2012 Proposed changes for fishing in Alberta

[Rockymtnx]

This morning at the AFGA conference ASRD presented the attending members with the proposed changes for the 2012 fishing season. These changes are not written in stone but almost as good as.

To view the proposed changes click on the following link:
http://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=129574910458952&refid=5

[Mark]

This morning at the AFGA conference ASRD presented the attending members with the proposed changes for the 2012 fishing season. These changes are not written in stone but almost as good as.

To view the proposed changes click on the following link:
http://m.facebook.com/home.php?refid=52


Would it possible for you list list them, as some of us are not facebook members and therefore not able to access the face book page.

Thanks

[WillyOneStyle]

I thought the regs were moving to a two-year cycle? Still published annually but only amended every second year. I can't remember where I read that.... maybe I dreamed it.

[Rockymtnx]

Try this link. You do not have to be a member of FB to view.

http://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=129574910458952&refid=5

[Albertadiver]

2012 Alberta Fishing - Proposed Changes
- There will be 15 lakes with walleye tags. New ones being: Battle, Elinor, Whitefish, Losegun, & Smoke.
- Two existing lakes that are on the walleye draw are being dropped. Amisk and Lac Isle
- Dillberry Lake people will recommended to harvest perch.
- Oldman River will have a bait ban in certain sections to protect bull trout.
- Snipe Lake, 1 walleye over 50cm, 1 pike under 75cm, perch limit of 5.
- Athabasca & McCloud Rivers, 2 brook trout, 0 rainbow trout.
- Clear Lake, 1 pike over 100cm.
- Buck Lake, 1 walleye over 50cm.
- Gull Lake & Red Deer River, whitefish limit changed from 5 to 3.
- Prairie Parkland region, Burbot limit changed from 10 to 2.
- Keho Lake, 1 walleye over 50 cm.
- Beaver River, 1 walleye over 50cm, 1 pike over 63cm.
- Sylvan Lake won't be studied to see if there will be a walleye draw there for at least one year.
- Between 2005 & 2010 there was a 20% increase in the number of anglers in Alberta.

[Buck Krazy]

Too little too late for clear! Nice to see a fishery geared towards keeping trophy pike although it will keep the freezer fillers away!! Happy to see the burbot keep numbers way down, 10 is ridiculous.

[Scotty P.]

20% increase in the number of Anglers in just 5 years, wow!!!

[Mr.goldeye]

I also like the idea of burbot limits dropping 10 is just way too much

[jacenbeers]

I think the reduction in Burbot is such a great idea. Sometimes it shocks me to see people with so many burbs coming out of PCR and other lakes.

[iliketrout]

I like the change on Clear.

I hope Keho doesn't get hammered.

No mention of changing the regs for Travers?

[Rockymtnx]

No mention of changing the regs for Travers?
Nothing

[FishingFrenzy]

I like the change in burbot and whitefish limits. But I agree, to little to late.
Need WAY more changes to effectively manage the fisheries in this province.


Would like to see more C&R lakes as well as the production of small fish and bait fish for use in stocking. Take some ponds out near Stony Plain that dont have fish or just have tiny perch, add suckers, minnows, maybe some tullibee. Wait till they grow a bit, stock them in lakes that need the food source.


JMHO

[Flyfisher87]

2012 Alberta Fishing - Proposed Changes

- Dillberry Lake people will recommended to harvest perch.
-

Can you elaborate? Limits?

[Flyfisher87]

Can you elaborate? Limits?

Never mind. Was able to get into the link now.

[Flyfisher87]

Doesn't surprise me on the perch in Dillberry. They are sure fun to catch there when the trout are not biting though.

[burbotman]

I like the Clear lake change. Kinda builds on the Trophy Lake in Southern Alberta thread idea. Would be Nice too see a couple more lakes managed that way (say badger)

Like the Burbot change as well, quite the change from just a short time ago they didn't even have a limit.

Most impactful piece is the 20% increase in angler's over 5 periods. Really hammers home the need to " limit your catch,as oppossed to catch your limit"

[Flyfisher87]

[QUOTE=burbotman;1317862

Most impactful piece is the 20% increase in angler's over 5 periods. Really hammers home the need to " limit your catch,as oppossed to catch your limit"[/QUOTE]

x2

[Bush]

This is what should be done to be fair to every angler.

Every species of fish should be fished and tagged.
This would allow for an annual catch limit for every species

The problem with the current daily limit is if I was unemployed or living off welfare I would have the time to go fill my limit every day so even if the limit on perch was only 1 I would be able to legally take 365 fish per year. But I have to work to support my family 300 days of the year so that only leaves me with 65 fish per year.

