Restock Touchwood Lake with Lake Trout Petition
 

Hello Alberta Outdoorsmen Community!

I have followed the page for a long time and finally decided to write this petition to show our Alberta Government there is interest in having Touchwood Lake returned to its natural state having a healthy Laker population. I have certainly done my research and the lake did have a healthy population before being netted out in the 1920's during a period of heavy fishing in the entire lakeland region.

Please click the link, e-sign!, share, shoot me a message or comment if you want to be involved or have anything to share! Thank you!


https://chng.it/CBjFPBBQnF

Signed the petition.

Attached is a photo of a Laker my Great Grand Father netted from Touchwood, would have been 1930s. As you attest, all of those lakes were fished with nets back then. Guys would establish camps on the shores and islands during the winter while harvesting them for sustenance and supplemental income.

Taking photos wasn't something they did often, and they caught alot of big fish of different species, this one was obviously special.

Attachment 174893

That looks like a horse.

Or rather two horses.

What a monster.

Not sure if you attended the sessions last year for fisheries round table, questions, etc. Lots of Touchwood discussion including stocking lakers again. The bio spoke out a lot about how slow growing any predator is in this lake with smaller forage, etc, etc. I know she grew up fishing it so certainly had some detailed knowledge of this particular lake. Doesn't sound like there is a lot of support at that level for a re-stocking that would likely imbalance or not work entirely. Just what a heard a lot of from those sessions. Otherwise, wish you the best of luck.

Signed. Great idea, thanks for putting this out there!

Thanks! That was me that asked the questions about stocking Lakers :)

I know they said they were not looking into it, but why not?

That thing is a tank! Wow!! Thanks for sharing, so interesting to see an actual touchwood laker

slow growing
 

The bio's excuse for re-introducing lakers in Touchwood is a poor one.

The following is on the sign of Rock Lake - South of Grande Cache

"The waters of Rock Lake are nutrient-poor, cold and provide a short growing season. Under these conditions, fish grow slowly, and mature later in life. The replacement rate for fish harvested from this water body is very slow"

"Female lake Trout do not begin spawning until they are about 45 cm (18 in.) in length, at anywhere from 6 to 11 years of age. Mature Lake trout grow very slowly, at a rate of about 0.5 cm (less than 1/4 of an in.) per year. Therefore, lake trout 14 to 16 years of age can often be less than 50 (19.5 in.) in length"

"The lake trout population in Rock Lake was over-harvested in the past. A 50 cm minimum-size limit is in place to help the lake trout population recover. The regulation protects female lake trout from harvest until they have spawned at least once."

end quote

Just because the conditions for re-introduction are not ideal, doesn't me we should kibosh the re-introduction of Lakers to Touchwood. Re-introduce them, put in a 100% c&r until further notice, and let nature decide if they will become self-sustaining or not.

Understood Pierre. It wasn't just poor reproduction. It was also lack of forage.
Already existing predators are challenged to reach sustainment.

We blame bios and others for starving out a lake with walleye but now it is okay to do the same with lakers.

I get the want for sure. I like the idea of splake myself :)
But, if the lake cannot support it and is backed by science...

I do agree, but if the lake used to thrive with Walleye and Lake Trout prior to the collapse why cant we work towards bringing it back to its historical position? In reviewing data its likely the water level is stable and increasing over the years, there appears to be alot of feeder fish.

Cold Lake Also used to have a collapsed trout population and now has a viable walleye, pike and trout fishery. There is also smaller lakes with trout. Touchwood has alot of depth in the 100 feet and deeper range all the way down to 160feet +

Square hooks aren’t C&R and there are a lot of square hooks that see Touchwood. Love the idea but don’t think it’s feasible considering the cost & effort for the limited return.

I’d rather see resources put into Walleye and Perch enhancements in several water bodies than just Lakers in one.

I know lesser slave lake had Lakers. Did wabamum have them too at one time?

I get the point for sure. Perhaps stock the hell out forage species first, see them thrive, then lakers to follow.

Yeah I hear you for sure. I find it silly they stock rainbows in so many lakes that die off every winter. We like to camp at mile 7 it’s a tiny little lake north of la biche on crown land. The lake is only around 10 feet deep and dies off before Christmas every year. It’s not a park or campground so there is zero return on investment.

I’d rather see the resources spent on a lake that has a chance for the fish to live longer than 6 months.

There would have to be a water quality study done - I know lakes change over time and sometimes times the trophic conditions will no longer support Lakers - but if it's viable - it's a good worth while program IMO.

Rainbow trout are simple and relatively cheap to hatch & stock in comparison to walleye which are more difficult and more costly to do the same. I think pothole trout certainly have their place. I think most enjoy some variety. But a few put and take walleye or perch fisheries would be interesting if feasible.

As I understand it there are some lakes in the states where they plant Kokanee for laker food.

Put and take and forage sounds interesting to me.

i wouldnt be opposed to the idea, and it would take years for anything of size to come around. managing it in the future is what needs to be done properly. more importantly the cold lake retention needs to altered.

I for one would not like to see the return of the lake trout there. When they tried it last time the pike tasted terrible.

But you can’t keep pike anyway?

I would think that lake trout stocking and continued walleye and lake trout management would not help that either.

Does anyone know why they don’t or haven’t considered stocking forage in a lot of the lakes here in AB?
If they started stocking a pile of perch and whitefish in most of these water bodies, that would alleviate many issues I feel.

They were going to or have started a few lakes in the south moving whites in for forage. If you do a little Googling there are several studies online where in the Northern U.S. they are stocking the forage type food in lakes and finding the fish growth much better and getting earlier and better reproduction.

Just bumping this up incase anyone else wants to sign before I send it

Signed and shared...

Signed and shared