jpinkster

As someone on the Bow River board for TU I'll enter the fray a little bit here. TU's mandate is about habitat. I don't see how boat launches contribute to protecting or preserving critical trout habitat. If you don't see TU doing things that support the angling community, I suggest you look a little deeper. The Bow River Chapter is launching an initiative to provide better education on proper fish handling techniques. In 2015 TU also wrapped up a rehabilitation project for Mallard Point. The stabilization of the bank has greatly improved the fish habitat and allowed for more prime spawning space. You can see more here: http://www.tucanada.org/index.asp?p=2163 Saying that TU isn't doing enough for anglers is a pretty unfair statement to make. The board is always looking for more folks to come be a part of the process. If there are things we could do better, shoot me a DM and I'd be happy to pass them along through the board.

This is why if they do the repair...they need to do it the right way. Find a longer term fix, spend a bit more money on it and make sure you don't have to come back again in a handful of years. If it is publicly funded, I would be uncomfortable wasting tax payer money for a spot fix.

One of the big problems with Police is that it isn't Provincially owned (to my understanding). The launch is on private property and therefore private dollars would likely be needed to recover the launch. I suspect fixing it right would cost a couple of million $ at minimum.

Incredible photos, thanks for taking us on the journey!

The other is a triple articulated sex dungeon, right?

This was exactly what I needed to get through my afternoon. Amazing!

Stewardship Program is what I was trying to say.

Would a fishery management program to cull non-native species work? Something similar to the brook trout culls in other fisheries?

http://www.producer.com/2016/01/environmentalists-target-off-highway-vehicles/ The whities were lumped in with Athabasca Rainbows, Arctic Grayling, Cutthroat Trout and Bull Trout. I made the connection without verifying.

Thanks for the correction, I had read on another article somewhere that they were also on a threatened list.

Invasive species are a huge threat to our natural species. With that being said, our natural species are much more adapted to survive (and thrive) in many of the streams we find in the Eastern Slopes. If we protect water quality and preserve critical habitat our native species will be better equipped to out compete invasive species.

I get to do my favorite thing, mix politics with fishing! Stronger protection for critical habitat needs to be more of a priority. Native fish species provide a snapshot into water quality in our headwaters. The fact that Cutthroat Trout, Mountain Whitefish and Bull Trout are all considered threatened species should tell you something about our water quality. Protection for water quality hasn't been taking seriously enough by our Provincial and Federal Governments. 20 years ago the Province made the Bull Trout our Provincial fish and set a keep limit of 0. In 20 years the species hasn't recovered, in fact it has gotten worse in many areas. If that doesn't suggest there are bigger problems at hand, I'm not sure what will. It's time for government to stop paying lip service to providing greater environmental protection. What we really need is action. http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/conservationists-call-for-stronger-cutthroat-trout-protection

There have been a lot of conversations about OHV use this week. There have been some great conversations on this forum and in various social media spaces (some of the dialouge on FaceBook spaces like The Crowsnest Journal and Alberta Fly Fishing have been particularly interesting. Check out the latest blog post from the Oldman Watershed Council: http://oldmanwatershed.ca/blog-posts/2016/1/28/ohvs-and-the-owc-where-do-we-stand For the OWC the bottom line is watershed health, so hearing their perspective is especially interesting.

Yesterday Kevin Van Tighem (former top boss for Banff National Park) was on the radio to talk about this. I think Kevin covers nearly every aspect of this issue in his interview: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2682551066

This x1000. Kevin will get you into fish and keep you laughing the entire day.

That's the sexy headline. You can hardly blame media for doing what media does.

And the corresponding news article: http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/coalition-calls-for-limits-on-off-road-vehicle-use-in-alberta

The link for this is back up again: https://albertawilderness.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/easternslopescommunique.pdf

I joined the Bow River TUC chapter board late last year. There is a lot of eagerness and interest in doing some interesting stuff. I've brought some of my perspectives on poaching to the table, and we are also working on some content to address recent reports of carp being introduced into storm ponds around Calgary (if these were to drain into the Bow it could have very real consequences). I think the future of the Bow River TUC Chapter is VERY bright.

We tried a new stone technique last year that delivered some exciting results: We found a seam that dumped into some slack water against a bank. We casted a foam stone straight across the run. As it moved downstream, we lifted the rod tip up so the foam bubbles across the surface. We would continue the swing until the fly was almost directly downstream of us. We had a few chunky trout move a very long distance to slaughter those foamies. Looking forward to giving that a spin again this year.

Correct me if I'm wrong on the ecology here, but don't pike hatch much more quickly than other species as well? I heard that it can be a matter of a few short weeks between an egg being lain and it hatching.

I really appreciate that insight. I think you touched on another issue that I've been talking about for awhile. I shake my head at "1 pike over 100cm". Why are we allowing the harvest of some of our biggest spawning age fish? It would make more sense to me if we had a more progressive slot size system that kept those big spawners in the population.

I posted this in a FB group earlier, but I wanted to extend the conversation to this community as well (apologies for the redundancy): So...this is something I've been curious about for a long time. I've been fishing for pike in southern Alberta for pretty much my entire life. I've seen many of my favorite fisheries deteriorate due to over-fishing and over-harvesting in the last 10-15 years. I look at the creation of some of our "trophy" trout lakes that have zero keep limits, and I get kind of jealous. I know there are a few people in this space that were involved in making that happen, so my question is: What would it take to make something similar happen for a local pike lake or two? The idea of a trophy fishery within a few hours of Calgary is certainly interesting.

I'm getting married this year. Our game plan is to head to Playa Del Carman for our honeymoon in September. Our plans really aren't going to change much, so I just hope the blow can be softened a bit between now and then. In regards to fishing.... I would HIGHLY recommend a sturgeon fishing trip on the Fraser. You can pretty easily make a weekend out of it and it won't crush your wallet. We did a two day trip in September. I paid for my flight to Abbotsford on points, but if you include accommodations, guides, tips booze and foot I spent less than $800. We used Cascade Fishing Adventures. They don't do the shameless promoting that outfits like Sturgeon Slayer do, but you might get your best bang for your buck out of these guys. The outfit has been fishing sturgeon on the Fraser for over 25 years. Sturgeon fishing is one of those things ever angler needs to get out and try at least once...I was smiling from ear to ear the entire time. http://www.cascadefishingadventures.com/ I'm including a shameless picture because I can.

The shared file isn't working anymore because apparently this was released before it should have been. I'm hoping it is reopened to the public soon.