Another example is. I live 2 hour drive from walleye and if I'm only alowed 1 under 4 lbs I'm more likely to poach. But if the limit was 10 annually it would be worth my drive and make a camping trip out of it and I'm less likely to poach extra ones

If perch had an annual limit of 50 it would be my choice if I want to take 50 all at once or spread out over

Does this sound like a better system?

[SonnyJ]

I miss the good old days.

[Bush]

Another problem. Lol

How many times have you caught a fish that doesn't meet size requirements but it's hooked deep and you know that that fish is going to die weather you cut the line or spent too much time remOving the hook?

A better system would allow you to cut the line and leave the hook in as proof but you HAVE to use one of your tags and keep the fish

[fish gunner]

a step in the right direction.I feel there needs to be more education.or a novel idea ,a test to get an alberta sportfishing licence based on your license area pp1,es2, or some type of standard of fisheries knowledge.

[Shmag]

2012 Alberta Fishing - Proposed Changes
- There will be 15 lakes with walleye tags. New ones being: Battle, Elinor, Whitefish, Losegun, & Smoke.
- Two existing lakes that are on the walleye draw are being dropped. Amisk and Lac Isle
- Dillberry Lake people will recommended to harvest perch.
- Oldman River will have a bait ban in certain sections to protect bull trout.
- Snipe Lake, 1 walleye over 50cm, 1 pike under 75cm, perch limit of 5.
- Athabasca & McCloud Rivers, 2 brook trout, 0 rainbow trout.
- Clear Lake, 1 pike over 100cm.
- Buck Lake, 1 walleye over 50cm.
- Gull Lake & Red Deer River, whitefish limit changed from 5 to 3.
- Prairie Parkland region, Burbot limit changed from 10 to 2.
- Keho Lake, 1 walleye over 50 cm.
- Beaver River, 1 walleye over 50cm, 1 pike over 63cm.
- Sylvan Lake won't be studied to see if there will be a walleye draw there for at least one year.
- Between 2005 & 2010 there was a 20% increase in the number of anglers in Alberta.


Guessing there is some info missing on this list, the srd poster i seen at canadian tire in slave, was showing that McMillan lk was also going to 5 perch and a walleye reduction on utikumsis (sp)...not utikuma

[winger7mm]

a step in the right direction.I feel there needs to be more education.or a novel idea ,a test to get an alberta sportfishing licence based on your license area pp1,es2, or some type of standard of fisheries knowledge.

I totally agree with that, people need to take a hunters ed course to hunt, alberta does not have many different species of big game that look simular. I met a guy two weeks ago, long time fisher and swears up and down the fish he was seeing with white tipped fins where brown trout cause he knew what brook trout looked like :bad_boys_20: alot of people cant tell the difference between a walleye and sauger, let alone a chain pickerel and a walleye ;)

[Albertadiver]

I just copied off of Rocky's link, I don't have any first hand info folks.

[Shmag]

I just copied off of Rocky's link, I don't have any first hand info folks.

No worries, just thought it strange i didnt see them on the list

[rabbit-hunter]

Don't you guys think the commercial fishing matters a lot? And the winter kill?

[BeeGuy]

- Between 2005 & 2010 there was a 20% increase in the number of anglers in Alberta.

That is not very good news.

[Bush]

Don't you guys think the commercial fishing matters a lot? And the winter kill?

I think the commercial fishing should be banned completely from Alberta because we don't have enough fish for the anglers as it is and also they have no way of controlling what they have killed in there nets.

We have no way to control most of the winter killing.

[CBintheNorth]

IMHO, a slot limit is long over due on most of our lakes and i agree with bush on the whole abolition of commercial netting. One of the only good things Cardinal did was initiate the buy-out program for netting on high pressure lakes, but in true Alberta fashion, we strive to be re-active instead of proactive.:angry3:

[BGSH]

Make it all catch and release until goofballs smarten up

[Albertadiver]

Make it all catch and release until goofballs smarten up

:snapoutofit:

[rabbit-hunter]

That is not very good news.

I believe this is definitely a good news. The more people get out for fishing, the more licenses will be sold and the more fishing gear shops would benefit, and the more revenue can be collected that could be used back for restoring more lakes and ponds due to winter kill. Not mention the better services we could get.
Not like nowadays, when you report a poacher, sometime the officer will tell you they do not have the man power to deal with it?

[BGSH]

:snapoutofit:

until people smarten up why not make it a c&r fishery until people start cleaning up after them selfs when fishing, fish barbless, and respect limits make it a zero keep fishery.

[npauls]

until people smarten up why not make it a c&r fishery until people start cleaning up after them selfs when fishing, fish barbless, and respect limits make it a zero keep fishery.

Good luck with that one. There is always going to be people out there who don't care about rules and regulations and will do as they please.

