As previously stated, we as humans have made, and will continue to make our impact on the environment. That is undeniable. So we manage our impact. This responsibility includes managing wildlife. We as enthusiasts of fly fishing should be at least thinking about EVERY thing we can do about that. We are seeing many animals that are expanding or reclaiming their areas. It is irrelevant to me whether otters "belong" on eastern slope streams or not. They have healthy populations elsewhere, so why promote and protect them when they negatively affect our recreational opportunities? Am I selfish? Uh, ya! Or you can call it management.
I have seen otters while we were both fishing and while about 70% of why I fly fish is to commune with nature,when I came across the otters on the small stream we were fishing, I did have the gut feeling that these animals did not belong in the stream. They seemed much bigger than the ones I have seen in the sea but of course that was just setting. They were fat and fat and carefree and I swear one winked at me. Beautiful? Yes. Effective in their fishing? Much more so than me. There are 17 reasons why our fly fishing isn't as good as it could be in Alberta and in my opinion this rates as something that could be managed.
