New for 2014 - Travers Walleye Retention Shutdown

[MoFugger21]

Originally Posted by the local angler

anthony 5 mentioned with new enforcement in vulcan, can someone clarify? i always thought there was CO's there?

There was, years ago, then he retired. And the area has been covered by guys from out of town. The new CO in Vulcan just moved into town the beginning of Feb. He said prior to that he had been (and I'm sure others) coming up here to cover every so often from the Magrath area.

[depolloc]

So I've had a night to mull this over, and rather then get angry, I'll run through what I found/perceive to be the situation and ask you folks what we can do to help change the situation (who we need to contact)?

1) I did a quick google search to see if I could find a PDF of the report that led to the regulation. Low & behold, I found it. In addition, I found a justification PDF and one of the justifications was perceived poaching.

Here's my thoughts:

Regulations won't stop poachers (duh) This only punishes law abiding fishermen.
There were errors (they put nets in the wrong place or something to that nature) that were omitted from the report (could the rest of the data be skewed as well?). It seems as though that meeting that was held in Vulcan was really just to placate the public & quell negative feedback because obviously none of the constructive feedback was implemented.

2). There's an obvious budget concern to manage our fisheries properly.

My thoughts:

Yes, but throwing money around doesn't always solve a problem. I believe the regulation is punitive because they didn't open up regulations to other fisheries that ARE doing well. Will additional funding solve this? No. Although, I've personally witnessed a lack of F&W presence during the open water season. Money will help if we change the way we manage our fisheries (slot sizes etc...)

Is there a specific MP (or person in charge) we can give our feedback to?

If we don't, then Badger is next, followed by Eagle, and other known lakes in the area.

Of course, we're looking at this from a micro level. I was looking at purchasing recreational property in the province. I've now reconsidered. Looking at this situation from a macro level, it has broader implications then just the fishery, but I digress.

[Walleyedude]

Every time one of these threads about retention limits comes up I can only shake my head in awe. Is being able to keep that one fish over 55cm truly the reason you're out fishing? Is it the most important thing? If the only way a person can enjoy fishing is to fill the freezer with fillets, I feel sorry for them, you're missing the entire point of fishing in my opinion.

If all you're after is a fish fry, then go to Superstore and buy yourself some fish.

If it's about more than that, if you value the actual experience of fishing, then you should be wholeheartedly in favour of whatever is required to maximize the health of our fisheries. I love a good fish fry too, but not at the expense of fishing quality. The experience and enjoyment of being out on the water fishing is THE focus for me, and I could care less whether or not I take any fillets home with me.

Would you rather have lakes you can go to with healthy walleye and pike populations, or would you rather have a fish fry? The way I see it, it's pretty much an either/or question on our southern AB reservoirs.

[JohninAB]

Originally Posted by Walleyedude

Every time one of these threads about retention limits comes up I can only shake my head in awe. Is being able to keep that one fish over 55cm truly the reason you're out fishing? Is it the most important thing? If the only way a person can enjoy fishing is to fill the freezer with fillets, I feel sorry for them, you're missing the entire point of fishing in my opinion.

If all you're after is a fish fry, then go to Superstore and buy yourself some fish.

If it's about more than that, if you value the actual experience of fishing, then you should be wholeheartedly in favour of whatever is required to maximize the health of our fisheries. I love a good fish fry too, but not at the expense of fishing quality. The experience and enjoyment of being out on the water fishing is THE focus for me, and I could care less whether or not I take any fillets home with me.

Would you rather have lakes you can go to with healthy walleye and pike populations, or would you rather have a fish fry? The way I see it, it's pretty much an either/or question on our southern AB reservoirs.

Well said IMHO.

[depolloc]

Indeed, it is about "the experience". Otherwise Superstore is a more cost effective approach. The same goes for hunting. That being said we need a balance. I don't keep fish every time I go, but part of "the experience" is sometimes eating your catch. What I'm seeing here is an erosion of the balance leaning toward a complete c&r fishery, because of fishery mismanagement due to reasons listed in previous posts. All Just my personal opinion.

