monger

A study which showcases the results of bad handling behavior https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337655272_Can_smartphones_kill_Trout_Mortality_of_memorable-sized_Bull_Trout_Salvelinus_confluentus_after_photo-releases

But it should be noted that many of us have witnessed incredibly poor fish handling skills. I have seen folks fight 18" trout for over 10 minutes, then drag them out of the water and set up for a measure, and photograph them. Those fish are dead! So, put some pressure on your fish, use as strong a tippet as you can get away with and get them into shore. Most trout in the Bow can be landed in under 2 minutes if you put the boots to them. Try to minimize air exposure to under 10 seconds. We can all do better. There are tons of anglers these days. Lets be willing to learn and accept some constructive criticism. Hopefully we can lessen our impact when so many other stressors are getting worse.

But then you don't have to put pressure on industry or OHV to stop dumping contaminants, destroying habitat, causing excessive sediment loading, leaving hanging culverts, compaction of substrates, or removing giant volumes of water for irrigation.

So this is what I see.....don't use bait, keep fish out of water less than 10 seconds, don't fish in hot water, and better not to use a net if you use some good tippet

Pretty hard to NOT get out of the water. Better to get permission in the first place

Yes Don, it seems obvious doesn't it. Police lake parking lots are full of fisherman as well. But there are still those locals who are not satisfied (though poachers like catching the big fish off the bridge at Police) More complaints come from the put and take crowd that they need to continue to fill their freezers. Those complainers are potential UCP votes.....

I don't think there is much for walleye reproduction at Pine Coulee. The walleye didn't appear to get much over 16" there. Therefore the walleye population should disappear with angling and old age. The lack of whitefish has limited the pike size as well. I don't know what the percentage of trout stocked make it to a size that makes them unattractive to the pike, or maybe there is just some trout that learn to hide well enough. Perhaps the trout stocking numbers need to be increased a bit to allow more trout to evade the pike. No bait or ice fishing would help more trout make to 3 years old as well.

I wish they would make the size limit 1 over 56cm for Police and Pine Coulee. One more year makes for some 22"+, then they become something special

Part of Zoom meeting with Southern AB fish biologists tonight. One thing that was of interest for us was the plan for Pine Coulee Res by Stavely. Biologist said the plan is to let the pike and walleye fishery continue to degrade to the benefit of the trout. The biologist sounds open to making it a Quality Fishery, but it depends on the public desires. The regulations need to be changed to open only Apr1-Oct 31, limit 1 over 50cm and NO bait. You can express your views here: https://www.alberta.ca/2022-23-sportfishing-regulations-engagement.aspx I asked if there were any plans for additional quality lakes......No was the answer. So if you want to catch bigger trout, let the government know

You can file the teeth off the jaws of your forceps to make them flat if you need to

The UCP is having meetings this weekend at the Grey Eagle casino in Calgary. There will be a demonstration on the east side of 37 Street (across the road from Tsuut'ina nation lands) to voice your dissatisfaction with the government's plans to allow coal mining on the Eastern slopes. There are lots of concerns regarding Selenium, sedimentation, water usage/loss, habitat destruction are erosion issues. If you have concerns about Bull trout and Cutthroat trout populations it would be good to let the government know how you feel.

I have caught 3 gulls now. 2 while throwing streamers at the bank and one on the back cast. Another took my floating stone, but dropped it 2 bats on dries

I agree Toolman that the 2013 flood did the greatest amount of damage to the river. It is also apparent that the river is taking it's sweet time in getting back into healthy shape. It is simplistic to think that we can have a giant effect on things by catching less fish. There are indeed a number of factors working to depress the fish population. I agree things are going in the right direction, but we are still far from where we were in 2012. There certainly is less bugs around, but it was encouraging to see nice trout with more meat on their bones this summer. Another scary factor to consider it the rising number of Prussian carp in the river. They will be very hard on the prey items in the river. It is so unfortunate that folks have no clue of the ecological disaster they have initiated by dumping/moving carp around. Changing your angling techniques (hopefully for the short term) is a way we can lessen one of the stressors on the fish during the rebound. Are we so desperate to catch a fish that we can't sacrifice a little bit? You could challenge yourself to try something a little harder and maybe learn something new. Perhaps that would make you a better angler (rather than just a world renowned worm thrower). These thoughts equally apply to the mountain streams where the Cutthroats are under greater pressure ever year. Why not challenge yourself to catch them by not nypmhing. It is doable if you take the time to improve your skills a bit and challenge yourself. As for guides not will to give up anything so they continue to profit from a stressed public resource....I have no words

But don't you catch way more fish nymphing vs streamers? If the goal is to catch less fish, no nymphing seems like the way to go. In my experience, fishing streamers usually excludes little fish from coming to hand. I haven't found streamers do any more flesh damage than a big stone, hopper or Jimmy legs

Yes the data from Quirk Creek is not necessarily representative of what is going on in the Bow. I am just wondering about angling techniques as the government seems determined to change angling pressure to decrease the catch rate on the Bow. If the goal is to decrease the number of times fish get caught, should we not exclude the most productive technique on average? And the information offered said that fishing from a boat was better than from shore. So how can we limit our technique the most effectively from a boat?

Dry fly fishing is no fun and never works though

How much more effective is nymphing vs streamer fishing? same, 2x, 3x What is your experience?

Research suggests that recruitment of young fish is not a problem. It is what happens to the 1+ year old fish once they get down into the Bow. Whirling disease is also not considered to be a major factor considering the level of recruitment

Too difficult to get regs changed to barbless, and the research doesn't show that it has much effect anyway. We all know it is easier to unhook fish without a barb, so just do it anyway

Here is a great place to start for decreasing recycle rate: single hook and BAN STRIKE INDICATORS That should have a great effect on decreasing catch rate

Why are we allowing guides from BC and the States to work here?

I hope you are correct Fishteck. When money is involved in Alberta, the environment tends to lose out big time. Economic value of the river means little to me. I would however like to see the trout numbers return to pre-flood numbers. Hopefully people can stand up for the fish without an agenda of making money off of them. Changing fishing tactics, ignoring staged spawners, and limiting one's personal impact is something we can all do. It is even possible to throw your worms away and catch a fish. Trailhead, I agree the river has not been the same since the 2013 flood. The number of quality holding spots in the river has decreased and sedimentation has been detrimental. Today there is a lot more long "lakey" sections. I had hoped successive spring run-offs would have improved things, but the river is not changing that much.

Fiddling with angling pressure is the easiest thing for the government to attack...so of course that is what they will go after. It will be interesting to see what restrictions the government will come up with (seasonal closures, gear restrictions, maybe even booking a time like they have done in BC). Fish Biol Paul C mention the "economic value" of the Bow. That means the guiding industry. What about the intrinsic value of the fishery for the thousands of folks who don't need/want to hire a guide? The fish are a public resource, not just a resource used to create profit by a small segment of society. Joe public will need to make their voice heard as a STAKEHOLDER so that you can still fish as the guide boats go by. Public access/opportunity should trump guiding opportunity for rod days if we eventually get to that scenario.

Professional guides enable the handling of LOTS of fish. I would suggest much more than the average joe on the side of the river. If there is a move to "limit angling effort/number of fish handled". the government better limit the guiding industry that exploits a public resource before the regulations go after recreational anglers. I don't want to see some crap about "rod days" and their associated monetary value being used as a reason to give the guiding industry a pass on limiting their impact.