Leaderboard

Historically stocking has been attempted across the west with mixed results. My personal experience with stocked fisheries is from the salmon rivers of the west coast where stocked fish were thought of as inferior to wild stocks. The other issue with stocking is it can be perceived as a band-aid solution. As long as money is at hand it is conceivable, but when the funding runs out and the fish flow stops the decline of trout populations typically has not been dealt with and your fishery is no further recovered. That said IF anglers are the issue stocking is a solution, if something else is causing the decline and not uncovered; then stocking is flushing cash down the drain that could be used to address said issue. It is a complicated issue indeed.

Although the Angling Outfitters & Guide Association of Alberta attempts to generate professional standards within the Bow river guiding community, they have little power to enforce policy. What is needed in Alberta is for the government to license guides in the same way as Montana. In that state a guide has to work under and outfitter license for a registered number of trips before thy can apply for an outfitter license and sell their services to the public. Why this has not happened here is difficult to understand. There are just too many anglers with a boat hanging up a shingle on social media and offering guiding services. It needs to change and once we recognize that the guiding industry in what ever form it exists on the Bow River will have to change to support AEP initiatives to preserve a depleted trout population, we will see restrictions put in place. This will only improve the experience a client receives from an outfitter. For now it is a free-for all!