monger

You know fishinglibin....fish longer than your inseam are a real pain

It is kind of sad isn't LastBoyScout. Years ago I got started on learning the finer points of lake fishing just to get away from all people. It is a fun game and the rewards can be significant

Great shots Lornce. Eventually the ice will go

A long ways and lots of pennies....but sure looks awesome!

The influence of chemicals we are adding to the environment is no doubt having a significant effect. Ever-growing City/road runoff, herbicides/insecticides and the vast increase in pharmaceuticals excreted down the toilet are probably all adding to the problem. A complex issue indeed.

Unstable banks that lost all their root protection continue to add fine sediments. This is going to be a problem for quite some time. Hopefully the rainbows can find enough food/change their hunting practices to put some more weight on. They are still quite thin compared to what used to be normal

Nitrogen and phosphorus from waste water fertilizes the river to increase plant biomass and subsequently the bugs. These inputs have been decreasing with more sophisticated sewage treatment. The giant weed mats of the old days left the evening skies clouded with caddis. I miss those days. Parking lot runoff and pharmaceuticals are having much different effects. The big flood we had blew a bunch a bugs out to Sask. The result of the flood really changed the available habitats left for the bugs to select as optimal. I think the change in the substrates has changed the bug populations. In many areas there is a lot more sediment. This is really noticeable below the Highwood where there is a lot more long stretches of flat water

I caught a bull by accident last year in a spot I didn't even know they existed. Other than that, a couple from streams in the last 10 years. The number of people going specifically to target big, staging bulls sure has increased. They are quite vulnerable being so visible sitting in their gin-clear pools I fish for Cutts about 3 days per year over the last 10 years. It is a treat to go feed them some dries on a special trip. I think they are too valuable to abuse. You can catch every one in a pool on nymph In the past BC had a "flyfishing only" rule on certain streams.... No bobbers, no attaching weights to the leader, single hook....I think we should do the same for the southern AB streams that are getting loved to death. It would be nice to see a few fish that don't have their mouths ripped up. They are only Cutts, work for them a bit

Are you willing to change your behavior when fishing? Handling, where and when you target fish, what species you go after/and timing, techniques used (fish without your bobber....it is possible) Thoughts... "Another way to improve best practices may be to institutionalisevoluntary conservation ethics that transcend the basic regulatory requirementson C&R (Fobert et al., 2009; Cooke et al., 2013). For example,in the 2019/2020 Alberta Fishing Regulations, anglers are encouragedto avoid targeting fish species-at-risk such as bull trout andnative westslope cutthroat trout, and to voluntarily reduce their efficiency,i.e., “Practice this proven method to drop your release mortalityby half; catch half as many fish.” (Sullivan, 2019). Appeals to normativebehavior or ‘doing the right thing’, accompanied by informal sanctioningsystems (e.g., angling community appeals to appropriate behavior,and anglers confronting those who don’t use best handlingpractices), can be powerful social institutions."

Thanks for your input with some more background bcubed. The smaller number of fish in the Bow are getting beat up. It is time for changes to be made

When it comes to discussing limiting angling it will be interesting to see if the only concerned "stakeholders" that the government listens to are the ones with a financial interest in the fish. Will it be just like what happened in BC.....guides pushing their agenda? Will we see it again......Limit access to the public and then artificially inflate rod days, increase fees and keep those dollars rolling in while we "protect" the fish. Perhaps saturating the media with advertisements for the opportunity to have a guided angling experience day after day has a deleterious effect on the resource! Just thinking out loud....classified bull trout streams, Skeena area steelhead

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165783619303133?via%3Dihub

Thanks fishteck. "The largest percentage of fish are caught annually by guided anglers that equals the combination of non-guided boat and shore anglers" So the greatest angling stress (by far) comes from guiding....that sounds like exactly where the government needs to focus it's attention when it comes to limiting angling. If we see anything different than this there needs to be a lot of screaming coming from the public

Is there any plan to limit angling on the Bow?

Very cool ancient fish

https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2019/10/14/albertas-official-fish-is-listed-as-threatened-heres-why-the-rest-of-the-bull-trouts-ecosystem-is-in-jeopardy.html This has now become a Federal issue. I imagine soon there will no longer be any angling for these cool predators in the southern streams as seen in Montana. Since people can't seem to stop/limit themselves, the government will have to set some regulation boundaries. They have dragged their feet long enough with protection....let's see some new regs!

Walton, I absolutely have wax on the ferrules....only way to keep them together (maybe tape is next like a spey rod). No other rods I own are as loose as the BVKs