bcubed

oh my. Peetso, i think the cataract will see a heck of a lot less traffic this year..... The date on these was June 25..it would not surprise me if more of the road has fallen in since

Just bring a rod, reel and some flies. You can carry the rod onto the plane, put reel and flies into your checked baggage. Shouldn't need waders (it's in the 40's today with the humidex...the water will be plenty warm). Anything else you can get in town if you need it. If you can't get out, oh well..but if you can and you didn't have your stuff you'll be choked.

hope that poplar island back channel popped itself so TU can put some funds back into the launches...though they seemed to have given up on Jensen's long ago... Once the next set of poplars come out, we need to get out there and wrap them before the beavers get to them.

Exactly, I look forward to findin every little ice gouge every year. This'll be even better!!

The water is 3 times what it should normally be by mid July. Until it drops and clears, we'll have zero idea... And really, what can we do about it? Get out there, learn a new river and enjoy that we all pulled through this

We guided last year at a little lower then these levels, just need it to clear up and we'll be Fishin...

Nenshi just tweeted me back (sweet!), they're dropping the river, and not for the train...not planning on re-raising the river

Hoping that the side channel where we launch at glenmore hasn't filled in with gravel..the amount of gravel at Policemens is incredible kind of excited to float the river, it's going to be a whole new place

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/derailed-tanker-cars-drained-removed-from-broken-calgary-bridge-1.1345326 *phew*

"According to Uzeloc, there are six cars on the bridge - one is an empty crude oil tank, and five others are a flammable liquid similar to diesel." I think they're trying to mitigate fear a bit, but that sure sounds like Jet Fuel to me

I remember seeing pictures of a train on this bridge (or at least i think it was this bridge) during the flood.

guess we should get the fish rescue to start putting the fish back into the ponds.... can only wait and see..

Magnan, if you haven't been down there yourself yet, The part of the grid that was the hardest hit should be showing by tomorrow or the day after. If it lasted that, super impressive... On another note, went for a run through fish creek. Road and bridges all looked in good shape.

May be worth putting on here: http://www.yychelps.ca/

Went and looked at policemens and glanced at 22 yesterday on the way back into town. Policemens was more promising than i had thought it would, the grid where it connects to Bow River Bottom trail has survived, though the gravel section between the grid and bow bottom got beat up pretty good, it has a few trees that are going to have to be pushed off. The upper berm held for the most part, however further down it had breached the berm. The berm at the parking lot may or may not have held, however there was definitely water coming over the top. The parking lot is flooded and flowing, so i'd expect that it will be a mess, as with the launch itself. Further along the driveway into the launch the water was going over with some pretty good velocity. Impossible to tell what survived...hoping for the best, but it had a hell of a lot of flow. [this is the road to the launch, the launch area would be just to the left of the photo] Last year the water was close to the top of that berm when we were at 400 cms. Currently we're at ~770. Probably won't be able to see the real damage until we're back down to around 400. 22 looked like it survived half decently (could only see from 22x). The road down to the launch seemed intact, and with the amount of flow it didn't look like any trees got stuck in the launch like last year. However, the boat launch itself was fully underwater, so i'm sure it will be damaged. Will try to find more as i can.

technically it is illegal for you to transport live fish...if you get caught

I'd assume that it's shut at the 22 junction just cause of the bridge being out further. 511 site says the road is shut from the 22 junction

a lot of people consider pulling fish out of mud using 2lbs of lead, epic.... it's about perspective. I'll just be happy to float it soon. Guess i should get on redoing my fiberglass as it'll need it... 2005 was a godsend to the river with the weed infestation we had. We won't know what this does for a few years. Sadly a lot of the work that has gone into the river in the last few years may have had some serious damage. The fencing projects along the river, the rip-rap zones...we're going to have a significant change in our riparian zones. Won't have a ton of bank structure. Really, it's all going to be speculation until we get out there Here's some great information regarding floods. http://www.oldmanbasin.org/pdfs/agm/agm_2006_rood.pdf

Gil, don't hold your breath. Odds are that not one launch survived. Considering how even 22x (which is by far the most protected) was pretty trashed just with high water last year. Launches aren't going to be on the forefront of anyones mind (which is understandable), so we're going to need a serious volunteer effort from this fishing community if we're to have anywhere this year. One of the issues will be a lack of parking areas for vehicles with trailers. We will have fishing this year, eventually. We will not have near the infrastructure that we're all used to. Maybe it'll give the cutties a year off..

Have to agree. Took another look at Policemens this afternoon, and hung out longer then I had planned as I was waiting to have to save this silly lady who decided she had to have a better look... Took her 10 minutes to walk back 100 feet. Was not impressed. The lack of common sense is shocking. Washing cars, watering lawns, slowing to a crawl over the bridges. Surprised we haven't had more reported loss of life...

exactly

So will a lot of side ponds!

Should clear out the sapro anyway... You're going to see less bugs this season, and likely less fish, but the next couple years could be great. Odds of this years stoneflys being around as they had started to migrate may be significantly effected (and they'll hatch with or without clear water..). 2005 was a godsend for the river, and how the river was doing last and this year we may just need it. Just hope we have enough clear water while it's high to push some of the sediment out. Maybe it'll clear out Mallard Point so TU can put some money towards a launch... With the pictures I have seen, you won't be launching out of any of the launches. Odds are all of the launches are toast...And those won't be at the forefront of the city and provinces worry.

its worse then 05 for the highwood. I spent all day in a jet boat pulling people from their houses, and i was here for '05 and 95

There's quite a number of folks who do not use a 4wd for a drift boat. Lots of Ford Caravans, etc towing them. I've even seen the odd Honda Civic and VW Golf towing them... That raft weighs about the same as a clacka 15LP (according to both sites specs unloaded, dry, etc).. Easier to throw in wherever theres not a boat launch if you have a few guys with you, but really you're going to be towing around the same amount of weight