No perch left

[llmitch]

I have had a cottage at Amisk Lake just East of Boyle for the past 19 years and this long narrow lake used to be a great perch fishing place, that was until the walleye catch and release came into effect. We used to catch lots of humpbacks measuring 12 to 15 inches. In the past 5 years or so, I have not caught one perch over 10 inches and have not kept a perch for eating in the last three years. We used to catch the odd walleye when perch fishing but now it's just walleye after walleye. It's not uncommon to catch 30 in an hour right off my dock in the same hole where the perch used to be. We hardly ever used to see a wildlife officer on Amisk but in the last three or 4 years, I have been stopped 10 or 20 times which I don't mind as I am not a poacher or one that uses live minnows. Every time I get stopped I ask when the walleye fishing is going to be continued but get the same response, we are not sure. Now when a particular officer sees me he just waves and keeps on going as he knows what I am going to ask..

[Shmag]

Probably be like Vincent lake, tons of walleye, locals screaming to open a 1 limit for walleye. They don't open, major winterkill, now open for walleye :rolleye2:

[Penner]

I have had a cottage at Amisk Lake just East of Boyle for the past 19 years and this long narrow lake used to be a great perch fishing place, that was until the walleye catch and release came into effect. We used to catch lots of humpbacks measuring 12 to 15 inches. In the past 5 years or so, I have not caught one perch over 10 inches and have not kept a perch for eating in the last three years. We used to catch the odd walleye when perch fishing but now it's just walleye after walleye. It's not uncommon to catch 30 in an hour right off my dock in the same hole where the perch used to be. We hardly ever used to see a wildlife officer on Amisk but in the last three or 4 years, I have been stopped 10 or 20 times which I don't mind as I am not a poacher or one that uses live minnows. Every time I get stopped I ask when the walleye fishing is going to be continued but get the same response, we are not sure. Now when a particular officer sees me he just waves and keeps on going as he knows what I am going to ask..

Therefore I guess the Walleye ate all of the 12" - 15" Perch out of Amisk Lake and then left only small Perch (less than 10”) to swim about freely. The hundreds of common anglers (like yourself) whom kept there limit of the 15 largest heaviest-spawning Perch every weekend had nothieng do to with the Perch fishery right? I think the exact same thing happened in Pigeon Lake also! Yet every year I still see thousands of Perch 6” and or less swimming about while ice fishing for Whitefish in Pigeon but I guess the Walleye allegedly decimated that Perch population too….but only the big ones right?

So let us blame it on the Walleye and continue to harass the CO's with the same question over, and over, and over again even though the CO’s have absolutely nothing to do with setting catch limits and or regulations and are just doing their job trying to ensure the regulations are being followed. :huh:

Hum…. sounds like a you’ve done your research and have put forward an intelligent argument to me. :scared:

Just remember the Walleye, Pike, Perch, Whitefish, etc. did all just fine co-existing with each other for thousands of years well before people ever arrived to screw things up. I’d say look in the mirror my friend’s before pointing the finger. I ain't the Walleye, it was you and I!

So what are you going to do to fix the problem?

[italk2u]

good troll! let's see how many bites you get.:tongue2:

[fluxcore]

Therefore I guess the Walleye ate all of the 12" - 15" Perch out of Amisk Lake and then left only small Perch (less than 10”) to swim about freely. The hundreds of common anglers (like yourself) whom kept there limit of the 15 largest heaviest-spawning Perch every weekend had nothieng do to with the Perch fishery right? I think the exact same thing happened in Pigeon Lake also! Yet every year I still see thousands of Perch 6” and or less swimming about while ice fishing for Whitefish in Pigeon but I guess the Walleye allegedly decimated that Perch population too….but only the big ones right?

So let us blame it on the Walleye and continue to harass the CO's with the same question over, and over, and over again even though the CO’s have absolutely nothing to do with setting catch limits and or regulations and are just doing their job trying to ensure the regulations are being followed. :huh:

Hum…. sounds like a you’ve done your research and have put forward an intelligent argument to me. :scared:

Just remember the Walleye, Pike, Perch, Whitefish, etc. did all just fine co-existing with each other for thousands of years well before people ever arrived to screw things up. I’d say look in the mirror my friend’s before pointing the finger. I ain't the Walleye, it was you and I!

So what are you going to do to fix the problem?

by any chance are you "happy perch fisher?" you sound like him

[Wulfespirit]

You can talk about how the fish existed alongside each other along time all you'd like but with pike and walleye numbers rising due mostly to restrictive regulations, other species of fish can't help but suffer.

