Quote:
Originally Posted by TrollGRG
First, half the fish in Alberta aren't native to the province so the fact that the bass aren't shouldn't be a problem. In fact if it gets more people out fishing with all the added revenue etc. - it would be good for the rest of the fishing. I would be willing to bet that if there was a bass lake anywhere in the province it would be a mecca for fishermen - you would have to take a ticket to get on the lake or camp nearby.
Second, apparently the water here is too cold for them. They can stock them but the fish die off. I say so what! Stock them every year the same as they do for other species. Fisheries wouldn't have to worry about some nut job transplanting them to another body of water - probably won't live anyway and may clean up some of the other problems like perch. Again, if people are going to fish for them, it is good for everyone.
Who knows? They just may stay alive somewhere. We all know that the experts in the AB government don't know everything (anything?).
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Well apparantly the AB govt. knows enough about smallmouth to realise that even if they weren't an invasive menace and extreme threat to native species,they are not a suitable candidate for a put-and-take fishery.They are very slow growing throughout most of Canada and the northern extent of their USA range,going dormant in winter and having a relatively short growing season.They prefer water in the 70 degreesF range and don't even really become very active to speak of until it hits 60F.It takes several years for a CDN smallmouth to reach any resemblance of a "quality angling" size,so unless you want to fish for 3 inch smallies,you can fogetabout a put and take stocker fishery.