Wastewater a boon for fishing in Calgary
Posted in Fishing on September 27th, 2009 by Arthur – Be the first to comment
A population grows, cities expand and the fishing gets better? Yes.
“The Bow River in Alberta flows 387 miles in a southeasterly direction from its headwaters at Bow Glacier, north of Lake Louise in Banff National Park. In its upper reaches, the Bow has all the trappings of a classic alpine trout stream: conifer-lined banks, gravelly riffles, sweeping backdrops of vertiginous mountains and a slightly off-color tint that suggests cover for lunkers lurking just below the surface.
But appearances can be deceiving. While the upper Bow does hold trout, its icy, glacial-fed waters do not sustain fish in large numbers.
As you drive east from Banff, the Canadian Rockies give way to rolling hills and then prairie. Not long after you leave the mountains, the western edges of Calgary begin to come into view. Once a quiet city on the edge of the plains with once-a-year-notoriety for the world’s largest rodeo, Calgary has nearly tripled in size in the last 40 years to more than a million residents. The surge is due to an oil boom, a Winter Olympics (in 1988) and the increasing appeal of an outdoors-oriented lifestyle that a city like Calgary offers.
The Bow River bifurcates Calgary as it rolls toward its junction with the South Saskatchewan River, ultimately reaching Hudson Bay. Generally, the demands and detritus of a budding metropolis spell the death (or at least the considerable degradation) of a trout stream. But in the case of the Bow, Calgary’s swelling population — and, more specifically, its wastewater treatment needs — have helped create a world-class fishery in the 30 or so miles of river from the city east to the rural town of Carseland. There, wild rainbow and brown trout average nearly 18 inches in length, and browns stretching more than 25 inches are encountered regularly. ”
“The Bow River fishery has grown and improved as the city has grown,”
