Bye Bye St.Mary’s ….

[H380]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

Well….. I get that it is an incidental
Fishery….. but the regulations….? Like WTH??

StMary’s WAS where a guy could catch a legal walleye and Om Nom it on a fairly regular basis…..

Last year they supposedly popped in 4 million walleye fry….? Good investment eh…?

And 15 minutes down the road….. Jensen has a great walleye fishery… but ZERO retention for them and pike….

….. unless your of the ‘newer Canadian can’t read the regs’ crew that’s always there for commando raids….. or the local tractor driving-fishing contingency….

Jensen sure keeps the fish cops busy.

Now that the fishery is destined to be nuked…. Can I jus keep a couple yummy walleyes pretty please…?

Well said Bessie.. .. this whole zero keep thing in there is a joke , what would bw wring with a slot size keeper?...and for the past 2 years you have to walk to the spillway cause someone thought it a good idea to close the canal road on both ends in a provincial rec area ...cool, a fishing spot with limited access

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[Who Da Fisherman]

Originally Posted by fish99

The fish were flushed down stream when they dropped the water levels in the up stream reservoirs. For repairs and more water storage

I apologize, I just checked and they put in 213,000 walleye fry this year.
Guess they are trying to make it a walleye lake vs monster pike fishery, sad.
WDF

[darrell f]

I was at the Ridge yesterday. No way to get a boat in. Water today at 56% and dropping. Lady at the gate told us that farmers in the area are having trouble with fish getting stuck in the irrigation pumps. And we cant keep a pike from there. Sad! Not much fishable water in the south, at least for walleye and pike. Future doesn't look good.
I was told by one of the smird guys that chin campground will be flooded within the next 5 years and they have plans to build a new campground. Where is that water coming from? As of today water there was 48%

[Wes_G]

Originally Posted by darrell f

I was at the Ridge yesterday. No way to get a boat in. Water today at 56% and dropping. Lady at the gate told us that farmers in the area are having trouble with fish getting stuck in the irrigation pumps. And we cant keep a pike from there. Sad! Not much fishable water in the south, at least for walleye and pike. Future doesn't look good.
I was told by one of the smird guys that chin campground will be flooded within the next 5 years and they have plans to build a new campground. Where is that water coming from? As of today water there was 48%

Yes they are adding to the capacity of Chin. Need to raise the damns, bridge. campground will all be underwater and is being moved, not sure to where.

In a good precipitation year where we see a normal to above average snowfall in the mountains and actually get rain in the spring and occassionally through out the summer, I can see where that added reservoir capacity is welcome needed. But for some reason reason they are also rebuilding and tripling the capacity of the spillway where the water comes in near the power station on the west end. I am wondering where they are planning on getting water from to need that added spillway capacity.

We stopped by St Mary's on the way home from the mountains this morning. will post some photo's later.

[Wes_G]

A few photos of St. Mary's

Wally's


Boat Launch Bay

[Esox]

The only good part about these low water levels is that structure becomes very visible. If I still lived in the south, I would be out looking at all of these spots to try and see if there are any hidden pieces of structure that I normally would miss so I could GPS them for the future.

[Drewski Canuck]

Problem 1: All the fish that are trapped in the remains of the reservoir will soon be dead as the heat rises in the water.

Problem 2: If the fish are tough enough to survive the heat, the lack of any aquatic plant life in the deepest part means that there is no oxygen generation anyway.

Problem 3: As the Cormorants migrate south, all those fish in that puddle are sitting ducks as Cormorants dive 30 feet deep.

Problem 4: Even if the fish can survive that onslaught, the freeze will be considerable this winter, and whatever remains will winterkill.

So, how do you tell the Fisheries managers I told you so? And even if you can, do they really care?

Expect another cycle of ignorance punishing the fishing public from our Biologists if the reservoir returns to its former state. After all, they are the Government and they are here to help.

Drewski

[Macdrizzle]

Looking at other neighboring reservoirs they're down but nowhere near St Mary's levels. Curious as to why St Marys is being hit the hardest. Can they not divert irrigation from other reservoirs to take some pressure off St. Marys?

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Problem 1: All the fish that are trapped in the remains of the reservoir will soon be dead as the heat rises in the water.

Problem 2: If the fish are tough enough to survive the heat, the lack of any aquatic plant life in the deepest part means that there is no oxygen generation anyway.

Problem 3: As the Cormorants migrate south, all those fish in that puddle are sitting ducks as Cormorants dive 30 feet deep.

Problem 4: Even if the fish can survive that onslaught, the freeze will be considerable this winter, and whatever remains will winterkill.

So, how do you tell the Fisheries managers I told you so? And even if you can, do they really care?

