[Small Stores Are Worth Their Weight In Gold!]

Marc,

 

You are right... But it just left such a bad taste in my mouth as all I ever heard before going in was how great the customer service was... I'll go in again some day (I'll have to pack a lunch though )

 

P

 

Great shop!

 

From what I have read of your adventures you seem to find "situations" worthy of complaint wherever you go!

 

 

[Sick Of Seeing Sw Alberta Go To Crap]

It's easier to shut down industry, plus I think rec-users are as big of a problem.

I think it's easier to control industry... they have strict rules they are suposed to follow... Yes there are impacts, but they minimize them, often will do habitat restoration work, and the systems recover quick. O&G has some stream crossings and permanent infrastructure, but relatively minor footprint (in terms of fisheries... much bigger problem with cutlines and roads). Loging impacts can change the whole hydrology of a watershed, but modern techniques (not scarifying) can reduce overland flows. the biggest impacts are from poor roads that have been constructed in the past 70 years. Now, even if those roads are set for reclimation, users and OHV groups are pushing to keep them open, and contribute significantly more traffic than the industrial users.

It is the poor road maintenance that is the cause of a large percentage of fish habitat woes... The only real solution is to shut down all non-essential raods and trails near watercourses. Allowing walk-in fishing would limit angler presence (improve the experience) while reducing road and trail runoff would improve habitat.

 

All great points Harps. I like your fact based approach to the impacts of this region. Sad thing is they will never give an area like this wildland Park designation because of the industrial use, this would give the area the protection it needs.

 

Speaking of logging, they log the piss out of this area as well.

 

I still say that a fishing moratorium is way overkill. The area is C&R for the most part and the vast majority of the anglers are responsible and follow the rules. Angling is on the bottom of the list of what is negatively impacting the area.

[Sick Of Seeing Sw Alberta Go To Crap]

The whole tail-water thing makes sense, thanks for clearing that up.

 

I have fished the area for the past 25 years and no doubt it is busier and something has to be done to control atvs and camping, but only 10% of the fish left is far fetched. Do you have any data to back this statement up? I have caught bigger fish in the past couple of years than ever. No real difference in numbers just bigger fish. The ammount of users is annoying, but we are all to blame for this.

 

How about all of the logging, O&G development, this is the big problem. Sure is easier to shut out the recreational users than it is to deaal with the crux of the problem.

 

hey argue for your own right to fish if you want... but in reality, all you have to do is actually spend time fishing the entire system and compare it to 5 years ago, or 10, or 15, or 20 years ago. There's literally maybe about 10% of the fish left. So yes.... having a 5 year ban on fishing to let them recover from US, isn't so far fetched.

 

Very confused when you say I argue for my right to fish yet in your sig line you advertise you guide in these very waters??

[Sick Of Seeing Sw Alberta Go To Crap]

Lots of vaild points here, but some that make no sense. Why ban fishing for 5 years? The bow as an example, or any of the rivers in Montana get fished 100x more than these streams. No problems with the health of these rivers, at least not from fishing.

 

Sure I can see restricting ohv's from ripping through the streams, but calling for a fishing ban is unsubstantiated.

[Pinks]

nice pink salmon

[Exploring Hard To Get To Waters]

Super pictures. looks like some nasty scrambling to get in there.