Amelia & I travel to the S Island of New Zealand to fly fish annually. We fare quite well in relation to how difficult the sight-fishing for large, trophy brown and rainbow trout is purported to be. We target waters based on stream flow, weather, and fish movement in response to habitat conditions. We do so in fairness to the fish, respecting why they are where they are. Stream and river trout can't help but be where they are - they have to respond to the environmental conditions in their habitat and knowing the ins and outs of this movement and activity can keep you into good fly fishing in perpetuity.
The first several years we stayed in New Zealand until mid February, but we soon noticed an annual pattern. After the New Year the fabled New Zealand rains stop, the sun comes out, and summer drought hits. Tributary waters warm, dissolved oxygen levels in the water drop, and trout either high-tail it to cooler water in larger rivers and lakes, or they completely shut down. They seek the extremities of shallow, calm waters or hug tight to large boulders or undercuts. Many endure this for some time and lose considerable weight and condition. They can remain in a “doggo” comatose state of extreme stress, not eating and expending as little energy as possible until conditions change through a “fresh” of cool rains that raise water levels. It's impossible as a good sight-fishing fly fisher to miss a large trout in a comatose state, "doggo-as" in crystal clear water of 12" depth or less.
Two things became obvious. First, it’s simply no fun to fish for obviously stressed fish (we leave these “doggo” fish alone). If ever there was place to close trout waters due to drought and heat, many non-forested areas on the S Island scream for it annually. Secondly, every trout angler is focused on finding cool waters and active fish to work, and the concentrations of anglers on the rivers increases dramatically. We noticed our enjoyment of the style of fishing we enjoy went down considerably after the third week of January so we no longer stay past that.
Recently, the Alberta Government closed many trout streams and rivers due to the ongoing drought and heat this summer. It is a necessary, temporary move. This has been a hot dry summer that followed a short, mild winter with little snow.
Such government action often takes longer than we hope - systems take time. There are considerable variables regarding stream closures and a multitude of spin-off impacts that come with such a decision. It isn't made lightly. This does set a precedent that we can now have drought and heat induced trout stream closures in Alberta, something that has not previously occurred. It has again exposed (as it did back in 2002) that the Alberta government’s in-stream water temperature monitoring system is lacking.
The decision to close waters can have unintended, negative impact: if stream “A” is closed, how much more angling pressure is on streams “B & C”? Are these other nearby waters able to handle that extra pressure? If there is no monitoring of water temperature on those other waters but common sense says they too are too warm but the biologist doesn’t want to name the waters stream by stream (some simply are too sensitive to broadcast), or the messaging gets lost in the sheer volume of closures, what then? And given how many small streams across our eastern slopes there are, is a regional closure acceptable and what happens as a result?
Dave Jensen
ALBERTA TROUT STREAM CLOSURES