Icefever,
The Bow @ Cochrane has many characteristics that make it a lousy fishery due to the fluctuating lows caused by the "Peaking Power" operation of the dams upstream.
Here are but some of the conditions that the fluctuating causes:
1] loss of spawning habitat due to dewatering of side channels and shallow areas where spawning generally occurs.
2] loss of insect habitat was the gravels are dewatered along the edges
3] ice issues in the winter where low flows drops the ice to the river bottom where it freezes. When the high flows reoccur, the resultant flood forces the fish into very high flow conditions where they may not survive.
4] Ice issues also destroy dream bottoms as high flows churn the gravel washing the bugs out of the gravels.
And lastly, the lack of nutrient load results in less insects. Both Banff and Canmore are now no longer dumping their sewage into the Bow.
It must be noted that this type of dam operation is illegal in the US and a afterbay dam has to be constructed to modulate the stream flows to more normal conditions. Why does this situation exist in Alberta. You gotta ask your MLA. Just another Alberta Advantage!
Don
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