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Monday: Paul Arden
Tuesday: Davy Wotton
Wednesday: Matt Klara
Thursday: Harps
Friday: Ray Fairweather
Saturday: Viking Lars
Sunday: Sean Geer

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Earlier I talked about some fish in Alberta that have legal protection as threatened species. Those species have limited ranges in Alberta and are not very well known. Some other fish in Alberta are well known, but folks don’t know that they might be in trouble.

The lake sturgeon is not a typical fly caught fish, but they are a well known fish, none the less. Initially it is surprising when a fish like this disappears, but for such a long lived species you don’t catch problems until it is too late (almost). Unfortunately for many sturgeon populations, dams and weirs were built, spawning areas were flooded and early on they were fished to the brink. What is funny is that people angle for these fish and there are regulations to protect them, but we still almost lost them.

One species that is just about gone is a shocker. In Alberta just about all of the westslope cutthroat trout have disappeared. Alberta only has 2 types of true trout, the Athabasca strain of rainbow trout and the cutthroat trout. Lake trout and bull trout are also native to Alberta, but they are chars not true trout. For both Athabasca rainbows and westslope cutthroats we (fisheries managers across North America) made some really big mistakes. Brook trout stockings, despite Ray Fairweather’s love for them, have impacted the native trout populations through direct competition and predation. Then to add insult to injury, we dumped west coast rainbow trout and non-native cutthroat strains into many of the streams and rivers. The resulting genetic pollution can not be taken out of the system. Now when you come to Alberta to fish cutthroats, typically you are fishing for monster rainbow cross cutthroat trout.

So last week those minnows were invisible fish, hardly noticeable, but detected before they disappeared. These fish today are important fish, fish caught every year, with regulations placed to protect them, yet they are still in trouble. I understand how the little fish may disappear, but how could we let large bodied sportfish slip away?!? Past ignorance and poor decisions I understand, but what excuses do we have today?

Hoping for the future
Harps

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