Harps

So what do you guys think?

It does look like the eyes are pointed slightly down... the fish is more on his back. The net in deeper water would help, but I've seen Much worse. It's funny how some fish just don't do well... skinny fish like that need to eat more.

http://www.ccwc.ab.ca/ccwcbref/ReportsandD...mphletMar08.pdf Look into this and send comments to the minister or your MLA. I think this is a great idea... park CO's have more money, meaning more enforcement. Free access, hunting still allowed, no change to the fishing, OHV and Snowmobiles allowed on designated trails, AND NO RANDOM CAMPING or Logging. Fishing stretches of the castle without walking in the shadow of an RV and without dodging dirtbikes on the river... I'm all in!!

Ne'r mind... The Grasshopper

Which pattern was clydes??

I'm sure wheat would grow fine without the irrigation... Sugar beets on the otherhand? In a near desert climate!?! The water is for the reservoirs that were drained (poor planning). We should be adapting right now to using less water... it is coming (not the water).

The nice thing is... If there is little water, the fish won't spawn in areas that will dry out- just areas that will get more water as the spring moves on. Checking the snow pillow data... most of the water has yet to come. It's not that water is being held back for irrigation, it really just hasn't melted yet... Okay, I thought that, then I looked at what water is coming out of the LNID weir. Wow, they are operating above the top quartile, while flows in the river are well below the bottom quartile. Somebody needs to take the gov't to task! This sort of crap has gone on long enough... drain the reservoirs over the winter to fix them or for no real reason, then kill the river in the spring, because there is not enough water to fill the reservoirs. Somebody should write to the SRD minister and the DFO minister... (or auditor generals) to find out how the province of Alberta can operate/manage water this way with such little disregard for anything but the irrigation districts. The Oldman coming out of the dam is over 30 cms... in Lethbridge when you add the flows of the Belly, the St. Mary, and Willow Creek and the flow is only 24cms. That' 7cms lower than it was at the dam... how the hell is that allowed!?! Looking at how they've ramped the flows up and down in the Belly and St Mary, its obvious that the fishery would be affected. We need a public show of concern right to the ministers level to get something done... there is too much power in the irrigation districts and it seems to me that they are violating the Fisheries Act: Section 35(1): No person shall carry on any work or undertaking that results in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat. Hmmm... taking the water from the river and the fish... disrupting their spawning... lowering the size of the river... altering natural flow patterns... Anybody wanna write a letter? Office of the Auditor General Environmental Petitions The Commissioner on the Environment and Sustainable Development accepts environmental petitions. For comments or questions about the petitions process or to submit a petition, please contact us at the following: Mailing Address: Office of the Auditor General of Canada Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Attention: Petitions 240 Sparks Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G6 Fax: (613) 941-8286 Telephone: (613) 995-3708 E-mail: petitions@oag-bvg.gc.ca

And now in Lethbridge... the biggest flakes I've seen all year. Hopefully its gone by this afternoon, but it was really coming down good.

I hope it snows 2 feet on thursday night before the long-weekend and has a cold wet forecast.... Keep the vandals at home; this is the first year of the Willow Creek area closure on heavy off road vehicles... folks will be moving out further north and south now.

Bow River Irrigation District Diversion

It looks like an error (obviously). That's something to bring up with the local F&W office. Let us know what they say. Cheers

A Blonde's Year in Review January Took new scarf back to store because it was too tight. February Fired from pharmacy job for failing to print labels..... Helllloooo!!!.......bottles won't fit in printer !!! March Got really excited.....finished jigsaw puzzle in 6 months..... box said '2-4 years!' April Trapped on escalator for hours .... power went out!!! May Tried to make Kool-Aid.....wrong instructions....8 cups of water won't fit into those little packets!!! June Tried to go water skiing.......couldn't find a lake with a slope. July Lost breast stroke swimming competition.....learned later, the other swimmers cheated, they used their arms!!! August Got locked out of my car in rain storm..... car swamped because soft-top was open. September The capital of California is 'C'.....isn't it??? October Hate M & M's.....they are so hard to peel. November Baked turkey for 4 1/2 days .. instructions said 1 hour per pound and I weigh 108!! December Couldn't call 911 . 'duh'.....there's no 'eleven' button on the stupid phone!!! THE BLONDE JOKE OF THE YEAR - SO FAR A man was in his front yard mowing grass when his attractive blonde female neighbor came out of the house and went straight to the mailbox. She opened it then slammed it shut and stormed back in the house. A little later she came out of her house again went to the mail box and again, opened it, slammed it shut again. Angrily, back into the house she went. As the man was getting ready to edge the lawn, here she came out again, marched to the mail box, opened it and then slammed it closed harder than ev er. Puzzled by her actions the man asked her, 'Is something wrong?' To which she replied, 'There certainly is!' . . . . . . . . . (Are you ready? This is a beauty...) . . . . . . . . . . 'My stupid computer keeps saying, 'YOU'VE GOT MAIL!'

