Concerned About The Crow

[fisher26]

So this season I really fished the crow a lot (especially in the early season) and I concluded that it is a spectacular trout stream with some great fishing. While fishing it I also noticed a few things, I was wondering if anyone who is a veteran on the crow and has seen the river evolve could give me some info.

 

I am especially interested in the crow is its very similar to the bow below Calgary for many reasons. First it gets a steady supply of nutrients from the municipality’s wastewater. Second it grows more fish due to the bug populations. And third it's near a population (although currently small) and is fished very heavily.

 

While I haven't fished the crow many times before this year I have been through the pass lots and have noticed a huge increase in development. There are many large homes springing up and new subdivisions in a few places. It's oblivious that the amount of development is way up and that passes natural beauty is affected. Gravel pits and dirt clearings aren’t pretty to look at.

Another is the low flows in the fall, as I said before I fished it most in March through early July so I saw good to high flows all the time. Going back later in the summer and autumn revealed that the river levels where LOW so low that all those fish I saw and caught earlier probably had no place to go but in the deep pools where they would get hammered by a barrage of fishers. It's one thing on the bow when there are lots of people, as the river is really big but in the autumn the crow is tiny.

High temps, angling pressure, and low flows must be affecting the river and it's fish. My question is has the river always gotten this low in the fall? The winter snow pack was really good so I can't imagine what it would be like on a low snow/rain year. Is it just me or is the snow pack lasting less and less and melting faster? (No I do not believe in man made GW people on FFA converted me! )

Another question is about the salmonfly populations in the river. Although I found lots of these big bugs in the river I never encountered the epic proportions I have read so much about. Even screening a rifley bottom showed fairly good levels of salmonflies but nothing amazing. Has the prolific hatch of salmonflies (and amount of nymphs) slowed down in recent years? I know bug populations vary on cycles but have you fishers with lots of experience noticed a declining amount of salmonflies?

Another concern I have is the high silt levels in the lower river. While wading I got stuck a few times in the inordinate amounts of silt. This cannot be good for the fish + it could harbor a devastating population of the invasive species Whirling Disease (reduced rainbow populations by 90% in Montana). This brings me to my next question. Has the crow ever been checked for Whirling disease? Obviously the rainbow populations have been doing well so it is unlikely that the river has WD, but with all the Americans from popular Southern rivers coming up it seems only a matter of time before the river is infected.

 

All this rambling is not in frustration at the crow, quite the opposite it is a charming (and technically difficult) river that has lots of pluses. Something about the crow is likable although the numbers and size of fish aren’t out of this world (beginners beware! Some crowsnest river rainbows feed with paranoid caution!). I would greatly appreciate if one of you veterans could answer any of these questions or fill me in on the historical point of view of this river. I am considering at some point (couple years) doing some sort of conservation around the river with one of the groups.

 

P.S. I am particularly interested in historical water levels.

 

Thanks for taking your time reading this rambling post!

[Weedy1]

The river flow rate at Frank is presently on a low when comparing to the historical quartarlies, although it was at the high end earlier in the year.

 

http://www3.gov.ab.ca/env/water/ws/data/hy...s/_RCROWFRA.gif

[dryfly]

fisher26,

 

Good post. Great to see concern. Some of us remain concerned about developments. Naturally people are free to develop their own land within certain guidelines. However, the MD of Pincher Creek has done some things which are of great concern. A municipality can do one o two things when a subdivision is developed. They can request that the owner send them 10 percent of the value in cash or request that 10 percent of the land be set aside for public use. Until recently the MD prevented new lots from running right to the river and left a public corridor along the river. However, I understand (and need to be corrected) that with recent subdivisions the MD has chosen to take the money and therefore are allowing lots to run to the river. This is a great concern to us as anglers as we can expect to have access to the river restricted. Oldman TU has discussed this with the MD. Not sure where it is at right now.

 

Regarding angling pressure. I don't think there is any more angling pressure than as a few years back. Maybe. Maybe not.

 

Regarding flows and temperatures. It goes around and come around. Water flows are all over the map and right now the flows are at the low for the year. Today the Crow is running at 2 cms compared to 2.5 for th long term average. It IS low. But in 1994 it was the lowest I've seen it to date and look what happened in 1995. So you never know.

 

Yes, it was hot for a few weeks this summer. But it was summer and nothing terribly out of the ordinary. Contrary to what many people have been led to believe (i.e. it is getting warmer) Environment Canada weather data for southern Alberta show that the trend in the past twenty years (1986-2005) is toward cooling. (Their data for Lethbridge also show a slight increase in annual precipitation in the past 20 years--remember that the 80s were very dry.) So, whereas we had a warm summer, the long term trend in southern Alberta is not warming but cooling. (A lot of us think that winters are not as cold, if so, summers are considerably cooler than they were 20 or 30 years ago, to yield an overall temperature decline. Too much data to spend time analyzing. All available online.)