Anglers are part of these ecosystems too. So while anglers can certainly help shutdown perch with over harvesting given the circumstances of a specific lake, those lakes would also produce more and larger perch without so many predators and feed competitors around - maybe enough to keep up with the harvest.

I haven't fished Amisk in 20 years but I've seen similar effects to perch populations on numerous other lakes that all began when anglers could no longer take home a pike or a walleye.

Perch seem to be viewed as a trash fish by our fisheries management people and its unfortunate. They can bring perch limits down to 0 and - on many lakes - it wouldn't matter. If these lakes are teaming with massive numbers of pike and walleye the perch are never going to thrive.

Instead of focusing so hard on creating walleye fisheries, F&W needs to remember that Albertans would like a few fisheries where the perch are the stars too. I sure miss Missawawi.

[Nationwide]

I have had a cottage at Amisk Lake just East of Boyle for the past 19 years and this long narrow lake used to be a great perch fishing place, that was until the walleye catch and release came into effect. We used to catch lots of humpbacks measuring 12 to 15 inches. In the past 5 years or so, I have not caught one perch over 10 inches and have not kept a perch for eating in the last three years. We used to catch the odd walleye when perch fishing but now it's just walleye after walleye. It's not uncommon to catch 30 in an hour right off my dock in the same hole where the perch used to be. We hardly ever used to see a wildlife officer on Amisk but in the last three or 4 years, I have been stopped 10 or 20 times which I don't mind as I am not a poacher or one that uses live minnows. Every time I get stopped I ask when the walleye fishing is going to be continued but get the same response, we are not sure. Now when a particular officer sees me he just waves and keeps on going as he knows what I am going to ask..

I dont see the problem :confused:perch are still there along with walleyes:) you should be happy you are still catching fish .Dont live in the past Happy fishing in the future:wave:

[ukrmaf]

Therefore I guess the Walleye ate all of the 12" - 15" Perch out of Amisk Lake and then left only small Perch (less than 10”) to swim about freely. The hundreds of common anglers (like yourself) whom kept there limit of the 15 largest heaviest-spawning Perch every weekend had nothieng do to with the Perch fishery right? I think the exact same thing happened in Pigeon Lake also! Yet every year I still see thousands of Perch 6” and or less swimming about while ice fishing for Whitefish in Pigeon but I guess the Walleye allegedly decimated that Perch population too….but only the big ones right?

So let us blame it on the Walleye and continue to harass the CO's with the same question over, and over, and over again even though the CO’s have absolutely nothing to do with setting catch limits and or regulations and are just doing their job trying to ensure the regulations are being followed. :huh:

Hum…. sounds like a you’ve done your research and have put forward an intelligent argument to me. :scared:

Just remember the Walleye, Pike, Perch, Whitefish, etc. did all just fine co-existing with each other for thousands of years well before people ever arrived to screw things up. I’d say look in the mirror my friend’s before pointing the finger. I ain't the Walleye, it was you and I!

So what are you going to do to fix the problem?


I completely disagree with you, up until we became a province that only cares about our walley habitat there were a sizeable amount of all kinds of fish. It was harder to find the walley but you had lots of fish to choose from, and the stunted growth of many of the other species like micro perch and hammer handle pike was localized to some very small obviously unsustainable lakes. I believe that we are turning alberta into a walley only fishery, and forgetting about everything else. I have had this conversation with many anglers throughout the years and that seems to be the general consensis.

[mark-edmonton]

Therefore I guess the Walleye ate all of the 12" - 15" Perch out of Amisk Lake and then left only small Perch (less than 10”) to swim about freely. The hundreds of common anglers (like yourself) whom kept there limit of the 15 largest heaviest-spawning Perch every weekend had nothieng do to with the Perch fishery right? I think the exact same thing happened in Pigeon Lake also! Yet every year I still see thousands of Perch 6” and or less swimming about while ice fishing for Whitefish in Pigeon but I guess the Walleye allegedly decimated that Perch population too….but only the big ones right?

So let us blame it on the Walleye and continue to harass the CO's with the same question over, and over, and over again even though the CO’s have absolutely nothing to do with setting catch limits and or regulations and are just doing their job trying to ensure the regulations are being followed. :huh:

Hum…. sounds like a you’ve done your research and have put forward an intelligent argument to me. :scared:

Just remember the Walleye, Pike, Perch, Whitefish, etc. did all just fine co-existing with each other for thousands of years well before people ever arrived to screw things up. I’d say look in the mirror my friend’s before pointing the finger. I ain't the Walleye, it was you and I!

