Cataract Creek

[RichV]

Fished from the campground to the meadows and saw...nothing. No splashes, no shadows in the pools, nothing. It definitely was not teaming with eager brook trout. Is it just me, or is this section of creek empty water now?

What about Etherington, same story?

[FlyTheory]

I think a lot of our waters in Alberta have been trending in this direction sadly. Habitat fragmentation, overfishing, high water temps. It’s part of the reality now, sadly. Especially in the easier access waters in central to southern Alberta. The SW of Alberta has seen pretty ugly water temps at this time of year, look at Fernie, the Elk and tributaries are mega warm right now. Like 17°C kinda deal.
Having said that, there are still definitely fish in there. They may just not have been active, it may have been too warm of water temps or no surface hatches.

[calgarygringo]

Having fished it since the 70's, our experience has always been a lot better way up stream. Walk a few km up the path and around then start fishing. Caught more real trout size fish in the bigger pools.

[RichV]

Thanks for the replies. I will try again in the future

[densa44]

Has any one fished there this year? I've fished lots of the streams on the eastern slopes but not that one.

[slough shark]

I was out there I want to say 4-5 years ago and the brookies were thick, all were small but there were tons, has anything changed significantly environmentally wise recently that may have caused that? I heard from someone last year who also had the same sort of experience so that’s a bit more worrisome that multiple people having rough days, hopefully it’s coincidence because that was a great place to take new fly fishermen.

[South west trappin RG]

I spend allot of time there and after the winter of 2018/19 the fish have disappeared almost I have been to the headwaters to below the campground a they are almost all gone. Before that winter they were everywhere best place to take a new fishermen. Multiple phone calls to every biologist in Alberta no one really cared much. On a whim and cause the fording coal mine is just over the mountain from cataract headwaters I made a phone call to the fisheries bio that overlooks the fording river an area for the BC government an she actually had some answers. 2018/19 winter had a cold spell of -30 for more than two weeks an that’s the main reason for the fish die off in the fording river along with the fish stressed from the selenium from the mine. I trap the cataract drainage an we had the same cold spell. So that’s what happened to the fish. I told our head bio for Alberta that they should restock cutthroat but they say it will never happen. There are some fish in the creek but far a few between. Mabe someone on here could push for some stocking it’s an amazing little creek.

[Don Andersen]

Whirling Disease!
Coming to a river near you!

Don

[matt1984]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

Whirling Disease!
Coming to a river near you!

Don

Would you see a complete loss of all age classes with WD, or would you still expect so see some fish? The upper reaches appear barren.

[Don Andersen]

Once the mature fish die, it’s barren.

Don

[Lornce]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

Once the mature fish die, it’s barren.

Don

You hit it on the head, as most Brook trout life spans are no more than 3 to 4 years in great conditions with rich food sources it can be extended to 7 but is rare.

[FlyTheory]

If true, it’s a good reset to try restocking CTTR and see how they will cope with the whirling disease presence. Remember, if mature fish are stocked, they’ll be okay as the WD impacts early stage juveniles. Perhaps it’s an opportunity to see if an immune strain can be developed or tested. Having a watercourse reset is a tragedy, but opens unique opportunities. Or, we can leave it barren and have some pressure redistributed to other streams, which is not ideal. That’s my toonie.

[Lornce]

The Alberta government does not care in the least about small streams.

[goldscud]

Or that much about large streams considering the huge numbers of fish that are siphoned out of southern Alberta rivers and into various irrigation systems.
If the government did care they would have the AER enforce the screening requirements that were put in place when water licences were issued. The issue of lost fish (including SARA protected Bull trout and Cutthroat trout) was identified over 100 years ago, and yet the government has done little to stop the loss. This ENTRAINMENT of fish issue is becoming more significant as time goes by and the pressure on trout populations continues to escalate.

Hopefully anglers of all methods will begin to raise a voice to question why the government has done little to fix this significant problem.

There are some concerned folks banding together in one voice over this issue.
Check out The Trout Trust for more information:
https://www.thetrouttrust.com/

[Head Lice]

Fished it 62yrs. ago with my dad.

[South west trappin RG]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

Whirling Disease!
Coming to a river near you!

Don

If it’s Whirling Disease why hasn't the Highwood river been affected, cataract flows into the Highwood

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

Once the mature fish die, it’s barren.

Don

Is there enough nutrients left in these streams to support harvest or even natural mortality plus hooking mortality plus poaching?

[Lornce]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Is there enough nutrients left in these streams to support harvest or even natural mortality plus hooking mortality plus poaching?

I can't speak about poaching but Cataract had a very rich insect population. PMD' BWO's Stonefies, and a lot of Mayfly Species. Not even counting the Terrestuals.

[South west trappin RG]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Is there enough nutrients left in these streams to support harvest or even natural mortality plus hooking mortality plus poaching?

Cataract for years has had a two fish harvest still does an it never affected the brook trout until 2018 winter

[Calgaryguy1977]

Originally Posted by RichV

Fished from the campground to the meadows and saw...nothing. No splashes, no shadows in the pools, nothing. It definitely was not teaming with eager brook trout. Is it just me, or is this section of creek empty water now?

What about Etherington, same story?

It has it's good and bad days like anything else. The creek is small so you can scare them easily. Fish it along the banks on the bends where the deeper pools are. My best luck has come on hopper droppers along the edge with a prince, copper john, hares ear, or olive green nymph around 24 inches below the hopper.
If you prefer dry fly fishing, which is usually the most fun, try a tiny parachute type patter...the smaller the better. Light yellow or white to imitate PMDs, or a tiny black parachute fly (midge), and also had decent luck with stimmies and caddis. If you don't catch at least a half dozen using these methods I'd eat my hat lol.
Cheers

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by Calgaryguy1977

It has it's good and bad days like anything else. The creek is small so you can scare them easily. Fish it along the banks on the bends where the deeper pools are. My best luck has come on hopper droppers along the edge with a prince, copper john, hares ear, or olive green nymph around 24 inches below the hopper.
If you prefer dry fly fishing, which is usually the most fun, try a tiny parachute type patter...the smaller the better. Light yellow or white to imitate PMDs, or a tiny black parachute fly (midge), and also had decent luck with stimmies and caddis. If you don't catch at least a half dozen using these methods I'd eat my hat lol.
Cheers

When is the last time you fished the creek? As I said earlier I haven’t fished it for like 5 years or so but I have heard multiple reports over multiple years about people finding it almost barren the last year or 2

[walker1]

I was up fishing the Livingston last week for a few days and ran into a guy who was talking about Cataract and he said he had a client that wanted to fish it but his last trip in he did not see a fish!!!