Should trophy fish be easy or difficult to catch?
 

Quick poll to see what people think - Do you like the idea of having large/trophy fish more readily available and easy to catch, or should they be more difficult and rare?

Add any extra thoughts in the comments section.

I would like large fish to be at least available, which if we're talking trout lakes in Alberta, is not always the case....very rarely the case.

Theoretically, even though there might be more large fish in a waterbody, they should be more challenging to catch. Look at the Bow river for example: more large fish per km than most rivers in the world; however, how many fishermen (even veteran ones) have left the Bow scratching their heads and soothing their egos on many days. Of course, there are also the days that you can do no wrong, which are the ones that keep us coming back.

I think there are some people that think that by making stricter regs, and thus more large fish, that somehow the fish are going to be easy to catch. I don't think that's the case. They get smart after getting stung a couple of times. The challenge is in knowing there is a good possibility of catching a big fish and then trying to get it to bite. I'd much rather fish all day for the chance of a big fish than catch a bunch of 12" stockers.

And of course there needs to be put and take fisheries as well where you can chuck powerbait all day with your kids and keep a bucket-full of 12" stockers. I'm just saying that my preference is for fishing places where you have the chance to catch bigger fish.

Cheers.

I can't see why it would be a bad thing to have more big fish in our local waters.

I think big fish should be available for everyone without to much difficulty.

Of course I want to catch more trophy fish more easily.
Anyone who says differently is not telling the truth.
But if they were easily got would they really be trophies?

50/50
 

not so easy that they arnt a trophy anymore because they are cuaght so ofetn but a little more frequently caught:fighting0030:

if it was easy they wont be trophy anymore. They are only trophies because they are rare and difficult to catch.

Should be hard to catch or they wouldn't be called trophy's

They would still be just as fun to catch. Do we really want less big fish around, just so we can show off the rare big one?

No just more C&R so more people can enjoy a trophy

I agree..

x2 Catching trophy fish should be reserved for anglers that challenge themselves to catch one. Like this guy:

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=123352

All fisheries in Ab should be managed to be healthy fisheries. Large fish are nothing more than a bi product of proper management. Wether that makes large fish more accessible to anglers or not is moot point.

:happy0180:

Sounds good!!

Very well said. With proper management I'm sure many lakes would become much healthier.

I've fished some outstanding fisheries outside of Alberta, and I would imagine some of our lakes could get close to their quality with the proper management. For example, Great Slave Lake in the NWT has pike that regularly get up to 20 lbs and you can sometimes catch numerous fish close to that size in a day, but the bigger fish are rare, so the real big fish are still rare trophies, but there are many large fish to catch. I also once fished Jurassic Lake in Argentina, it is non-stop fishing for rainbows averaging 10 lbs, but 20 lb fish were rare and you had to put in a lot of effort to catch one that size.

I think some people just accept what we have as good enough and don't think about how much potential some of our lakes have. I bet a lot of people's ideas of what a trophy trout or pike is wouldn't actually be super large. How commonly do you hear of a 10 lb rainbow being caught in Alberta that wasn't a brood stock fish?

RE:
 

Too have more big fish in our local waters, maybe people should practice catch and release. People need to take a course to get a hunting licence, they should have a course to get a fishing licence. That otta keep " more big fish" in our local water!

And of course the trophys should be a fight to get , gotta work harder to catch something worth while!

Which is why there should not be a one size fits all approach. Set up a few C and R Trophy lakes that would give those that would like better odds at a trophy.

Set up other lakes with high limits and no size restrictions for those to fill their freezers and for those that think it should be a challenge to catch a trophy.

Win win win. (or lose depending on the lake:fighting0030:)

As I said on the other thread, why not make something world class. For those that get bored with catching too many 20lbers, I am sure there are other lakes they can fish.

It is about creating an enviroment that can reach its potential not just about making it easy.

That sounds good but the problem is that the term "healthy fishery" is relative and people have different ideas about what they think a healthy fishery means.

I don't think I could get tired of catching 20 pounders!! I don't even get tired of catching small fish!

I would like to see all of alberta go on 100% catch and release for a few years (3-5??).

It would allow the fish to get big and spawn and get the numbers back where they should be naturally.

I couldn't care less if we went catch and release for 10 years.. It would weed out the real outdoorsman from the weekend bucket fillers.

A trophy is only a trophy because of the rarity/difficulty of the task.

I don't disagree with you that there probably are some good management programs that can be implemented, but going strictly C&R? Without sounding like a "bucket filler" I think to be an "outdoorsman or outdoorswoman" catching,cleaning & cooking fish is all part of the title...My father and Grandfather taught me what I will teach my daughters...."you catch it-you clean it"

I was brought up the same way and I love eating fish. I even eat pike. I 100% agree keeping fish is part of being an outdoorsman to most of us including me.... But to see what kind of fishing there could be if we went c and r for a bit would be worth.

imagine all those fished out lakes in AB bounce back to be like a fly in like in northern sask or manitoba. Its possible, we just need it managed and in my opinion 100% catch and release for a few years followed be STRICT limits for many years afterwards..

I ask you, would you trade the aspect of keeping fish in exchange to see all our lakes back to the way nature made them? I would.

southern BC's large lakes are full of trophy rainbow, their numbers are abundant however they are very tough to catch.
far too many in our province think killing the big ones is a right not a privilege.world class waters get that way when the general public in that area allows the the fish to live long happy lives something this part of the world is short on.

I fish for meat . the bigger the better !

there is nothing wrong with that. it just comes at the expense of us having no more than a few trophy waters.

I hear what you are tring to say, but comparing Saskatchewan or Manitoba to Alberta is hard to do with with them having less than 1/3 of our pop. Manitoba has a ton of lakes...Sask mostly Northern but lots as well, us not so much and with 3 times the anglers it is a difficult task to undertake with the limited $$$ dedicated to our fisheries...good point you are trying to get across I think...managing a "healthy" lake would be a lot easier going forward instead of trying to fix something broken? I think there are a lot of other factors involved other than keeping no fish, some lakes don't sustain because of depth, habitat, weed structure or lack of, water ph, overpopulation, pollution...OVERFISHING...the list goes on...your are correct that it would be great to start from square 1, but I don't think we will see it in our lifetime...I guess... sit back and cast a line and enjoy what we have for now?

trophy fish
 

If they were easy, they would not be trophy??

You live in Canada, trophy fish ARE easy to catch...why do you think so many people pay thousands of dollars to come up here and fish? If they were any easier to catch they would just be called "fish"...