can someone please explain

[Geezle]

Wow, the misinformation in this thread is astounding!

[Couleestalker]

General Sportfishing Restrictions

It Is Unlawful To:

Use more than one line when angling into open water.
Use more than two lines when angling into ice-covered water.
While angling be further than 30 m from any line in the water.
Use a line in angling equipped with more than three hooks (e.g., three hooks, or three single-hook lures, or one three-hook lure).
Use a lure in angling with more than three hooks as part of it.
Use a hook with more than three points on a common shaft (see Important Definitions).
Release live fish or live fish eggs into any waters except back to the waters from which they were caught.
Possess live crayfish.
Possess live bait fish.
Possess live game fish– unless the fish have been lawfully caught by angling and are within 5 metres of the waters from which they were caught.
Use live fish for bait.
Set out or use bait to attract fish unless it is attached to a hook used in angling.
Use scented lures or scented weights where bait bans are in effect.
Fish by snagging.
Possess fish taken by snagging.
Possess a snagging device (such as a gaff or gaff hook) while angling.
Use gaffs, gaff hooks or spring-loaded hooks (spring-loaded hooks incorporate a device that snags/traps/holds the fish).
Use snares, firearms, or any device to attract, stun or kill fish by causing an explosion or electrical current in the water.
Use lights to sportfish unless the light is attached to a hook or line used in angling. This includes visible lights that are emitted by underwater cameras.
Clean fish for transport home in a manner that is not authorized. (see Cleaning and Transporting Fish.)
Additional Restrictions:

The edible flesh of legally kept game fish must not be wasted, destroyed, spoiled or abandoned (this does not apply to burbot).
Fish must not be removed from, or disturbed in, any facility or structure designed to capture, hold or facilitate the passage of fish. Fishing is prohibited by any method within 25 yards (22.86 m) downstream of the lower entrance of any fishway, canal, obstacle or leap. Weirs and dams are considered obstacles.
NOTE: Fishways, fish ladders, impoundment nets, fish traps and other similar structures are set up to assist in the management or the study of fisheries, or to allow the passage of fish.
Angling is not permitted through the ice: a) into beaver ponds or b) into flowing waters in Zone 1 (Eastern Slopes Zone).
Important points:

Tributaries to a lake have the same regulations as the outlet stream from the lake unless stated differently in site-specific regulations.
Stream regulations do not apply to a lake or reservoir unless stated differently in site-specific regulations.
The same regulations apply to beaver ponds as apply to the streams in which the ponds are found.

[Winch101]

Xcellent ,I am writing this AM ..

We should suggest that the govt disclose the revenue to them from
Commercial licence in Alberta , then raise the sport fishing licence cost
To offset the loss in revenue when commercial fishing is closed permanently .

No Walleye , or Pike should be kept by netting .

[huntsfurfish]

Double

Yup cant be sportsfishermen as the cause.

Best blame commercial fishing.

[kevinhits]

Originally Posted by Jet

The only way commercial fishing will stop or have it's impact reduced is if people stand up and be counted. I suggest that people who haven't done so already, take the minute or so that it takes to contact esrd, to make your view known, that way things can be changed. The more people that do this, the more likely things are to change:

esrd.info-centre@gov.ab.ca

I did this a few weeks ago, and this is the response I got (note I've deleted the telephone and email address for privacy reasons):


-----
Thanks for your email. The Province is experiencing significant issues with respect to the management of commercial fishing, and the lakes which you reference below are but two of several that are being evaluated in terms of commercial allocation and sustainability of fisheries for a variety of stakeholders. In October of 2012, an independent, third-party review of commercial fishing on 12 lakes in Zone E (NW AB)was completed by Dr. Peter Colby of Ontario, who not long ago completed a sustainability review of commercial fishing on Lake Winnipeg. In his review, Dr. Colby identified three options to help mitigate conflicts in Alberta: 1) maintain status quo (unsustainable) 2) manage for very tight tolerances using realistic quotas, use by-catch avoiding gear such as trap nets and buy-out commercial operators that do not wish to abide by those regulations or 3) close unsustainable commercial fisheries. Our Department has accepted the Colby report and is currently re-evaluating the policy for the management of commercial fisheries on a provincial basis and evaluating the options by which the system will be changed. We will do so in consultation with stakeholders such as yourself and with commercial fishermen. In the meantime, the commercial sport-fish tolerance for Newell lake has been reduced (fewer sportfish allowed to be harvested), and I suspect that regional biologists will be evaluating similar options for Travers. Please email me directly from time to time to get progress updates.

Thanks,

Matt


Matt Besko
Senior Fish and Wildlife Manager and Head, Fisheries Management Policy
Fish and Wildlife Policy Branch
Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development
2nd Floor, 9920-108 St., Edmonton, AB, Canada
T5K 2M4
Office: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Cell: XXX-XXX-XXXX
XXX@gov.ab.ca

Kudos to you for taking the initative to write ESRD but the fact remains...Nothing is ever done about it till it is too late....Why does it take so long to get anything implemented...Ie. Burbot reduction at PCR...

As far as I am concerned, all we get is smoke blown up our buts just like the response from Matt...

[Red Bullets]

Thank you all for clarifying that it is legal to waste lingcod. I stand corrected. I thought because burbot are considered a gamefish a person could not waste them. Sort of sad to see them wasted.

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

Thank you all for clarifying that it is legal to waste lingcod. I stand corrected. I thought because burbot are considered a gamefish a person could not waste them. Sort of sad to see them wasted.

