New Walleye Lakes for tags
 

March 11, 2011
Three lakes added to special walleye harvest licence

Edmonton... Alberta anglers will have new fishing opportunities this year with the expansion of the special walleye harvest licence to Lac Ste. Anne, Lac La Nonne and Isle Lake. These three lakes are all located in the Prairie-Parkland fish management zone.

The special walleye harvest licence lets anglers keep a limited number of walleye from selected lakes. This season, special licences are also available for Pigeon, Wolf (66-7-W4), Newell, Amisk, Baptiste, Long (63-19-W4), Garner and Pinehurst lakes and Rolling Hills Reservoir.

Anglers may purchase draw applications for the special walleye harvest licence from March 23 to April 21 online at www.albertarelm.com, at licence issuers or through the draw line, 1-900-451-3474. The call will cost $3.25 for the first minute and $1.15 for each additional minute. The cost to submit a draw application is $3.04 plus GST. More information on the special walleye licence draw is available at www.mywildalberta.com. After the draw, any remaining licences can be reserved starting May 13 by calling 1-900-451-3474 or online at www.albertarelm.com on a first-come, first-served basis.

The 2011 fishing season starts April 1. Anglers should refer to the 2011 Alberta Guide to Sportfishing Regulations for information about angling locations, rules and requirements, proper fish handling techniques and fish species identification. The guide is available online at www.mywildalberta.com and www.albertaregulations.ca or at licence issuers and Fish and Wildlife offices. Albertans can also purchase a WIN (Wildlife Identification Number) card and sportfishing licence online at www.albertarelm.com or through licence issuers.

Got this email as well. A quick call to AFGA and they will add you to their email list.

I hate these darn draws for fish. Draws and tags are for hunting imho. I for one refuse to pay these damn money making taxes to keep a fish. I realize it is an easy way to manage fish stocks because harvest numbers can be exactly managed. I feel it is a blatent money grab by the government and they love this kind of fisheries management. Rant over.....I feel better now.

X 2 Axe !!

X3

They are selling one fish at a time.

Want to get it stopped , dont anyone apply , problem solved

Yes sounds simple but I can only control me(barely). And I don't apply. Hasn't made any difference so far. lol

Hmmm! Lake Isle and lac st. Anne I know where im gonna try and get mine. :happy0180:

Walleye Tags
 

Yeah, those greedy provincial bastards!

6623 total walleye tags x $10.50 per licence = $70,000 total revenue

subtract IBM's admin fee and ACA levy, and there must be at least $35,000 left.

Who needs oil and gas in AB when you can sell one fish at a time for a huge money grab?

Assuming in theory that $35,000 is what would be left below the line after it was all said and done, I would certainly not suggest that $35,000 is a HUGE money grab considering that the 2010 Alberta provincial budget was something like $38 Billion. It wouldn't even pay for a new pick-up truck these days. I believe there is also a couple of dollar fee just to apply for the draw but even so, it wouldn't add up to a hill of beans. I'd be 1,000x more ****ed off about how little of the $38 Billion is actually budgeted towards SRD to manage and protect our angling and hunting resources then what the draw system may be generating in terms of revenue.

It's surely no money grab IMHO, and the draw system I believe provides a new effective way to more accurately manage keep limits per water body. Is it the best method? Who knows but its better than anything else they tried in the past.

It’s pretty easy to bash new ideas. I don't see the pessimists who are against the draw system coming up with any alternative ideas on how the government should better manager the fisheries in question.

I'll be applying for tags that is for certain.

Yup exactly what it is just another cash grab and form of taxation. the sad thing is is some of the lakes on this list there never was a problem with the walleye population. It always was strong and still remains strong. Maybe for the majority of the spoon chuckers from the cities the walleye population was down but for the boys that are walleye fishermen there never was a problem.

As far as a solution I have put up ideas on here many times,, do your home work. If its not about the money then why do they charge for the tags hmmmm... Why not just charge the handling fee and give the tags away ??? I'll tell you why because its a CASH GRAB thats why..

Pizzes me off,, a guy pays tax through the yang in this country and its never enough..

Okay, here is one idea that won't cost anglers who already pay WIN card fees and angling licence fees and taxes. How about open some of these lakes for a walleye limit of 1 per day for a certain time period; say a couple of months out of the season. Way less administration costs and no more money burden and inconvenience for the angler. I'm sure SRD will say the tag fees are to cover administration costs anyways.

As far as SRD knowing the harvest numbers, they do their test netting anyways regardless of the system in place. If the test surveys show the harvest is too much or too little they could adjust the harvest period for the next year.

Sorry Penner, but I will bash the government every time they add costs on to my back when I am already paying ridiculous taxes and fees. Advocating less fees and taxes and bureaucratic administration costs is optimistic thinking, not pessimistic.

I guess my sarcasm didn't come across very well in the email.

$35,000 money grab? get serious. I doubt that even covers the fuel needed to do the work on these Walleye lakes.

It's amazing what people feel their taxes entitles them to.

