New regs are out. Can keep a walleye and pike in Alberta again

[old dog]

It will be nice to have a taste of fish once in awhile for sure . However I hope we all practice good conservation.

[Penner]

Like the slot idea unfortunately from my perspective the slot size is too wide and I’m concerned those age classes will all but disappear from those lakes. 45–48cm or 50-53cm would have been better imho.

Nice that the big girls will need to be released. That’s the most important piece for me.

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by DiabeticKripple

both Gull and Sylvan are open for walleye.

Gull is 45-50cm, Sylvan is 1 any size

What am I missing???? I don't see that in the PP2 regs for either Gull or Sylvan.

[MathewsArcher]

Originally Posted by slough shark

Perhaps the biggest threat to these changes is they were only implemented on a few lakes, it would have been far better to spread out the pressure and open on a few more lakes (slots on cvr, Mcgregor, travers) to begin with would have been great as well. Don’t pound the heck out of the lakes boys, bringing one home for the grill is good but don’t overdo it so they say it doesn’t work.

Its my understanding that slots will probably occur next year on the waterbodies you mentioned after they complete FWIN surveys this fall. Data was felt to be to old/dated to be used effectively to set the slot sizes.

That said most will over do it and fish will go home every time out. Hopefully the lakes can sustain the pressure and we can have a catch/keep fishery.

[deschambault]

Got a bit excited there for a minute but then saw Badger, Crawling Valley, Mcgregor and Travers all 0 fish and Newell still tags only. Tourism Saskatchewan and Tourism BC will still enjoy my donations this year assuming Covid doesn't win over me first.

[Buckhead]

Originally Posted by HuyFishin

haha how far do you drive for your weekly fishing trips.

As far as I need to.
Alberta's fishermen (myself included) have been pushing for slot limits to preserve Alberta's fisheries since at least the mid 1980's.
There is no logical reason they had to let the fisheries crash like they did.

[pinelakeperch]

Originally Posted by deschambault

Got a bit excited there for a minute but then saw Badger, Crawling Valley, Mcgregor and Travers all 0 fish and Newell still tags only. Tourism Saskatchewan and Tourism BC will still enjoy my donations this year assuming Covid doesn't win over me first.

I was hoping for a slot for CVR, Rolling Hills, and Newell. With the amount of pressure those lakes get, it doesn't really surprise me to not see anything. If it's for the sake of the sustainability of the fishery, I'm totally fine with it.

[Pilsner Man]

Originally Posted by Pikebreath

What am I missing???? I don't see that in the PP2 regs for either Gull or Sylvan.

I’m not seeing this either...

[Smoky buck]

The link in this thread is not matching the online regs

Is this an early April fools joke

[Pikebreath]

I noticed a handful of lakes with a pike slot of 1 fish from 63 - 70 cm (Berry Creek Res, Thurston Lake and Wadlin Lake). Would actually be interesting to see this type of slot expanded to several other lakes ,,, particularly in some of the current 1 fish over 63 cm lakes,,, ( ie Moose lake and Cold Lake in NB1 come to mind) and also some lakes with the general 3 fish over 63 cm reg (ie. Driedmeat and Coal in PP2) to see if this kind of slot could increase the number of larger pike in these lakes.

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by HuyFishin

haha how far do you drive for your weekly fishing trips.

No kidding hey!

To buckhead, keep driving if that is what floats your boat...no pun.
They finally make changes and you are still not happy. Sounds like you never will be.

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

The link in this thread is not matching the online regs

Is this an early April fools joke

yes,,,, you certainly do get a significantly different set of regs if you go from the link provided in the first post of this thread compared to the online version http://albertaregulations.ca/

A covid 19 victim???

[Pikebreath]

Appears that the downloadable full version http://albertaregulations.ca/2020-Al...shing-Regs.pdf is the one with all the 2020 changes and the online versions are still playing catch up,,,,

Looks like the geek in charge of harmonizing the online versions of regulations is trying to play catch up as each time I go back to the online version I see more reg changes showing up!