So what are you going to do to fix the problem?



Very good point!

[Penner]

You can talk about how the fish existed alongside each other along time all you'd like but with pike and walleye numbers rising due mostly to restrictive regulations, other species of fish can't help but suffer.

Anglers are part of these ecosystems too. So while anglers can certainly help shutdown perch with over harvesting given the circumstances of a specific lake, those lakes would also produce more and larger perch without so many predators and feed competitors around - maybe enough to keep up with the harvest.

I haven't fished Amisk in 20 years but I've seen similar effects to perch populations on numerous other lakes that all began when anglers could no longer take home a pike or a walleye.

Perch seem to be viewed as a trash fish by our fisheries management people and its unfortunate. They can bring perch limits down to 0 and - on many lakes - it wouldn't matter. If these lakes are teaming with massive numbers of pike and walleye the perch are never going to thrive.

Instead of focusing so hard on creating walleye fisheries, F&W needs to remember that Albertans would like a few fisheries where the perch are the stars too. I sure miss Missawawi.

You make a very good point and I would agree 100% it appears that the Perch fishery is not being sustained or managed as a priority like the Walleye fishery firstly, and as of just in the past few years the Pike fishery. One could also argue that the Burbot may be heading down this same path as well. This needs to change and sustainable development needs to begin to recognize this.

I would disagree on you comment about the Perch limits though. If we significantly reduce the limits of Perch, they will make a comeback just like the Walleye have and just like the Pike are beginning to do. Perch are prolific breeders and make-up the main natural food source for Walleye and Pike in most bodies of water. It is in the DNA of the Perch to multiply on a much greater level because of this. Its nature’s way.

The key in my opinion is overall balance. We need time to correct the problem and we need to continually to adjust the solutions going forward. Educating the anglers of the restoration plan should be the first step. I feel we are all being left out of the dark on what the exact process is to fix the problem. Establishing self sustaining populations for all species again would be the second step. Then allowing a controlled harvest (via a draw system or similar) to maintain a quality fishery allowing people to take fish home but also maintaining a healthy fish population where stunting would not occur would be the end product.

Opening lakes to “limit based harvest” will most likely never work (like Long Lake) and I see this being slowly phased out all together where it currently exists today. We simply have an excessive number of catch and keep anglers and not enough lakes or fish to sustain the harvest.

On the Happy Perch Fisher comment from the other fellow, I am sure his head probably exploded when he read my original comments. He and I are not the same person and we have never seen eye to eye in the past. But thats ok, everyone has the freedom to voice their opinions.

I just get very frustrated when the “red neck” mentality comes out and people start pointing blame to everyone else expect themselves when they are the actual problem in the first place.

[slingshotz]

The key in my opinion is overall balance.

We will never have a balance as long as we allow harvesting from the waters. Don't get me wrong I love eating my catch too but it's just the laws of nature and we don't really fit in it unless we go back to hunting fish with spears. To have a healthy balance and allow harvesting it would mean that humans would need to harvest the same x% of all species of fish in a body of water. The way we are doing it is basically trying to fight a bunch of little fires but only focusing on one fire at a time (ie Walleyes). You get one under control and the next one flares up.

As soon as we open up the walleye harvesting in a few years we'll probably be complaining that there's too many perch around and it's so damn hard to catch a decent walleye now. I hope that's wrong but it just seems like we never learn from past mistakes. As Penner said, we have just too high a angler to water ratio to effectively manage a harvest system unless we go to a tag system in all the big waterbodies.

But I still believe that the biggest problem with our fisheries is the poaching, no amount of regulations and research will ever fix our problems until we get the poaching issue under wraps.

[Wulfespirit]

I believe there is room for a small limit based harvest BUT seasons need to be cut down significantly and lakes need to be balanced to allow that harvest.

As you said - perch are prolific breeders. If we took 10 of the many lakes in Alberta tha contain only pike and perch (that have the potential to grow large perch) and reinstated liberal pike limits on those lakes, it would give the perch a chance to flourish on those lakes. You'd see less pressure on the walleye lakes as many anglers would opt to tackle some humpback perch instead.

Cut the catch and keep season down to a month or two in the summer and a month or two in the winter ... combine that with reasonable limits and I suspect we'd have more happy anglers and sustainable fisheries.

I'd like to talk to some senior biologists about this because I'm certainly no expert. But perch are an excellent alternative to walleye fishing and they breed quite well. They could be a great depressurizer for the walleye fishery if some attention was given to them.