Question for SRD

[KegRiver]

If there is anyone from SRD on site, I would like to hear the reasoning behind closing the Peace River to angling for five months of the year.

I am trying to understand.
Parts of the bow is open all year, parts are closed for a few months, but the bow is a fraction the size of the Peace and it runs through Calgary and is accessible by road for much of it's length.

The other southern rivers are much the same story, open for most of the year or year round, accessible for much of their length, and they run through populated areas for much of their length.

The Peace is the largest, by a fair margin, of all Alberta's rivers.
It has only two towns close to it and no cities anywhere close.

It is only accessible a few places in it's entire length. The majority of it's course runs through remote undeveloped Boreal forest.
Yet it is closed for half the year.

It seems to me that it must have a fraction the fishing pressure the southern rivers get and due to it's size and depth I would expect it to support a far greater number of fish.

What am I missing?

Is this due to the same reasoning that places the same catch limits on Pigeon Lake as is allowed for Bischo Lake?

[pikergolf]

Safety? As in ice fishing.

[pickrel pat]

Safety? As in ice fishing.

That be my guess.

[bb356]

Bull trout spawn ???

[Warmbreeze]

I asked a fish officer the same thing but for Athabasca River. He said safety. Yet the NSR, which flows through Edmonton, is open all year. Now obviously it isn't the officers who make the laws, they only enforce them. So maybe it was just his guess.

[jaystev]

Ive worked up near the peace in several locations over the last few years. All I can say is that in winter it is the most unpredictable water ive ever seen. The nsr water level stays fairly consistent through the winter months. Whereas last year in the middle of february I watched the peace come up over five feet in an hour. It started with some pretty awesome cracking sounds but within minutes the ice broke up and started piling up sideways. It actually scared me quite a bit. Ive never seen my dog run and hide like she did either. My guess is the ice was holding water back and something let loose upstream of me. this is one guy who wont ever entertain the idea of ice fishing the peace.:scared0018:

[KegRiver]

I've lived most of my life next to the Peace.
I've traveled this portion of the river both summer and winter.
By boat in summer and by skidoo in winter.

Yes it can change radically in a few hours, and the ice can be very dangerous. But closing it to fishing does little to reduce possible accidents.

I know of no one who has ever ice fished on the Peace or wanted to.

What got me to thinking about this is that this fall, because of the unusually warm year we've been having, the fishing didn't pick up till the last two weeks of October. Then it got pretty good.

Now here we are in November. Up until yesterday little had changed regarding the river. Fishing is bound to be good, but it is closed.
There is no where near enough ice on the few lakes we have within a reasonable distance.

So we have no place we can fish right now, and then, only because the only water we can fish, is closed.

As far as ice safety goes, because of the very limited access, and the nature of the ice that does form on the river, I doubt very much that allowing fishing all year on that river would make any difference what so ever.

People still travel on that ice, trappers mostly, but hunters too.
That will always be the case.

Plus, the Peace seldom freezes over before the end of November, and it is not unheard of for it to stay open past new years.
That looks to be where it is heading this year. A late freeze up. And it is the case for the few lakes we have.
They are covered with a thin layer of ice, far too much for a boat, but not nearly enough to support a human.

So here we are with ideal fishing conditions and no where we can fish, that we can reach.

Kinda seems unreasonable to me. Our southern neighbors have no such problem so far as I know, I believe there is always fishable water they can reach 12 months of the year.

[kritofr]

Pardon my ignorance, but what species of fish are in the Peace River? What is the fish count like? Do the fish spawn in the Peace river or do they spawn in the tribs?

Maybe it isn't about the safety issue of the ice on the river but more about protecting the numbers of fish?

[KI-UTE]

Do the fish cops ever come on this forum and answer such questions?