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McLeod

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Posts posted by McLeod

  1.  

    Now this is a prime example as to why more and more trout lakes in Alberta should have there regulations adjusted to create better quality fisheries. Again we can list the benefits but most of those responsible refuse to get there asses in gear and improve Alberta's fisheries.

     

    Nice fish , congrats !

     

     

     

     

     

    Agreed! Living in Fox Creek affords me the benefit of making daytrips to Swan and late May-early June was a blast. Some of the longtime visitors have said that the fish size has decreased and we'll have to live with that. It's great to have a quality chironomid lake that is reminiscent of my former home, Tunkwa Lake.

     

  2. Dunno... The only thing I could think of is the lake listed before Rummel in the Regs is Ribbon Lake and the limit is 2 (no size limit listed for that lake), but that listing is at the bottom of the previous page!! The "general" regs for high mtn lakes is 2 fish regardless of size, but those regs are only for lakes that don't have a specific listing!!

     

    P

     

    We need to have a sign on a post right by the lake.

    You did the best you could do.

  3. A B.C. toddler survived a harrowing ride after he drove his toy truck into a river and was carried 12 kilometres downstream before rescuers caught up with him.

     

    Three-year-old Demetrius Jones disappeared on the weekend from his parents' campsite at the Peace Island Park in Taylor, B.C. near Fort St. John.

     

    The boy, who was not wearing a lifejacket, disappeared Sunday morning at about 7:30 a.m. PT, and was found far downstream more than two hours later after campers and RCMP launched a full-scale search for the boy,

     

    He was eventually spotted by Don Loewen.

     

    "We just kept going down the river watching all the log jams and keeping our eyes out for any sign of the car or the boy," Loewen told CTV British Columbia.

     

    "We spotted something sitting on the east banks that looked like some rocks or an eagle or something."

     

    What the men believed were rocks were actually the black tires of the overturned toy truck sticking out from the water.

     

    "And what we thought was an eagle or something was the little boy's blond head sticking up there," he said.

     

    Jones was clinging to the top of the overturned battery-powered toy car in about three metres of water.

     

    The boy, who was only wearing a diaper and T-shirt, was wet from the knees down but was otherwise OK.

     

    After spotting Jones, Loewen and the four other men in his boat approached slowly and cautiously to avoid tipping the improvised raft.

     

    "I shut off the boat and I jumped into the water and swam over to him and the boys idled up to him with the boat and we pulled him in," Loewen said.

     

    "We started wrapping him in our floating coats and started rubbing him and rubbing him until he got warm."

     

    The group called his parents on the way back to the campsite.

     

    Police said the toddler seemed unaware of the danger he had been in, said Const. Jackelynn Passarell of the Fort St. John RCMP.

     

    "Speaking with the members, he seemed pretty excited to be dealing with the police. I don't think he really realized the gravity of what had just occurred," Passarell told The Canadian Press.

     

    Police are using the incident as a reminder of the dangers of allowing children to play near open water without adult supervision.

     

    "The Fort St. John RCMP wish to remind parents about the dangers posed by moving water and ask that everyone be vigilant around children playing in or near the water," states a news release from the RCMP.

     

    "We wish to thank everyone who assisted with this search, which inevitably lead to a happy ending to what could have been a very sad incident."

     

     

  4.  

    Interesting article. Protect the ares where there are pure strains left , and I beleive that is being done with C and R. Hatchery Cuts should be pure strain which I am not so sure they are.

     

    As for Banff National Park aquatics specialist Charlie Pacas , everything time I read his comments and opinions I shake my head ,as he seems like a radical to me that is bent on trying to have Banff as it was 500 years ago.

     

    Kyle McNeilly is a class act and his knowledge of Alberta fisheries is truly amazing.

  5. I bought one today as Wazzy had recommended one to me about a month ago.

    McBain Camera has a sale on and they are selling this month for 379.00

     

     

    The Powershot D10 is a 12.1mp compact camera, it takes advantage of Canon’s new Digic4 processor and has all the features you would expect to find in a “tough” camera. Including being waterproof to 10m, shockproof when dropped from 1.22m, (I had to ask myself, what happens at 1.23m?!) freeze-proof down to -10°C and dust-proof… Canon PowerShot D10

     

     

    Here’s what the press release says;

     

    Designed for adventure: Canon’s first digital waterproof camera

     

    Canon today launches its first waterproof digital compact camera: the 12.1 Megapixel PowerShot D10.

     

    Engineered for those with an adventurous, active lifestyle, the PowerShot D10 combines take-anywhere levels of toughness with exceptional image quality. Canon’s DIGIC 4 processor delivers ultra-responsive performance and outstanding, richly detailed images, while a new Smart Auto mode uses Scene Detection technology to deliver effortlessly great shots.

