Midsummer Temperatures

[rudedawg]

I literally stumbled upon something that was tough to look at. Just downstream from Shouldice athletic park No telling what killed this beauty, but we're in the time of year when a long fight and/or grip-and-grin can tip the catch-and-release odds against even a robust, mature trout like this. On the other hand, in one of Nature's ironies, flies were feasting on the trout's carcass.

 

Maybe it would be a useful service if anyone who is in the habit of collecting temperature data had a page - like this - to post water temps over the next few weeks.

On the Bow (the NW) yesterday (Aug 6): 17.5C @ 10:00; 19C @ 3:00. Today (Aug 7) 18C @ 4:00. Not too far from a fish/no-fish decision point, if we get back into a heatwave.

Jumping Pound, in the Sibbald area earlier this week was sitting at a comfortable 13C. (Interestingly, the temps in the low-flow side-channels was a couple degrees lower - maybe with a larger percentage of that flow running underground, it stays closer to groundwater temps than the main channel.)

 

[toolman]

There have been a few dead trout showing up this week on the Bowness stretch. My neice found a couple along Bowness park on Sunday. Might be worthy of an AEP investigation. Water temps have been pretty normal for this time of year and there hasn't been much angler traffic. Just the rubber dingy crowd. 

[Sparkplug]

 

The proximity of this stretch of the river to the Bearspaw Dam makes me wonder whether there are any river temp effects driven by the dam operation.  I believe Bearspaw is a bottom-draw dam, so when dam discharges are high, this would be relatively cold water.  If dam discharge rates are adjusted significantly over a short time period (as we saw last week?) does this introduce any sort of a thermal shock to the river, particularly just downstream from the dam as a localized effect?

Of course some dead fish in the Bowness stretch could be due to a wide range of factors, but given the proximity to the dam, one has to ponder.

 

 

[Jayhad]

I drift this upper section fairly regularly and I have seen some fish belly up as of late.  I have noticed the fish I'm seeing are only rainbows, and large ones, that doesn't mean no browns but I haven't seen any and it seems odd.

[SilverDoctor]

Also have been seeing the odd rainbow dead along the bank. Not a lot but a few