Weekend encounter you may care or not but for the quality individual it will provoke thought

[DuckBrat]

5 or 6 years ago my brother and I had discovered a spot on this lake that was incredible for Pike, Burbot, Walleye, and Whites. All within 40 yards we could go and catch many large fish of the afore mentioned species at this time of year. We enjoyed the spot for 3 or four years before sharing it with some friends. We expressed our concerns about keeping our secret and maintaining our primarily catch and release mentality on this shelf, we were assured that this would be no problem. After bringing these people and experiencing what never could have been imagined for fishing quality, we discovered that our spot was being divulged by those who assured silence. It started two years ago as more and more quality fish left the ice daily. We expressed our concern but were countered with more and more acquaintances showing up to the spot. I arrived on Saturday to the disgust of mountains of carcasses primarily Burbot and large pike full of eggs. To no surprise, fishing is no where close to what it has been in past as my records that I keep religiously have shown both a decline in quality and quantity of fish. It is my fault for trusting folks who I thought were conservation orientated but I guess that only applies to the Stocked Trout they hold in reverence. No love or respect for Burbot or pike I guess as is the case in the Alberta Regulations goes. So the next time someone on here doesn't want to tell you about the honey hole they have, I guess I will totally understand. I'm sorry for helping to ruin another quality fishery next time I'll keep my mouth shut.

[Jester]

Yeah...I hate it when my "Private" lake gets over fished..:rolleye2:

[SNAPFisher]

5 or 6 years ago my brother and I had discovered a spot on this lake that was incredible for Pike, Burbot, Walleye, and Whites. All within 40 yards we could go and catch many large fish of the afore mentioned species at this time of year. We enjoyed the spot for 3 or four years before sharing it with some friends. We expressed our concerns about keeping our secret and maintaining our primarily catch and release mentality on this shelf, we were assured that this would be no problem. After bringing these people and experiencing what never could have been imagined for fishing quality, we discovered that our spot was being divulged by those who assured silence. It started two years ago as more and more quality fish left the ice daily. We expressed our concern but were countered with more and more acquaintances showing up to the spot. I arrived on Saturday to the disgust of mountains of carcasses primarily Burbot and large pike full of eggs. To no surprise, fishing is no where close to what it has been in past as my records that I keep religiously have shown both a decline in quality and quantity of fish. It is my fault for trusting folks who I thought were conservation orientated but I guess that only applies to the Stocked Trout they hold in reverence. No love or respect for Burbot or pike I guess as is the case in the Alberta Regulations goes. So the next time someone on here doesn't want to tell you about the honey hole they have, I guess I will totally understand. I'm sorry for helping to ruin another quality fishery next time I'll keep my mouth shut.

I'm not sure why you think you have ruined it. It wasn't you personally that went out to harvest a bunch of fish. Unless it is a private lake I doubt you could point the decline at just one group of people. It is likely bigger than that as people to move around and are capable of finding spots much like you have done. I don't know about the "mountains of carcasses". Sounds pretty extreme. Must be some pretty disrespectful people to pull that off. I doubt they could do that at a "popular" destination and not get caught. Sorry to hear of the decline though.

[Walleyes]

I truly hope that the extent of the waste is not near what you say but it may very well be and if so that kind of stuff really gets to me.

Now I am not aware of how big a lake you are on but the probability that a group of indaviduals can single handedly fish out a lake is very remote or even imposible. And the fact that they fished out a hole is also not very likely do to the fact that fish travel quite large area's. If you remove a large predator from an area another will replace it. The poor fishing you are experiencing may be do to other factors like lake quality or food availibilty. The food supply may have moved off and as such so has the predator.

But I can definetly see why you may be frustrated it is tough to loose a secret spot. Sounds like you will have to go on the hunt again just remember who screwed you on this one and don't make the same mistake twice..

[DuckBrat]

60-100 ripe (eggs) large fish a day leaving the spot over the past 3 weekends and the same thing every year over the last 3-4 years. The lake is quite small by comparison to a lot of local lakes (i.e. Isle or Ste. Anne) and this area is unique as it is adjacent to the only Burbot spawning bed on this waterbody. The increased harvest has definitely had it's negative effect as was noted by the data. Dwindling numbers of mature Burbot and pike returning to the spot every year. As for the mountains of fish waste on the ice it was disgusting to say the least. I'm not sure but would it not be better to put it back down the hole than to leave them dry rot on the ice surface?

[Buck Krazy]

I feel for ya man! It is fun doing homework and scouting lakes out for sure and to find a spot of that caliber near impossible.... I usually don't mind telling people which lake I fish or give hints to the location but never the exact spot. Too bad about your buddies, just like you only told a couple people, they only told a couple people and so on. Thats how it starts. Oh well I am sure you have other spots.

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

I feel for you Duck , I know Ive been in the same position more then once , I don't know whatever happened to the joy of exploring a new body of water , why do that when you have someone else do your dirty work and they reap the rewards . When you thought they were your friend ....

[Morph1]

that sux man,
It is very hard these days to find people with ethics, respect, and honor,
those values are almost extinct...,
Well you got your lesson, and for waisting the fish like that by leaving them on ice why not reporting them, when people spent money on fines they seem to learn quicker and find themselves respecting the things they've been penalized for :lol:
Better luck next time in search for fishing buddies.

Cheers mate.

[Tredeb]

I guess if you are sure that it was the people you told or their friends, then you have reason to be mad at them, but it is not that hard to find the ice fishing hot spots on a small lake. How many trucks or sleds went by you one day and decided to try your spot the next day.