I fish Lac Lannone and Lac Ste Anne regularly and I know that there are tons of walleye in both lakes. The tag system has been coming for awhile now and we talked about it around the campfire on many occasions. Our conclusion was that they could never be opened up entirely because it would attract too many anglers that didn't regularly fish there and it would deplete the number of fish in the lake rather quickly. I'm not saying that they would get fished out but it'd be fished hard until people decided that they weren't catching enough fish in a day to make it worth their while to drive to them.

I don't welcome having to pay for a tag in order to keep a fish but I wouldn't want to see those lakes just open to regular fishing either. IMO some people would be like kids in a candy store. For me it's a choice of the lesser of two evils but I would like something like what you suggested.

So what your saying Hunterdave is that you want your local lakes to remain healthy and do not want to see the walleye hit hard, but you couldnt care less what happens to Ab trout lakes in another thread? I dont think you have a sniff about anything your talking about, and youve proven it. I say open up Lac Lanonne and Lac St Anne walleye and lets kill em all Dave, hows that for ya,,, you can pizz and moan your way into your vehicle and go find walleye somewhere else, theres lots of good walleye fishing to be had, quit being lazy bla bla bla. Does that sound familiar Dave? Does that sound ok to you?? Stop and think before you speak.

Lest we forget
 

A short open season was tried at Long Lake a couple of years ago. The walleye kill was excessive. A horde of anglers showed up, as would be expected. Does this have to be repeated occassionally to remind us how vulnerable our fisheries are? If the choice is tags and great fishing or open lakes and lousy fishing, I'll take tags, thanks. To me, good fishing doesn't mean I need to be an expert to find the few fish left, it means my kids can catch a bunch. 90% of the fish being caught by 10% of the fishermen isn't something to be happy about. Alberta's walleye recovery is a big success. It would be really easy to undo that success. I'm much happier with fish per hour than hours per fish.

As far as I understand the minor amount of funds generated goes to pay the expenses. That's it. No great conspiracy here. I'm with you that I would rather pay nothing but the costs will be covered one way or another.

Good to see some other choices out there in the Edmonton area.

Thanks for the info.

Dave, you've got friends :)

I wouldn't post it as strongly as Pack but I get what he is saying to some degree.

I don't buy that argument at all. This topic has been discussed on many other threads about Alberta's walleye management and it is viewed by many that walleye management in Alberta is a disaster. We have many lakes that have been closed to harvest and the walleye population has boomed to the point that the walleye are stunting and are even affecting the other species.

I can go to lakes such as Elinor, Slave, Moose, Long, Calling, Pigeon, Pinehurst, etc. and catch walleyes until my arms hurt. I fished Elinor Lake lots over 25 years ago and I will tell you the walleye fishing is way better now but the fish are smaller. If SRD chooses to only open a couple of lakes for limited harvest opportunities they are funneling all the pressure to those lakes. I say open the opportunities on a time managed basis and slot sizing to a much wider selection of lakes and the pressure will be spread out and a balance will be created that will be better for the lakes as well as allowing some harvest for us anglers. The harvest can still be managed on a time slot basis without implementing a bureaucratic and costly tag and draw nightmare.

This is my opinion and I am sure it will be criticized but if I don't offer alternate ideas I will be critisized as well if I disagree with the current management strategies.

Nope. It is great idea in my books. Your right that spreading out the pressure on a limited time basis could work. But, it does depend on the areas. The very busiest of lake then could have the shortest of seasons and maybe the toughest of regs. That way the argument for these lakes (e.g. Long Lake) getting fishing out would not happen. I'm all for it. When do we get started :)

A question
 

Can my 8 year old son apply for a walleye tag?

:lol::lol:

:party0052:

I think places like the NSR should be opened

I have no problem with the tag system for the walleyes. Same system they use for managing our wildlife populations which seems to work fairly well. At the end of the day, Alberta, unfortunately is not blessed with the lakes of say Sakatchewan and east and hence our fishing pressures on our lakes are extraordinarily high compared with the other jurisdictions. I will however say, wish they would adopt a more agressive walleye stocking program like the other jurisdictions have.

BTW, interested that Pigeon only has under 43 cm tags this year.

Yeah, I suppose that someone with a very simplistic way of thinking could conclude that my positions on our trout fisheries and the walleye fisheries are complete opposites. All that you'd have to do is ignore the obvious fact that this issue is about lifting restrictions on the lakes and not imposing more restrictions for the purpose of growing the fish bigger. :3yfm7ut:

Sure as hell if you opened up those lakes completely the "you know who" would be out there in droves and they'd take as many BIG spawning walleyes as they could catch. :sad0020:

"Stop and think before you speak." Good advice there Pack, maybe you should follow it. :lol:

I hope that the tags for these lakes is something similar to that and does not become an exercise in ridding the lake of the big spawning fish. THAT, wouldn't make any sense to me at all!

You got er Dave, your lookin good buddy,,, again, LOL! Your just good at it I guess!

;)

Ever wonder why ya need a fishing lic when your a catch and release fisherman , all your doing is hookin them and back they go , its like skippin stones on a lake , you pay to drop a line in the water , just a thought