Like mentioned above, the lakes listed as stocked are those stocked by the provincial gov`t for fishing... not those stocked privately. Lakes and fish in them are fairly clean, but there are guidelines in the fishing regulations. Stocked fish are often fine, because they have a limited life in the environment... but I`d avoid eating from new reservoirs; often there is mercury leaching out of the soil that enters the food chain. Lakes in the Regs are listed by their legal locations. You can convert those numbers (1-27-1-W5) into UTM or Lat/longs if you like at this web site: http://www.ags.gov.ab.ca/GIS/conversion_tools.shtml Th numbers are written like this: Airdre Pond Section 1 Township 27 Range 1 West of the 5th Meridian (1-27-1-W5) Sometimes you'll see a direction (NW) at the front, which indicated the object you're looking for is in the northwest quarter of the section. Make sure you read through the Regulation book when you get your licence. Its easier than most provinces, but ignorance of the regulations is no excuse. Welcome to Alberta, and enjoy the fishing responsibly!!

It is a brook stickleback Clive. You can find them everywhere there's water in Alberta... they've even been found in artesian wells!!

Hey Frank, Bill c-32 is this one that we looked at back in November. http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?...ic=2469&hl= (The links in the Quote are still good). I'm not sure if anybody here looked at it in much detail (hard to find on gov't sites). I'm on the fence... existing legislation is good and would be excellent if enforced, but there is some intriguing stuff in the new bill. I don't see it on the agenda (not saying it won't come up...), but there is something about bulk water removals from Canada, Ammending the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, putting in source water protection (pointless waste of resources... they should enforce existing protective legislation). Looking over the SportFishing Defence Alliance website, I'm not sure I support them. They have some pushes that I disagree with, like fighting to keep the Fraser River Sockeye fishery open. That was a mistake as now becoming apparent. They seem to be more anti-native and anti-gov't than pro-fish... but I have a very ignorant view of them now. Thanks for bringing this to attention. Cheers, Harps

Very very cool shot!!

Sell a house in Calgry for twice that... take a year to find work. And I like brookies, don't you?? On a serious note... my sympathy to all those folks back east, kicked out of their homes from the flooding.

Just think of the fishing everywhere though...

... and cheaper than many houses in Calgary!!! http://www.cainsriver.com/

And nobody reports it to the proper authorities... To report an environmental emergency (like a spill), please call the joint federal - Alberta Hotline at 1-800-222-6514 (24 hour emergency/complaint line) ... and stay anonomys if you want, but call- it doesn't hurt. On the bird-spill issue... #1 Even though millions of birds die each year, do we really need to add to the number because we're cheap when it comes to the environment? (and why wasn't it reported?) #2 Migratory waterfowl landing on ponds is a much different thing than sparrows hitting windows (from a lifespan and international importance perspective) + plus, I'm sure most of the birds hit by cats in N America are introduced house sparrows and starlings... . And toxic oil slicks are a cruel way to go I'm sure. #3 How many endangered waterfowl use the flyway over the oil sands??? What spp were killed, and how many won't be identified/recovered 'cause they're at the bottom of the pond? And, who reviews windfarms for micro-clime affects!! Changes to wind/snow deposition, drying soil in the area, increasing air turbulance.... Anybody have any links to reports?

Didn`t see it, but he is talking about glaciers worldwide, not the Arctic...

It's a good read. http://www.bowriverkeeper.org/docs/fight-t...e-last-drop.pdf Check out the stats on page 14!! Wow One of the case studies is the mall at Balzac.

I've been ignoring the conversation... but what part of the river is pure marsh?? I was on the river across from the golf course last week and saw a pile of redds. More than mosquitos... and something good happening soon to the area between Blairmore and Coleman!

Dr Bulltrout Lethfisher Clyde And another great shot of the good doctor. You should see the tent... http://goneflyfishin.ca/forum/index.php?topic=235.0

Pike and perch are native in the Bow River and it wouldn't be an issue if they were dumped (from an ecological standpoint, not legal). And further, they are not garbage fish, period. Plus "sloughs" (better called prairie pothole lakes or imortant wetlands) are a natural and very valuble feature of our landscape. I'm not for any hard developments in the 1:100 year floodplain. The application to fill the lake is likely a temporary diversion request to capture natural runoff from the area and hold it back from reaching the lake. Probably not a issue from water a quantity viewpoint. Also having waterbodies is great for wildlife, the watertable, and the surrounding environment in general... Of course this one will probably be catching storm runoff, will concentrate toxic chemicals (contaminating ducks and wildlife), will lose water to evaporation, and won't be used by anything natural except waterfowl. Better to have a marsh complex to manage the changed hydrology from paving everything, then the water is better filtered before reching the Bow- plus you can have a better trail and lots of cool stuff like dragonflies and more birds besides ducks. It would alos reduce the evaporation, and the larger area required (to handle the stormwater), would provide more habitat and decrease the number of houses in the development.