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Originally Posted by Sundancefisher
Very tough questions to answer straight up Chubdarter. There are so many variables that go into making any scientific fisheries management decision. Then there is tweaking after the fact as additional learning occur. However, if we don't start trying...nothing ever gets done. We can also move slow like a city parks and rec grounds mower...but again...stalling just delays making the necessary fixes.
I have not done the research on specific lakes nor do I have access to F&W data base. With that data...one could easily start making some choices.
Interesting thing about catch and release lakes is you don't need a lot of them to supply the demand as the fish don't disappear into freezers. We had some harvest here in Lake Sundance after the 200-300 larger trout were stocked. Some have definitely gone or released poorly but at least 100 remain and chasing them around the lake is a fun pasttime...not easy for everyone but definitely more fun that a 9 incher stocked in the Fall. As people learn proper catch and release methods that would save some...zero limit would of protected the balance. We can have a fair number fishing on the lake and catching and ours is a tiny lake relative to others.
I would have to say Don is probably the most knowledgeable on what lakes he knows of that would make sense out of the 300 or so in the province to be strictly C&R. I would say 10 would be plenty not sure if Don would agree. 50 quality lakes seems like a reasonable number. Probably 100 lakes in strategic places for the put and take crowd would be ample (along with repeated stockings)...that leaves 140 in which F&W can try various 1 over 16 or 1 under 16, or 3 under 16 etc. or leave as a put and take lake to try and find a balance of fish to fishermen.
Trophy lakes (C&R) would have low stocking rates...no ice fishing...no bait...but allow spin fishing or fly fishing. Stocking rates would be monitored to ensure growth rates remain high. If enforcement was better in the Province to protect against poaching...I would not mind ice fishing although C&R in the Winter can increase mortality from frozen gills etc.
One has to realize that it does not take catching 50 - 10 lb rainbows to make the grade... Catching 1 or 2 a day would make anyone scream with excitement.
Sounds like some lakes like Struble could support trophy size fish with a limit or stay no limit so we have to keep all ideas on the table.
There is no easy choices off my head for do this and this and this specifically to make things better.
In a perfect world I would like to see a volunteer committee of fishermen from all types to get together to make some good yet sometimes hard decisions to make fishing better for fishermen...not solely politicians and a government bureaucracy.
Still we have to give credit to the changes F&W have tried and hope that more improvements can be made.
So in a nutshell...I don't have the data to lay out a plan.
Sun
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Fair and Thank You
with all respect can you please tell us...Don's background for us that arent familiar