Maybe I should just write a letter to that Suzuki fellow out on the left coast and ask him to come too Calgary with his camera crew to point out the obvious to the government.

Surprised nobody mentioned this yet. Over the years the treatment plants have gotten "cleaner" by not pumping as much phosphate into the river, which means less fertilizer for river flora. Less flora probably means fewer bugs...

I've been using Kaenon polarized yellow silver mirror glasses for years for local fishing and steelheading. I've just replaced them with new Costa's also in polarized yellow sunrise silver mirror, and they're even better in overcast low light which seems to happen more often than not when fishing up in Skeena country in the fall. I prefer a do-it-all type lens that passes a lot of light with great contrast, and these ones fit the bill for everything except for super bright days on the flats or ocean fishing, then I bring out the blue mirror Costa's. I've tried Oakley's, Smith, and Maui Jim's and always go back to Kaenon or Costa. The nice thing with Costa is that they really support the fishing community with more than a few token lens and frame combinations.

Boat Ramp Access - impact on fish survival. The float from Graves Bridge to Policeman's Flats together with the float from Policeman's Flats to McKinnon's sees the biggest pressure on the fishery. Not only from the float angler but also walk in bank anglers. If you want to catch a scared up trout from multiple catch and release antics this is the place to go. Every time a fish is caught the survival rate has been reported to decrease. Hopefully more river access sites will spread out the fishing , reducing the pressure and mortality of fish population. If one wants a more pristine experience and catch less scarface fish. go further downstream. Those fish you do catch will not have experienced the stress and damage for repeated exposure to hooks, hands, nets and air. Historically bigger fish were always caught on the Mac to Carseland stretch of the Bow. Were they bigger because of more feed, or that they survived less catch-and-release? Remember the boat angler may catch more fish, but represents such an insignificant pressure on the fishery as compared to the vast number walk in anglers. The pressure on the fishery comes from many directions, but the ever increasing number of anglers may be of the greatest concern. Spread them out on the river would give the fish population a better chance to survive. No science here! just and oldtimers logic. If we wait for the science community to take up our concerns and the fishery managers to take action to correct the situation based on scientific evidence there will be little or no fishery left!

A bowl of goodness