[HunterDave]

The proposals look pretty reasonable to me. :)

Some of the ideas on the thread are pretty interesting as well. :bad_boys_20:

[SonnyJ]

until people smarten up why not make it a c&r fishery until people start cleaning up after them selfs when fishing, fish barbless, and respect limits make it a zero keep fishery.

c&r fisherman kill more fish than catch and keep fisherman...duh!

[fish gunner]

until people smarten up why not make it a c&r fishery until people start cleaning up after them selfs when fishing, fish barbless, and respect limits make it a zero keep fishery.

if they rotated c&r thru the fishery zones, then it would make inforcement some what easter,but until the gov changes its stand on fisheries enforcement or the lack of things wont be changing any time soon.

[HunterDave]

if they rotated c&r thru the fishery zones, then it would make inforcement some what easter......

How do you figure that? :confused:

[fish gunner]

localized policing is easier, with say pp1 c&r this year then it lets f&w pool limited resources. next year es 3 gets the same treatment poachers stand out when you are not supposed to keep fish. report a poacher response times in the c&r zone will drop.the other zones will not be affected.

[Shmag]

I believe this is definitely a good news. The more people get out for fishing, the more licenses will be sold and the more fishing gear shops would benefit, and the more revenue can be collected that could be used back for restoring more lakes and ponds due to winter kill. Not mention the better services we could get.
Not like nowadays, when you report a poacher, sometime the officer will tell you they do not have the man power to deal with it?

Cool, then we will have enough money to stalk another million trout in a muddy slough...

[HunterDave]

localized policing is easier, with say pp1 c&r this year then it lets f&w pool limited resources. next year es 3 gets the same treatment poachers stand out when you are not supposed to keep fish. report a poacher response times in the c&r zone will drop.the other zones will not be affected.

So you are saying take Officers out of other zones and put a whole bunch of them in the C&R zone so no one will poach there. Who will monitor the lakes that they came from then? I think that your plan needs some more refining. :)

[BGSH]

c&r fisherman kill more fish than catch and keep fisherman...duh!

Not really, if you handle fish proper, they live and thank you for letting them go :)

[npauls]

Not really, if you handle fish proper, they live and thank you for letting them go :)

Must have had a bad bag this week hey. :bad_boys_20:

[fish gunner]

So you are saying take Officers out of other zones and put a whole bunch of them in the C&R zone so no one will poach there. Who will monitor the lakes that they came from then? I think that your plan needs some more refining. :)

not trying to say its perfect: ) but each zone would recover to an extent with the drop in pressure.officers would not be removed from other zones just available to respond if the c&r zone borders their own.

[canadiantdi]

c&r fisherman kill more fish than catch and keep fisherman...duh!

Don't fish populations usually jump when a lake turns C&R?

Edit: Nevermind, it's late and my sarcasm detector wasn't working too well lol

[Bigtoad]

With a 20% increase in fishermen in 5 years, I think nearly all of the limits need to become more reasonable.

I'm all for 3 whites instead of 5 on Gull for example. When the bite is hot there, and there is a small village on the ice, there are a ton of fish heading to the freezers on any given day. Why does a guy need 5 anyway? Easy answer= you don't.

I continue to be disappointed about stocked trout lakes being overlooked here as well. I think every lake that is aerated to overwinter fish needs to have a blanket 1 or 2 fish limit. It's a waste of resources to aerate a lake to grow larger fish but allow a possession of 5. Either change the regs or shut down the aerator. It's not the overwinter issue that's the limiting factor, but the over harvest.

Cheers

[Monster Fish]

It would be awesome if they just made a few lakes catch a release for Pike, or implemented larger size limits. Could you imagine Newell (and many other places) with a 130cm size limit!

[booker]

Must have had a bad bag this week hey. :bad_boys_20:

Its guys that say they dont eat fish but have a picture on here of a dozen perch on the ice for other people to eat.

[packhuntr]

It would be awesome if they just made a few lakes catch a release for Pike, or implemented larger size limits. Could you imagine Newell (and many other places) with a 130cm size limit!

Ya, it would represent what a healthy fishery should look like, IN TIME of course due to the damage inflicted by extremely poor regualtion/management.

[npauls]

Its guys that say they dont eat fish but have a picture on here of a dozen perch on the ice for other people to eat.

Actually it wasn't a dozen fish. It was my limit of 15 perch and they were consumed and enjoyed by a couple of retired seniors that enjoy fish but aren't healthy enough to get out and enjoy catching the fish for themselves anymore.

But you can think what you want. I keep fish maybe a couple times a year at the most and they all go to the same 2 elderly people that very much enjoy them.

I didn't know it was illegal to keep fish if you personally don't eat them. :thinking-006:

I know jealousy gets the best of us sometimes but I am sure you will get over it soon enough.

[flyguyd]

Not really, if you handle fish proper, they live and thank you for letting them go :)

Except for the 10% mortality rate:thinking-006: proper handling or not

[flyguyd]

Actually it wasn't a dozen fish. It was my limit of 15 perch and they were consumed and enjoyed by a couple of retired seniors that enjoy fish but aren't healthy enough to get out and enjoy catching the fish for themselves anymore.

