Calling Lake

baptiste_moose · #1 03-07-2011, 09:28 AM

Went to calling on Sunday. Any more snow and it's snowmobile only again. I had to chain up and it was very slow going. Got stuck about 5 times. Wouldn't recomend it unless your ballzy. Anyways, went to my usual spot and did well. Caught about 35 eye and 3 pike. ps. Flashers are unreal. Just got a marcum LX3-tc. Such a light bite that I woulda caught half that many without it. Only one was a keeper though. Tons of overs and unders. We were the only ones on the lake and the rangers were out. They dumped our case of beer but that's to be expected. We got to talking and he said the regs will be the same for next year. 2 between 45-55 cm. I've been fishing this lake for years and I think that's bullsh*t. Anyone else think it's time to close it up?? Huge change in fishing in the last 3 years. 200 boats every weekend prop has something to do with this.

Mike_W · #2 03-07-2011, 09:51 AM

Thanks for the update!
Fish mangement is no cake walk it's tough, seeing what happened at pigeon lake show us what happens when fisheries close completely to walleye possession, they quickly become over populated kill off other species like perch and pike and fish starve, the lake went from going out and able to catch 50 plus fish a day with many in the 8 plus pound range to going out and catching less skinny unhealthy fish.
I am personally a fan of size limits like at calling it let's the smaller fish breed a little and get to a respectable size before they hit the pan and it keep the big girls .....the mass reproducers safe from hitting the pan all well keeping a balaced fishery.

Mike

burbotman14 · #3 03-07-2011, 06:33 PM

If you have noticed many of the larger fish are skinny and not regular weight. I caught a 72 cm walleye that should be around eight pounds and it was 7. I still had 60 + fish days there this past summer and it wasn't even at VW point. There is not enough food and baitfish to support that many walleye, and we don't want it to turn into pigeon lake where all the fish are 2 pounds and it seems like none of them have grown in the past 3 years, and we can't keep any.

baptiste_moose · #4 03-07-2011, 06:56 PM

Lets be real though. Who hasn't looked through the regs book and planned a trip based on 2 walleye vs 1 walleye. Fishing pressure plays precidence when talking slot sizes. If no fish make it over 55 cm's then what happens. 3 years ago pull blades mid day and in 3 hours 25 fish per person during the slowest part of the day. But no pike. The pike population has climbed due to the decline of the walleye population. 3 years ago perch 30 ft absolutely anywhere. Now the warden said he hasn't check a person with perch there in 3 years. And he's a buddy of mine who lives at baptiste lake. No bullsh*t. 2 fish again. Give your head a shake. Sorry if a fascist comment pops out but 9 asians in a 12 ft dingy really helps. LOOK AT WAB, Island, Baptiste (10yrs ago,) Lac isle. Ps. Who fishes VW. Heard it through a friend people fish VW. 20 better spots on that lake then VW. Sorry if I offended anyone but very heated on this topic. Fish and Game = marine madness and sport.

burbotman14 · #5 03-07-2011, 07:17 PM

I agree with you that it should be brought down to one fish but since there are not as many perch left, alot of the walleye are not getting enough food, because of competition with other walleye and the growing pike population.The decline of the pigeon lake fishery happened because all the perch dissipated to nothing and all the large female walleye were illegally poached. I talked with a CO up at calling and he said he seizes countless numbers of 60cm + walleye which build the future for the fishery. A 1 fish limit would definatly take it off the map and relieve pressure because there are only a handful of 2+ walleye limit lakes that are not in the far north areas of alberta. Calling lake is one of the lakes that the CO's should work hard on sustaining because there are barely any lakes that have such a quality walleye fishery.

Kim473 · #6 03-08-2011, 06:32 AM

On any given day last summer the c/os had about 200 fish in there truck that were over sized. They were there every day to check. I caught one that was over 74 cm it only weighed about 8 lbs and should have easily been over 12, very skinny. They need to put a couple of million bait fish in that lake. Only caught three pike all summer and about 300 walleye. Too many large walleye in that lake. IMO. I think they should make the size limits there, one between 45 and 55 cm and one between 55 and 65 cm. Just my 2.5 cents. We caught 1/3 our eyes that were over 65 cm. 1/2 in the 55 to 65 range and the rest in the 45 to 55. About 90% of the fish were over the 55cm range.

baptiste_moose · #7 03-08-2011, 08:36 AM

My buddy Aron is the c/os on that lake. I'm gonna see him this weekend when i'm up at the cabin. I'll talk to him and see what kinda dirt/info I can get outta him. He's pretty tight lipped about stuff though.

walleyeca · #8 03-08-2011, 03:21 PM

The fish Cops Cant do anything about the fish in the lake they can only manage it thus the reason they are called fish management! There is atlease 5 levels of government to go through before anyone even recognizes whats goin on and when it gets that far up there It falls on a suggestion level and those upper people DONT FISH!!!! I know AAron aswell for years and he says the same thing every year "His hands are tied" Its a known fact Saskatchewan cant play football but they have some wicked FISHING!

fargineyesore · #9 03-08-2011, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baptiste_moose

Lets be real though. Who hasn't looked through the regs book and planned a trip based on 2 walleye vs 1 walleye. Fishing pressure plays precidence when talking slot sizes. If no fish make it over 55 cm's then what happens. 3 years ago pull blades mid day and in 3 hours 25 fish per person during the slowest part of the day. But no pike. The pike population has climbed due to the decline of the walleye population. 3 years ago perch 30 ft absolutely anywhere. Now the warden said he hasn't check a person with perch there in 3 years. And he's a buddy of mine who lives at baptiste lake. No bullsh*t. 2 fish again. Give your head a shake. Sorry if a fascist comment pops out but 9 asians in a 12 ft dingy really helps. LOOK AT WAB, Island, Baptiste (10yrs ago,) Lac isle. Ps. Who fishes VW. Heard it through a friend people fish VW. 20 better spots on that lake then VW. Sorry if I offended anyone but very heated on this topic. Fish and Game = marine madness and sport.

Sorry to say it, but the Asians are a problem. I personally saw two of them in a small aluminum boat release two 5 or 6 pound pike that had been on a stringer for a period of time. I drove my boat over to the fish and took a look at them, the guys in the boat saw me looking at them and I gave them a dirty look and swore at them and they took off for the boat launch. I should have followed them in and reported them I guess. Next time I will. The two pike were goners, they were alive but there gills were damaged from being on the stringer. I'd rather see the limit reduced to one, but make it a larger slot size, say 60 to 70cm or something like that. I agree most of the fish I saw were skinny, not too many fat ones. A friend of mine saw a large group of Asians get caught with way too many fish at the checkstop at the highway/campsite junction. I don't know why people have to be so damn greedy, do they even think about where they'll fish in a few years time if they keep doing what they're doing?