Leaderboard

My observations for the year: Numbers of fish is probably at an all time low. I saw very few small fish this year upstream of the Highwood. The condition factor of the rainbows was improved from last year when they were extremely thin. Many of the rainbows are still not as heavy as they should be. The amount of good, clean gravel/cobble that provides quality invertebrate habitat has been vastly decreased due to the amount of sediment added to the river from bank destabilization post-flood. There is a huge amount of sediment that is continually been added from disturbed banks and we are presently 6 years after the big flood. The amount of hooking injuries and fish with no maxillae is getting very significant. A single hook rule should be added. The spinning rod crowd can still get fish with single hooks like the folks in BC I think it is time for a limit to be set for "guide days". The amount of "professional" boats on the river is huge and the fish are not an unlimited resource. The "professionals", with their continuous presence and higher skill sets are probably facilitating the greatest amount of fish handling (acceptable or poor depending on the boat). The amount of pharmaceuticals and run-off chemicals entering the river continues to grow with the population of the cities along the river. These chemicals are not removed by the sewage plants. The foreign chemicals are adding significant stressors to a system that is already under pressure. The populations of pelicans and cormorants continues to grow. I don't think this will ever be addressed, but they are a factor.

Plenty of interesting comments/observations in this thread. I don't fish the Bow much at all, but I might add a few questions/comments to the discussion: When comparing the Bow to how it was "x" years ago, one thing that doesn't seem to be discussed much is the fact that Calgary has grown so much over those past "x" years, to now a city of well over 1 million. As the city has grown, how has water quality been affected - more concrete/pavement (and runoff from same, washing in who knows what), more treated sewage water volume, more developments along the riverbanks, altering the banks and sedimentation, etc. Also, it seems to me that when we talk about the health of the fishery, we focus primarily on the trout (for obvious reasons) - but isn't it the entire riverine ecosystem that we should be examining? Maybe we are - but what about the health of invertebrates in the river (trout food), and other fish species like whitefish, suckers (competitors for trout food)?

My season on the Bow was my worst ever in terms of effort/ # of trout caught. Where I live in the Nw stretch, above Crowchild trail, the numbers of fish are significantly down. And this stretch already has considerably less fish than below Calgary. Small rainbow trout numbers have really crashed. The browns are about the same as last season, but hardly impressive catch rates. Only have taken 3 whitefish, despite protection for this species. I used to have days I could catch multiple numbers in a single evening of this vanishing species. Most of my bigger rainbows were taken in May, prime spawning time. It should have remained closed during the spring season. Now that it is open all year, I see guys hitting the redds hard a lot of days. The river is in trouble, and yet, as mentioned, there seems to be an all time high in numbers of mergansers and ospreys in this stretch. But angling pressure has increased substantially. More fishermen fishing for less, highly educated trout leads to a very mediocre fishing experience these days.

Wow this is complicated Fishing closures Gear restrictions possible restocking fertilizing ( for aquatic growth ?) special licencing Predator cull dams government awareness Habitat enhancement Global warming Low land runoff User pressure Whirling disease Agree 100% tecks point, River so clean now compared to 15 years ago. Could walk across weeds at glenmore. 15 years ago pods of 3 fish to 50 fish found rising.(honest) * Can you add some nutrients @ water treatment plant to give river a boost ? * Is it a bad idea to restock at this point ? * Enforce a system or complete angling closure giving River time to reboot ? * Haven't paid a ton of attention to flow rates this season but seemed way better than prior bunch. Problem addressed and solved ? Ive noticed tons of changes on the Bow, other streams too over the years, at this point doesn't matter. ( Well it does if we counter past mistakes) This is our River, what we have now. The guys with the big brains get the plan together that well manages what we have and please do ask for help when the time comes.

I for one had been in denial since the report(s) came out and up until last year before I really notified the obvious decline in rainbow population. Year prior was a little better. If I remember correctly when the stats or report came out it was a sampling from a small section of river and perhaps not not entirely accurate. my understanding. My network of buddies , guides etc. goes pretty deep, we all talked about poor fishing , decline etc, floods , birds, rip rap, pressure, drought, heat, rain, cold, climate change, water up and down all the time and on and on. Im a little slower than others when it comes to realizing the full picture but point is I get it and am concerned. Whatever the process lets do it. Reflection period is over. This is a crisis I'm all ears.

Unfortunately flood mitigation trumps fisheries/recreational concerns. I'm not generally a conspiracy theorist but add to that the likelihood of power generation profiteering under the guise of flow management just may explain the weird flows we've seen the last few seasons. I would like to see the fall city closure again. Close the mouth of the Highwood/Fishcreek for Rainbows in the spring. Social media has made an Instragram gong show of those locations. Fertilize the Bow below the water intake like they do in BC to restore steelhead/salmon stream. Yes, we have world class sewage treatment but lack of nutrients may slow/stall recovery. Keep in mind that this is a tailwater fishery that otherwise has little to no downstream recruitment of nutrients nor spawning gravel. This would kick start the recovery of invertebrates etc. lost due to the 2013 flood. Licence and manage the guiding biz that exploits our shared natural resource for free. Rod days or some such mechanism. If anyone knows any of the Tran Alta shareholders that fly fish, I recommend you try to educate them to the current dire state of our fishery.

I’ve got agree that it stems from the flood ? wipe out a few classes of fish, less fish to reproduce and add more pressure, habitat loss and here we are. Not sure if patience is the best solution .