reevesr1

I work downtown, so havent been able to get to work. Since most of my clients are in the same boat (no pun intended), I've been able to help out in a few places. The damage in some communities (Riverdale is the worst I've personally seen) is beyond belief. PLEASE, anyone who can, get out and help. If you, like many of us, work downtown and can't get to work, put down the honey do list and just go to any community on the Elbow or Bow in Calgary or Bragg Creek. Or Millarville. Or wherever. The outporing of volunteerism in Calgary has been amazing, but more is better. There will also be lots of opportunities to help cleanup the river, launches, etc. But I would suggest people first, river second.

I was out there yesterday. The road to McClean is open, though I have no idea about the campground

I heard that SRD will be organising cleanups. I'll see if I can get info and report it here.

It'll give the cutties some time off for sure. From word of mouth reports, bridges over hwy 40 took a pounding. There is a little stream in BC I love, but you have to cross 4 or 5 bridges to get to it. They got a ton of rain also, and I don't hold out a lot of hope.

I drove by that exact spot, both on Friday, once when I was coming home from physio, and once when I had to go rescue my kids who got stranded downtown after sleeping at a friends following Sled Island. They had to walk out and I picked them up on 16 ave. I would say tungsten is wrong-the traffic was less than 40. It was really very benign (the parking to take pictures, not the river.) I did not stop, but it would have been simple to do so. We have all been told to stay away. I confess that I have not. I found ways (bike paths mostly) to get to the water without bothering responders. I justified it by telling myself that I would not get anywhere near the bank, and I didn't. But I did look, and I did take pictures. The river plays a huge role in my life, I could not stay away. And I was by no means alone. It may not have been what the city wanted me to do, but there it is. It would be hard for me to criticize others who did the same. Curiosity is one of the things that makes us human. Ignoring it, even when it is in our and others best interest to do so, can be extremely difficult.

Water in saddledome up to 14th row.

Just heard flows are as much as 3x 2005. A friend of mine is at a small farm house upstream of police. He says way higher than 05. Just drove up Deerfoot. Inglewood golf course isn't just flooded, it's part of the bow. The river looks more like the Mississippi near southland. Crazy

Police ramp and parking lot flooding.

Interesting on the batteries Alan. My 60 runs for multiple trips. Wonder why the difference?

I have a Garmin 60 CSx. Looks like it has been replaced by either the 62SC or ST. I'd have to dig to figure out which. They are basically the same, just how many bells and whistles. I've been completely happy with the CSx. Have not needed to expand memory. Unit is pretty easy to use, and I'm sure I'm only using a small fraction of it's capability. Has been invaluable to me on several occasions.

Happy birthday Pete!

It's all good Brent, you know I don't mind a bit of argument from time to time! Keeps things interesting. I would have no issue closing the Bow in the winter if it was warranted. I'm just not convinced it is. It feels to me like we are putting pieces of information together and implying causality where none is proven. Of course I understand that fish handling is an important topic in and of itself, I just don't see it's direct relation to the sapro infection. I'm sure, as gaffer said, it doesn't help. But is it a cause? Is angling pressure in general? Is it enough of one to warrant seasonal closures? There certainly may be validity in the school of thought that "if there may be a correlation, we should make changes just to be safe." My HUGE concern with that is if we are making changes based on perception, what is the end point? On the opposite side, I do understand if one says "wait for the science, or study, or whatever" some will perceive that as allowing the patient to die while we study the symptoms. I certainly have no idea what the answer is.

Lots of us who make no money off of it worry about it just as much. Don't confuse disagreement of causes with apathy.

