A couple monsters in Baptiste

[Danaha]

My dad, brother and I went off to Calling Lake yesterday but my dad's fear of water did not allow us to launch the boat into the very, very rough water (white caps were going over the peer at the boat launch). Not wanting to waste the 2 hour trip from Edmonton, we decided to hit Baptiste Lake for some friendly C&R.

The lake was extremely calm, even though the wind was as strong as it was in Calling Lake. We all piled into my 16' Mirrocraft fitted with the new F40 Yamaha outboard (super quite I might add) and hit our favorite hole. Now, we have fished in Baptiste before only to catch small walleye and a few ok pike. However, we caught some monsters yesterday!

All in all, we caught 35 walleye and 4 pike in 3 1/2 hours. 10 of those Walleye were 3-5 pounders and we caught one that was 63cm and at least 7 pounds. Great to see the population coming back into this lake and hopefully F&W can add a 1 fish limit in the years to come. I am waiting for my dad to email me some pics and I'll make sure to uplaod them.

Danaha

[Wulfespirit]

I don't believe the walleye population at Baptiste was ever 'collapsed'. That status was assigned almost entirely based on a -single- angler survey that was taken after a slow weekend of fishing. A phone call to F&W about it by a neighbour of mine resulted in an admission by them that the status "may have been assigned in haste". Great science.

While the size of the fish (pike in particular) in Baptiste had suffered somewhat over the last 10-15 years (the big hawgs are quite a bit harder to find), the walleye are numerous and still had/have a good size range. It's not at all uncommon to regularly catch 10-20 an hour all day.

Sounds like you had a good day in any case. Hopefully F&W stops with the knee-jerk reactions and gets a harvest going on that lake again before the walleye completely trample the other species in there.

[nicemustang]

Thanks for the report, sounds like great fishing. Fishing has slowed here in the south (finally LOL). But a 63 cm walleye isn't 7 LBS +, unless it was the fattest walleye you've ever seen. I caught a 62 cm walleye on Sunday that was REALLY fat in comparison, (I usually don't weight them anymore) but it seemed big, it was barely over 5.5 lbs.

[Danaha]

Nicemustang

I could have been a bit off on the lbs, as I had to guestimate. I don't like to way fish I am going to release. However, it was the fattest walleye I have ever caught. I couldn't hold it up with one hand and when I tried to wrap around it with my hands, I couldn't touch my thumbs and middle fingers together. Needless to say, it was a good size fish and I know there are plenty more in the friggin lake. Just wish I could have kept a couple of the 3-4 lbs we caught.