 

So .. development should concern us all. As for water flows an temperature. They are what they are and I don't think there is anything alarming at all.

 

"Another question is about the salmonfly populations in the river. Although I found lots of these big bugs in the river I never encountered the epic proportions I have read so much about. " I've fish the Crow for twenty years and only ONCE ever saw anything that would classed as "epic." They critters were thick. Thousands of them. The trout were so damned stuffed you couldn't buy a fish. We shook shoreline shrubs and knocked dozens of salmonflies into the water. Not one natural was eaten. Fish stuffed. We fished ahead and behind. Nada. Over the years I've seen salmonflies most years, but at least for the past 20 years they really are a bit of a myth and I think the writings a bit exaggerated. (Maybe 30 years ago it was so. Don??) Why they were high that one year--about 1991 or so--I've no idea. Anyone?

 

A few of us believe that aquatic insects in general on the Crow are in decline BUT we attribute that to excessive sewage treatment that is removing all of the NPK from the sludge and effluent water that is dumped back in the river at Hillcrest. We are doing too good a job of cleaning the sewage. Maybe the subdivisions will help with long-term septic field seepage.

 

Thanks for your great post. I wish more folks showed concern.

 

Here's the Crow in the fall of '94 (I think the slide was taken in the fall of '94..slide not dated.)..BEFORE the deluge of '95. Very low.

 

Cheers,

 

Clive

[fisher26]

Great thanks for that thorough and enlightening post that answers all my questions but one. Have silt levels increased over the years?

 

That picture of 1994 is crazy, I have fished that exact spot a few times (great pocket water, usually have lots of luck with hoppers in that water and the nice pool below it) and it's hard to believe it can get that low. I guess I'm underestimating the hardiness of those crowsnest river bows!

 

(I really appreciate your river reports on crowfly, there very helpful, especially in the spring when the water clarity is unpredictable)

[trailhead]

I will add a bit of insight as far as the Salmonflies go, they are still there, usually they hatch during runoff. That is a time when most people don't fish the Crow. I managed to hit the tailend of the hatch in 2004. There were bugs all over, the swallows were swooping to eat them and the trout were splashing all over the place. The fishing was dangerous because the river was high and very difficult to wade. Though I had a fish on almost every cast. It was epic and occurred on a Wednesday to boot.

[DonAndersen]

Fisher26,

 

Clive is right on the lack of bugs. Been declining for a number of years.

Some history - at one time, the Pass used outhouses - then to sewage collection with lump removal - effluent to river -bug population shot up - then further cleaning and low and behold the bug population dropped.

When I lived in Pincher, the Crow was a ho-hum typical mountain stream. The sewage collection with effluent to the river made the bug population explode. A 18>19" fish weighted perhaps 3 lbs. Now, maybe 1.5 lbs.

It's all about nutrient load.

Never fished the Salmon Fly hatch but caught the goldens for years in late June. Was millions of them little suckers. Was an over-lapping hatch of Green Drakes @ the same time. Fishing was great. Now - I don't even bother going.

 

BTW - the upper Bow is suffering the same lack of nutrient after Canmore changed sewage out-flow.

 

The joys of a clean environment!!

 

 

Don

[fisher26]

I read from Barry Mitchell’s book that all trout streams in Alberta have the bug populations to support way more trout (practically). If bug populations have declined in the last few years wouldn’t the crow still have plenty of bugs to feed trout? I see your point though! Kind of weird most of us associate good fishing with clean clear pristine water but that in fact is not true.

 

 

Are they actually building a new treatment plant on the bow??? That's what I heard.

[dryfly]

"I read from Barry Mitchell’s book that all trout streams in Alberta have the bug populations to support way more trout (practically). If bug populations have declined in the last few years wouldn’t the crow still have plenty of bugs to feed trout? "

 

Your thinking seems to be correct, but it is a matter of degree. There are plenty of trout in the Crow and they are generally healthy. Few fish are killed on the Crow and pops are high. I'd guess 99 percent are released successfully and damn few are killed intentionally. Rainbow pops are pretty decent. But as Don noted, they are less fat (I won't say they are actually thin) than say lake rainbows and even fish in our high streams. Don's point was that if there were more bugs the fish that are there would be fatter. I agree.

