Primrose lake
 

I'm sure some one out there has some information. Why do they stock this lake so extensively?

Im not 100% sure on this but I believe it is stocked for commercial fisherman... It is a lake where anglers are not permitted because it is on the cold lake military base.

Barbwire

has nothing to do with the base, that lake is the center of the air weapons range, not safe to fish or drive around there. Not sure about the commercial aspect

I did talk with a guy on Cold Lake during the XMas break who said he was off the next day to net Primrose - had a commercial license. Unless he was out right lying to me, which would not make any sense, it sounds like commercial fishing happens there which would be the only type of fishing I am aware of.

The reason Primrose Lake is stocked is because that lake is the main source of walleye for stocking throughout the rest of the province and to maintain a good population, it is stocked. And because it is not open to angling there is some degree of control over the population. The fact that commercial fishermen are given exclusive access to the lake does not sit well with me however. To the best of my knowledge(which is fairly limited) they are given access for about a 2 week period over Christmas when the airbase is closed down.

Great info. Thanks a lot guys. :)

Primrose
 

The lake is not really stocked though most of the eggs raised at the hatchery come from primrose lake but because they take so many eggs out they have to put a certain amount of fry back in to make up what they took out. I hope to make it out to the spawning camp this spring to help out.

And i'm glad the commercial fisherman are allowed It would be sad to see those fish die from old age

And i'm glad the commercial fisherman are allowed It would be sad to see those fish die from old age[/QUOTE]

Not to worry this lake is the private domain for our armed forces, their families and friends!!!

They not allowed to fish it either!

Agreed, it explicitly says so in the regs! :confused:

A few years ago I was up visiting a friend at Cold Lake and he mentioned that they sometimes open the lake in the summer for a few days to the public.He said it was supposed to open for a few days the following week.Don`t know if this is still happenning.Would be nice to go fishing there sometime.

To the best of my knowledge this has never happened. I suspect if it was going to be open to the public it would be mentioned in the fishing regs. Back in the 70's and 80's it was open to the public as long as you were a member of the Cold Lake Alberta Fish & Game Club. I do seem to recall however that there were special concessions made for First Nations members to have access during the summer time period.

early 90s too. i fished it the weekend before it closed. Some nice fish in there. I remember when they PA the closure of the lake to the public :(
as for it opening for a few days to anglers... news to me. if it was true I'd be there. oh the memories....

Yup. My Dad was a member of F&G association when we lived in Grande Centre in the 80's. I recall fishing primrose a couple times... also recall a lot of black bears out there.

I can't agree with you about the commercial fishing. I suspect the majority of fish taken in nets are in their prime and have the majority of their reproductive years ahead of them.

My father and brothers ran a construction company in the north end of Primrose range from the early 80's till 92. We were in on the pilot projects for Petro Can and A.E.C. A.E.C's Primrose plant is about 12 miles from the lake.. Back in those days they never watched the range near as heavy as they do now a days which is understandable.. They lived in a remote year round camp while up at work. They did every thing from build leases to cut seismic line to road maintenance.. Anyways there were a few times when they opened winter roads along side and up to Primrose lake.. So from time to time they would head into the lake in the evenings for a fish and I was able to join in a couple times when I happened to be up in the bush helping during school breaks. The fishing was like none you could ever imagine... The walleye fishing was like non I've ever seen since,, they would quite easily take a jig with no bait or spoons with no bait.. As for size they were nice I wouldn't say huge maybe in the 3 - 5 pound range so nice fish for sure.. But the amount that we were able to catch for ice fishing was unbelievable.. And the White fish Jumbo's boys it was nothing for a couple guys to put 6 - 8 on the ice in 2 - 3hrs it was great..

But like others have said it is out of bounds and the range is much heavier guarded now a days then it was in those... We were some of the first outsiders in most of those places,, do not even get me started on the moose population in those woods... I do know in those days Primrose was used as a personal fishing lake for many air force officers who knows what go's on now.. I do know this that they, being the military can do what ever they please on that lake as provincial regulations do not apply to federal lands, the military is the only law on military land..

That's kinda harsh!
ZERO angling... just comercial fishing

I see in Lloyd there is a sign up at a service station right by the border markers advertising 'Primrose Lake Fish' for sale.

That sign you see is from the "commercials" that were up over the Christmas break. They are a few signs up here along the highway from Cold Lake over to Meadow Lake also. A friend of mine picked up a few nice 3-4 lb. walleye on his way home after an unsucessful fishing trip up to Fern Lake.....Ken

Correct on the being a member of the F&G. to fish At the time, mid seventies and on we had over 2200 members and Primrose was one of the reasons. 20 pickeral limit. Same with Pike. Pike averaged 7-8 lb and believe it or not Walleyes, they were good. We also had a club house with skeet trap range right out the door over a valley. Some joker in Ottawa decided that non Public Funded places such as we had had to get off the base so it was moved to almost the outskirts of Gr Centre. We also had a quarter section north of the base and I don't know the status on the club as I haven't been back for a lot of years. I was pres of the Rod & gun when we went down town. Had to bow out and let the civvy guys run it as my military career was tanking. I still have bad memories thinking about what we lost. Had our own sportshop with not much mark up. Get a Sheep. I lived in Gr Centre and kids graduated in 79-81 so you may have went to school with them.

Wheres the Pickeral in there ?

As far as I know those days are over. I have a friend who was stationed at the base up until a year ago. Of course I asked if he could get us in :evilgrin:
However, no one, including military personnel are allowed in there.

not to fish.. except for commercial fishing.

primrose lake
 

fished the lake 76-79 never had fishing like that since 1 side of lake was all pickerel the other all jacks that lake ruined fishing for me ever since

Hey Turney-
how do you get in on this spawn camp thing, you said you were hoping to go help out?

This thread is 3 years old...