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by Pikebreath

Appears that the downloadable full version http://albertaregulations.ca/2020-Al...shing-Regs.pdf is the one with all the 2020 changes and the online versions are still playing catch up,,,,

Looks like the geek in charge of harmonizing the online versions of regulations is trying to play catch up as each time I go back to the online version I see more reg changes showing up!

Yeah, saw that as well. Good! As long as this is actually happening.

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Yeah, saw that as well. Good! As long as this is actually happening.

Anyways, if this indeed the case I stand corrected on my previous posts on Sylvan, Gull and the 63 - 70 cm pike slot. While still complicated, the number of lakes with slots for walleye and pike should give the bios a good read on whether slots will work in Alberta or not. At the same time many vulnerable and collapsed lakes still have protection (with C&R) and there is potential for creating a few trophy fisheries as well.

[Smoky buck]

With people being sent to work from home the tech guy is probably sitting on the coach smoking a joint slacking

Oh well there is plenty of time before the 2020 season starts. I can’t wait for open water and already have my first trip planned

[Buckhead]

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

No kidding hey!

To buckhead, keep driving if that is what floats your boat...no pun.
They finally make changes and you are still not happy. Sounds like you never will be.

You are correct. I will probably never fish Alberta again.
It makes no sense to eat fish out of fisheries that are already destroyed.

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by Buckhead

You are correct. I will probably never fish Alberta again.
It makes no sense to eat fish out of fisheries that are already destroyed.

to some people eating fish isnt the reason they love the sport. if thats all you fish for you are missing out

[pikeman06]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

to some people eating fish isnt the reason they love the sport. if thats all you fish for you are missing out

At least now we have a choice Wayne. I don't know if you ever get up.into central alberta and catch 200 walleye a day all looking like they haven't ate for a month. The lakes they opened up need a thinning of walleye or stocking of pike perch and whites so obviously the cheapest option was to whack a few walleye and protect the bigger ones as they always should have pike included. It's way too little too late but it might give the remnant perch and pike a chance to recover if there is even a sustainable population of breeding fish left. The tag thing was really losing popularity fast up here and it was abused by the guys that would probably keep one and go home anyways.

[Battle Rat]

Originally Posted by Sharpie

No Oilers fans flipping out about the cover yet! wow

They finished ahead of the Flames so they so their probably still thankful they dodged the bullet.

[Poppa]

When I filled out the survey, I basically said "do what you need to do in order to create a trophy walleye fishery. I have zero interest in water fish. I only want trophies. I think clearing out the 18" cookie cutters on Sylvan will help create a better trophy fishery there. This seems like good news, if true...

[DiabeticKripple]

i dont know if the 1 fish any size will help Sylvan.

You can bet its going to be BUSY all summer. that lake is going to get hammered. maybe the 43-50cm slot would work better.

[JohninAB]

Like the idea of trying slot sizes on some lakes to see how it works. Only comment I would add is wish on those lakes with retention they would have instituted a rule that once you retain a fish, you have to kill it immediately. No livewell/stringer culling then. The rule is used on some waters in Ontario, most notably Lac Seul.

[wind drift]

Originally Posted by JohninAB

Like the idea of trying slot sizes on some lakes to see how it works. Only comment I would add is wish on those lakes with retention they would have instituted a rule that once you retain a fish, you have to kill it immediately. No livewell/stringer culling then. The rule is used on some waters in Ontario, most notably Lac Seul.

See page 22. It’s not a rule, per se, but even if it was, it wouldn’t be easily enforced. It’s really about ethics and being honest.

[wind drift]

Originally Posted by Poppa

When I filled out the survey, I basically said "do what you need to do in order to create a trophy walleye fishery. I have zero interest in water fish. I only want trophies. I think clearing out the 18" cookie cutters on Sylvan will help create a better trophy fishery there. This seems like good news, if true...

