Allen Bill Pond

[jstelfox]

Thanks to the efforts of over 23 volunteers who showed up on Saturday, we had a very successful day and were able to salvage a lot of native fish that would have otherwise died when Allen Bill Pond reopens to angling on June 16. In particular, I would like to thank the 7 staff from Matrix Solutions Inc., four of whom spent a lot of time snorkeling in dry suits -- including one not very dry suit, which wasn't a picnic (eh Jesse) considering that the water was only 8C -- to locate and help net fish. In addition, Brian Meagher of Trout Unlimited Canada not only delivered 16 volunteers, but also coffee and donuts, which were donated by Cindy at the Tim Horton's on 32 Ave and 12 St NE.

 

In the morning, we caught seven fish by electrofishing along the shoreline, but anglers caught relatively few fish, although one little girl outfished all of the anglers combined by catching 6 cutthroat trout on Powerbait with her "Barbie" rod!! Unfortunately, she lost 5 of these fish before she could get them ashore and into one of our holding cages (damned barbless hook regulation).

 

By early afternoon, it became apparent that we weren't going to save many fish unless we resorted to the more effective -- but potentially lethal -- technique of gillnetting. The gill net was towed out into the pond by canoe, snorkelers "herded" fish towards the net, then volunteers pulled the net back ashore and we picked the fish out of the net. Since the fish were only in the net for a few minutes, there were very few (only 3) mortalities and all of the mortalities were mountain whitefish. This process was repeated numerous times until we started to get relatively few fish in each pull.

 

The following is a brief summary of how things went.

 

• In total, we captured 95 fish, with a combined weight of 30.4 kg, from Allen Bill Pond on Saturday.
• Most (97%) of the fish captured were native fish (8 bull trout, 3 cutthroat trout and 81 mountain whitefish, which we released into the Elbow River) and 3% were non-native fish (two brook trout and one brown trout).
• Based on the sizes of the bull trout captured, it appears that at least three, and perhaps five, of the bull trout captured were adults.
• Considering that there are likely only about 100 adult bull trout in the Elbow River below Elbow Falls, this means that we salvaged about 5% of the Elbow River's fluvial adult bull trout population from certain death.
• One of the bull trout we captured had a tag (#3029). This bull trout was also the largest bull trout we captured on Saturday, measuring 638 mm and weighing 2770 g.
• #3029 was probably about 13 years old, as it was first tagged on September 13, 2002, when it measured 464 mm and weighed 1030 g. TUC was involved with the initial capture and tagging of #3029, as Greg Eisler and seven anglers from the Quirk Creek project helped with the capture of BLTR that day.
• We also caught another very large bull trout on Saturday that was only 7 mm shorter than #3029, but it weighed 460 g less. The difference in weights was roughly equivalent to the weight of the large (~350 mm) mountain whitefish that I observed #3029 eating when I arrived this Saturday morning (what a thrill that was). The whitefish's tail was still visible in the mouth of #3029 when we sampled it prior to release (see attached photo that was provided courtesy of Erik Haag).

 

Thanks again to all of the volunteers who made this such a successful project.

 

Jim Stelfox

Senior Fisheries Biologist, Southern Rockies Area

Fish and Wildlife Division, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development

Box 1420, Room 228, 2nd floor, Provincial Building

Cochrane, Alberta, Canada T4C 1B4

Tel 403/851-2205, Fax 403/932-2158

Jim.Stelfox@gov.ab.ca

[Jayhad]

Considering that there are likely only about 100 adult bull trout in the Elbow River below Elbow Falls, this means that we salvaged about 5% of the Elbow River's fluvial adult bull trout population from certain death.

 

that's awesome, thanks

[theboy]

Great to see everyone get together for a good cause.

[Boris]

It was a great experience for my little guy. Thank you all for tolerating the onslaught of questions that could only come out of the imagination of a 6 year old.

The 8c water temp didn’t seem to faze him; he was up over his waist at one point. Here is a picture of him helping release the big bull, although not a great fish pic.

 

Clicky

[Guest 420FLYFISHIN]

This might sound ignorant but why dont they just stock an few hundred bulls in the elbow?

 

But GREAT job guys! Even saving 1% of those fish would have been worth it.

[jstelfox]

This might sound ignorant but why dont they just stock an few hundred bulls in the elbow?

 

But GREAT job guys! Even saving 1% of those fish would have been worth it.

Good question. The reason why we don't just stock a few hundred bulls in the Elbow River is that we don't want to make some of the mistakes that were made in the past (e.g., stocking fish without regard for the potential impact that a different species or different genetic stock might have on the native stock in that waterbody).

