Bow river trout population in serious decline

[goldscud]

According to the government the trout population in the Bow is in jeopardy of crashing. There are many factors stressing the river, but the government feels that excessive angling is one of the main drivers decreasing trout numbers. There is talk of introducing angling restrictions to help the trout rebound in numbers to ensure long term health of this once great fishery.

The question is whether we as anglers are willing to limit ourselves for the betterment of the resource.
The same could be said for just about every Cutthroat stream in the province. We already know the Cutt populations are far below what they were 20 years ago.

Personally, I think one of the best regulation changes to decrease catch rates (and therefore trout recycle rates...how many times a fish is caught per season), would be a single fly and to BAN STRIKE INDICATORS.

Would you be willing to make that sacrifice?
Lots of fish can still be caught without a bobber

[LUNKDAWGEH]

Single barbless hook would be a good first step I think.

Not only fly fishers out there.

Barbs are bad enough with a river that pressured, let alone trebles.

Sent from my motorola one hyper using Tapatalk

[goldscud]

While barbless is a great idea and seems like a no-brainer, research shows that it does not really make much difference in mortality studies.
Getting rid of trebles and replacing them with single hooks is a great idea.

The amount of mouth part damage were surely decrease with no barbs or treble hooks

[Red Bullets]

I doubt it's the fishermen. The Bow has been fished for many years by many people just fine. Regulations are pretty tight too. In my opinion only... I think a good portion of the decline in the Bow's trout can be attributed to the river otters that are coming back. A large river otter can weigh up to 30 lbs. An Otter eats up to a 1/4 of it's weight every day. Their primary source of food is fish.

[buckman]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I doubt it's the fishermen. The Bow has been fished for many years by many people just fine. Regulations are pretty tight too. In my opinion only... I think a good portion of the decline in the Bow's trout can be attributed to the river otters that are coming back. A large river otter can weigh up to 30 lbs. An Otter eats up to a 1/4 of it's weight every day. Their primary source of food is fish.

You may be right.In the UK Otters have been reintroduced across the country,anglers are seeing extensive declines in fish populations in some fisheries.

Add to that the Cormorants,Pelicans,Herons and mink that are also a factor. I used to shoot Cormorants on sight in England when I was in my teens, now they have become a protected species.

[Drewski Canuck]

The Government, and everyone who has any interest in the Bow River, should know that it is infected with Whirling Disease.

Down in Montana they have dealt with Whirling Disease 20 years ago, and saw their trout populations wiped out.

On the Montana Rivers the trout that are resistant to Whirling Disease have flourished, and the trout numbers are back up.

This is a process that could be jump started simply by raising the Whirling Disease resistant strains in our hatcheries, and re stocking the affected rivers.

But Red Bullets makes a good point on the river otter come back, as well as other predators such as Cormorants, etc.

Then add to it a record heat wave and low flow levels that resulted stressing the diseased trout and it is very easy to understand the low populations in the Bow River.

Stocking fish should not be a carnal sin, and it is a solution for the immediate problem of Whirling Disease.

Drewski

[SouthWestRanger]

We need rules like Montana where on days where water temps are too high, fishing closes at noon, single barbless, single lure/fly (no three nymph rigs under indicators) and closing the sections of the river fish stage for spawning would be awesome

[goldscud]

Population studies over the last few years have shown that trout numbers are indeed down. There are no longer thousands of fish per km, now it is just hundreds of fish. It is very noticeable when you fish the river on a regular basis.

River Otters. The area of main concern is from south Calgary to Carsland. I have never hear seen an otter here, or heard of any. Perhaps someone has. I really doubt there is enough/or any otters to crash the fish population.
Avian predators are a factor, but are not identified as a driving force on the trout population.

Whirling disease has been found in the river. However, there is still good recuritment of young trout coming to the main stem of the river from tributaries. WD does not appear to have caused a loss of young trout. After the fish turn one year old in the river is where they are in trouble. Fish numbers are declining in the time from 1-5 years old.
Stocking is not recommended at this time as it is not addressing the issue of why the fish are disappearing as they grow. The biologist said that stocking has been shown to depress the resident fish population in a number of cases.

