toolman

It's from organic pollutants, thanks to the city's 60,000 plus storm drains that send untreated water directly into the river. Flows have been healthy due to a cooler, wetter year, which has also increased the loading of organic pollutants .

The rescue crews need to train most every day. They need to know the river conditions at all times and be able to safely pilot their boats at high speeds in the event of an emergency. These are the folks we rely on to save our asses anytime, day or night, rain or shine, when every minute could be the difference between life and death. They get a friendly wave from me every time.

A Royal Coachman winged, wet fly, can be a good fall swing pattern on the Bow, some years. Especially, when there are October Caddis around, like there are right now. A Classic grease line presentation is in order when fishing this legendary, Classic wet fly.

Yes and hardly anyone fishes there...

There's no secret spots. Just find a place to park near the river and start fishing. The fish are everywhere and constantly moving through the season. The popular spots are already over fished because of easy access.

Sure, but we have artificially created hundreds of habitats for them to thrive. Simple logic would conclude it significantly increases the number of potential hosts for whirling disease parasites and increases the possibility of a Whirling disease outbreak on the Bow. Storm drain Outfalls are also a major source of organic pollutants.

. The Bow has over 800 man made tributaries? Yes, it does and they have names like B51.... Of course I am referring to the 800+ Storm drain Outfalls, that spew untreated storm drain water directly into the Bow, from rainfall that is collected by 60,000 storm drain catch basins, across the City of Calgary. Tubifex worms. Ever heard of them? They are the host for Whirling disease parasites. Tubifex worms are also called "sewage worms" or "sludge worms" They can be found at Storm drain Outfall pools through the city. Fun facts eh.

Well the whole point of fishteck starting this topic is the concern over the lack of data from AEP. Historically, anecdotal evidence from a wide audience actually motivates governments to take action to investigate expressed concerns. Otherwise nothing happens and actions from government becomes a reaction to crisis. Like Whirling disease. It's a familiar cycle. Just ask the fisherman from Newfoundland, who, for decades, told the Federal fisheries managers in Ottawa that cod stocks were in peril. The feds ignored them and sold the local fishery out to foreign fleets, who collapsed the fishery. So you can do nothing or speak up. Kudos too fishteck and others for publicly voicing their concerns, even if we have our differences in opinions as to what some of the significant stressors may be.

Let's have a look at the menu you listed, which is probably from the AEP website. It lists the food that inhabits lakes and "gamefish" on the lakes would mean Walleye, Lake trout. Fish that live too deep for the Pelican's to reach. Everything else, as the menu shows, is dinner. So let's assume that they're probably eating the food that's in the Bow river including, dace, sculpins, rainbows, browns, whitefish, white suckers, ling cod, pike, baby ducks, whatever they can ambush ..... The Pelican's varied diet clearly shows that they are opportunistic feeders, They're not going to selectively "not eat" the rainbows and brown trout. That would be a ridiculous assumption. As mongers photos show, they will eat whatever will fit down they're throat. And when they fly south too the Gulf of Mexico for the winter, they will eat whatever they can find when they get there, too.

Yes, the American white pelican... Let's do some counting. They consume 2kg/ day = 60kg / month x four months = 240 kg. per bird, before they head south. There's a flock of 32 pelican's circling overhead of me right now. 32x240 kg.= 7680 kg. (19,500 lbs), of fish. Only one pod. (apparently that's what they're called) That's a lot fish and only one of many pods, (15-20?), on the Bow and their numbers appear to be increasing every year. If you do the math, you may conclude, that maybe a cull is long overdue. What do you think? Or should we just keep counting trout until there's none left?

Year after year, AEP spends it's resources doing Angler surveys, fish counts, reviews of fishing regulations and continually say they are "monitoring the situation closely", yet, year after year fish populations continue to decline. All of the focus remains on C&R fisherman. We continue to look in the wrong direction to identify all of the reasons for the decline. There can only be as many fish as the system can support. Degradation of the habitat leads to degradation of bio mass. So, what are the stressor's that are contributing to habitat degradation?. That's where AEP needs to put their resources and leave us fisherman alone. We are not the problem. Our impact is miniscule in the big picture. Yet the discussion keeps going round and round us, like we all have "whirling" disease. There is no other user group that collectively, contributes more too the Bow fishery's well being, then C&R flyfisherman. Maybe I should just write a letter to that Suzuki fellow out on the left coast and ask him to come too Calgary with his camera crew to point out the obvious to the government.

Actually, numerous studies on the long term impact of C&R on trout populations show that it has no significant cumulative effect. Nor does fishing over redds. If you take a look at the Bow regulations from the 80's and 90's, anglers were using bait, keeping trout, yet the population continued to flourish and expand during that period.

Hahaha. Well said.

