albertatrout

I've noticed lots of NDP propaganda stating this. What changed was the navigable waters act which has nothing to do with fish habitat. The changes in the fisheries act were related to reducing infrastructure costs in creeks with minimal fish potential (minnows). Prior to the changes, culverts had to be designed for fish passage at flood flows even in fishless systems/ many wheat fields. If folks talked to people that work with the legislation, they would know very little changed in systems with any sport fish potential whatsoever. Some of the previous rules were so precautionary it was driving up costs to insane levels in many counties/ jurisdictions. A culvert passable to pike during a 10 year flood event 30 km from the nearest pike wasn't very good legislation neither. I'm thinking dryfly knows this, but many others don't do their own research.

I'd say even lower for bulls/ cutties. Bull trout will actively avoid 17 Celsius (I think that's around 62 F), they are significantly less tolerant that other salmonids.

Nice thinking process but I'm on the other side of the fence regarding that group. I think the vast majority of ATV users couldn't give a crap about their impact. I have had discussions on many occasions with guys driving up and down creeks (including over redds) and even polite confrontation leads to a "I pay taxes and go shove it" kind of response. They can't clamp down on these yahoo's soon enough. The government is in the process of repairing trails/ reclaiming areas down south but of what I've seen, not accomplishing much yet as the quads go around the signs and rip it all up again as soon as they can. The problem with submitting photos to fish and wildlife is its a "I said, they said" sort of argument and rarely is anything done. I have seen no stop to the abuse in areas with signs/ barricades, strictly enforced no messing around rules will be the only solution. Most know the rules, they also know the chances of getting caught are astronomically low. As for the AWA getting involved, It makes me want to distant myself from the issue. The amount of lies and misinformation they have used trying to keep the grizzly bears protected is disgusting and many many conservation minded people will not align with that organization. Some extreme radicals in that group, including many who would like to see no human use in the west country whatsoever. Keep taking pictures and writing letters, the only way things are going to improve is from the top down.

I would say at 23 degrees the average angler will have significant catch and release mortality (rainbows). We go elsewhere at 20, even then recovery can take extra time, care, and attention. Bullies are very uncomfortable/ absent at around 17 degrees so it varies greatly. If you want to learn more about it read through some habitat suitability models (available from usgs via Google). Lots of factors at play but temps are critical as they directly impact oxygen/ stress in fish. A stressed fish is not a happy fish.

Moving water is good, fighting the fish quickly (heavier tippet), and not pulling the fish out of the water (no pictures) will help. Not fishing when the water is hot is the best plan though. High chance of trout mortality when the temperatures are nearing 20 degree's, some trout are more tolerant but overall it's wise to go fishing in the morning while the water is cool. Some lakes are already approaching surface temperatures of 20 degrees this spring, bad news for recovering tired fish. In lakes, holding the fish down a bit deeper helps, the top 0.5 m of the water column can often be way warmer than the water further down. Don't throw fish back into the deepest areas of the lake when not recovered though, there's often a layer of anoxic water near bottom in the summer which will prove lethal if they are too exhausted to swim. We have been limiting our fishing to the morning lately, seeing temps of 19-20 degrees by 11 am which is crazy for this early in the year.

I just buy a slightly smaller pair of wading boots (generally the ones with most leather/ least stitching) and wear an old pair of wool socks and Velcro ankle wraps while wet wading. I don't get rocks/ debris in my boots and I can walk many kilometers while remaining fairly comfortable. Sandals are dangerous, I used to fish that way but ended up with some pretty serious puncture wounds along beaver infested brook trout creeks. Safe while fishing from a boat, not so much if you are going through much woods/ murky water, beaver death trap ponds.

The June monsoon's generally muddy things up for a few weeks. It seems every-time someone says we missed run off the clouds roll in and we get hammered. Only time will tell. Not much for snowpack or soil moisture at this point so personally I'm hoping for the rains.

It's a good time to fish them, try downstream of the city.

I've seen 10 different grizz in a week there, got to take adequate precautions.

I hope they put some effort into pursuing it, keep us updated. I have had absolutely zero luck with calling in this sort of stuff (usually get a call back a few weeks after everything has been deleted).

It's such an odd concept considering current markets, prices, and environmental regimes. I really don't give these projects a lot of hope unless some huge market changes occur.

Glad to hear someone has had some luck ha ha. We got skunked again the other night, tried chironomid's and leeches but not even a hit. This used to be the most successful time of year for us but maybe something is different this year.

I have found the fishing quality to be heading steadily downhill in the trout ponds in that area. I think part of it can be attributed to crazy nutrient loading as many of the lakes seem weedier and greener in the summer than they were 10 years ago. I do know partial winterkill is more and more common on some of the shallow pike sloughs around there, SRD attributes it to feedlots and more and more nutrients in the soil/ environment. Has anyone done really well at McVinnie (or kenex or Mquillan) in the past couple years? May just be our group, still some nice fish but not like a few years ago. Hoping some action is taken on WQ issues before it gets even worse.