Low flows and high summer water temperatures were also discussed. Those forces are certainly a stress to the trout. The government said it is very difficult to set up/enforce short term closures. It was suggested that a closure on the Bow would just move anglers to the mountains and increase stress there. Hoot owl times like in Montana may be looked at. We need to take more personal responsibility in this regard and stay off the river when the water gets too warm.

I believe there is close to 200,000 angler days on the Bow per year now.
WE are a major stressor

[goldscud]

Closure around the Highwood in April.
Post capture net pen studies showed miniscule mortality rate. The cold water seems to protect the trout.

Again, the repeated handling of pre-spawn fish is not ideal. If the government does not want to regulate it....make the personal decision to NOT go there. And then have a conversation with your buddies to leave the fish alone for the long-term good of the resource

[SouthWestRanger]

I agree with the personal responsibility part, water temps are unsafe don’t fish at all, doesn’t matter if it’s your only day to hit the river it isn’t right to put the fish through that stress. Same with fishing prespawn, don’t be that ******* chucking cranks and buzz bombs at the mouth of the highwood in April and May, stay away from spawning browns in the fall. A little common sense goes a long way.

[bonedogg]

I had the pleasure of watching the Fall Brown Bow River spawn a few times this past October, the amount of fish and sizes were incredible! if that's reduced , I would have liked to have seen them before they collapsed!

interesting topic

[slough shark]

Fishing is indeed a factor although funny how they aren’t mentioning the changes in water flow they have instituted recently. Also I’m seeing more like than there used to be, back when I was younger I only saw pike way down river or by bowness, now I’ve seen them and bigger ones in all manner of places in the city, perhaps remove them and you’ll see more trout, each large pike eats how many trout a year? How about whirling disease and it’s impact on both trout and whitefish (trout food) is unknown. It’a one of those things where for sure remove trebles, they don’t do the fish any favours but probably want to address the main reasons first.

[smitty9]

Originally Posted by goldscud

Personally, I think one of the best regulation changes to decrease catch rates (and therefore trout recycle rates...how many times a fish is caught per season), would be a single fly and to BAN STRIKE INDICATORS.

Would you be willing to make that sacrifice?
Lots of fish can still be caught without a bobber

That is a nonsensical side issue / distraction that affects hardly anything. With the advent of indicator-less nymphing (aka "Euro-nymphing" or "contact" nymphing) guys are still going to catch fish nymphing or using wet flies. And what about streamers? Plenty of fish to be caught that way. No bobbers needed

One of the easiest methods to restrict anglers is to go to Classified Waters. BC uses it, and it has been noticeable, from I've read / been told. Been singing this tune for 10+ years, seems a no-go with AB bios, though, admittedly, I haven't done much hammering on it lately. To me...it's an absolute no brainer to switch to Classified waters on the Bow and Oldman drainages, and limit guiding. Alberta only has so much water, and so many fish.

Also, what about habitat and water quality improvements? Stocking programs? Bobbers aren't going to fix fish density problems. Plenty of anglers hammer the Missouri tailwater, but it's relatively sustainable; it has an incredible number of trout per mile. Is part of the problem here is improving sewage treatment, therefore less "poop" holes, with their attendant, artificial nitrogen injections and fertilization, thereby boosting insect numbers?

Looking at angling methods is but a branch on a diseased tree. Sure, we can go single and barbless, but ultimately you either need (1) less anglers or (2) more fish, or, ideally (3) both.

[flyrodfisher]

another thread on this here;

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=404833

[Sundancefisher]

I’m curious what the nutrient levels are in the river.

The Bow benefited huge from sewage discharge providing huge nutrients to the water.

Bug populations exploded.

Then we had the nutrient loading stopped.

Many floods later including the monster… and now trout populations are low.

Theory is angling is doing it in however are minds open to all the possibilities.

It’s said whirling disease isn’t significant. Is that based upon research in the Bow’s tribs and if so are there past studies to compare?

Is there a shortage of bugs and nutrients?

Has the spawning areas silted over? Is their room for enhancement or restoration?

Is their poaching during the spawning runs?

Never seen so many pelicans. They are eating something. And that something is fish.

Fishing pressure is huge and populations are down… why not stock new blood? Almost all major rivers in the US supplement with stocking. Whirling disease resistant strains could be good in the long term.

Reducing hooking mortality for trebles would be useful.

Increased enforcement targeting poachers and bait fishermen.