But you can think what you want. I keep fish maybe a couple times a year at the most and they all go to the same 2 elderly people that very much enjoy them.

I didn't know it was illegal to keep fish if you personally don't eat them. :thinking-006:

I know jealousy gets the best of us sometimes but I am sure you will get over it soon enough.


Armchair critics
Gotta love it eh

[SNAPFisher]

Make it all catch and release until goofballs smarten up

What a brilliant strategy...
Please feel free to contribute to future threads with your fishing wisdom

[SNAPFisher]

Actually it wasn't a dozen fish. It was my limit of 15 perch and they were consumed and enjoyed by a couple of retired seniors that enjoy fish but aren't healthy enough to get out and enjoy catching the fish for themselves anymore.

But you can think what you want. I keep fish maybe a couple times a year at the most and they all go to the same 2 elderly people that very much enjoy them.

I didn't know it was illegal to keep fish if you personally don't eat them. :thinking-006:

I know jealousy gets the best of us sometimes but I am sure you will get over it soon enough.

Works for me. I remember when my grandma was alive how much she appreciated the fish I brought her. I can still hear her smackin her lips. She loved fish and is the one that taught me how to fillet pike boneless style.

[huntin'fool]

Does Gull get netted? Not trying to beat a dead horse either...

[crazyfish]

20 percent increase in the last 5 years probabbly reflects very closely to the number of people who have moved to prosperous alberta in the same amount of time. No big surprise to me.
The numbers and lakes mentioned looks good , no issues there ! Good steps in the right direction !

Had a conversation with a F+W officer out of Athabasca, he was talking about the commercial fishing that had been done on calling lake. Some interesting stuff. Target species was whitefish, they're historically hard to catch in this lake. The reason to continue the commercial fishery here, and many other lakes is the need to remove biomass consumption. The whitefish are small bugs / invertebrate / minnow eaters. This puts them in competition with the juveniles of almost all the target species. The more biomass available allows the target fish to grow faster.
The commercial guys were limited to 50 ft or deeper, did very well , the quota was met on whites , with only a small incidental catch. Sounds like a sucess to me.

[Bush]

Rock island was C&R for a long time they finally opened it 4 or 5 years ago. It's been not too bad fishing but this winter I have seen a lot of walleye and pike removed by nets. The nets should be banned and if the whites are a problem then put a higher limit on them.

[rabbit-hunter]

20 percent increase in the last 5 years probabbly reflects very closely to the number of people who have moved to prosperous alberta in the same amount of time. No big surprise to me.
The numbers and lakes mentioned looks good , no issues there ! Good steps in the right direction !

Had a conversation with a F+W officer out of Athabasca, he was talking about the commercial fishing that had been done on calling lake. Some interesting stuff. Target species was whitefish, they're historically hard to catch in this lake. The reason to continue the commercial fishery here, and many other lakes is the need to remove biomass consumption. The whitefish are small bugs / invertebrate / minnow eaters. This puts them in competition with the juveniles of almost all the target species. The more biomass available allows the target fish to grow faster.
The commercial guys were limited to 50 ft or deeper, did very well , the quota was met on whites , with only a small incidental catch. Sounds like a sucess to me.


If this is the case, why don't give more whitefish limit all over the province?

[Cal]

if they rotated c&r thru the fishery zones, then it would make inforcement some what easter,but until the gov changes its stand on fisheries enforcement or the lack of things wont be changing any time soon.

I dont know that it would be easyer to police but this type of a program has deffinatly improved fishing around the great lakes. There its much easyer to do because of the abundance of water bodys closing down a couple in a given area still leaves plenty of water to keep fish from. Some places in alberta the residents would have to travle pretty far to eat a fish though. I've though for a long time that alberta should try somthing like this.

[fish gunner]

our management zones could be organized to try and reduce total area.keeping catch and keep lakes a reasonable distance for all.

[slivers86]

I like the reduced numbers in burbot keep limits - if I took 10 home, some would for sure end up wasted - I've never taken one home at that!

Other than that, I don't know enough about somethings, but from what I've heard, the size limit on clear is a step in the right directions, that many lakes should address and follow suit.

[Fishhunter]

I like to fish at buck lake but i dont know that going back to 50 cm is the answer to me i think it should be one under 50cm and then later on mabey introduce some kind of slot when they get bigger,but they would also have to figure out the netting thing or all the bigger walleye will lose to the nets.

[JohninAB]

I like Buck Lake as well but with the fishing pressure it gets i understand why they went to one over 50 cm.

[TROLLER]

20% increase in the number of Anglers in just 5 years, wow!!!

Thank our immigration system for that one.