Things can always be improved upon but I don't see the doom and gloom that some are professing. A fair number of AB waters have improved in the last few years and in some the balance has been changed by over regulation of sorts so one fish is doing great but others are being hurt. Misplaced regs can cause as many problems as help so care has to be taken.
Someone mentioned it being bad that we have to take action before the biologists do. Biologists are under tight constraints and the fact is that isn't likely to change soon...its not an issue of bad work its an issue of not enough money/resources to do the work. I would argue that its pretty sad that the average fisher can't think for themselves and be responsible and a little more proactive. Is there something wrong with keeping less than what the lake can sustain? Why should we need to be told what to do? I mean AB has relatively few lakes (common knowledge) and common sense says that'll mean more pressure which means the system can't support a wack'em and stack'em mentality. We shouldn't need a "specialist" to see that.
I think there is a good reason why a slot limit has not been used here. It would fish out an age range before they even have a chance to spawn. We have to protect fish up to a spawning age and at least partway through their most productive years which isn't necessarily their biggest years. Can one of the armchair biologists supporting releasing the biggest fish tell me that a big fish at the end of his life is the most productive and who's removal will have the most impact. Do they not hit a peak and start to decline in old age?
I'd say the best balance would be to keep certain waters as trophy status, keep some natural with conservative limits and maybe take a few high fertility reservoirs and make them high density stocked put and take walleye/pike lakes. There will be no perfect solution but at least that way every demand is partway met.
Also while I think its unfortunate that its necessary I think the tag system is a great way to manage certain fisheries. Very specific targets can be set for different size ranges and adjustment to allotments could be made year to year. Most importantly it would allow for much better enforcement. If you set a limit of one then people just get one drive home or back to camp dump it off and back out. One can also go out every day and get one if they want so over a year they still take many. With a tag its used once, clearly displayed and can't be recycled....good idea.
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