Dying Fish

[AdamJ]

August 3, 2007

 

 

 

Hot fish need help from Alberta anglers

 

 

 

Southern Alberta... Hot weather and the lower streamflows of summer are straining some fish at their critical limit. Angler cooperation is requested to avoid adding to the stress levels of these fish.

 

 

 

Some streams in the foothills between Rocky Mountain House and the Montana border are experiencing water temperatures as high as 26 C. Trout and mountain whitefish in those streams are particularly hard hit. The Alberta government is receiving reports of dead fish in shallow parts of rivers, reservoirs and lakes in the southern half of the province. Reports vary from a few to several hundred fish of various species in different locations.

 

 

 

While high temperatures persist, anglers can assist our fish populations by avoiding fishing in any foothills streams where water temperatures are found to be about 22 C or higher. Carrying a thermometer to check water temperature before you start fishing will be helpful.

 

 

 

The public is also asked to advise Fish and Wildlife staff if they see large numbers of dead fish. Please contact any Sustainable Resource Development office with information on numbers of dead fish, species if known, and location. Fish and Wildlife staff will closely monitor the situation to determine when conditions have improved, or if further restrictions are needed.

 

 

 

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Media enquiries may be directed to:

 

Dave Christiansen

 

Fish and Wildlife Division

 

Sustainable Resource Development

 

Rocky Mountain House

 

(403) 845-8269

Travis Ripley

 

Fish and Wildlife Division

 

Sustainable Resource Development

 

Calgary

 

(403) 355-4071

 

 

 

Dave Ealey

 

Communications

 

Sustainable Resource Development

 

Edmonton

 

(780) 427-8636

 

 

 

 

 

To call toll-free within Alberta dial 310-0000.

[Harps]

Thanks Adam!!

 

It'd be nice if Alberta Environment tracked water temps and updated them with the flow data: http://www3.gov.ab.ca/env/water/basins/Bas...rm.cfm?Basins=8

 

And Environment Canada data is tough to get: http://www.wsc.ec.gc.ca/products/main_e.cf...=products_e.cfm

(just find a gauge with temps working...)

 

 

Tough month on the fish, and all of August is left.

[OneMoreLastCast]

I wish Sustainable Resources would get involved sometimes like they have for the Livingstone Range with the Forest fire risk.

Them or the Fisheries Dept.

 

As we know, only a small percentage of fishermen will actually take the responsibility to not fish a water system that might be hurt by them fishing it.

[Harps]

I too wish SRD would do something, but its tough as it has to come from a higher level... plus there would be alot of vocies against any closures. Fisheries and Oceans has no say over how the province manages the fishery... nor do I think they would do anything either.

 

Best now is to voluntarily stop fishing, fish only in the early morning, keep the fish in the water and keep the fight time down, and pay attention to the temperature and fish conditions. If it gets hard to revive the fish, go have a beer and enjoy the scenery.

 

This is where the removal of streamside vegetation and water taking really hurts the most.

 

And the WID recently voted to let the horse track have some of their water... Why in the F***in' hell is a horse racing entertainment centre more important than our environment. As a taxpayer that really pisses me off!! I want that water left in the river if its not going to food production or nessessary human use. F***in' horse races, how stupid is that!?!

[OneMoreLastCast]

The problem I've had for years, (mostly in the fight with WID), is the brutal waste of "Dead" water that piles up in the spring all around the province that eventually becomes breeding grounds for mosquitos and then just evaporates.

I actually saw a watering truck drive right passed a number of perfectly suitable "temperary" ponds to back up to the Bow and fill his truck. He then drove off and spread the water in a construction zone to keep dust down. He repeated this at least 20 times a day for weeks, even months.

When I inquired and made my suggestion, Their response was that it would be too big a risk to the vehicles pump system. After checking around, I found out that the trucks have filtration systems to strain the water coming in from the river anyways, or the trucks pump system without filtration has openings big enough to suck up and pump out items bigger than a softball, so their response was utter BS.

 

Trenching systems, Pump Trucks, etc. could be utilized to make these temperary water sources useful, but when people aren't willing and the government isn't willing to enforce, nothing will be done about it. We need to look at the Ancient Egyptians for an example of efficient water use. This way our rivers would not get into situations as often where they are at risk like right now.

 

As far as fishermen voluntarily stopping fishing due to high water temps, we know that what people say, and what they do are two different things. Plus, even if every member on this board stopped fishing the waters at risk, it would definitely help, but we all know how small a percentage we are of the total fishermen.

 

Also, it's pretty hard to force someone that earns their living this way to give up their paycheck, so they would be the exceptions allowed in my Regulation if I had my way to push it through.

[Weedy1]

Why in the F***in' hell is a horse racing entertainment centre more important than our environment. As a taxpayer that really pisses me off!! I want that water left in the river if its not going to food production or nessessary human use. F***in' horse races, how stupid is that!?!

 

You think old Ralphie may have had anything to do with this?

[Weedy1]

Just out of curiousity what is the average daily temperature on the Bow nowadays?

[maxwell]

thanks for posting dude!

[OneMoreLastCast]

You think old Ralphie may have had anything to do with this?

