Aeration At Police Outpost To Resume Next Winter

[dryfly]

Today, I rec'd an email from Brad Hurkett, ACA fisheries bio. He wrote:

 

ACA has adopted Police Outpost Lake to our Lake Aeration Program and will start winter aeration activities this October. Aeration operations will include running two surface aerators at existing aeration sites in POL and monitor DO and ice conditions regularly throughout the winter. As a component to all new ACA aerated lakes, we will initiate a two year water quality (Nitrites, Nitrites, NH4, Chlorophyll A, conductivity, etc.) sampling series during the summer months for two years to establish a baseline.

 

We had asked that nutrients be measured and they will do so. BTW, chlorophyll is measured to to assess P concentrations.

 

ACA will be working with Oldman TU regarding electricity costs.

Great news.

 

Clive

[PAV]

That is good news!!

[murray]

Excellent! It would be a shame to destroy that fishery.

 

[SilverDoctor]

Sweet

[BrianR]

That's very good news.No longer going to be a craps toss,leaving it up to the goodness of mother nature.With LA Nina predicted to show here this winter,i hope they watch POL closely & all our other QSF Lakes.Thanks for posting Dryfly...

[somereddeerguy]

Great news!

[ACT]

Very good news. Does aeration have any affect on the weeds one way or the other??

[DonAndersen]

Weeds are worse on every lake I fished in Alberta this year. Some are aerated.

 

Don

[Dangus]

I don't know that it would have an affect on weeds because they die due to limited light in winter. Perhaps the chance of earlier ice off in aerated lakes leads to earlier/more developed weed growth? Probably a stretch. Either way, looks like the partial kill helped some lakes and there should be some slabs come spring. already Looking forward to hanging some bugs.

[bigbowtrout]

ACA will be working with Oldman TU regarding electricity costs.

 

Windmill????

[Sparkplug]

I've often wondered about the potential effectiveness of small windmill-driven aeration (like the kind you see on farmers' dugouts). Not a lot of horsepower there, but enough to drive a small air compressor that could bubble some air into the lake when the wind is blowing, to prop up O2 concentrations? Maybe small air volumes would be enough to keep dissolved O2 concentrations high enough over the winter, but not adversely affect ice conditions?

 

For larger bodies of water, a number of such aerators?

[Dangus]

I've often wondered about the potential effectiveness of small windmill-driven aeration (like the kind you see on farmers' dugouts). Not a lot of horsepower there, but enough to drive a small air compressor that could bubble some air into the lake when the wind is blowing, to prop up O2 concentrations? Maybe small air volumes would be enough to keep dissolved O2 concentrations high enough over the winter, but not adversely affect ice conditions?

 

For larger bodies of water, a number of such aerators?

Wasn't that what they did last year (sans windmill?) just bubble some air in so it would allow freeze-over.

[dryfly]

Update October 26

 

Today we (OM TU pres and I) met with Brad and Trevor from the ACA Lethbridge district.

 

ACA will install two aerators on November 2. OM TU will help pay for the power costs. If all goes according to plan the fencing and signage will be installed as soon as the ice is safe. It will be monitored on occasion in winter. Regarding Criminal Code 263, the ACA's and AEP's legal advice is that such aeration is "for the good of the public" and reasonable safeguards adequate. Apparently, BC went though this law and that was how they settled.

 

In addition, ACA plans to continue monitoring of O₂ and nutrients with a view to explaining the fish size.

 

We looked into windmills when concerns were raised about Henninger's as there is no power there. As I recall, it takes a lot of mechanical windmills.

 

"Weeds are worse on every lake I fished in Alberta this year." Interesting comment since weeds are the food factories of lakes and an integral and essential part of the aquatic ecosystem. We complain about them in lakes like Bullshead, but still they serve a function. BH seemed a bit worse this year which is likely the result of low water the past year and warm temps in May and June. After that it was cooler and wetter than long-term average. POL weeds seems "normal" to me.

 

A side note that will stir the pot. Casual observation leads me to think that triploids are probably not the answer in Alberta's cooler lakes (cooler then BC). Since BH went triploid we no longer see the numbers of fish near the shore lines and catch rates from shore and boats are down over 4 or 5 years back. We also saw that at Whitetail Lake (BC). It seemed that when stocking switched from diploid Pennasks to triplod Pennasks they no longer used the north end flats and stayed in deeper water. Seems so. Who knows?

 

Anyway, POL will be aerated and the water condition will be monitored.

 

Clive

 

 

[Dangus]

Ok Clive, I'll bite.

What about the lakes being "cooler" makes trips unfit? Using summit as an example, it's gotta be pretty close to the temps at pol, no?

In cooler water, intuition tells me that fish would be more likely to be in shallow feeding. Unless you're talking about diploids tendency to cruise the shallows in spring in an effort to shore spawn.

[dryfly]

Hey Bron..good question and I do not know. "In cooler water, intuition tells me that fish would be more likely to be in shallow feeding. " Agree 100%, but in both BH and Whitetail the Pennask trips seem to stay away from the shoreline. No idea why. Having said that, last last October, I fished the north banks for about 90 minutes (in wet waders and before hypothermia set in ) and caught (what??) 9 or 10 large fish from shore.

 

We went to whitetail specifically to sight fish on the marl flats at the north end. We stopped going after 2012 because there were no longer any fish on the flats...and it seems there were less and less every year after they started with the trips.

 

What we have found surprising is at times there are thousands (thousands) of minnows cruising the shorelines and yet we never see cruisers feeding on them.

 

Might be simply the Curse of Clive and perhaps I am simply not getting out enough to bump into the occasional hot day.

 

It is odd and I don't know.

[DonAndersen]

And Clive says "

A side note that will stir the pot. Casual observation leads me to think that triploids are probably not the answer in Alberta's cooler lakes (cooler then BC). Since BH went triploid we no longer see the numbers of fish near the shore lines and catch rates from shore and boats are down over 4 or 5 years back. We also saw that at Whitetail Lake (BC). It seemed that when stocking switched from diploid Pennasks to triplod Pennasks they no longer used the north end flats and stayed in deeper water. Seems so. Who knows? "

 

 

Don's comment!!?!

A lot or most of the shallow water catches were of sexually mature fish wanting to spawn somewhere. Seems like "fair chase" to me!!

Tis most interesting how many times the Alberta Govt has encouraged targeting spawners. Must be something in the water.

 

 

Don

[Dangus]

If I'm not mistaken, whitetail stocks blackwaters as well. They would more likely be the ones going after minnows, as they are a more piscivorous strain.

I'm trying to think back at where I've found most of my fish in triploid lakes in the EK. Other that one I know that has a diploid remnant population and has a lot of shore activity in spring, I think I've seen fish anywhere from 3 feet to 60. Take larchwood as an example, while a lot of the fish in there seem anemic for whatever reason, I have seen a lot cruising the shoreline in 4-8 feet of water, and it's shore fishable.

If I had to make a generalization, I would say I find the majority of my time is spent in water 10 feet and over, despite being able to spot cruisers easily on that lovely light marl.

That being said, pennasks are more active in the evening/morning. So maybe by the time I'm there, they've buggered offf.

[dryfly]

"So maybe by the time I'm there, they've buggered off. " No kidding eh? "Psst, Clive's coming, time to head deeper."

 

Regarding shore cruisers, Don, I was referring to fall cruisers chasing food in the shallows vs horny spring fish.

 

Gonna make one last trip to POL this morning. Fingers crossed.