Ya, if Alberta's population was to drop by about 90% so we no longer need much for water storage and the province still had billions of dollars available to remove rainbows, brookies, and browns then maybe things could change. I would call this a foolish vision, some rivers will never again be suitable for the native inhabitants (Bow, Red Deer, most of the Oldman, Crowsnest, most of the Castle). Removal of invasive's may work in small isolated systems but it's extremely expensive and unless barriers are present its going to fail shortly anyhow. I have been involved in many many projects of this nature, it's nearly impossible but on the smallest most isolated scale. Accept what we have and fight for the few populations that remain, its a much wiser use of resources. As for the tigers, they will draw attention from other fisheries and will be a net benefit to the fishery in Alberta. Win Win situation. Unique fisheries are like fishing effort sinks, look at the parking lot at Beaver or Bullshead on any given Saturday.

Funny you say that as it has been done. I remember reading about this experiment in an old fish hatchery book. From what i remember they didn't survive very well and survival rates were astronomically low. Weird looking trout going by the photo's. As for discussion of Tiger Trout reproduction, extremely unlikely. Consider in the wild brooks and browns occupy many of the same habitats yet only a few naturally produced tiger trout are ever captured. Not much of a concern if you look at the numbers.

It's mostly due to some politics which delayed stocking until after the new regs were published. I know some area managers were hoping to go catch and release with the tigers, the invasive species council or whatever it is called just took forever in giving the ok for them to be stocked. There was hope they would be stocked in a lake that is strictly catch and release but it wasn't confirmed whether or not enough fish would be available this summer (hopefully it works out). One problem with tigers is they are apparently not very good at competing with other trout (that is according to biologists out of Saskatchewan and Manitoba) so there were hopes some could be stocked in lakes with limited competition from other trout. Will be interesting to see what the final stocking plans look like come summer.

It depends on the weight of the mount, are there any hooks/ eyelets on the back of it? Is it on a piece of wood or anything? Generally, as long as you have screws into the joists of your walls it will hang just fine. I have a heavy bighorn sheep mount and it has been hanging for years off one solid screw, i have a few other large mounts in the basement and at most i have used 2 screws into something solid with great success. Brackets similar to these would work, one on each side of the fish maybe. http://www.amazon.ca/PICTURE-HANGING-DOUBLE-NICKEL-PLATED/dp/B0087DSR7U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427644813&sr=8-1&keywords=picture+hanging+bracket . An idea may be to get something like that but significantly larger too, there's really not just one way of getting things to hang nice.

Last I heard they will not be making it very far south but here's hoping the hatchery guys convinced certain regional managers otherwise. Encouraged catch and release never really works that well but maybe a few will escape.

Yup, many of the old time fisherman down south are not impressed with the pike changes (not impressed is an understatement). Got to admit the consultation (what consultation?) was very poor but changes were a long time in coming. Nothing else too surprising this year otherwise. I'm tying up a few leaches for tomorrow. Ice off is 8 days earlier than last spring so got to get some more use out of the old license before it expires ha ha.

Alberta fisheries management does not have a lot of significant evidence for any changes, budgets are tighter than anyone can imagine and they are very short staffed, it's not going to improve soon. They would have evidence about catch-ability increasing during the spawn, and they would have evidence of redds being trampled (that is unfortunately pretty easy to find on any stream in Alberta), so information can support the changes even if it's not super specific. I understand the changes mentioned are basically in stone. I discussed a few of the proposed changes with regional managers and understand some tough decisions will have to be made, I don't envy the guys needing to make the call on such limited data. The good news is there are some other changes not mentioned in that document that may greatly benefit fly fishing opportunity in Alberta, hopefully budget cuts don't stop the positive progress.

I've been chased by grizzlies while fishing on a few occasions in north central Alberta. In one case he was relentless and only let up when i crossed a sketchy beaverdam, he did not like the way it moved when he joined me on there and it gave me enough time to get out of the willows and draw my bearspray (waving a fly rod seems to confuse them a bit too). He did not leave me alone until i got to my truck a couple hundred yards away. Got back to the cabin and made sure the wife knew I loved her, never did tell her what put a scare into me that evening. Also had a close call while fishing the upper Red opening week a few years ago, slipped while netting a bull trout and dislocated my shoulder, it was a tough climb back to the truck after relocating it on the ice shelf that got me. Luckily I didn't slide into deeper water, I pay way more attention to ice/ slip hazards now. I also put a lot more effort into finding a fishing partners when possible, though in hindsight i also wouldn't trade some of the experiences for anything as they were great lessons and i escaped relatively unharmed.

Are there any pure strain cutts left in Star Creek? I know its fishless above the falls but still a very pretty area. It has been logged historicaly (it did grow back), we're not talking old growth forest in there. I'm a bit surprised theres enough lumber for them to even bother with.

Biologicaly it will vary from system to system. Most of the current regs (minimum size) are based on a fish spawning at least once. I think blanket management is a poor idea in general, and optimally some lakes would have a slot, others a minimum, and others yet a maximum (release everything over a certain size). Catch and release would obviously be nice in some systems as well. The problem with the other options in many Albertan lakes is simply too many fisherman, hence the slowly expanding tag system.

In Alberta, you do not need a license to fish (or keep fish) if you are under 16 or over 65. Though you may have a self imposed family limit that is not the law. I have seen many families taking advantage of these laws down in the south, it means they are often taking 20+ trout a day. I have also witnessed families retain over 10 pike in an afternoon on a local lake. Heres some info fyi. http://mywildalberta.com/Fishing/Regulations/FishingFAQs.aspx

Yup, shallower generally will mean more sunlight getting to the substrate, more invertebrates, and therefore more food for the fish. This is also influenced by other factors like density of fish/ species of fish/ nutrient inputs but in general it holds true.