Wabamun Lake Update

[spopadyn]

So I fished wabamun with a bunch of little kids last weekend. All went well - lots of hammer handles and a couple of 10lbers but none of the real big guys. I fished just south around the corner from Seba Beach and in front of Fallis around thoses sand humps. Fish on every time you troll through.

2 interesting things to note:

#1, got stopped by fish and wildlife - had just rigged up and hadn't pinched my barbs yet (damn, I was watching too many little kids). Guys were super nice, gave me a warning and then we chatted about the lake. Apparently, the water is now PCB free and the toxins are no longer being found in the pike. But, he said the pike are not spawning and they don't know why? He told me this is there biggest concern now (i must confess, I found this hard to believe as we hooked pike that were 12-14 inches long). Anyway, just reporting the facts. Also, he said, they are stopping everyone now and checking for licenses, booze, boat safety equipment, operatiors card ..be warned.

#2, On the day I fished in front of Fallis, the pike were just slamming the fishing lures. Barbless though they were, at least 4 of the 25 fish we caught were bleeding profusely from the gills (likely to die later that day). Here is my question: How can you prevent a fish from taking the lure so deep that it will likely die?

[mikeym]

you can try switching to single hooks instead of the trebles. although won't stop them from taking it deep, will lessen the number of hooks in their mouth and easier to take a single hook out then a treble hook.

just my thought.

rgds
Mike

[-JR-]

Few years back wife and i were fishing Wizard Lake .
The fish she caught all day were swallowing the hook deep
Mine were just in the lip area.

I was realing in very slowly
She was realing in very fast,so I believe the fish had to slam on deep and hard to catch the bait,
I got her to slow down ,and she never had a deep bite after that.

[canned Tuna]

When I'm after large pike and musky a cutter and jaw spreaders is a must out east we tend to cut our trebles off around the bend of the hook and then extracting the barbed ends with pliers.

For most times removing all trebles from a rapala and replacing with one at the back with a single barbless siwash hooks works fine.

If your hooking up so frequently there will be misses at least the fish didn't get *****ed so they'll be back to strike again. Hope this helps.

[fishmania]

#2, On the day I fished in front of Fallis, the pike were just slamming the fishing lures. Barbless though they were, at least 4 of the 25 fish we caught were bleeding profusely from the gills (likely to die later that day). Here is my question: How can you prevent a fish from taking the lure so deep that it will likely die?[/QUOTE]


I was out their with my son a few weeks ago and had the same problem with the hooks in real deep.I had to leave 3 hooks in
Next time we go In going to change the hooks to a single

[EZM]

Comment / Response to #1 - I love the fish and wildlife guys. They protect a resource we all enjoy. They catch the jerks who ruin everything for all the rest of us. I'd like my kids to be able to eat a walleye out of a lake someday and not have to drive 5 hours to do it. BUT >>>>>>>>> Every once in a while you get a power playing fish cop.

I was pulling the kids around on the tube (at Wabumun) and just "switching gears " and getting us ready to fish when a 12ft aluminum boat came right at me from what seemed like nowhere. Fish cops.

I had one kid already casting and was setting up a second rod/lure when the fish cops came up.

First thing he asked after looking at my licence "can you pass me that rod" (pointing to the one I was setting up) so I did and he said (in a deeper voice) "do you know about the barbless regulation?". I responded "yes I do, I am familiar with the regulation", he went on to explain (lecture me) on what the fine is etc. etc..

I told him "That (lure) hook was just put on the rod", "I invite you to feel the line, the lure, etc.. to see if it is "wet"". I told him I just finished pulling the kids around and I was not quite ready to fish with this rod/lure. I offered that the overwhelming majority of lures do not come barbless and this was brand new (pointing to the opened package in my boat). I invited him to check my entire tackle box and see if he could locate one barb on any of my lure. He returned (in a tough guy voice) comments about the fines and escalation process and how it was illegal etc.. etc...

I repeated, that this lure was not yet in the water and we just got here. He said, "yeah I know, I was binocularing you from the weeds" ??????????!!!!!

What an @$$!!! Why would he power play me and then admit he saw me "not fishing yet" after that episode. Put me through a useless exchange and test me to the point where I wanted to choke him out????

It's guys like this who need to be security gaurds in a mall someplace and bully tennagers. I wished he charged me and I wished I had this silly exchange recorded. This insecure and overbearing clown gives all officers a bad name.

Next time I will board his vessel like a pirate and sink his boat screaming "arrrggg arrrrggg billy".

Silly.

On comment #2 of this thread - It seems no matter what you do, some pike will bleed and some may die. I find removing a single hook (instead of a treble) and keeping the fish in the water (while removing the hook, if possible) to be least risky to thier survival rate. Despite playing by these rules, every once in a while a fish bleeds out and you soon see it floating. Nothing you can do except take reasonable precautions. I'd estimate one in 50 of mine probably die (at least while I'm still in the area). Pike are not endangered and are cetainly not a highly suspetable species, so somehow, I find it a bit less of a concern when compared to Sturgeon or other species (not justifying, just being honest).

Don't sweat it too much.

[spopadyn]

Yeah, I love it when they put on the Mall Cop routine. As an aside note, has everyone been puting there boat registration numbers on the side of their boats? Apparently, the lake cops are pulling over every boat in the okanogan and you get a $250 fine for each side. I was shocked when I heard about it but we need this on all our boats. I just boat a boat brand new last year, I still need to get the Pleasure Craft License ($500 is a lot of dough for not displaying a number (or not having one - like me).

Check out the link.

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sc/boats/index.shtml

[QIsley]

I've been called a lot of names in the past 25 years of service, "insecure, overbearing clown" ? Now that is a first.... Matey.


Q

[Geezle]

I've been called a lot of names in the past 25 years of service, "insecure, overbearing clown" ? Now that is a first.... Matey.


Q

You seemed cool when I met you :wave:

[-JR-]

Aug 7 2010
Morning was very slow