In what parts of the Bow River would you eat fish?

[jacenbeers]

For those of you that consume fish that you catch, where do you draw the line in the Bow River as far as what parts of the river you catch fish that you will consume?

I have generally drawn the line below Bassano Dam and above Bearspaw Dam. Anything in between I have avoided.

What are your limits? I think it would be gross to eat anything caught south of downtown until Carseland at least.

[Fish-killer]

Ghost > Bearspaw ----- To the edge of calgary! Eatable

130ave - 22x just about to the new waste water plant. Tried 1 rainbow.
Was alright.

[commieboy]

Hey Jacenbeers,

careful what you eat from the Bow below Bassano Dam.....

There is a consumption advisory on the walleye and pike for that stretch.

http://www.mywildalberta.com/Fishing...nAdvisory.aspx

Don't want to hear about you getting sick!

[jacenbeers]

I dont really eat that much fish and so I should be OK. I just ate one walleye from below Bassano from a few years ago.

[Bow flyman]

I would never eat anything below bonnybrook. I have eaten a few small (<35cm) trout from bearspaw to crowchild trail, on the Bow. They re pretty good. The river in that stretch is almost as clean as above bearspaw. I only harvest a fish from the Bow if it is of legal size, and I determine it is too badly injured from the hook to survive. It winds up being about a trout per year gets harvested.

[Lornce]

Any Safeway in town.

[Fish-killer]

Well there is nothing saying about there is a consumption advisory on bow river... So I would bet its safe to eat....

Astronauts and Navy men drink there own PEE.
The technology has came along way....

There are strict guide lines they have to follow!!

So if they can drink it and don't get sick and dye then I'm sure were safe to eat the fish below Bonny brook,

http://www.mywildalberta.com/Fishing...nAdvisory.aspx

[WayneChristie]

used to eat a few whitefish from the Bow in Bowness, havent eaten a river fish for a long time. Theres over a million people peeing in the river upstream of me, I dont care how much they filter it Im not eating anything out of there. Then again they draw off water to the reservoirs and thats where we get our water from, so I guess you cant win. There are a ton of clams in the river down here and I am pretty sure they wouldnt be there if the water was all that bad, but even so Im not eating river fish.

[BeeGuy]

I feel comfortable eating RM whites in the UM Bow and the UU Bow. For the most part they are insectivores although they eat snails, minnows, and baby burbot as well.

We ate a couple RM whites from Bowness last fall but they were kinda fishy. Might have been because it was close to the spawn I dont know. The RM whites from ghost are succulent though, so, who knows.

[WayneChristie]

I found the rockies from Spray tasted a whole lot better then the ones from the Bow, but the water is a lot cleaner and likely colder as well. most were smallish, so the newer size limit kind of took care of that. Used to eat them from the Highwood when I was a lot younger and they were pretty good too, for fish

[silverdoctor]

Not a big fish eater anymore. Think i've kept 2 fish in the 12 years fishing here.

Never liked perch, just can't get past the texture. Never tried whites, what are they like?

[slingshotz]

Above Bearspaw yes, not below. I'm probably wrong but any fish below Bearspaw dam could have migrated from well below 22x as I don't think fish can migrate upstream past the dam.

I used to eat whites from the Bow around the WHD 25-30 years ago and they were awesome but times have really changed.

Truth be told, some of the farmed and imported fish that many eat from the stores probably have a lot more pollution than the ones in the bow downstream of Calgary. I remember eating fish caught from the English channel and they were awesome but if you actually look at the channel it's probably more polluted than the Bow, and a ton more than than the Thames, it's all relative.

[tacklerunner]

None. To me the Bow is C&R but that's just me. Nothing to do with pollutants or anything else. Just like my homewaters to be resourceful. No offence to those that keep and eat from the Bow. Keep your limits. But mostly have fun!! Follow the regs and all is good.

[FishingFrenzy]

Fish move around... So even you have a personal rule "I never eat fish from below the waste-water treatment plant"...thats fine. BUT, just know that you probably are eating fish that have swam downstream of the plant....

Just sayin

[Guitarplayingfish]

No-where in the bow would I keep fish.

