Welcome everyone to String Theory Angling! A blog dedicated to all things fishing.
For my first post I wanted to share my motivation for creating this blog. The biggest reason is that I want to be a better angler. I have been fishing for as long as I can remember but it wasn’t until I started fishing on my own did I realize I didn’t really know what I was doing. The second reason is that I feel fishing in Alberta is different than the rest of Canada. So I hope that by sharing my experiences I can help others out, whether you are just getting started in the sport or have been at it for years.
The number one piece of advice I hear about training to improve at a sport is to start a journal to track your progress. For me blogging is a way to record my journey. By documenting my days on the water and techniques I used I can hopefully look back and see what did or maybe didn’t work and what has changed about that particular lake. I am also looking forward to testing out new techniques or gear that I get a chance to use. There are a lot of writers sharing fishing information but not all of it is directly adaptable to our waters.
I feel that fishing in Alberta is harder than in the rest of Canada. Alberta Conservation Association released some numbers a few years ago that really opened my eyes.
Ontario has 250,000 fish-bearing
lakes, with 585,000 licensed anglers,
or 2.3 anglers per lake.
Saskatchewan has 94,000 fish-bearing lakes,
with about 184,000 licensed anglers,
or 1.9 anglers per lake.
Alberta has only 800 lakes with fish,
but 250,000 licenced anglers, or
312 anglers per lake.
Alberta has way more anglers per lake and as a result a lot more fishing pressure. Fishing here requires a different approach and more finesse presentations. It’s not all doom and gloom though, we have some of the best native trout fishing in the world along the east slopes and the Bow River as well as a very active angling community that hosts events year round.
I plan on providing more detail on techniques and gear setups than you’ll likely find on other sites but I do not want to jeopardize fragile fish populations. It’s a careful balance and I hope the fishing community will practice responsible catch, photo, release and keep our resource sustainable.
