[steelhead]

chub


Fish from downstream of these lakes cannot go upstream and back into the lakes, but, fish in these lakes can move up and into any stream that flows into them. Kinda makes you think about how many fish in these closed systems make thier way downstream and are called as caught and kept or fished out by anglers. Maybee they just swam away? Hey, wait a sec!!! With that example, it would conclude that the oldman, and the Bow are stocked with trout. Whoodah thunk it!

Baitfish from these rivers and the many other varied species they hold cannot migrate into them creating closed systems. In smaller and small closed systems, (potholes and k lake examples) stocking is a required to maintain pop's due to angler harvest, bull trout eating stockies, pellicans, otters, cormorants, disease, starvation, and downstream movement, winter kill, summer kill, WOW thats alot of bad stuff to happen to stockies but in this province they call it fished out by baitchuckers. And, since thier trout, they are inclined to head for moving water and rivers, upstream or downstream. Flowing into and out of it yes, inside the lake, no.

Ever wonder if that Bow river rainbow may have came from k lakes? Maybee thats why theres an abundance of trout on the Bow river, they all came from the stocked lakes on the system. Interesting.

When the oldman dam was made, it became a closed system (we dont see walleyes in that lake and theres billions downstream), but, the river above held the great number of species of baitfish and forage in its system to thrive today. That is an example of a huge closed system. The higher up into the mountains a lake is made the less forage can be trapped as many species of baitfish do not agree with temperatures and sterile environments. Suckers, of course, are everywhere and tolerate alot. The suckers in K lakes have been there since the lakes inception as they were in the rivers to begin with. It just took a long time for the population to explode.


The size of the rivers and the amount of rivers in a closed system make a difference. K lakes, lots of small sterile rivers barely enough to promote spwaning. Oldman, many hundreds of miles of rivers and 3 larger rivers to feed it with many many spawning opps and a large nursery lake. Bullshead, one tiny lake, one mel****er runoff to feed it.

Funny thing a few buddies of mine thought of. With all the big fish in Bullshead requiring more oxygen to survive and in competition with decaying weeds, when it does winterkill, and i'm sure it will even with aeration ( many aerated lakes have winter and summer killed in this province) how many years will it take to catch any fish or one of quality size after such an accident? It wont be much of a quality lake then.


So, Suns example of rivers vs small closed systems does not fly, at all, no way. No matter what, a stocked lake will always have to be stocked. They are not sustainable. Unless they have a large healthy river system to spawn in and a large and varied forage base. None of which k lakes has.


STEELHEAD