Wabamum report from today

[diamond k]

Caught about 20 in four hours today. About half pike and half walleye. Caught a couple of pike in the 60 cm range but man were they skinny. In was literally all head and the body size of a snake. Smaller pike seemed much healthier and wallet were in great shape.

Lots of weeds for this time of year compared to other years .

Caught most on jigs with slow retrieves in 10-14 FOW.

Just a FYI to the guy kayak fishing right at the train bridge. The one section marked for boat traffic is Probably not the best place to sit as that is the only place for boats to access moonlight cove. He seemed a little perturbed that boats were passing within a few feet but we really had no choice.

[RavYak]

Sounds like typical Wabamun of late. I haven't even bothered fishing there this summer and don't know that I will.

[JohninAB]

Was at Wab for the first time this year during soft water season. Not sure how many we caught in the boat total. Would guess it at a 70/30 to 60/40 split between walleye and pike. Biggest pike was just shy of 13 lbs. Out of all the fish caught, only one pike looked skinny. Rest of the fish looked very healthy and had some attitude. Couple of nice walleye were reeled up as well.

Those were my observations. YMMV.

[Talking moose]

Conflicting reports.... Did you guys happen to take some pics? Maybe different parts of the lake were being fished?

[JohninAB]

Yes different areas of the lake. We were no where near the townsite. What we saw was encouraging after what we encountered ice fishing last winter. Do have pictures but on a friends camera so his decision to post, not mine.

Not denying what the OP posted nor trying to start an argument. Just thought I would post what we encountered yesterday.

[Talking moose]

Yes different areas of the lake. We were no where near the townsite. What we saw was encouraging after what we encountered ice fishing last winter. Do have pictures but on a friends camera so his decision to post, not mine.

Not denying what the OP posted nor trying to start an argument. Just thought I would post what we encountered yesterday.

Good news for sure.

[diamond k]

Yes different areas of the lake. We were no where near the townsite. What we saw was encouraging after what we encountered ice fishing last winter. Do have pictures but on a friends camera so his decision to post, not mine.

Not denying what the OP posted nor trying to start an argument. Just thought I would post what we encountered yesterday.

No need to apologize. That is some great news on the larger pike. Might have to try a different spot next time.

[EZM]

Good news John .......... I am out there tomorrow for a few hours in the morning. Hopefully have similar luck (as we fish the same few areas).

[THERICARDO]

Was at Wab for the first time this year during soft water season. Not sure how many we caught in the boat total. Would guess it at a 70/30 to 60/40 split between walleye and pike. Biggest pike was just shy of 13 lbs. Out of all the fish caught, only one pike looked skinny. Rest of the fish looked very healthy and had some attitude. Couple of nice walleye were reeled up as well.

Those were my observations. YMMV.



I would agree with this comment, last year was tough to catch anything but skinny ones with big heads. This year although still seeing some of them also catching 3-5 lbs that are healthy looking and many over 10 that are in great shape. Catching many small walleye and having pike smash them before getting to boat has been fun also..

[EZM]

3 of us went out for about 3 1/2 hours this morning and landed in the neighborhood of 100 fish. I'd say about 60-70% were walleye. We were mostly trolling crankbaits and bouncing (drifting) jigs for a bit as well.

many double headers and at least 2 "official triple headers" which was pretty awesome. There seemed to be constant fast action and a fish at the side of the boat the whole morning. It was crazy.

They walleye we caught mostly fell into a smaller sized age class (12" roughly) but we caught a few bigger ones. All looked healthy.

The biggest pike we caught was a 5 lber that was lean, but healthy. The smaller pike were definitely skinnier. I'd say skinnier than they should be to be considered healthy.

One particular pike was shockingly skinny to the point I wanted to take a picture and post it up - but, of course, he shook off (as I don't remove fish from the water to unhook them, nor do I use a net - just pliers over the side of the boat reaching down to release them).

Who knows maybe this one was sick or something, but it was pretty sad to see.