[huntsfurfish]

Originally Posted by Walleyedude

Every time one of these threads about retention limits comes up I can only shake my head in awe. Is being able to keep that one fish over 55cm truly the reason you're out fishing? Is it the most important thing? If the only way a person can enjoy fishing is to fill the freezer with fillets, I feel sorry for them, you're missing the entire point of fishing in my opinion.

If all you're after is a fish fry, then go to Superstore and buy yourself some fish.

If it's about more than that, if you value the actual experience of fishing, then you should be wholeheartedly in favour of whatever is required to maximize the health of our fisheries. I love a good fish fry too, but not at the expense of fishing quality. The experience and enjoyment of being out on the water fishing is THE focus for me, and I could care less whether or not I take any fillets home with me.

Would you rather have lakes you can go to with healthy walleye and pike populations, or would you rather have a fish fry? The way I see it, it's pretty much an either/or question on our southern AB reservoirs.

Wow, very well said!

[recce43]

there is nothing wrong with keeping a couple fish if it is Sustainable. alberta should have never allowed walleye over 50cm to be kept that is starting to get into the breeding age. it should have been a slot size

[cujo1969]

Im sure they considered the slot size limits but with the heavy fishing pressure the walleye probably wouldn't make it over the slots size limit before being caught. They could try it on couple of lakes like crawling valley and McGregor or pine coulee.

[livinstone]

PROACHERS LIMITES HAS INCREASED FOR 2014 ?

[Outcast]

Originally Posted by huntsfurfish

Wow, very well said!

X2........Thinking the same thing.

[depolloc]

My point is, I think we're not taking a proactive approach at managing the fishery, it's purely reactive. Rather then applying a proper monitoring program to our reservoirs, we're simply reacting every couple years because that's all the funding we have to deal with. That's what happened at Travers. (Poaching+lack of monitoring or rather delayed monitoring due to lack of funds = c&r fishery). I'm looking for ideas on how to support a proactive approach to fisheries management. How do we make the system robust enough to support both c&r and the option if c&e? How do we get the attention of the decision makers to show support?

No doubt they did what they had to do at Travers. How do we prevent or sustain our current fisheries so that this doesn't become a trend? With increasing population pressure, this issue won't go away on its own.

[MoFugger21]

Originally Posted by livinstone

PROACHERS LIMITES HAS INCREASED FOR 2014 ?

You're never going to get rid of poaching regardless of regulation changes..... I'm not sure what you're getting at.... Poachers are going to poach. Period. It's just the nature of beast. Or better yet, what regulation change would you propose to curb poaching at Travers? Lets hear your ideas on how to change the fishery for the better....?

[Jamie Black R/T]

poaching is an enforcement issue. no regulation changes will help that.

I don't have the answer but I have always hated minimum sizes personally...why not a maximum size? or slot size?... minimum goes against how I was brought up keeping the smaller ones to eat and letting the big fat ones go.

[livinstone]

Originally Posted by MoFugger21

You're never going to get rid of poaching regardless of regulation changes..... I'm not sure what you're getting at.... Poachers are going to poach. Period. It's just the nature of beast. Or better yet, what regulation change would you propose to curb poaching at Travers? Lets hear your ideas on how to change the fishery for the better....?

l have emailed the minster saying stopping netting also stop killing the spawners and was told the way they are doing things is working fine ???? l guess a hungry fisherman(legal) is a hunger person.

[MoFugger21]

Originally Posted by livinstone

l have emailed the minster saying stopping netting also stop killing the spawners and was told the way they are doing things is working fine ???? l guess a hungry fisherman(legal) is a hunger person.

That's good, but just so we're clear.... Regulation changes aren't going to change how much poaching is going to occur at Travers. Whether the regulation was 1 over 55cm, 1 between 45cm - 50cm, 0 retention, or 25 over 50cm, poachers are going to poach.

With a CO now stationed in Vulcan again, I have hopes he will be able to help bring poaching numbers down, but it's never going to stop, regardless of regulations or even the number of CO's camping out AT Travers.

The 100m boundary around the spillway should help with any shore fishing poachers, as it will be easier to identify them as they will no longer be able to fish from the berms at the spillway. Not to say everyone that fished off those berms were poachers, but you can bet a good number were.