[Guitarplayingfish]

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

Not a big fish eater anymore. Think i've kept 2 fish in the 12 years fishing here.

Never liked perch, just can't get past the texture. Never tried whites, what are they like?

Whitefish are one of the fish I don't care for.. Very greasy.

[Fish-killer]

Originally Posted by Guitarplayingfish

Whitefish are one of the fish I don't care for.. Very greasy.

only when smoked!

[PPCLI15]

Originally Posted by slingshotz

Above Bearspaw yes, not below. I'm probably wrong but any fish below Bearspaw dam could have migrated from well below 22x as I don't think fish can migrate upstream past the dam.

I used to eat whites from the Bow around the WHD 25-30 years ago and they were awesome but times have really changed.

Truth be told, some of the farmed and imported fish that many eat from the stores probably have a lot more pollution than the ones in the bow downstream of Calgary. I remember eating fish caught from the English channel and they were awesome but if you actually look at the channel it's probably more polluted than the Bow, and a ton more than than the Thames, it's all relative.

I agree - not below Bearspaw. The colder the better. Fish tastes funny down south unless you are in cold water. Anyone tried fishing those carp around Cardston?

[MissFlyfishing]

Nowhere. Should be C&R.

[Christofficer]

Above bearspaw is just as polluted as anywhere else. Canmore is a polluter as well. I'd eat some above bearspaw though, simply because the water is colder and there's less condoms or tampons floating around. Plus, I'm sure the water from the treatment plant isn't very healthy in terms of chemicals we pee out from prescription drugs. If you're worried about eating fish below that because you think there is human feces or urine in the water, you might need to be checked by a psychologist because that's just paranoia. The water filtered back out is 90% or more tap water. The only real danger is what they can't filter out, which is some prescription drug components which builds up in the fish and water life over the years.


And no, it shouldn't be C&R. that's just dumb considering how dense the fish population is.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by Guitarplayingfish

Whitefish are one of the fish I don't care for.. Very greasy.

I've eaten quite a few rockies from ghost res and they are delicate and delicious.

Haven't had any which were greasy.

[ryanheartssteelhead]

Originally Posted by MissFlyfishing

Nowhere. Should be C&R.

There are limits in place for a reason. The fish population in the Bow is great. But over population can be bad too. IMO, the Bow is sustaining just fine.

[McLeod]

Originally Posted by MissFlyfishing

Nowhere. Should be C&R.

Why ? If it's you personal belief that all fish should be released then fine but if it's just for this Bow then I disagree... Bows and Browns are not natives..
Eat away in my books ...

[millartech]

For the most part I fish from Calf Rope bridge down to Policeman Flats and have yet to keep anything. I do plan on going more north and south this year, which may be best if I am looking to keep one. I have always wondered what people's thoughts are regarding this. I love trout and would love to keep one at some point, not everytime out, but maybe one a year or something like that and most likely only if they are hooked bad enough that they won't survive. I have never thought of keeping anything around Calf Rope Bridge, but futher south I might be a little more inclined to do so. I can cook a killer trout and would love to show off some skills to the woman, as she doesn't believe me anytime I tell her this (this might be the only told ya so I get in the relationship, lol).

Has anyone ever heard of anyone getting sick from eating fish out of the bow? I used to stay in Fort Mac and there were fish advisories there (only eat one Walleye a month from this river, kind of thing) and myself and some buddies did try a couple over the 2 years there and never got sick. Granted we stayed well below the the advisory, like only 2 fish over 2 years between 4 of us (we were all roommates).

[BPman]

Nowhere downstream from Banff! They flush into the Bow just as Calgary does. A few decades ago, when I didn't know any better, I tried cooking a few trout from the Bow. About every 4th one had to be thrown out as they smelled like a rag soaked in varsol once exposed to heat in the oven...YUK!

[Jayhad]

In the 2010 Regulations there were some fish consumption advisories, I don't recall if trout were on the list for the Bow. Below is the current advisories.
http://mywildalberta.com/Fishing/Saf...nAdvisory.aspx

[Toirtis]

Originally Posted by jacenbeers

I have generally drawn the line below Bassano Dam and above Bearspaw Dam. Anything in between I have avoided.

Ditto....been my geographical limits for 25 years.