Overall - Wabamun is a great summer fishing lake. I wish there weren't as many walleye (I think they are over competing) but nevertheless, a good day.

[RavYak]

I broke down and tried it out this morning. Caught close to 50 pike and probably 20 walleye. No big pike but a few decent ones in 30 in range which were mostly healthy. A ton of hammerhandles 18-24 in and a few 25-27 range. 90% of the smaller pike(under 26 in) were skinny and at least half a dozen were deathly skinny. Same as last year where they are so underfed and
weak that they have no fight and then still have trouble swimming away...

I have pictures of all the pike over 20 in will post them later.

[RavYak]

First off lets start with what a small pike should look like(from a different lake).

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P4190011.jpg

Now the very skinny ones from wab. ~3 of these barely had enough energy to swim back to bottom... I bet most of these fish will be dead soon...

Some may find it hard to believe but I would say that a bunch of small pike have already died off from last year. I still caught a ton of fish but it took me twice as long to catch the 40 fish I was after compared to last year.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250001_2.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250003_1.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250004.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250006.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250010.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250024.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250031.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250032.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250048.jpg

[RavYak]

Instead of posting the bunch showing the average skinny size here is a link that you can view them at. Some of them look decent but were thinner then they should be, wouldn't be much meat on any of them.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AiFpi13eGaD9lmYnFaTvTWjEPpJU

Thankfully the bigger fish are still healthy for the most part(different diet). Like last year no luck with any big pike(36+ in) though.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250009.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250011.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250012.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250013.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250028.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250049.jpg

[RavYak]

I did get one decent walleye amongst all the annoying 12-15 inchers...

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250033.jpg

Also caught my first seagull...

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250017.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250021.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/murtyl/P7250022.jpg

Overall there are still some decent fish in Wab but anyone fishing there needs to be aware that it is a fishery in a tough spot right now. Proper and quick handling is necessary because lots of the fish are in poor condition. It will be many years before the small pike grow into new big healthy fish so good handling of the bigger fish is absolutely necessary if you want to continue to catch the few decent fish still left in the lake.

I personally had my wab fill for the year. I just get too frustrated reeling in half dead fish to want to go back.

[Talking moose]

Very conflicting report compared to the OP as to op saying the the smaller pike were in great shape vs. Rav saying the small pike were the ones in bad shape. By Ravs pics, I would agree, very snakey small pike.
Wabs a huge lake, wonder if different ends of the lake have different results in fish health....

[1Heavyhitr]

I caught a few w/eye out of pigeon that looked like those skinny pike. Looked like axe handles. Just a head with pencil like bodies :dork:

[Sooner]

I would guess those skinny pike will become quick meals for the larger ones. Sad to see them so skinny, looks like they will have a tough time even getting to the winter, let alone surviving winter.

[RavYak]

I would guess those skinny pike will become quick meals for the larger ones. Sad to see them so skinny, looks like they will have a tough time even getting to the winter, let alone surviving winter.

Most of them will die, they are screwed now because they couldn't find food when they are healthy let alone when they are swimming skeletons. The 2nd skinny one you can tell is pretty much dead already, he was one of the ones that couldn't barely swim to the bottom and I wouldn't be surprised if he is already dead even though he had good quick handling and wasn't bleeding etc.

Last year was the same if not worse for catching skinny fish like that and as I mentioned in my other post I bet the majority of those fish already died off as the fishing was still good but it wasn't stupid good like last couple years(except for walleye if you bother to try and catch them). There was also very few of the mid/high 20 incher fish that used to be the norm. These are now either dead or grown into the few high 20's/low 30's a guy catches now and it really shows the age gap beginning to form. The small pike are still going to continue to starve and die for a couple more years while the bigger pike grow old or die from fishing pressure. In 2-3 years you will catch mainly 20-25 in pike and maybe the odd big one then it will take 10 years for the population to grow healthy and fill in age classes again.

All for some little dink walleye that someone figured needed to be reintroduced to Wabamun...