Now if people see someone fishing off those berms, it's a quick call to RAP and hopefully the CO in Vulcan will be en route. Before the CO's had to come out of Lethbridge, Magrath, Brooks, Raymond, etc, so there was little to no chance of catching poachers at the spillway as it was an hour drive or more for out of region CO's. As I said before, I'm hopeful the local CO will help with this problem.

[The Fisherman Guy]

Originally Posted by MoFugger21

Now if people see someone fishing off those berms, it's a quick call to RAP and hopefully the CO in Vulcan will be en route. Before the CO's had to come out of Lethbridge, Magrath, Brooks, Raymond, etc, so there was little to no chance of catching poachers at the spillway as it was an hour drive or more for out of region CO's. As I said before, I'm hopeful the local CO will help with this problem.

Agreed, it will be simple now to identify poachers fishing the wing dams at the spillway and a quick phone call will get the authorities out to ticket the offenders.

Too many times I have seen guys head right to the base of the spillway and fish. Now that the entire area is off limits, it will be easy for an officer to identify poachers from afar and meet them with a hefty fine.

Report A Poacher:

1-800-642-3800

[depolloc]

I'm really glad to hear of the increase in enforcement (lack of F&W presence has bothered me for a long time) This should help curb poaching. Any ideas on how we maintain a better monitoring program? Ultimately, they'll need more funding (ahem, attention MPs/ Enviro Minister) I think if they did a survey annually on the reservoirs (instead of ad-hoc surveys) it would help, in addition to an aggressive stocking program.

I'm going to throw this out there knowing that I'll be slaged, but they could re-coup costs through an increase in the fishing licence fee. Let's face it, to buy an AB fishing licence is cheap (a pittance really). I would pay more if we could sustain a fishery that supports both c&e and c&r.

Thoughts?

[huntsfurfish]

Originally Posted by depolloc

I'm really glad to hear of the increase in enforcement (lack of F&W presence has bothered me for a long time) This should help curb poaching. Any ideas on how we maintain a better monitoring program? Ultimately, they'll need more funding (ahem, attention MPs/ Enviro Minister) I think if they did a survey annually on the reservoirs (instead of ad-hoc surveys) it would help, in addition to an aggressive stocking program.

I'm going to throw this out there knowing that I'll be slaged, but they could re-coup costs through an increase in the fishing licence fee. Let's face it, to buy an AB fishing licence is cheap (a pittance really). I would pay more if we could sustain a fishery that supports both c&e and c&r.

Thoughts?

Funding is the solution. Without it, theres only so much that can be done.

Stocking will not necessarily help. If there is good recruitment it is a waste of money, time and resources.

Agree with licence increases though. Seniors and kids should also pay

[huntsfurfish]

Without funding to closely monitor the "fish". Slots would be dangerous!

Fish will not make it to spawn. Walleye would crash taking at least 10 or so years to recover. Don't want to see that happen again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keeping fish over the minimum size assures that spawning will have occurred at least once and possibly 2-3 times. Recovery should be quicker as well. Kinda sad people cant see/understand that. And, safest way with minimal funding.

If you want slots go to the casino.

[burbotman]

Originally Posted by Walleyedude

Every time one of these threads about retention limits comes up I can only shake my head in awe. Is being able to keep that one fish over 55cm truly the reason you're out fishing? Is it the most important thing? If the only way a person can enjoy fishing is to fill the freezer with fillets, I feel sorry for them, you're missing the entire point of fishing in my opinion.

If all you're after is a fish fry, then go to Superstore and buy yourself some fish.

If it's about more than that, if you value the actual experience of fishing, then you should be wholeheartedly in favour of whatever is required to maximize the health of our fisheries. I love a good fish fry too, but not at the expense of fishing quality. The experience and enjoyment of being out on the water fishing is THE focus for me, and I could care less whether or not I take any fillets home with me.

Would you rather have lakes you can go to with healthy walleye and pike populations, or would you rather have a fish fry? The way I see it, it's pretty much an either/or question on our southern AB reservoirs.

One of the best posts I have read. Agreed

[JohninAB]

[QUOTE=huntsfurfish;2358790]Without funding to closely monitor the "fish". Slots would be dangerous!