     

    For the ultimate in hands-free, take-anywhere operability, the PowerShot D10 also offers compatibility with an extensive accessories system.

     

    Goes where others can’t

    From surfing to snorkelling, skiing to mountaineering, the PowerShot D10 is designed to accompany users on every adventure – it’s waterproof to 10m IEC/JIS IP Protection Rating IPX8 equivalent, can withstand the shock of a drop onto a hard surface from 1.22m, is dustproof IEC/JIS IP Protection Rating IPX6 equivalent and will function at temperatures as low as -10oC.

     

    A range of protective accessories are available to keep the camera safe in challenging environments, including soft case, shoulder, neck and carabiner straps See Additional Information document. Thanks to an innovative connection system on the corners of the camera’s body, a secure and convenient set-up can be tailored for different activities. Users can also customise their camera’s appearance with an optional coloured Front Cover Set, and protect it from knocks and scuffs with a soft case.

     

    Exceptional quality

    Incredible 12.1 Megapixel resolution is captured by the camera’s sensor, allowing the freedom to crop or enlarge images while retaining outstanding image detail. The 3x zoom lens offers a range of versatile framing options, with Image Stabilizer preventing camera-shake from causing unwanted blur. This is particularly useful when participating in the high-movement activities for which the camera is designed.

     

    Easy to use

    To ensure that users stay focused on the action, DIGIC 4 powers a host of intelligent features that make great photos effortless. A new Smart Auto mode uses Scene Detection Technology to analyse the shooting scene in detail – checking subject brightness, contrast, distance and overall hue. The camera then selects the optimum mode from 18 possible choices, ensuring perfect settings for the scene.

     

    Even the most active situations can be photographed blur-free thanks to Canon’s Motion Detection Technology, which detects both camera and subject movement and adjusts settings accordingly. Naturally great people shots are assured by Face Detection Technology, which now also includes new Blink Detection, to avoid the disappointment of mistimed people shots. Canon’s i-Contrast brightens dark areas in an image without blowing out lighter areas.

     

    The PowerShot D10 also features a special 2.5” PureColor LCD II, which has been specially modified for better outdoor performance. Protected by a 2mm protective shield, it offers double the brightness of a normal PureColor LCD II – allowing easy framing or image review in virtually any environment.

     

    From the beach to the ski-slopes, a wide range of shooting modes and Special Scene modes – including dedicated Underwater, Snow and Beach modes - delivers instant fingertip access to the correct settings. FaceSelf-Timer simplifies group shots by waiting until the user enters the frame before shooting.

     

    “The PowerShot D10 is a boundary-breaking camera,” commented Rainer Fuehres, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging Europe. “It brings the hallmarks of the PowerShot range – exceptional imaging and ease of use – to places where many other cameras simply cannot go.”

     

    Pricing & Availability

     

    The PowerShot D10

    Canon Powershot D10 Key features:

     

    * Waterproof (to 10m), shockproof (1.22m), freeze-proof (-10°C), dust-proof digital camera

    * 12.1 Megapixels

    * 3.0x optical zoom with optical Image Stabilizer

    * Smart Auto mode with Scene Detection Technology

    * DIGIC 4 for ultra-fast response, superb image quality and intelligent

    * Exceptionally bright 2.5” PureColor LCD II with 2mm protective shield

    * Combats blur with IS and Motion Detection Technology

    * People shots made easy with Face Detection Technology, Face Select & Track and Blink Detection - plus Face Self-Timer and Auto Red-Eye Correction technologies

    * Optional accessory system includes Shoulder & Neck Strap Set and Carabiner Strap Optional straps are not designed for use under water plus Front Cover Set

    * Range of shooting modes and Special Scene modes

    * 30fps VGA movies

  6. Parks wants to restore lakes to natural state

     

    By Cathy Ellis - Rocky Mountain Outlook

     

    Parks Canada is considering two options to kill non-native fish in remote alpine lakes in Banff National Park, including the use of poison or temporarily damming

     

    the lakes to return waters to their natural state.

     

    The plan is a last-ditch effort in a long-term ecological restoration project aimed at returning Devon Lakes to a pristine state and protecting the health of threatened bull trout downstream in the Clearwater River.

     

    Devon Lakes is a series of four alpine lakes that form the source of the Clearwater system in the front ranges of Banff National Park. The lakes were never historically home to fish, but non-native brook trout were introduced into the lower and middle lakes in the 1960s for sport fishing.