[EZM]

Very conflicting report compared to the OP as to op saying the the smaller pike were in great shape vs. Rav saying the small pike were the ones in bad shape. By Ravs pics, I would agree, very snakey small pike.
Wabs a huge lake, wonder if different ends of the lake have different results in fish health....

For the record - My experience (and above post) exactly mirrors what RavYak saw. Smaller ones were skinny - some were deathly skinny. The one I mentioned that I was shocked to see was even skinnier than the ones Rav posted.

The issue is the smaller pike's diet is mostly in direct competition with what the massive population of dink walleye eat. Walleye are more effective predators and they are, in turn, stunting and killing the pike.

Keep in mind, that we know, as a fact, that if younger pike do not get the proper nourishment (and growth) they will not reach trophy potential.

Wabamun is not likely to produce another age class of trophy fish again. That ship has sailed. The trophies left will die off and this lake will become known as dink pike and dink walleye lake.

[Talking moose]

Why can I fly into a lake with both walleye and pike and catch trophy fish of each species? Those lakes are balanced. As will wab if it remains 0 limits. Takes time.

[RavYak]

Why can I fly into a lake with both walleye and pike and catch trophy fish of each species? Those lakes are balanced. As will wab if it remains 0 limits. Takes time.

Cause they don't see a hundred or more anglers every day? The multiple species isn't the reason wab will struggle to have big fish again.

Think of what made Wab into a great lake. It was a lake that became catch and release after years of harvest. Fish populations were down and there was abundant food. With the reduced fishing pressure the lake flourished and grew many large fish in spite of the heavy catch and release fishing pressure.

Now it will be very hard for Wabamun to reach an equilibrium point because it is over populated and stunted. The little walleye aren't as healthy as people claim they are(a skinny young walleye still looks healthy but they should be short and chunky not long and slender like they are) and the pike population is in shambles.

None of these little fish are going to grow into big fish. They are going to fight to sustain themselves most of their life leading to stunted sizes that is common in many other lakes. The few pike in the 30 in range that are healthy and still have a decent food source can grow into larger pike as long as they can survive the onslaught of the C&R fishing pressure. The problem is that as these fish die off from old age, sickness, C&R handling etc that there will be no fish to replace them. So a few of these might grow into big fish but it will only be for a few years until they too die one way or another.

At that point there will be no big fish left and nothing will grow to be big until a large part of the population is wiped out. Mother nature has been and will continue to wipe out these fish through starvation etc and given enough time the lake will fix itself but that will take 10-15+ years and that is if AEP doesn't fumble things and wreck the lake again with another poor idea.

The best thing that could happen to this lake right now is for it to be opened to retention of small fish. Pillage the lake and speed up the recovery process. Leave the big fish with the good genetics as breeding stock but take out as many small pike and walleye as possible. The fishing will go to crap numbers wise but the quality in a few years will be heads and shoulders above what it will be at its current rate. It would probably only take one open season to clean the population up to a healthy level and then would only take a handful of years for the fish to start growing bigger again.

Sadly the bios are totally against ever opening wab up again so I believe we are stuck waiting... At least its a good lake to go to if you are desperate to catch a fish...

[Talking moose]

25 years from now I will be catching hogs of both species.

[EZM]

25 years from now I will be catching hogs of both species.

25 years seems like a long time to wait to gamble on the chance it balances out and the SRD don't continue their experimentation.

I'd suggest they allow limited (tags) harvest of walleye to bring the population down as quickly as possible. There has been 3 years of decline and 3 age classes of pike that will never recover. That can't happen soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

The area around Edmonton has plenty of great walleye lakes within 1 1/2 of here - we don't need to ruin the only great pike fishery to stunt yet another lake by introducing even more walleye.

I thought they would stop after the first few introductions - which could have resulted in a balanced fishery - I was optimistic.

Unfortunately they just kept on putting in more and more and more walleye to the point where they destroyed the lake.

This has become absolutely ridiculous.

[RavYak]

25 years from now I will be catching hogs of both species.