Fish will not make it to spawn. Walleye would crash taking at least 10 or so years to recover. Don't want to see that happen again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keeping fish over the minimum size assures that spawning will have occurred at least once and possibly 2-3 times. Recovery should be quicker as well. Kinda sad people cant see/understand that. And, safest way with minimal funding.

[QUOTE]

Exactly. Unfortunately for Alberta, we have so few naturally fish bearing lakes and so many people fishing which puts huge pressure on our fisheries resource.

[iliketrout]

Originally Posted by huntsfurfish

Without funding to closely monitor the "fish". Slots would be dangerous!

Fish will not make it to spawn. Walleye would crash taking at least 10 or so years to recover. Don't want to see that happen again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keeping fish over the minimum size assures that spawning will have occurred at least once and possibly 2-3 times. Recovery should be quicker as well. Kinda sad people cant see/understand that. And, safest way with minimal funding.

If you want slots go to the casino.

I agree, I think very few walleye would actually live to spawn if a slot limits was implement in areas with high fishing pressure and low amounts of lakes.

[depolloc]

Slot limit argument aside, I really think we'd be far better off with a better reservoir survey program (Ex, annually vs ad hoc) so we don't see such giant swings in retention limits. Travers was (is) a Great Lake, tough pill to swallow when severly reduced retention limits could have been prevented. Seems this is really all boiling down to proper funding, non? I'm going to try to give my feedback to F&W today. Any other contact #'s out there that might lend an ear?

[depolloc]

Apparently, Minister Robin Campbell is the guy to contact with constructive criticism. Legislative office: (780) 427-2391. Constituency Office: 1-800-661-6517

Voice your opinion. I know I will!

[Habfan]

When crawling & mcgregor were stocked many moons ago the lakes went to zero limit to allow the lakes to become self sustainable. Those lakes in my fishing experiances on them says they are definitely at that point and have been for a long time, so what's up with that ??

[kevinhits]

I would gladly pay more for a licence every year but is it
Going to SRD or into general revenue.. That is
My concern and 2 cents

[EP2]

I support province wide C&R for 5-10 years. All species.

In the past 15 years (except Bulls):
Bull Trout--0 retention
Westslope Cutthroat Trout--0 retention
Athabasca drainage salmonids (trout grayling)--0 retention (even brookies maybe because people can't tell them apart?)
Numerous collapsed walleye fisheries
Numerous collapsed pike fisheries
Lowered retentions and closed seasons on burbot

What next, extirpated lake whitefish?

[Habfan]

Originally Posted by EP2

I support province wide C&R for 5-10 years. All species.

In the past 15 years (except Bulls):
Bull Trout--0 retention
Westslope Cutthroat Trout--0 retention
Athabasca drainage salmonids (trout grayling)--0 retention (even brookies maybe because people can't tell them apart?)
Numerous collapsed walleye fisheries
Numerous collapsed pike fisheries
Lowered retentions and closed seasons on burbot

What next, extirpated lake whitefish?

In Sask when a lake gets fished out they restock them, not close them. I think that's a better option. Lakes around Saskatoon & Regina get fished just as hard as any southern Alberta lakes and still produce 10 lb walleyes, proof of not catching all the little ones once they get big enough to eat ! I lived there for 25 yrs before moving to alberta and don't recall any 0 retention !! May have changed lately,that I don't know.

[Secret coulee]

Originally Posted by burbotman

One of the best posts I have read. Agreed

Absolutely a great post hands down,and a great discussion I might add

[EP2]

Originally Posted by Habfan

In Sask when a lake gets fished out they restock them, not close them. I think that's a better option. Lakes around Saskatoon & Regina get fished just as hard as any southern Alberta lakes and still produce 10 lb walleyes, proof of not catching all the little ones once they get big enough to eat ! I lived there for 25 yrs before moving to alberta and don't recall any 0 retention !! May have changed lately,that I don't know.

Stocking = $$$
0 Kill = Free

Alberta also has 3.7M people. Calgary and Edmonton alone account for 2M. Saskatchewan has a population of 1M. Regina has one tenth of the people of Calgary.

Alberta: 320 anglers per lake
Saskatchewan: 4 anglers per lake (using Alberta estimated angler population and Saskatchewan's estimated number of lakes)

Apples and oranges.

I do agree about slot sizes.