Some areas are silting in and some serious bank erosion prevention could help this important tourist and public resource.

Fishing pressure is huge. Boats are the fastest and easiest way to catch the most fish in a day. Limiting boats may be needed.

[goldscud]

It would appear that the biggest negative event on the trout populations was the 2013 flood. Many fish were flushed from the river and the river bed was changed in a dramatic way. The addition of tons of silt from bank erosion has certainly been detrimental to the bottom of the river and we are now left with a lot more long, lake-like features in the river. It appears that a lot of quality micro-habitat "holding-water" that trout prefer has been lost. Habitat changes and flow flucuations have not benefited the fish for sure. The decrease in extreme flow flucuations for power generation was very welcome in 2021. The power companies seem like they heard the message from the angling community.
I believe the biggest changes to sewage nutrient inputs came in the late 70's, early 80's. The amount of phosphorous was greatly decreased and the large mats of vegetation really decreased after that. The caddis hatches have never been the same since then. With the increase in the populatons of Canmoe, Cochrane and Calgary, the amount of foreign chemicals entering the river has cerainly been increasing on a yearly basis. I am not sure how we stop this process. The complexity of removing pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals from the water would be incredibly expensive.

Question for the Euro-nymphing pros: Can you effectively euro-nymph from a moving boat? 60+ percent of fish in the Bow are thought to be caught by the boat anglers and most of the those folks never leave their boats. I don't see folks use the Euro-nymphing technique from their drift boats and am just wondering why if it is a better way to catch fish.

Classified waters...pay to play. Yes i agree this will lead to a decrease in angler days. I think the government is reluctant at this time to take this step to limit the average Joe's access to the river. It will be interesting to see how things progress. It is ultimately the best way to get rid of anglers

If access to the river needs to be booked and payed for, the public needs to be very vocal about everyone having an equal opportunity to access. There should be no "gifting" of valuable "rod days" to guides. Professional access for a public resource is not more important than recreational access. I have been fishing the river for 50 years...I have lots of historical "rod days"

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by goldscud

It would appear that the biggest negative event on the trout populations was the 2013 flood. Many fish were flushed from the river and the river bed was changed in a dramatic way. The addition of tons of silt from bank erosion has certainly been detrimental to the bottom of the river and we are now left with a lot more long, lake-like features in the river. It appears that a lot of quality micro-habitat "holding-water" that trout prefer has been lost. Habitat changes and flow flucuations have not benefited the fish for sure. The decrease in extreme flow flucuations for power generation was very welcome in 2021. The power companies seem like they heard the message from the angling community.
I believe the biggest changes to sewage nutrient inputs came in the late 70's, early 80's. The amount of phosphorous was greatly decreased and the large mats of vegetation really decreased after that. The caddis hatches have never been the same since then. With the increase in the populatons of Canmoe, Cochrane and Calgary, the amount of foreign chemicals entering the river has cerainly been increasing on a yearly basis. I am not sure how we stop this process. The complexity of removing pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals from the water would be incredibly expensive.

Question for the Euro-nymphing pros: Can you effectively euro-nymph from a moving boat? 60+ percent of fish in the Bow are thought to be caught by the boat anglers and most of the those folks never leave their boats. I don't see folks use the Euro-nymphing technique from their drift boats and am just wondering why if it is a better way to catch fish.

Classified waters...pay to play. Yes i agree this will lead to a decrease in angler days. I think the government is reluctant at this time to take this step to limit the average Joe's access to the river. It will be interesting to see how things progress. It is ultimately the best way to get rid of anglers

If access to the river needs to be booked and payed for, the public needs to be very vocal about everyone having an equal opportunity to access. There should be no "gifting" of valuable "rod days" to guides. Professional access for a public resource is not more important than recreational access. I have been fishing the river for 50 years...I have lots of historical "rod days"

How would one improve the shape of the river bottom? The river has for millennia been shaped by floods so not sure how one flood would deposit a pile of silt, usually a flood cleans the river and pushes the silt to the edges or shorelines, it generally improves spawning habitat as it clears the silt off to the side, it’s a reason why river valleys are so fertile. You’re bang on with the industrial chemicals, we need to find a way to at least settle out drain water before it enters the river. I’ve still see some pretty big caddies hatches in the past few years, the biggest difference though I’ve seen fewer rushing fish, not sure if it’s because there are fewer fish or if they are full from subsurface feeding. I haven’t fished the bow as much the last few years as the past due to my location and family commitments but I’ve seen far more fish being caught subsurface than in the past, it seems the fish are targeting that source as opposed to the caddis on the surface like they used to.