     

    Despite huge efforts over the past five years, and the fact that only one fish was caught last year, Parks Canada officials say they are not convinced they have captured all of the non-native brook trout there.

     

    “Doing this restoration work allows us to bring a system back to the fishless water that it was previous to stocking,” said Charlie Pacas, Parks Canada’s aquatics specialist in Banff National Park.

     

    “We haven’t chosen one method over the other yet, but will do so as an evaluation of costs for the proposals is refined and the discussions and thinking on the environmental assessment proceeds.”

     

    One option is to use rotenone, which is an odorless chemical that occurs naturally in the roots and stems of several plants and is poisonous to fish. The other option is what is known as de-watering, which entails closing off the flow from the headwater lakes into the Clearwater River.

     

    Basically, it involves damming the upper and middle lakes, which would result in little flows into the Clearwater. Reduced flows would then concentrate the fish into smaller areas, most likely pools in the Clearwater. Then the fish would be removed by electro-fishing or piscicide.

     

    An environmental assessment is required before the project can move ahead.

     

    Brook trout have escaped from these two lakes into the main tributaries of the Clearwater River, which is a serious concern because they are known to out-compete, displace and crossbreed with threatened native bull populations.

     

    But the Upper Devon Lake, isolated from the other two lakes by a series of impassable waterfalls, was never stocked with fish and is serving as an ecological benchmark for the restoration project.

     

    For the past five years, Parks Canada has been working to try to remove all of the fish in the upper and lower lakes. Gillnetting in both lakes appears to be very successful. So far, there have been about 28,000 net nights of gill nets without fish.

     

    On the other hand, stream electro-fishing over the past five years has reduced brook trout capture to near zero levels, with 10 brookies caught in 2007. However, one fish was caught in 2008.

     

    No young-of-year have been captured since 2005.

     

    But despite their huge multi-year efforts, Parks staff have still failed to eliminate all brook trout.

     

    Parks Canada says it will take several more years to do so if they don’t resort to poison or de-watering.

     

    “We would have hoped for zero fish in electro-fishing last year, but we got one, and that suggests to us there’s more than likely one in the system. I think there’s too many hiding spots for these guys,” said Pacas.

     

    “What could end up happening over time is the fish will start moving through the system if we haven’t got every last one, and eventually you’ll get a male and female that will find one another,” he said.

     

    “If mating is successful, it basically starts the thing of more brook trout in the system and, given the level of effort we’ve put in, we’d like to eliminate rather than let them propagate again.”

     

    Throughout this project, Parks called on the expertise of several leaders in their field, including Canadian aquatic experts David Schindler and Brian Parker, along with American Brian Finlayson, considered an expert in the area of fish poison.

     

    The experts say rotenone has widely proven its value as a fish eradication tool, given it is highly effective at removing fish, yet it is not a persistent poison.

     

    On the downside, they noted rotenone would likely kill invertebrates in the lakes and streams that are treated with the poison. But, the experts said, experience in Jasper National Park shows invertebrates will recover within two to three years.

     

    Pacas said invertebrates were collected from five sites in July, August and September of last year in preparation for the possibility of a piscicide application at Devon Lakes this year.

     

    Pacas said the timing for the project is in late summer or early fall, when water levels entering the streams are low and there is little melt coming off the glaciers.

     

    “My preference would be to dewater before a piscicide application, as this would reduce the stress to the invertebrate community and would mitigate the public concerns of using a piscicide,” said Pacas. “Dewatering is certainly do-able.”

     

    Pacas said based on the success of gillnetting in Devon Lakes, having 28,000 net nights without fish, would certainly suggest this technique could be used in other areas for aquatics restoration.

     

    “As for electro-fishing, I think we were successful in that there are so few fish left in the system,” he said.

     

    “I guess electro-fishing a system to the point of no fish would have been ideal, but that’s rare and I’m not sure anyone’s been able to do it.”

     

    Only six lakes within Banff National Park are known to have viable bull trout populations. Of the 19 species of fish found in the national park, only 11 are native to the area.

     

    More than 119 lakes in the national park have been stocked with fish at least once over the last century.

     

  7. This has been brought up in previous posts and relates to a few other current threads but I would recommend reading the "black grizzly of whiskey creek" by Sid Marty. It's a good read and is really quite sad. As most of us know wildlife management is tricky business and I wonder sometimes how we ever came to the conclusion that is was necessary considering nature had a way of managing itself long before we came on board. Nonetheless we are inexplicably part of that equation now and there is a fine line between keeping the public happy and safe and protecting the very basis of what makes our National parks exist in the first place.

