Quote:
Originally Posted by Jfs
I hope that all people who Fish and Guide and enjoy the Mighty Bow Stop and Think and Realize that things have changed, dramatically on this River.
I have had conversations with over 15 people who make a living or a bit from Guiding on the Bow.
2019 will stand as a very Low Point as far as the overall Health of this River is concerned.
Years of Poor Management, Over Fishing from Targeted Professionals and Poaching, Whirling Disease. etc etc etc have led to a River System in Near Crisis.
The Bow is no longer a Blue Ribbon Trout River...
Just think about the Guide Boat Situation. Just say 15 trips per day per section. Never mind the rest of the Public Drift Boat Population,Every 8'of Bank gets pounded. Every Likely Fish Habitat.. Bombed.
When the system was healthy, the system could almost keep up..
I have Fished this River for over 50 years and am now wondering what I can do to help..My thoughts run to just retiring my boat from the Bow and walk and wading to just quit fishing below Glenmore..
Open to thoughts and opinions..
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Many have heard the numbers of fish are down in the Bow and there are studies to suggest this. As of writing this I have yet to see any studies that at the very least speculate BIOMASS is down.
Maybe I will be proven wrong, perhaps hopefully I will. I am not a scientist, biologist or rocket appliance.
That said I`m on the water almost daily, typically with strong anglers in my boat and this season we have seen less rainbows, and less smaller fish in general.
But, those targeting big browns have never seen fishing like this in the last 15-20 years. If you follow guides on social media go through their pictures, everyone of them is putting up monster browns on an almost daily basis.
Those tanks eat, mainly fish and lots of them. This makes me question, is the biomass still in the ecosystem? I tend to think so.
Should we say nothing is wrong and stick our heads in the snow? No, we can always improve our resource, however here are some points that I think should be discussed before freaking out.
-six years ago the river experienced a serious flood, one in which we have no historical or theoretical recovery data on.
-the rework of the bonneybrook treatment plant lowered the nutrient outflow substantially. Less nutrients=less weeds=less bugs=less fish.
-there a many rivers in North America that have way more rod days without the perceived decline we have. Guides and anglers aren't a MAJOR contributor to said decline. The science is out, Catch and Release works.
-the channelization of the bow via the placement of riprap is a MAJOR problem, our flood mitigation strategies that were enacted directly after the flood did more harm to the ecosystem than we can ever grasp.
In the last 10 years I've drifted the bow, typically upstream of Fish Creek, well over 500 times. The majority of those times its been targeting big browns, this was the best season in 6 years for my boat.
One thing I've noticed is those complaining of low numbers don't typically fish the methods that consistently produce large fish. No Offence but your typical 68 year old isn't throwing a 10' 7 Wt with a full sink, two streamers one being 6" and the other being 3" 3000 times in a day to get that one brown. He wants to toss dries to snouts.
Sorry to the OP that this got derailed, basically go to a shop, book a trip, you'll have a great time.