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Good points sparkplug. Pretty sobering report nonetheless. We had a couple really good years for big rainbows, in 15 and 16 I think? This summer there seemed to be more snakey ones, but my anecdotal experience has been that the browns were almost unicorn status in 13 but have come back a fair bit. Definitely lots of non-fishing issues at play here. Those flow fluctuations and low flows in mid summer after spring flood mitigation have been crazy. Certainly something needs to be done there, and great to see bow river trout advocating for these issues on behalf of the community. The article mentions a lottery system - I really hate the idea. I’d much rather see a classified system implemented with the money going back into the resource, perhaps spring & late fall closures implemented during the spawn (apparently insta stars can’t help but to hammer spawners), barbless hook requirements, and mandatory closures when water temps cross a predetermined “unsafe to fish” level in the dog days of summer. Given they just changed the regs, I’m not counting on them doing anything any time soon.

Study shows precipitous decline in population of adult rainbow trout in Bow River Trend could jeopardize Calgary’s world-famous recreational fishery, University of Calgary scientists say See https://www.ucalgary.ca/utoday/issue/2018-11-26/study-shows-precipitous-decline-population-adult-rainbow-trout-bow-river

I don't fish the Bow much, and thus there are others on this Forum who know it way better than I, but from following the threads here post-2013 flood, it seems to me that there has been much mention of relatively fat, healthy browns in the Bow, and more long, skinny rainbows. I read somewhere years ago that browns are more tolerant of higher water temperatures and pollutants/contaminants in the water than rainbows. Has there been any long-term tracking of these variables, alongside the flow rate monitoring? The article on the aforementioned study pretty quickly goes to angling pressure as a contributing factor. While no doubt this is a contributor, it would be nice to see acknowledgement of other changes in the river as well. For example, the monstrous Enmax Shepard combined cycle power plant came on line a few years ago, and uses treated wastewater from the Bonnybrook treatment plant as its cooling water supply (water that would otherwise be discharged into the river). And then there's my personal favorite, TransAlta's ongoing screwing with river flows to maximize upstream hydro profitability in Alberta's volatile power pool (wait until their PPA's expire in the 2020-2021 time frame, and then we'll REALLY see screwing around with the flows)...and on and on it goes. One more (perhaps) obscure one: I saw an article a while back that talked about the impact of forest fire smoke on emergent insects. Can't have been a good couple of past summers on that front...

I am excited! For many years it seems like the trout lakes in Alberta have been stocked based on tradition. Starting with Mitchell Lake and an angler request for a fall spawners [browns or brookies] to complement the spring spawners [rainbows], Brown trout were stocked in 2003. Angler acceptance of the mixed species resulted in a further experiment in Birch Lake with Brook, Rainbow and Brown trout stocked in 2013. At the request of many anglers, after either experiencing the Tiger Trout fishing in Manitoba or seeing the pictures, Tiger trout are now being stocked in several places throughout Alberta. After many years of catching Brown Trout from Europe, Brook Trout from some bog from in a New England state and Rainbows from British Columbia or the US, we are now on the cusp of a brand new mostly made in Alberta Rainbow. In conversation with Craig Copeland, Fish Culture Manager of Alberta Environment and Parks, I learned that a different Rainbow Trout is now being cultured for stocking . These Rainbow Trout, which are near 95% purity of Athabasca Trout, are one of the Native Trout of Alberta. The brood stock came from an end pit lake in an active coal mine. Clearly, as the trout are not 100% purity, they cannot be called Athabasca Trout for the purposes of identification. To reflect their mixed linage, they are designated as PLPL species in the stocking reports. Mr. Copeland also related that some of the PLPL strain have been added to East Pit Lake near Stoney Plain. He anticipated that somewhere between 100,000 > 150,000 PLPL trout would be stocked by 2020. Personally, as a third generation Albertan, I’m excited as hell to get a chance to catch a Rainbow raised in Alberta from Alberta stocks. My thanks to all involved to make my dream come true. Don Andersen Here are some pictures of the Athabaskas - I know - I know - I'm not supposed to say that but......