[Drewski Canuck]

" Whirling disease has been found in the river. However, there is still good recruitment of young trout coming to the main stem of the river from tributaries. WD does not appear to have caused a loss of young trout. After the fish turn one year old in the river is where they are in trouble. Fish numbers are declining in the time from 1-5 years old."

How long does it take Whirling Disease to seriously impact a trout's ability to feed? 1 - 5 years perhaps?

Whirling Disease is going up the tributaries as well. It does not remain static in the main river below Calgary.

The draining of Johnson Lake in Banff National Park is being done because Whirling Disease can be spread by water or fish transfer, or by birds moving from waterbody to waterbody. Let alone any intermittent creek flow into the Bow or its tributories from Johnson Lake.

So again, the answer is at Craig, Montana, and the disease resistant trout strains that have flourished on the Missouri River. Raise them, stock them, and let the new strains fill the void for the diseased fish that are dying out.

Drewski

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

" Whirling disease has been found in the river. However, there is still good recruitment of young trout coming to the main stem of the river from tributaries. WD does not appear to have caused a loss of young trout. After the fish turn one year old in the river is where they are in trouble. Fish numbers are declining in the time from 1-5 years old."

How long does it take Whirling Disease to seriously impact a trout's ability to feed? 1 - 5 years perhaps?

Whirling Disease is going up the tributaries as well. It does not remain static in the main river below Calgary.

The draining of Johnson Lake in Banff National Park is being done because Whirling Disease can be spread by water or fish transfer, or by birds moving from waterbody to waterbody. Let alone any intermittent creek flow into the Bow or its tributories from Johnson Lake.

So again, the answer is at Craig, Montana, and the disease resistant trout strains that have flourished on the Missouri River. Raise them, stock them, and let the new strains fill the void for the diseased fish that are dying out.

Drewski

I was always of the impression that whirling mostly impacts young or juvenile fish. I could be wrong but from what I have heard that’s the age class that is impacted the most. It would also be interesting to know how long whirling has actually been here, perhaps it’s been around longer than we think and what we have now is mostly resistant.

[tallieho]

Here's something to consider. The last few years ,we have had drought conditions.Less run-off..
Practices of many,many new sub division.Now incorporate,storm water collections or man made lakes.This water would have gone into the river.
Next is we have exploding populations of Prussian carp,in these structures.Carp virtually wipe out any nutrients from ,the structures.Leaving behind,tons of sh-t behind.Being that they can spawn up to 4 times a season & nothing being done.The growth of these invasives,should be factored..imo

[goldscud]

The 2013 flood was unlike anything seen in the last 100 years. Many stretches of bank hundreds of meters long and 10-20ft back inland were removed and dumped into the river. Hundreds of huge cottonwood trees were removed. New channels were created. These raw banks have not stabilized today and there is still dirt dropping into the river. That is where the silt comes from.
Yes the yearly floods since then are moving some silt downstream, but there is so much to move that the substrate is still compacted in many areas. Big ice bergs and high flows at breakup do some great dredging to contour the bottom. We need more of that. Hopefully nature will hurry up.

The government biologists said there was little evidence of a major disease/mortality issue from whirling disease. Most of the rainbows in the Bow are originating in the head waters of the Highwood and Sheep. Some from Fish creek and some mainstem spawning. They said the number of young fish ending up back down in the Bow is not of concern.
I think the rainbows in the Bow only live 5-6 years. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

Insect life has taken a beating since the flood. There was hardly any bugs for a couple of summers after 2013. The fish would rise and eat any dry that came by. It was like fishing for stupid Cutthroats. It seems the bugs are still slowly coming back, but no where near where they used to be (even to times after the sewage was cleaned up). I remember as a kid in the 70's, there was clouds of caddis everywhere, every night. It was amazing to see rising fish all over the river.

