Quote:
Originally Posted by smitty9
I definitely would not interpret 2 brown trout = feasibility. Overall, the NSR - in the Edmonton stretches - is not ideal habitat from my understanding. It is not the same as the RDR (or the Bow of course). Besides lack of habitat, as others have pointed out, stocking fish here would only feed other apex predators. I think we have to be content in this specific case of getting what get: incidental catches from time to time.
I for one would be surprised to see any bio come out and support the stocking of brown trout in the Edmonton area.
But who knows, I could stand corrected; after all there were bull trout in the area until the 1950's.
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I had a supervisor who told me that 'feasible is the vague gap from possible to probable'.
I think that it would be somewhat crazy to dump brown trout fry in the Edmonton stretch of NSR and expect them to survive.
In the RDR, there is a hard break at Red Deer where it turns from a feasible cold species stream to a cool water biome. By the time the RDR hits Drumheller, The river is too shallow and warm to support trout. I wonder where that hard break point is for the NSR. Drayton Valley maybe? In Rocky Mountain House, the NSR is fully capable of supporting brown trout (I know, because I caught some, along with some bull trout). The OP's trout is definitely big and healthy. When the goldeye leave, there is not much competition for the bugs and the pike really slow down with the cold water.
I am genuinely curious to know how many trout are actually in the NSR.