Expect another cycle of ignorance punishing the fishing public from our Biologists if the reservoir returns to its former state. After all, they are the Government and they are here to help.

Drewski

1) depends on water depth and water temperature from inflow. You will likely see a partial kill but the first to go are often larger fish

2)is false aquatic plant life is not need to generate oxygen. Aquatic plants do produce oxygen during the day but lower oxygen levels at night.

3)predators will have an impact probably but even in a pond where fish are packed together in a higher concentration yearly loss to predators(and other factors) usually is under 30%. It will be lower in St Mary’s as it will be tougher for predators

4)Winter kill is likely the real threat to causing a major kill

Regardless there is going to be a loss and I agree theses southern irrigation waters should be managed differently. They should be managed so theses fish can be utilized rather than stock piled till things go wrong. Much better off the manage for moderate numbers and allow some harvest.

Only way things will change is if there is a push through proper lobbying with an unbiased argument and not over exaggerate issues either

Presently I am not seeing a group that’s primary focus is lobbying on behalf of Alberta anglers and until there is proper representation with a strong voice no change will happen

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Problem 1: All the fish that are trapped in the remains of the reservoir will soon be dead as the heat rises in the water.

Problem 2: If the fish are tough enough to survive the heat, the lack of any aquatic plant life in the deepest part means that there is no oxygen generation anyway.

Problem 3: As the Cormorants migrate south, all those fish in that puddle are sitting ducks as Cormorants dive 30 feet deep.

Problem 4: Even if the fish can survive that onslaught, the freeze will be considerable this winter, and whatever remains will winterkill.

So, how do you tell the Fisheries managers I told you so? And even if you can, do they really care?

Expect another cycle of ignorance punishing the fishing public from our Biologists if the reservoir returns to its former state. After all, they are the Government and they are here to help.

Drewski

It is near the end of August, water is already cooling off.

[59whiskers]

When will this province realize there is only so much water to go around and things change on a year to year basis. It is irresponsible to expand thousands of acres more in this province and guarantee more water for agriculture.

[H380]

Originally Posted by 59whiskers

When will this province realize there is only so much water to go around and things change on a year to year basis. It is irresponsible to expand thousands of acres more in this province and guarantee more water for agriculture.

Exactly ...finally some one that gets it ..thank you.

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[H380]

Sorry Drewski, fish are the least of the problem here..you have two parts of govt here..fish and Wildlife which seem to know nothing of managing these resources and the Dept of Environment which knows little about water management AND heaven forbid they be in contact with each other to discuss how they can work together. I pump out of the canal downstream from St. Marys and the water was.run at quite a.high level all summer , usually about 3 ft below my pump station . However for a 3 day period they had enough water that my pump tires sat in water !Environment had to know from the outset of spring irrigation season that the snowpack was well below normal but chose to run full tilt from the start , even higher at some points....no thought of rationing or maintaining a partial flow so there would be enough to last , just give er til its all gone .

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[alanflyfisher]

St. Mary's is an 'on-stream' reservoir. They fill all the 'off-stream' reservoirs and most down stream reservoirs with all the water they can get because the 'on-stream' reservoirs always fill back up each and every Spring.

St. Mary's, Waterton, Oldman are all 'on-stream' and will refill...guaranteed.
H3O...That is the reason they have high canal flows during the Spring/Summer.
I can guarantee that there is a plethora of discussion between water managers and government officials that happens on a weekly basis on water flow from the Waterton all the way to Ridge and beyond. Same goes with the water that comes from the Bow River.

And yes, these reservoirs are managed not only for irrigation but also for residents of the many towns (i.e. Magrath, Raymond to name but two) that rely on this water as well. They are not managed for fisheries and never were or will be. You simply would not spend hundreds of millions of dollars on reservoirs, canals and pipelines to sustain a fish population. That would be idiotic.
So...all you worriers...leave it alone...St. Mary's has been low like this several times in the past 30 years that I have hunted, fished and lived there. It always fills back up...always.

[SNAPFisher]

Curious when was the last time this happened to St. Mary's? Does anyone know? Even the last two times would be great to know.

I feel for our Southern anglers. Regardless of the primary use or not. And I certainly do not laugh at anyone getting upset over it. I would probably do that same. That and recent closures... I would like to buy all the Southern anglers a beer for hanging in there

[Wes_G]

Originally Posted by alanflyfisher

St. Mary's is an 'on-stream' reservoir. They fill all the 'off-stream' reservoirs and most down stream reservoirs with all the water they can get because the 'on-stream' reservoirs always fill back up each and every Spring.