     

    Clearly there is a lot of bureaucracy and bullshit to wade through while maintaining a park like Banff and decisions made may not always be popular or even helpful but it is up to us to want to preserve the essence of what these parks are actually about: which in my mind is keeping pieces of this huge country as natural as they had always been. These parks may be set up for our citizens to enjoy in it's most natural state but the very nature of that idea is based on ensuring it remains that way for all generations to come.

     

    Like Uber says we are decades too late but I'm not sure if we can ride that train of thought forever. It might piss us off when one of our favorite trails gets closed but I feel we need to look at the bigger picture and trust that it is in the best interest of our parks and ultimately of ourselves. Of course as individuals most of us have only the best intentions and do our best to tread lightly but when you consider the sheer volume of people visiting Banff every year it's glaringly obvious how huge of an impact we have.

     

    Of course, I'm a total hypocrite as I like to get out there take advantage of our wilderness as much as most of you but I also feel that we are an arrogant, obnoxious species and it's really ourselves that needs the management. There are many places to enjoy back country pursuits, or fishing/hunting, biking, boating and ultimately a place like Banff may be the only place where you will not find access roads spreading like cancer and well heads or cut blocks around every corner so if they want to actually cut back usage over add more to let a bear pick berries in peace I'm all for it.

     

    my 2 cents.

     

    I think you hit the nail on the head with a couple of your comments,especially when you said it's really ourselves that needs the management. When Banff was set up a doubt they could have imagined a city of a million people a hundred years later on Banff doorstep. But my concern as was addressed in another reply is you can't go back in time and we should be vigilant that parks stay as they are now and not have let a few people try to turn them into areas of no access or we will have a backlash and end up lossing what we have now. Think of the pressures that are going to come on these parks in the future such as water resources etc

    Good discussion

  8. When I was a biologist I worked with a Senior Parks guy about 15 years ago. He said back then that there was a long term plan to stop all fishing in the National Parks and to drastically limit access to people by any means to a majority of the park.

     

    In essense the top brass thinking was you can't shoot and remove an Elk in the park...why then can you fish and kill a bull trout. On one hand I see the hypocracy in holding the value of mammals over fish. On the other hand you can't hunt and release Elk either. I said to him at the time that making it 100% total catch and release in the parks would make sense from a variety of perspectives. Firstly it protects the species in the park better than ignoring them and potentially seeing a loss of a population after the fact rather than a warning provided by interested sportsmen. Secondly it does protect the environment having respected people being the custodians and protectors of the resource. Thirdly you can stop along the road and view the awesome beauty of a bear or an Elk and drive away. You have no appreciation for the fish that swim if you don't know there are any there. I suspect 99.9999% of visitors care less about a bull trout. That .0001% that does is that last guy that refused to give up on fishing the park.

     

    Total zero fishing allowed is tantamount to ignoring the fish as a part of nature to be enjoyed and protected.

     

    Now as for eliminating access. The same parks people say our very presence creates a foot print that harms wildlife and plants in very specific ways. As such where ever people go...the environment is not a good...pristine if you have it. Therefore they want to only "damage" a small amount of the park. The remainder is to be kept clean of people. They use a variety of means...from labelling a valley a bear concern to eliminating skiing, biking, hiking, fishing, to minimizing the spots available for back country camping. The more "difficult" you make it the more to subtlly and slowly without controversy eliminate people from the equation. This is called a "soft usage reversion". A "hard usage reversion" would entail a sign that says people are no longer allowed. If heavily used...such a sign would spark outrage and protest. Parks hates that.

     

    Cheers

     

    Sun

     

    they have just closed of a large area for the year , I suspect for Grizzly bears to be alone but maybe a step towards a permanate closed area

     

  9. But has there been anything lately to bring up this concern?

     

    Just curious...

     

    Smitty

     

     

    Nothing specifically at this time. I think now that I have a little more time to commit with my kids getting older I need to stay proactive on this and a number of other fishing related issues.

     

    Parks did remove fish from devon lakes a few years ago. The problem with removing "exotic species "

    is when is an exotic no longer an exotic as some of this species weher planted more than 100 years ago.

    Further to that what you never hear is that a few of the exotic strains that are in BNP are amoung some of the few fish of that kind left on this planet. They should be protected as a threatened or endangered instead of ever being considered removed.

  10.  

    Is it just me or the others who believe that those who are controlling our National Parks would prefer to turn them into areas where no humans are allowed off the main highways. Is hiking going to be eliminated someday ? I guess I am a little confused on the direction the parks are headed.

    It just seems there are some who want the parks returned to how they were 200 hundred years ago and to do that humans would not be allowed..but then who is going to pay the bills.

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