Apathetic? Hardly. Show me actual evidence that this is handling related (non circumstantial), and I'd be the first in line to say close it. And if we are going to suggest closing it during the brown spawn to Police, why pick Police? Why not the Highwood? Why not the entire river? Seems we are talking about erring on the side of caution here. Fine, but don't screw around. Same thing should apply to the Rainbow spawn. We all know there are rainbows that spawn in the Bow in the spring. So close the Bow from let's say March 15 to May 1 for the Rainbows and October 15 to Nov 1 for the Browns. Not sure when the whites spawn, but we should cover that as well (nah, no one cares about the whites, they aren't pretty enough). So the Bow would be open to fishing from May 1 to October 15. Shops are gonna love that. Unfortunately, the same logic would apply to the Crow in the spring, and the Waterton in the fall for the browns. I'm purposely exaggerating this, but if we advocate closing based on potential issues, this is where it all leads in the end. Every time something happens to affect fish population, angling pressure can always be blamed whether it is the culprit or not. Solution? Stop angling.

Are male whitefish as aggressive when spawning as trout? Weakened defenses last fall, just like the browns. The good news would be that if the infection was last fall, the fact you are seeing them now can't be all bad? They did survive the winter with this (again, assuming they were infected in the fall). I was actually curious if this was affecting whites as well since both are fall spawners. Like max and rich, I hope this is being over hyped. We do have a tendency to do so from time to time!

As I said, I agree with your philosophy of light handling- I practice it. I land fish generally as fast as I can, tend to use heavy tippet, don't use nets all the time, particularly on bigger fish which I find easier to hand land personally, and don't take many pictures. Less every year unless there is something special about the fish. And never if I'm not 100% ready to take it when I land it. I just don't think attributing this particular event to fish handling and/or angling pressure in general is accurate, at least to me. The facts don't seem to line up. Edit: And I should mention that the way I deal with fish has changed over the years in no small part from reading Brent and Monger and others. So again, totally on board with limiting impact during handling!

Brent, Rob- I'm not going to say fish handling does not matter, because it does. However, the widespread outbreak of sapro on big post spawn browns last fall does not jibe with fish handling being the issue. If fish handling were the primary culprit, it would be all species, all sizes affected. Not just big post spawn browns. If there had been a step change in fishing pressure corresponding to a step change in disease outbreak, I'd be inclined to believe fish handling is a primary culprit. In this case however, there is no evidence of that. Single species, very specific timing-right when the brown trout are at their most vulnerable. You are both strong advocates of light handling, with Rob advocating heavy tippets, fast landing, fast release and Brent advocating mostly the same-get 'em back in the water as soon as possible. People would be well advised to follow your lead to the betterment of the fish population. But I just don't see where handling is playing any appreciable role in this, or it would be spread more evenly, not so specifically. Having a great hammer doesn't make the whole world a nail. Edit: And I did read the 2010 Sapro paper which advocated light handling of fish to help alleviate outbreaks--it did not state that handling was a primary cause. It did specifically target spawning however. Fortunately for rainbows, they spawn when it is still cold and not prevalent.

Backroad map books are indispensable for backcountry fishing. All fly shops, map shops downtown, hiking and camping stores (MEC, Campers Village, etc) will have them. You will likely end up with 4, 1 for SW Alberta, Central Alberta, Mountain Parks, and SE BC. Pair that up with a good GPS and you can get away from everything (and everyone) and totally explore. It's great.

Good job Steve!

Get that video camera ready, and I'll need a place to put my beer down first.......

I've never even lost conciousness. Never been close to dying!!

Im thinking any really forward thinking entrepreneur could just set up a therapy business to just follow me around and I could use their services as needed.

Thanks Ralph. I've been in therapy, and it seems to be helping, but this collarbone thing is a bit of a setback. The vertigo is at a low level, but still present. Not debilitating, but really, really annoying. Thankfully, it does not seem anywhere near as bad as yours (and I can't imagine what that must have been like), but I will absolutely look into all options for treatment. I appreciate all the help.

Thanks Clive. Did the BPPV exercises, and they did not work. Seems I have Labyrinthitis, to go with a chronic case of stupidity--which led directly to the shattered collar bone.

Bonita and Tiger. The bonita was pretty good, the tiger was fantastic.