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Originally Posted by CMichaud
I thought I heard that the stocking program was reduced partially in response to whirling disease fears?
I C&R but see nothing wrong with people keeping the odd fish. I do think the limit should be reduced to one or two vs five a day. FWIW, I do not think I have ever seen a F&W presence at any of these ponds.
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You're right, from the info I heard, the stocking program was curtailed sharply until AEP was going to devise a plan to deal with whirling disease. The presence of disease was found at one of the hatcheries I believe. It's a tough time right now for the Alberta stocking program.
I am happy to have put and take lakes for people that want to eat fish. If the AEP is going to make the majority of ES1, ES2, ES3, ES4 de facto catch and release in our flowing waters, I am happy to see the retention pressure focused on put and take lakes.
As for myself, I have seen more officers in the field the last 3 years than the previous 10 combined.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Outdoorfanatic
To clarify the limit on stocked trout is not 5/day its 5 including whats in the freezer at home. And the purpose of these stocked lakes is and has always been "a put and take fishery". The purpose being to relieve pressure on the Native fish. And most of these ponds are not big enough to have a sustainable reproducing fishery year to year. Aeration, predation, lack of adequate spawning areas, whirling disease etc all make it very challenging to manage these fisheries as sustainable and reproducing naturally. I think more stocking, more tag allocations not only numbers per lake but also include more lakes in the tag allocation system this will spread the pressure, maybe for the stocked lakes allow for the angling and retaining of the other species such as perch and pike this will allow the trout fishery to remain pure, how about have a program that addresses the invasive cormorant issue, how about allow parents and kids to collectively fish of off one another's tags for walleye as long as all members are in the boat, Or how about renew the spring whitefish season or increase the poecession limit on whitefish after all commercial nets have been gone along time and every year certain lakes have summer kill on jumbo whitefish anyway. Bottom line is we need too create more choice for anglers of all ages by doing so the angling pressure will become less concentrated. Good example is many places in Europe have less water than even that of Slave Lake and more anglers than all of Alberta, plus commercial netting, plus they consider it a crime to release fish on the basis that fishing for any other reason other than food is cruelty to the fish.
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The "fish at home in the freezer" has always been interesting to me. The reg is basically there to bust poaching rings, as I'm sure most of us agree, not a single person has ever been spot checked in their home randomly!
FYI, the AEP fisheries management objectives when it comes to put and take rainbow trout lakes is to not promote natural reproduction. It's a non starter really. The population is sustained only through retention limits and re-stocking.
Not sure what you mean by "allow the trout fishery to remain pure"? Are you referring to genetics? Again, a variety of strains of rainbow trout are used, both diploid and triploid. Not sure what you're getting at here. Are you also advocating a tag system for put and take rainbow trout fisheries? I personally - just my opinion - would never agree to that. The way to manage put and take rainbow lakes is to manage the retention limits and stocking numbers. You can't have a cash grab tag system for an artificial fishery! And it would be a cash grab, whereas the tag system for walleye is the only compromise available for lake stocks facing enormous pressure from the angling public to keep fish.
There was never a spring whitefish season for lake whitefish. There used to be an earlier opening date for all pike-walleye-perch-lk whitefish lakes, but now there are spring closures to protect 3 out of those 4 species that spawn in the spring (not that I agree with that; I think instead, all lakes should be open year round, with certain times being a 0 limit, again just my perspective).
I see what you're getting at, and in principle I agree; we have to balance off keeping many and a variety of angling opportunities open while trying to protect fish stocks. As with all gov't bureaucracies, the AEP gets it right on some issues, and others need work.
Good fishing,
Smitty