I could care less what Wabamun is like in 25 years. I would much prefer it be a good fishery in 5 years...

[Talking moose]

I could care less what Wabamun is like in 25 years. I would much prefer it be a good fishery in 5 years...

I could care less what you want period. My grandkids will be catching beautiful pike and walleye. Now now now!!! Give it time.(20ish years) :sHa_sarcasticlol:

[idaman]

Why can I fly into a lake with both walleye and pike and catch trophy fish of each species? Those lakes are balanced. As will wab if it remains 0 limits. Takes time.

Those lakes are balanced because of the food sources available to both pike and walleye, Wabamun had a limited food supply, enough for trophy pike sure... The introduction of MILLIONS of walleye will not allow Wabamuns pike or walleye to reach any substantial size due to a lack of food.
... 25 years from now in AB at this rate we won't be legally allowed to sport fish, those trophies will likely have to come from Saskatchewan or BC where they actually have informed Bios,and look after their fisheries properly.

[Talking moose]

Those lakes are balanced because of the food sources available to both pike and walleye, Wabamun had a limited food supply, enough for trophy pike sure... The introduction of MILLIONS of walleye will not allow Wabamuns pike or walleye to reach any substantial size due to a lack of food.
... 25 years from now in AB at this rate we won't be legally allowed to sport fish, those trophies will likely have to come from Saskatchewan or BC where they actually have informed Bios,and look after their fisheries properly.

No doubt about it. To many small walleye dumped in to the lake in to short of time. In for a rough patch for a bit.
Btw, a comparison between those 2 provinces and ours isn't fair. They don't have to deal with 20x the fishermen on limited amounts of lakes.

[idaman]

I wasn't really comparing them, I for one fish all three provinces and know that it's like comparing apples and bananas...I was just saying that's where the trophies are going to be.

[cube]

25 years seems like a long time to wait to gamble on the chance it balances out and the SRD don't continue their experimentation.

I'd suggest they allow limited (tags) harvest of walleye to bring the population down as quickly as possible. There has been 3 years of decline and 3 age classes of pike that will never recover. That can't happen soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

The area around Edmonton has plenty of great walleye lakes within 1 1/2 of here - we don't need to ruin the only great pike fishery to stunt yet another lake by introducing even more walleye.

I thought they would stop after the first few introductions - which could have resulted in a balanced fishery - I was optimistic.

Unfortunately they just kept on putting in more and more and more walleye to the point where they destroyed the lake.

This has become absolutely ridiculous.

X2!

[cube]

Most of them will die, they are screwed now because they couldn't find food when they are healthy let alone when they are swimming skeletons. The 2nd skinny one you can tell is pretty much dead already, he was one of the ones that couldn't barely swim to the bottom and I wouldn't be surprised if he is already dead even though he had good quick handling and wasn't bleeding etc.

Last year was the same if not worse for catching skinny fish like that and as I mentioned in my other post I bet the majority of those fish already died off as the fishing was still good but it wasn't stupid good like last couple years(except for walleye if you bother to try and catch them). There was also very few of the mid/high 20 incher fish that used to be the norm. These are now either dead or grown into the few high 20's/low 30's a guy catches now and it really shows the age gap beginning to form. The small pike are still going to continue to starve and die for a couple more years while the bigger pike grow old or die from fishing pressure. In 2-3 years you will catch mainly 20-25 in pike and maybe the odd big one then it will take 10 years for the population to grow healthy and fill in age classes again.

All for some little dink walleye that someone figured needed to be reintroduced to Wabamun...

Yep!

[cube]

Very conflicting report compared to the OP as to op saying the the smaller pike were in great shape vs. Rav saying the small pike were the ones in bad shape. By Ravs pics, I would agree, very snakey small pike.
Wabs a huge lake, wonder if different ends of the lake have different results in fish health....

I can confirm the same results as Rav. 90% of pike caught were totally emaciated.
Also found 2 emaciated pike on surface dead or dyeing.
Typical as in most photo's the conditions actually look worse in real life. You can't see how skinny they are across the back in his photo's. It looks down right disgusting in real life..

