‘Changed’ Bow River still fine for fishing

Jan Cadra casts a line along the Bow River pathway in Riverbend earlier this month. Fishing guides and Alberta Environment officials say there are still lots of fish out there to be caught, but want anglers to catch-and-release until the population stabilizes.  PHOTO:

Tijana Martin/calgary Herald

‘Changed’ Bow River still fine for fishing

Anglers say flood actually had ‘a lot of positives’

By Erika Stark, Calgary Herald , 25 Jul 2013

Although the Bow River has “completely changed,” since the June floods, there’s at least one thing that seems to have stayed the same: The fish are still biting.

Anglers who have cast their lines into the river this month say the floods transformed the Bow into an unfamiliar river with new channels and pools.

For Aaron Feltham, that makes fishing the river all the more interesting.

“It’s fun to learn new water — that’s why you travel to different places,” says Feltham, a guide at Bow River Troutfitters. “Now I don’t have to.”

While provincial officials estimate that the fish kill this year could be significant because of the floods, Feltham says there are still many to be caught out on the river.

“People that have been out have been catching fish in a whole bunch of different sizes,” he said. “They’re really hungry.”

Paul Christensen, a senior fisheries biologist with Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, said this initial high catch rate might decrease as the river starts to calm down.

“A lot of those fish have had their feeding impaired for about six weeks so they might be chomping at the bit to feed on something right away,” he said. “Until we get out and do some actual population assessments, it’s too early to draw any conclusions on what the actual state of the fishery would look like.”

But early indications seem to bode well for the fish population, said Christensen, who went fishing last weekend.

“I’m optimistically thinking that things might look good, based on the number of small fish I saw even just this past weekend,” he said.

That’s good news for Feltham and other guides who rely on the river for their businesses.

The floods hit at the beginning of what is usually the best part of the fishing season, Feltham said, adding that business “definitely” slowed down for his fly-fishing guide service and fly shop.

But now that people are starting to venture back out onto the river, Feltham says things are starting to pick up.

“People are getting excited to be out,” he said.

The ESRD has asked fishermen to voluntarily catch and release all fish species caught along numerous areas of the Bow, Oldman and Red Deer rivers. It’s a precautionary measure, says Christensen.

“Because this flood is on a level that we haven’t seen before, we’re asking people to voluntarily put fish back until we can understand what the impacts are,” he said.

Feltham says that shouldn’t affect fly fishing, as most anglers already catch and release in order to preserve the river system.

“It’s our livelihood and a lot of other people’s,” he said. “We try to protect it as much as possible.”

The flood also flushed out a lot of algae and buildup in the river, Feltham added, saying it’s “cleaned up the whole system.”

Floods loosen the sediment at the bottom of the river, which can increase the amount of gravel available for spawning, said Christensen.

A lot is made of the negative impacts of flooding,” he said. “From a fisheries standpoint, there are a lot of positives.”

Even though the river is settling down, Feltham says anglers need to be careful when they return to the Bow.

“With the water clarity not being super clear, it’s really important that people are cautious when they’re walking in the river or along the banks,” he said.

Most boat launches remain either closed or inaccessible.

Still, Feltham encouraged anglers to get back out on the water.

“Essentially, we have a whole new river in our backyards,” he said. “It’s just a matter of everybody getting out there and exploring and finding out where those fish are.

“The old fishing spots aren’t there anymore.”