 

I'm not sure if Ralphie would. Being an avid Fly Fisherman himself, I can't see him supporting this. Unless he has a stake in the venue of course, which could very well be.

Who knows.

[Weedy1]

I'm not sure if Ralphie would. Being an avid Fly Fisherman himself, I can't see him supporting this. Unless he has a stake in the venue of course, which could very well be.

Who knows.

 

The guy won an award for pissing our money away on the horses, oh no I’m wrong there, it was the slot machines that paid for it all.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/20...es.html?ref=rss

 

And he likes to ride too.

 

[gravelman]

Old ralphie aint no avid fly fisherman hes a hard ware chucker and trust me i know this for a fact. he fly fishes once in a while.

[Guest guito]

Hi Weedy

 

I am not sure what the temperature is of the Bow but I can tell you that the temerature of the Oldman in Lethbridge ranges from 23-26 over the last 3 weeks. We do temperature test twice a day here and most nights it gets to 24 and during the day it is 26.

 

I wish somebody would step in and shut down all angling for the month of August or longer depending. Water levels are way lower than average for this time of year and are only going to drop unless we get some rain.

 

Guito

 

 

quote name='Weedy1' date='Aug 3 2007, 06:10 PM' post='10627']

Just out of curiousity what is the average daily temperature on the Bow nowadays?

[Weedy1]

Thanks guito.

[toolman]

Water Temperature readings from the Bow this week, taken on different days where air temperatures reached +31C, with readings taken in the late afternoon, averaged 67F and 71F, near the shoreline. The samples were taken on two different days.

I think the impact and losses from fly fishing are miminal on a large healthy river system like the Bow. We have had summers in the not to distant past, where the weeds were choking the Bow from bank to bank, very low flow rates and a drought that lasted several years and a lot of fishing pressure with a very minimum effect on the fishery. Of course we need to miminize our impact on the trout and do our best to keep the fish in the water, make releases as quick as possible, fish early mornings and late evening/nights etc.

[H2O]

Just out of curiousity what is the average daily temperature on the Bow nowadays?

 

Not sure what the temperature is but 2 days ago we saw a couple of large floating Rainbows in the lower section. Also last night/AM around 1:00am in the Carsland area even though it felt cold in the air after the thunderstorm the water felt like a warm bathtub.

[toolman]

I think it is important to mention that the Bows and Browns only live 5-7 years on average, in the Bow river. With a population of (EDITED:) "1,800-2,500 per/mile, between Calgary and Carseland and an annual natural mortality rate of say 15%, we can expect to see a lot of dead trout every year".

So, seeing a few dead trout each summer is not unusual or alarming. If we saw a couple thousand dead trout over a one km stretch, as happened recently on two rivers in P.E.I., I would be worried.

Water temps on the stream bottom of the deep, main Thalwag of the Bow River, would likely be in the low 50's F or less, even on the hottest day of the summer. That's where the majority of the trout would seek refuge in the extreme temps. of these bright sunny days.

Now the shallow mountain streams, different story.

[H2O]

Maybe it's the beer , but I'm pretty sure your math might be somewhat flawed. Considering there are approximately 55km of river between Calgary & Caresland, and estimated 1800 to 2500 per square mile, and maybe 15% in the final year of life we are only looking at a few thousand dead trout this year.

 

I agree that seeing a few dead trout is not unique, but seeing a few 18"-20" trout floating near the surface midday is of some concern.

 

I guess if we were looking at seeing 150,000+ dead fish on the bow this year then so what if a few poachers get a couple or flyfisherman kill a bunch by taking too long to release them?

[toolman]

LOL...you're right about the math...I added an extra zero and was including the 40km or so of trout water, below Carseland as well! But, the arguement is that most fisherman are aware of these issues and it is not as grave a situation as is often portrayed. However, Poachers are my enemy...

[H2O]

LOL, agreed. So what happened to you last night?

[toolman]

Well Brownee and I got down to the spot around 9:00pm., just as the storm was about to crash the party. We did not see Hawgstoppah's vehicle, but did see three fisherman upstream at the spot (wonder who those guys were?). We went to the second location and did not see anyone there either and assumed Hawgstoppah (aka..."Ace Lightning"), had convinced you guys to run for cover as the storm was approaching. Then the rain/hail hit and we headed back into Calgary. Hawgstopah just gave me the story a few minutes ago on the phone.

[Hawgstoppah]

Rofl.... Ace Lightning.... or Lightning Rod.... we gotta almost rename me now don't we? I almost got Brownee zapped the night before too, and then last night me russ and harry are hiding against the bank counting how far away lightning strikes are, all the while getting soaked to the bone!

 

Im going to take up the profession of "ace strom tracker" and all I gotta do is fish, the storms will come to me!!!

[toolman]

I like "Ace Lightning", it's gotta good ring to it.

[Hawgstoppah]

Sorta like Ace Ventura huh.... a bumbling fool who's an "ace"? rofl

[Guest tallieho]

at the very start of this post,the gov. asked for any info about dying fish.i for one sure hope that they post this info.in a timely manner.[not the middle of winter],but i guess in hind site any info that we recieve on this topic would be greatly appreciated

[jimbow]

was on the bow for 2 days and saw dead floating trout on both days. no thermometer but legs told me the river was quite warm.