 

What Mitchell says is correct too. If we had less liberal catch rules on the high streams we would have higher populations. Many of us feel that far too many cutts and rainbows are killed in our high streams. I've no idea what the trout/km differences are between the Crow and say the middle Oldman. Let's casually (subjectively) compare the pops

1) on the Crow

2) the middle OM above the confluence with Racehorse and

3) The OM in the zero-kill zone below racehorse, between the Gap and 22.

 

Here's my SWAG (Schaupmeyer wild ass guess.) If the Crow population is 100 (over some given length), I'd guess the middle OM pop is 10 to 20 and the OM Gap section is 20 to 30. Way fewer fish on the OM per stretch of water.

 

So the OM holds fewer fish and could hold more--but kill rates are too damn high. The girth-length ratio on the OM is higher (they are fatter) because they have relatively more food and possibly because the oxygen and water temps are more amenable. This is all highly speculative, caffeine-induced babble.

 

Don said, "Fishing was great. Now - I don't even bother going." I still enjoy the Crow and its challenges. The fish are damned fussy and often tricky to catch. (It is also 90 minutes from my house and 20 minutes from my trailer at Cowley.) Yeah, you can still pound 'em up in summer on Stimmies if that turns your crank. But add in a hatch of small insects and they they can be a challenge. When you hang one it is often well deserved.

 

I plan to do extensive population studies on the Crow starting Sunday. All in the name of science.

 

Fun stuff.

 

Cheers!

 

Clive

[DonAndersen]

Clive,

 

I'd fish it as well if it was the only game in town. Tis painful to see how shabby the fish and the bug populations in the Crow have become over the past 15 or so years. Still, all in all, it's now better than it was prior to the late 60's. Some *hit still matters.

 

catch ya'

 

 

Don

[Hawgstoppah]

As far as the fish, I've always witnessed what I would consider to be a VERY healthy population of trout in the Crowsnest, especially for the size of river it is. The big trout are smart enough and fished enough, to not get caught very much by those who do NOT know what there doing. This is a good thing. If they were all dumb, I would be concerned about the river.

[dryfly]

"Have silt levels increased over the years?"

 

Certainly not above the falls.

 

The lower reaches toward the reservoir are reported to be more silty.

[DonAndersen]

Hawgstoppah,

 

The numbers of fish in the Crow is not in dispute. The condition of them is. There is just plain less feed than there was. And I guess I stand humbled. I must not have the skill to catch the larger ones.

 

Clive,

 

You remember the days of the midge scum. Used to be great picking off decent trout feeding on minute'.

 

Don

[dryfly]

Don,

 

Up to about 6 or 8 years ago I looked forward to the autumn morning midge hatch..about 90 minutes between about 8 AM and 11 AM. Then again every (every) evening without fail. It was the best poart of the annual Sept week on the Crow. My bro and I killed a (what?) 16-inch rainbow back in about 1990 or so--was all very legal. The stomach "plug" was composed of the odd large insect part but was 95% midge pupae/larvae. There were over 2000 midge bodies in that stomach mass.

 

I've not seen a good midge hatch there in years. There are still midges. You can still catch trout on midge pupa patterns, but my #20 - #24 midge dries rarely get used anymore. Like you, I believe that the sewage treatment has a lot to do with it.

 

Ha ha. You can catch the larger ones. They can still be seen in evenings sipping along the banks here and there. They are there and you can still find them in evenings. My success rate is bloody low, but it is most enjoyable. Lots of downstream casts, 7X tippets..stuff like that. Hook ups are low, but it is rather fun.

 

Cheers!

 

Clive

PS: Getting white on the ground here in Coaldale this morning. Heavy snow warning for the SW.

[Hawgstoppah]

And I guess I stand humbled.

 

We all stand humbled on the Crow, just depends on the day...

 

When the going gets tough, the tough get out some magnifying glasses and #24's and 7x

[dryfly]

Hawgstoppah, if yer not in Alabama (or ??) next week give me a call as I'll be down from Sunday to about Wed or so. We could go test some #24s on 7X ... OR #4 BAWs on 8-pound Vanish.

[DonAndersen]

Hawgstoppah,

 

You use 24's - you should really be using 26's. Got a lot of them - all tied on Partridge Capt. Hamilton hooks. All parachute. Haven't used 7X for about 5 years. Now, I only use the unbleached tresses of girls less than 4 years old - blond of course. A typical human hair is about 0.004" in blond.

 

Don

[bulltrout]

24's???...26's???...7X???...either you guys are married and are used to painful torture or you are masochistic addicts...lmao...anytime a fish requires a 7x or 24 to catch, i break out the warm beer from the backpack and toast him one for winning that round...

[DonAndersen]

BT..

 

Now for Bull trout all you need is a chunk of bully beef and 20 lb. test. I can see your aversion to size 26's and 7X.

 

catch ya'

 

 

Don