There is absolutely a large number of factors that are limiting fish populations. Which ones can we actually do anything about without spending thousands and thousands of dollars? I think that is where the government is at right now. Angling is the easiet lever to pull.
Recreational anglers need a voice as a stakeholder beside the guiding industry that has a vested interest. The government said their highest priority is to conservation of the resource. Let's hold them to that promise

[Sundancefisher]

I think conservation of the resource is a weak promise.

They should be promising to bring the resource back to its peak.

May not get their but getting closer is better than the government setting a low bar of today’s currently declined fishery.

[flyrodfisher]

Obviously, nobody took the time to read the other thread on this subject;

A few points;

1) In it's heyday, the Bow carried nutrients from Calgary's sewage....those nutrients created enormous biomass that the trout then fed on. The sewage has been cleaned up, the biomass went down...less food for the trout.

2) The flood event did not help in producing "natural" biomass

3) Whirling disease did not help

4) I believe that Johnson lake was drained into the Bow...how does that make any sense?

5) Increased population and subsequent angling pressure did not help

6) Explosion of guide trips on the river did not help

7) The pelicans have been there for a long long time....

8)Rainbow and brown trout are NOT native to the Bow...they are introduced, as and such are an invasive species. Now before everyone jumps on that, I only point it out to question why this has suddenly become a priority to AE over some of our native fisheries that are also in trouble.
Again, don't get me wrong...I've fished the Bow since the early 80's and I'd love to see fish pops on the Bow increase to what they were in it's heyday...but...I almost hate to say this, but maybe these introduced species were never meant to be there in the first place.
Tinkering with mother nature is usually a losing battle...

9) There are a myriad of other factors in play...water temps, water quality, etc

It's an interesting project...
The government created a fishery that originally did not exist in an attempt to develop recreational fishing opportunities.
The newly introduced species thrived
The recreational fishery exploded
Due to various factors the fishery has now declined.
The government is now considering the option of reducing recreational fishing opportunities.

Back to where we started?

[bartman]

Pelicans...shoot them all! 35 years ago hardly saw one while floating. In the past couples of decades, if you float, you see hundreds and they eat lots! They don't release.

[densa44]

I think that we are running low on water. Everywhere.
This may be very very hard to fix.

[Soab]

This is tough / terrible news. When you restrict angling there, it will increase pressure on smaller rivers drastically...

[matt1984]

Originally Posted by goldscud

While barbless is a great idea and seems like a no-brainer, research shows that it does not really make much difference in mortality studies.
Getting rid of trebles and replacing them with single hooks is a great idea.

The amount of mouth part damage were surely decrease with no barbs or treble hooks

That research indicates the hook itself doesn't effect mortality when barbed/un-barbed. However, what they failed to address is how much longer many anglers take to release a barbed vs un-barbed hook. If it takes the "average" angler an extra 15-20 seconds, that can be significant (especially considering the poor handling by many anglers).

[commieboy]

Originally Posted by matt1984

That research indicates the hook itself doesn't effect mortality when barbed/un-barbed. However, what they failed to address is how much longer many anglers take to release a barbed vs un-barbed hook. If it takes the "average" angler an extra 15-20 seconds, that can be significant (especially considering the poor handling by many anglers).

I was going to mention this myself. Some argue that you just need to learn to release fish from a barb. But how long does that take to learn? How many fish did you stress along the way? For me barbless is a no-brainer. Though I know it doesn't solve the issue, no one thing will.... short of dumping farmed fish every year which will come with its own cost. Every little thing helps.

But maybe leave the pelicans alone. I think they have more right to the fish than we do.

[lannie]

Originally Posted by commieboy

I was going to mention this myself. Some argue that you just need to learn to release fish from a barb. But how long does that take to learn? How many fish did you stress along the way? For me barbless is a no-brainer. Though I know it doesn't solve the issue, no one thing will.... short of dumping farmed fish every year which will come with its own cost. Every little thing helps.

But maybe leave the pelicans alone. I think they have more right to the fish than we do.

What will work is to stop fishing or drastically reduce the amount of fisherman on the eastern slopes.

[straight]

Originally Posted by bartman

Pelicans...shoot them all! 35 years ago hardly saw one while floating. In the past couples of decades, if you float, you see hundreds and they eat lots! They don't release.

Fishermen...shoot them all! If you float, you see hundreds and they catch lots! They release, but lots of fish dies nevertheless.