The fish are so weak you don't get much of a fight and are just pulling in dead weight most of the time.

[cube]

25 years from now I will be catching hogs of both species.

I hope your right but I doubt it.

[THERICARDO]

25 years seems like a long time to wait to gamble on the chance it balances out and the SRD don't continue their experimentation.

I'd suggest they allow limited (tags) harvest of walleye to bring the population down as quickly as possible. There has been 3 years of decline and 3 age classes of pike that will never recover. That can't happen soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

The area around Edmonton has plenty of great walleye lakes within 1 1/2 of here - we don't need to ruin the only great pike fishery to stunt yet another lake by introducing even more walleye.

I thought they would stop after the first few introductions - which could have resulted in a balanced fishery - I was optimistic.

Unfortunately they just kept on putting in more and more and more walleye to the point where they destroyed the lake.

This has become absolutely ridiculous.

Agreed!... Sucks bc was so unreal fishing for pike for few years... STtill has its days

[diamond k]

Hopefully ( but I wont hold my breath) SRD will open up a Harvest opportunity on Walleye.

[smitty9]

Hopefully ( but I wont hold my breath) SRD will open up a Harvest opportunity on Walleye.

To piggyback on this idea, why not do that exactly that? Look, we now know that walleye have a solid foothold in Wabamun, and my understanding is that a major factor is successful spawning since the closure of the warm water discharge ponds.

My point is, why not intentionally "collapse", or better stated, thin the walleye out with a harvest season? Something like June 16th to July 31, no tags, one walleye per day per angler. Or something similar.

Been reading the AO mag lately, and I think it was Scammell that was alluding to this point, calling for some biologists heads to colllectively roll and fire them. One reason - his point of view - is the lack of cooperation between fisheries branch and anglers. Using anglers as a management tool is a legitimate approach employed by many states and jurisdictions.

We're ready and waiting, and the bottom line is that, if Wabamun is suffering from too many apex predators using a limited forage base, it wouldn't be too hard to employ anglers to help control the walleye population. Just have a short limited harvest season.

After all, it's fisheries management, not rocket science. The hard part is the political will and the culture in the AEP.

Smitty

[cube]

Why can I fly into a lake with both walleye and pike and catch trophy fish of each species? Those lakes are balanced. As will wab if it remains 0 limits. Takes time.

Which fly in lakes are you referring to?

[Talking moose]

Which fly in lakes are you referring to?

Thurston in June.

[bigrfish]

Yea Smitty...I have fished Wab on and off for 35 years.I remember when 12 pound pike were average and walleye were like gold.The walleye that were introduced in 06 to 09 have definitely taken over the lake.I hate to see the pike population as it is now...Last big pike I saw...I mean, big healthy pike, was the one that Rav caught 3 years ago outa my boat. At the same time the walleye were really little. I question the end game here on Alberta fisheries part. If you want a walleye fishery close to town then you need to manage it.From what we've seen I don't believe we are in stunted territory yet with the walleye but it won't be far off.The pike are obviously in tough.I am with the majority here on the pike..I love catching big hens and watching them swim away..pike are f'n fun to catch.We have caught a lot of eyes in the 17-18 inch range and even more in the 15-16 inch range.So why not leave some for the future and eat some of the smaller ones.Look what has become of Pigeon...we used to land big pike,bigger walleye and decent perch..who goes to Pigeon for Pike or Perch now..no one.Don't get me wrong, I love my walleye, but not at the cost of losing a great pike fishery.I say it's time to fry up some walleye!

[Mikezilk]

I have fished Wab twice this year.


First trip I landed 90 pike in 7 hours, second trip I landed 50 in 4 hours... with probably 75% of the fish being over 65 cm and fat or sleek, not skinny

Some were fat, some were skinny and all were feisty and swam away fine. I have seen many lakes where some of the fish were small and skinny while others were beasts...