St. Mary's, Waterton, Oldman are all 'on-stream' and will refill...guaranteed.
H3O...That is the reason they have high canal flows during the Spring/Summer.
I can guarantee that there is a plethora of discussion between water managers and government officials that happens on a weekly basis on water flow from the Waterton all the way to Ridge and beyond. Same goes with the water that comes from the Bow River.

And yes, these reservoirs are managed not only for irrigation but also for residents of the many towns (i.e. Magrath, Raymond to name but two) that rely on this water as well. They are not managed for fisheries and never were or will be. You simply would not spend hundreds of millions of dollars on reservoirs, canals and pipelines to sustain a fish population. That would be idiotic.
So...all you worriers...leave it alone...St. Mary's has been low like this several times in the past 30 years that I have hunted, fished and lived there. It always fills back up...always.

Only St Mary's never did fill this year. From what I saw the highest it got was just below 80%. If we had rain in the spring it may have filled but we never did. So what happens if we get a below average snow pack and no 3 or 4 day rain event next spring? There is way more reservoir to fill now then there was in the spring time, that never filled then either.

[H380]

Originally Posted by Wes_G

Only St Mary's never did fill this year. From what I saw the highest it got was just below 80%. If we had rain in the spring it may have filled but we never did. So what happens if we get a below average snow pack and no 3 or 4 day rain event next spring? There is way more reservoir to fill now then there was in the spring time, that never filled then either.

Agreed , St.Marys never filled right up , not this year or last ..

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[bessiedog]

Agreed agreed…
I’ve fished it for 20 years… it’s never been this low.

….. and really…. Why the silly walleye limits then… ?


Last 2 years there was a pretty big drawdown, but then the boys were doing some repair/dredge work on it for a while…

She never filled up at all this spring… it was stupid low the Whole time

[fish99]

its looking like lake Mead

[Wes_G]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

Agreed agreed…
I’ve fished it for 20 years… it’s never been this low.

….. and really…. Why the silly walleye limits then… ?


Last 2 years there was a pretty big drawdown, but then the boys were doing some repair/dredge work on it for a while…

She never filled up at all this spring… it was stupid low the Whole time

My thoughts as well. I like to eat fish but have always found more for entertainment value than food for the freezer. I haven't kept a walleye, pike or trout in this province in years. My whole opinion has now changed after this year. There is no use in being a conservation oriented angler when the lakes can be drained so low that everything can be wiped out. When I am able to keep fish, I will be.

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by fish99

its looking like lake Mead

Not anymore. Lake mead is up over 65 feet and rising. Powell over 75 feet up and rising.

[fish99]

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Not anymore. Lake mead is up over 65 feet and rising. Powell over 75 feet up and rising.

the same will happen on our southern resivoirs

[H380]

Originally Posted by fish99

the same will happen on our southern resivoirs

Can we get that in writing ? Hoping for a high volume snowfall this winter or it won't happen .

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[roy9525]

Originally Posted by fish99

the same will happen on our southern resivoirs

Saint Mary’s May fill with snowpack but without very significant rainfall this fall or early spring our reservoirs are in big trouble. Any problem with snowpack and lack of rain and we are in for severe water rationing and reservoirs being emptied.

[Off in the Bushes]

Milk river ridge is next. Can’t launch a boat and the gal that runs the entrance said it’s dropping 1 1/2 feet a day.
Maybe by running all these reservoirs empty, they can generate some optics to sell their narrative of global warming and climate change.

[macee]

Got notice yesterday that SMRID is shutting down water on Sept22 instead of the regular date of Oct10.

[H380]

Update on the St Marys water ..recent rains in southwest Alberta have added significant runoff water to certain areas , the St Marys River running into the lake is up onto gravel bars similar to spring runoff levels however there appears to be no attempt to back some of this water up and save in the lake as downstream flows in the canal is up 2 ft from a week ago ...gotta fill those potato reservoirs is my guess .

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[H380]

Well the water is low enough now that the outlet is visible...the guy that took the pic so, he doubts a reasonable size walleye could maybe it thru the narrow slats , a whitefish maybe but definitely not a large pike..so the fish gotta be very thick in paces of the remaining lake . The scare that irrigation officials gave us August 1 about water being totally shut off is such a joke , canal at my place south of Lethbridge still has 4 ft of water flowing and it is usually dry by Oct 19 . Some one at the top has no clue about how to manage the water and keep folks informed

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[SNAPFisher]

On an upbeat note, 10-30 cm of snow forecasted next week. Certainly Calgary area but could get further South. Hoping this could be the winter that renews things...

[Marty S]

I dunno about that, Schwab and his WEF buddies claim the world is going to have an extreme water shortage next.