When I go to a lake I am unfamiliar with, one of the first things I will do is try to find out what everyone else is doing. It's not like no one can tell where you have been on the ice.

I've even had good luck ice fishing without an ice auger. We just drove around until we found some relatively fresh hole and chipped the ice out of them.

It is sad about the wasted fish, though.

[FiveO]

Same thing happend to me with a hunting spot. I asked a couple guys I brought out to keep shut but they couldnt, they brought a guy, who brought a guy. My blood still boils when I think of it. I feel for yah but a lesson learned the hard way.

[happy perch fisher]

Never post a lake on here if you wanna still have some quality fish left in it 5 years from now. People will harvest everything they can legal keep. It happens to a couple lakes that are posted on here each year. The worse is when someone posts a perch lake with some decent ones in there. Watch the hoards of people nail it till nothing but 5 inch and under perch remain. Never tell anyone anything anymore intil you can really trust them. Because it takes only one person to post something on here and then the rush is on.

[addicted]

I'm with you guys you have to watch what you say and who you say it too, tips and tactics are great, but the specifics are not needed... personally I've had a crappy season ice fishing, tried many different lakes with litle success but every time I focus on the what if this turns out to be good factor, it makes having a crappy day better. BUt I still gather up my grp of friends and family and head out to see what we can see, I tell you though when I do find that special lake or place Nothing will be mentioned about it on this site, expect pictures to drive the boys and girls nuts lol

YOu don't spend years looking for the holy grail to give it away:D

[gramps73]

Well said Walleye's,
don't lose faith not all fishermen are bad guys.
Gramps

[Albertabowhunter]

Dukbrat,

Were the fish really wasted or were they skinned and the fillets taken? Were they close to or exceeding their limits? I understand what your saying, and I agree, I'm pretty dissapointed about how a few friends have not kept my spots a secret as well. Hence why I dont tell them about others. I dont even tell them about when I go. But when you say the fish were left to rot, explain more please.

As for keeping fish, Not much one can say about that if they do not exceed their limits. Maybe the trick is as you said, reduce limits. But the result of reducing limits is poaching. All in all, if some one buys their licence, pays for fuel to get to the lake and back, obtains the equipment to fish, and then decides to keep their allowed allotment of fish, not really anything one can say or do about it, and all the ranting and raving is going to no good. In fact people will start to turn a deaf ear to everything you have to say whether it be legit or not. Heck I'll even keep a fish on the rare occasion. I think I have kept 1 in the past 2 years. Though, I may decide to keep a couple this weekend. If the regulations allow a person to keep fish, then its not yours or my place to try and make them feel guilty. People could argue the fact that I hunt deer, ducks, geese, pheasants, and moose. Well, maybe some people prefer fish.

But as you said, having your frends tell others who tell others that walk off the lake with 30 fish in a day kind of gets me.

[Walleyes]

What ever HPF. I don't know what society has ever done to you but you are one angry little man. I feel sorry for you,, no actually I don't. I hope you wallow in your sad little world the rest of your life.. That is the best punishment for people like you..

Carry on...

[DuckBrat]

One or two fish is fine but 10 at a time when there ripe for the spawn? How many are thrown away because of freezer burn? From a guy who postured himself to care about the fishery? My how things change, so you can bet I'll rant and rave of about the situation. If there is one thing I have no problem doing is questioning those folks about their actions. To many nice people in the world hold back what they really want to say and at the end of the day all they do is complain. If I think it's wrong, I'll let you know. What's my motive? I'd love to see a quality fishery for all their kids in 40 years.

[KyleM]

IMO fishing reports with lake names should be booted.
Ontariofishing.net is one of the best boards in North America and for good
reason. As the website grew the lakes with good reports also grow in traffic.
It leads to the exact pressure that this fellow talks about. Most of the small lake reports that have the names are banned and you know what? Most members keep tight lipped about it because they have seen the lazy fisherman ruin spots time and time again.

You dont think it can happen in Alberta eh? It will happen soon enough.
I really dont want to be the negative jerk to break this but Ive seen it happen before.

Nobody means any harm by posting a location and their catch, its part of what fisherman do but the internet is really taking away from the guessing games that make up "fishing". It used to be a gathering at the tackle shop with morning coffee's and yesterdays catch....that seems to be missing more and more these days. I miss the days of competition between tackle shops of who's customers catch more.

It bugs me when someone asks "what lure and where"...This is part of fishing, finding your spots and figuring out what lures are hot. Not everybody asks where to go over the net, some of us spend time and money exploring the next honey hole.

For you guys searching the internet for places to fish......get off your duffs and do some exploring!

[Morph1]

x2 great reply KyleM ,
internet and the fishing boards are great, but the speed of passing of available information is instantanious, and that's how it slowly contributes to fished out lakes. It seems like there is always an evil in something good all the time. Lets hope the fish management is going to balance things out and sustain the fishery in AB.
The power is in imbeciles hands , lets hope for the best :D

Cheers !

[ESOXangler]

this province needs to start stocking bass again then we can all shut up and enjoy

[merk1]

100% with walleyes, I am not afraid to tell people about a hot spot I find(which is very rare) maybe they will enjoy like I did. Some people just like to complain, moan, and wine about everything and with that said find another site or province to do it in.

[Sbrooks]

It's just common sense, too bad so many people are naive about it. Your posting on a public internet forum bragging about catching big fish, pics, locations, etc... people will check it out. Not everyone will have the best intentions, you don't need to be a member to look at this forum either...even some of our own members don't even read the regs!!!
:wave:

[lilsundance]

Well folks with all the baiting that's been going on in this thread not to mention the language you ALL deserve a time out. Keep your fighting off the board, or you all will get one.