 

Because the bull trout in the Elbow River are genetically distinct from those in the Lower Kananaskis Lake/Smith-Dorrien Creek population -- which is the only bull trout population that we currently collect eggs from -- we cannot use the eggs collected from the bulls in Smith-Dorrien Creek to stock the Elbow River. If we were to stock bulls in the Elbow, we would have to obtain eggs from the bulls in the Elbow. This would not only be an expensive proposition considering the small number of bulls that we would be stocking in this relatively short section of river, it could also negatively impact the relatively small population of spawners and reduce the number of eggs that they deposit in the river. Finally, the adult bull trout we saved are much more valuable than a few juveniles, since they are so large that there are very few predators (other than man) that can eat them. In order to make up for the loss of even 5 adult bull trout, you would probably have had to stock at least 500 age-1 bull trout, considering the relatively low survival rate that would be expected of small bull trout in this river system. Part of the reason for the low survival of small bull trout in the Elbow River is the presence of non-native brook trout. Juvenile bull trout would have historically reared in seepage channels and small tributaries to the Elbow River. Unfortunately, these waters are now overrun with brook trout, which have been shown to outcompete juvenile bull trout.

 

Stocking bull trout would also do nothing for the other native fish that we salvaged on Saturday (e.g., the 81 mountain whitefish), which are now in the river where they can spawn and hopefully increase in number. Not only will this mean more mountain whitefish for anglers to catch, it will also mean more mountain whitefish for bull trout to eat. A decline in mountain whitefish numbers in the Elbow River is likely one of the limiting factors for adult bull trout numbers in the Elbow River. This is part of the reason why the C&R regulations that are being implemented this year on the Elbow River between Hwy 22 and Canyon Creek apply not only to trout, but also to mountain whitefish.

[Taco]

Good question. The reason why we don't just stock a few hundred bulls in the Elbow River is that we don't want to make some of the mistakes that were made in the past (e.g., stocking fish without regard for the potential impact that a different species or different genetic stock might have on the native stock in that waterbody).

 

Because the bull trout in the Elbow River are genetically distinct from those in the Lower Kananaskis Lake/Smith-Dorrien Creek population -- which is the only bull trout population that we currently collect eggs from -- we cannot use the eggs collected from the bulls in Smith-Dorrien Creek to stock the Elbow River. If we were to stock bulls in the Elbow, we would have to obtain eggs from the bulls in the Elbow. This would not only be an expensive proposition considering the small number of bulls that we would be stocking in this relatively short section of river, it could also negatively impact the relatively small population of spawners and reduce the number of eggs that they deposit in the river. Finally, the adult bull trout we saved are much more valuable than a few juveniles, since they are so large that there are very few predators (other than man) that can eat them. In order to make up for the loss of even 5 adult bull trout, you would probably have had to stock at least 500 age-1 bull trout, considering the relatively low survival rate that would be expected of small bull trout in this river system. Part of the reason for the low survival of small bull trout in the Elbow River is the presence of non-native brook trout. Juvenile bull trout would have historically reared in seepage channels and small tributaries to the Elbow River. Unfortunately, these waters are now overrun with brook trout, which have been shown to outcompete juvenile bull trout.

 

Stocking bull trout would also do nothing for the other native fish that we salvaged on Saturday (e.g., the 81 mountain whitefish), which are now in the river where they can spawn and hopefully increase in number. Not only will this mean more mountain whitefish for anglers to catch, it will also mean more mountain whitefish for bull trout to eat. A decline in mountain whitefish numbers in the Elbow River is likely one of the limiting factors for adult bull trout numbers in the Elbow River. This is part of the reason why the C&R regulations that are being implemented this year on the Elbow River between Hwy 22 and Canyon Creek apply not only to trout, but also to mountain whitefish.

 

Thanks for that Jim.

 

The non-natives get to stay in Bill Allen?

[Guest 420FLYFISHIN]

yah, that makes seance to me. I didnt even think of the slight genetic differences in the feesh. Thanks

[cowtownscribe]

I thought I'd post some pics from the fish rescue to give a feel for the day.

 

Thank God Jim brought the net, as this proved to be THE way we got most of our fish. This was the third setting of the net. The first two times involved swimming the net out into position.

 

Jim bringing the net in. Also shows one of the divers moving fish towards the net. Jim's comment was something along the lines of 'like trying to herd cats......' One thing is for sure, the divers worked their butts off in pretty darn cold water.

 

Jim and Brian showing that no job is over until the paperwork is done.

 

Another shot of old #3029.

 

One of my favourite shots of the day, but the one I had the least time to take. As Jim mentioned this guy helping Boomer is future Fisheries Biologist material. He helped Boomer and I release most of the fish into the Elbow, and even though he was wet wading - his focus was entirely on the job at hand

 

It was a good day, and the interest and enthusiasm shown by the kids was quite infectious.

 

Enjoy!

 

Frank.

[darrinhurst]

That last shot is just awesome. I could totally see my daughter being right into that.

[Taco]

cool, thanks