Seriously, you think that the increase in C&R angling is the leading cause of trout population declines on the Bow over the past 15 years? It has some impact but studies have shown the effects are negligible. As for enforcement on the Bow, it has increased significantly since 2006. F&W told me back then that they only received 4 calls to RAP to report illegal fishing activities on the Bow, for all of 2005. Evidence based science is the foundation on which good management strategies are created. The Bow isn't the only river that has experienced a 50℅ loss of Rainbow population over this time period. Several other major trout rivers in the US mid west have experienced the same decline. I feel that many of the issues that have had a very negative impact on the Bow fishery have long been identified. Doing more fish counts may not lead to any new information. The problem is the political will to make the necessary changes. Lobbying efforts have fallen short thus far. When flows get dangerously low, the City of Calgary won't even place a water advisory or enact water restrictions. Instead AEP closes the river to fishing. For the past five years the City of Calgary pays Trans Alta to draw down the reservoir levels 20,' at the Ghost Reservoir, as a flood mitigation strategy. This increase in flow can extend natural run off period by up to a month. The increasd flow and subsequent turbidity, reduces sunlight penetration to the stream bed where the basis of the food chain starts. Aquatic mosses, plants, invertebrates and all marine life is negatively affected. This is followed by water hoarding in August to fill the reservoir back up to generate power. I could go on and on... Lorne Fitch has been sounding the alarm about many of these types of issues for a long time

Nice.... The nymphs were likely in migration to colonize near the shoreline in preparation for emergence. Trout notice these vulnerable moments of activity and the opportunity to selectively gorge.

Yes certainly a two hander job, but with the abundant choices of short shooting heads, pretty easy with a 12' 6 wt. In response to the original post about fishing egg patterns on the Bow. It's important to recognize that brown and Rainbow trout eggs are dense and sticky. They don't tend to drift very far from the nest site and the trout guard them fiercely for a week or two after spawning, so its not likely trout see a lot of eggs in the drift outside of brief spawning periods. Eggs that remain unfertilized may eventually drift off as they decay. They are usually translucent, pale white.

Yes, it does get snagged under rocks sometimes and you will loose Flys. The egg sucking leech patterns that I use are unweighted for these deep slow presentations. A shallow angled down and across cast will help eliminate arc at the tip, but often where the current speed is fast enough, a slightly upstream and across presentation allows enough drift time to get the fly down deep, and the faster edges of midstream current will get the fly below the tip, eliminating some, but not all of the arc in the tip. I believe it creates a more natural presentation. The key is to go slow. Let it arc out and stop. No rush to start stripping back as the fly is now in the strike zone. Most often I just let it sit there for a bit before starting the retrieve. Leeches generally move very, very slowly. . . Depending on the terrain, 12' of T-14 or T-10 may do the job just as well when the water is shallower and/or current speed is slower.

In the case of fishing a large leech that has a large egg attached to it, it is useful in the creation of a natural presentation. The T14 will keep the egg sucking leech down on the stream bed and slow the presentation down. Imagine how a real leech, attached to an egg, would behave. It would on be hugging the stream bed, moving very slowly after escaping from midstream currents and likely attempting to make it to slower, shallow water, to evade predation and consume it's meal. T14 is useful in many types of deep, slow presentations. I try and think about how the natural aquatic world behaves and try and replicate it. And yes Monger, ugly sticks are my preference for heavy tips. I once used a 9 weight single hander to fish a 15' T14 sink tip one cold December day. I'll not forget the pain of the 3" leech with bright orange egg attached, felt when it hit me on the back of my frozen hand on the forward cast. I did catch a huge brown shortly thereafter that had followed my creep retrieve for about 30', so that helped.

I have fished an egg pattern in winter/spring with success. However, it's always been attached to the head of a big black leech and 15' of T14. Fish it slow and deep. Crawl it back to you at a snail's pace, at the end of the drift. *hit gonna happen... Amber is a natural egg color in the spring, on the Bow.

Thank you. Well done. Congratulations.

So how did the tournament go? What was the winning fly?

The vast majority of anglers moving from one water body to the next, are not guided. And the vast majority are local Alberta residents. They fish the Bow one outing, next time they hit the Livingston or Highwood. Then maybe an outing at Police Outpost or up to the little Red. Sounds like a lot of anglers we all know. I bet the vast majority of these local anglers do not clean their wading gear, EVER. Sure, the guides could be more diligent in spreading the information as they are often in the unique position to do so., But ultimately, the kid working at the Walmart fishing /camping dept. selling licences and fishing tackle, who makes some of his income from the fishery, is no more responsible for the actions of anglers, than Santa Claus. Requiring guides to follow '"decontamination protocols" to clean their clients equipment is not likely going to happen. Maybe a province wide ban on the use of felt soled wading boots would be an effective conservation action . How about an "information fact sheet" issued with the purchase of all Sport Angling Licenses. Bashing a small fly shop /guide service or the guiding industry on a cheesy flyfishing forum probably has little conservation value. Other than the dialogue and awareness to the issue this discussion has hopefully created, which is the transfer of invasive species/organisms between watersheds. That said Don, thanks for bringing the issue up and for your many decades of service to fisheries conservation efforts. Worthy of many accolades and thanks,...

Yes, I hope so as well. .

Well, most guides I know are avid conservationists and make efforts to promote best practices. However, it's important to direct the education at all anglers and avoid attempting to lay blame and responsibilities on guides or others in the angling business for the actions of anglers. Guides are easy targets to blame, but doing so really accomplishes very little.

Haha ... That's good. Carry on....