I agree 100% I think the regulations need to be changed, and we as fishermen and women need to make our voices heard to bring about that change.

[KegRiver]

I agree that Burbot should not be left to rot. It makes on sense.

If they were an introduced species, especially a invasive introduced species, perhaps it would make sense. If they were a problem species, crowding out other species, or a major predator of other species, and plentiful on top of that then maybe it wouldn't be so offensive.

But so far as I know Burbot are a native species, I don't seem to be especially plentiful and although they are a predatory species, so far as I know they aren't a significant predator of any other species.

I just don't see the harm in returning them to the water and if there is no harm in releasing them then to me it makes zero sense to leave them to rot.

Either use them in some way or return them to the water they came from.

My personal preference is to take them home and eat them.

Waste not want not. I find them to be good eating. And besides what difference does how they look make. Cooked up they look like any other fish cooked.

How they look is such a shallow excuse for wasting them.

[Alberta_bassman]

lol people dont think lake newell has no fish lol i caught massive pike .. the best ice fishing year was just last winter .. 32lbs ,x2 26lbs x4 20-22 lbs .. all summer you can go there and catch so many pike in one day.. between 2-10 lbs you dont have any paint left on the spoon .catch the odd 10 plus .. like for real .. every cast ur suppose to catch a big one like what a joke .. i am glad not many people can catch em .. that leaves em in there .that is true lots and lots of people catch 10 plus instant keep thats the sadd part people dont know how big of a deal it is to keep a fish like that it plays a big part in the next generation of fish .it is also sadd the average walleye is bigger then the average pike caught . lake newell is really good still and always will be ...
i lived in brooks for 12 years and fished lake newell alot ..

[Lefty-Canuck]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

I agree 100% I think the regulations need to be changed, and we as fishermen and women need to make our voices heard to bring about that change.

Agreed....and I will go so far as to suggest that those who do waste burbot are not true sportsmen...I was taught to release what I didn't want to keep.

LC

[kevinhits]

Originally Posted by Alberta_bassman

lol people dont think lake newell has no fish lol i caught massive pike .. the best ice fishing year was just last winter .. 32lbs ,x2 26lbs x4 20-22 lbs .. all summer you can go there and catch so many pike in one day.. between 2-10 lbs you dont have any paint left on the spoon .catch the odd 10 plus .. like for real .. every cast ur suppose to catch a big one like what a joke .. i am glad not many people can catch em .. that leaves em in there .that is true lots and lots of people catch 10 plus instant keep thats the sadd part people dont know how big of a deal it is to keep a fish like that it plays a big part in the next generation of fish .it is also sadd the average walleye is bigger then the average pike caught . lake newell is really good still and always will be ...
i lived in brooks for 12 years and fished lake newell alot ..

They serve decaf coffee too

[Habfan]

Originally Posted by Alberta_bassman

lol people dont think lake newell has no fish lol i caught massive pike .. the best ice fishing year was just last winter .. 32lbs ,x2 26lbs x4 20-22 lbs .. all summer you can go there and catch so many pike in one day.. between 2-10 lbs you dont have any paint left on the spoon .catch the odd 10 plus .. like for real .. every cast ur suppose to catch a big one like what a joke .. i am glad not many people can catch em .. that leaves em in there .that is true lots and lots of people catch 10 plus instant keep thats the sadd part people dont know how big of a deal it is to keep a fish like that it plays a big part in the next generation of fish .it is also sadd the average walleye is bigger then the average pike caught . lake newell is really good still and always will be ...
i lived in brooks for 12 years and fished lake newell alot ..

How come your pike tally is only 17 ? Do you only count ones over 20 lbs ?

[kevinhits]

Originally Posted by Habfan

How come your pike tally is only 17 ? Do you only count ones over 20 lbs ?

Hasn't updated his count...It says from 2012

[rafhone]

from what I seen and heard last ice on newell, the whitefish population is healthier. more large whites swimming in groups again. i think the early closure of the fall netting showed immediate results.

the locals are concerned about the lake and haven't taken it lieing down. policy is changing. good on everyone for standing up for your fishery!

[packhuntr]

Originally Posted by rafhone

from what I seen and heard last ice on newell, the whitefish population is healthier. more large whites swimming in groups again. i think the early closure of the fall netting showed immediate results.

the locals are concerned about the lake and haven't taken it lieing down. policy is changing. good on everyone for standing up for your fishery!

Lol. Except the "locals" arent happy. They want to kill
pike like they "always have". There are fingers being pointed at commerial guys for the damage theve apparently done, and huge uproar in protest of commercial fishing, yet as usual,, no one will admit where responsibility really lies,,, directly in the hands of the resident sport angler. Go figure eh lol. History has a way of repeating itself. First we destroy the old world, now this side of the ponds turn lol. Take take take, right on!

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by packhuntr

Lol. Except the "locals" arent happy. They want to kill
pike like they "always have". There are fingers being pointed at commerial guys for the damage theve apparently done, and huge uproar in protest of commercial fishing, yet as usual,, no one will admit where responsibility really lies,,, directly in the hands of the resident sport angler. Go figure eh lol. History has a way of repeating itself. First we destroy the old world, now this side of the ponds turn lol. Take take take, right on!

thanks for another of your valuable contributions! being one of the local anglers, and fishing with a lot of non local anglers I dont see many pike being taken home
and definitely not the class that is supposedly missing from the lake. just curious, did that 30 pounder you caught go home to the freezer or was it released for someone else to catch?