Bow River Blues

[FishFearMe]

Hi I am new to the area and have enjoyed the local fisheries at many locations. The Bow is not one of them. I have fished this river around Calgary only a few times with spinning gear with the same result...nothing on the end of my line but some sort of white goo. I'm not sure what this is but it looks kinda like a cross between some sort of larvae and/or God forbid ...toilet paper!!! Whatever it is is pretty nasty and keeps my spinners from spinning.
Does anyone have any knowledge of this??? I seem to get it with every cast and it really puts a damper on both my fishing and my spirits.

[Penner]

As Calgary is normally a few weeks ahead of Edmonton in the season and being that it is the beginning of June, my guess would be Poplar fuzz (a.k.a a symbol for the Walleye bite is on big time). I believe it’s the way Poplar's pollinate themselves.

That crap get’s on the water and it gunk’s up every line. The way I found to best help the situation is to loop on a small bead 3-4 ft up from your lure and the Poplar fuzz will accumulated on the bead and not around the end of your line and on the lure. Works great when trolling.

But it’s the Bow! Could be arse wipe too!

FYI, loose the spinning gear and get yourself a fly fishing set-up. You’ll thank me later.

[fishing_flower]

We came across that white goo back in Feb fishing the Bow. Was pretty gross Started going to the Upper Bow by Exshaw. Much cleaner river up there.

[Doc]

It's a fresh water algae called didymo. The native distribution of didymo is the cool temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, including the rivers of northern forests and alpine regions of Europe, Asia and parts of North America. In 2004, didymo was discovered in New Zealand, the first time it was found in the southern hemisphere. It gets spread by the felt soles of wading boots, via fishing boots and waders as well as boats. Also known as "Rock Snot", it's not dangerous to people but there are concerns about the potential impacts on plants, insects, fish and the aquatic habitats on which they depend. Wash your waders, boots and boats with warm soapy water and a little bleach to stop distributing to other water bodies.

Cheers,
Doc

[Penner]

There you go. You can learn something new everyday.

[FishFearMe]

Thanks to all for the info...and yes Penner am going to try the fly outfit this weekend!

[Brian_levesque]

I was fishing in cochrane on the bow river by the train bridge and it was the same way with the toilet paper looking stuff floating down the river and getting caught in my line every cast. I have been to ghost lake numerous times and have never seen the same stuff once, my belief is probably the gas plant is dumping stuff into the river that they are not suppose too.