Allowing the harvest of all sizes of walleye won’t make a trophy fishery. It will clean them out. You can’t make big fish by killing them before they get big. Get ‘em while you can, folks. There won’t be many left next year. And don’t count on stocking to keep up with demand in the future. Even if they started stocking this year, it will be years before the fry are big enough to make a fishery. I’m going to bet the survey results will show most were in favour of getting rid of the walleye in Sylvan now and trying to make it put and take. Trophy fishery is unrealistic. Too much pressure.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by wind drift

Allowing the harvest of all sizes of walleye won’t make a trophy fishery. It will clean them out. You can’t make big fish by killing them before they get big. Get ‘em while you can, folks. There won’t be many left next year. And don’t count on stocking to keep up with demand in the future. Even if they started stocking this year, it will be years before the fry are big enough to make a fishery. I’m going to bet the survey results will show most were in favour of getting rid of the walleye in Sylvan now and trying to make it put and take. Trophy fishery is unrealistic. Too much pressure.

I don’t think a any size limit will create a trophy fishery either But being a one fish limit should not have a deviation of walleye either. A slot or a shorter c&k season would likely be better in my opinion but that is just an opinion

You also don’t get a trophy fishery by stocking numbers that are too high for the forage base as well. Alberta botched the walleye stocking program. Lower numbers of fish with a larger forage base can promote a trophy fishery though. So possibly they may want to thin out some fish to bring balance to the predator numbers

Without seeing the long term managed plan we have no clue though

Personally I think walleye fight like a wet sock and the fishing techniques used to target them are kind of boring compared to other species so trophy walleye fishery is not a big interest. So if this is the fisheries plan hopefully it’s only a select few lakes

I rarely even eat fish but hope the new regs are an attempt to create balanced fisheries not just random changes do to survey results

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by JohninAB

Like the idea of trying slot sizes on some lakes to see how it works. Only comment I would add is wish on those lakes with retention they would have instituted a rule that once you retain a fish, you have to kill it immediately. No livewell/stringer culling then. The rule is used on some waters in Ontario, most notably Lac Seul.

I am totally in favour of that as well. Having to kill a fish to retain it is certainly going to have people think twice about filling the livewell or stringer with the idea of culling them as day goes.

[Pikebreath]

There is quite a variation of slot sizes, min sizes, and retention limits across the province now for walleye and pike. While this makes things complicated, it does provide the means to compare the various impacts different limits and size restrictions have on our fisheries. The various harvest opportunities for Pigeon (tags), Gull (slot) and Sylvan (no size limit) should make for an interesting comparison.

In the past, slots and no size limits tended not to work well since these measures would concentrate anglers on those lakes where you could keep a fish, and anglers tended to cheat the slot as well.

Hopefully, enough anglers have "matured" in attitude that slot stretching isn't going to be a major issue anymore and there are enough harvest opportunities to avoid significant concentrating on a select few lakes with harvest as was happening in the past.

One particular reg I like is that many lakes that allow a walleye harvest are zero retention on pike. In the past the pike on many lakes have been "sacrificed " on lakes with restrictive walleye regulations as a means to placate the catch and keep crowd. Shifting the harvest opportunities to the walleye should certainly help grow larger trophy pike in many of these lakes. Lakes like Pinehurst and Lac la Biche come to mind.

[nick0danger]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

Personally I think walleye fight like a wet sock and the fishing techniques used to target them are kind of boring compared to other species so trophy walleye fishery is not a big interest. So if this is the fisheries plan hopefully it’s only a select few lakes

I used to think that too, but this summer, after getting bored of jigs and smelts, i started to use cranks, spinner baits, and what not, when the walleye hit them they fight much harder, and typically get a better quality of walleye

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by nick0danger

I used to think that too, but this summer, after getting bored of jigs and smelts, i started to use cranks, spinner baits, and what not, when the walleye hit them they fight much harder, and typically get a better quality of walleye

That is the main way I catch them because I hate bait fishing and finesse jigging. I definitely get nicer walleye on bigger crankbaits. Even on the fly rod I find them boring

Maybe deep down inside I am just racist towards walleye but they are still wet socks lol