Dolberg Lake ?

[johnny2]

Reading the 2018 regs & it looks like Dolberg has been declared a "Trophy" lake. A bait ban & limit of 1 over 50cm. This is great news, & might help restore it back to a good fishery, one which has declined over the last 25 years. Question is will all the folks who have sat on the dock & still fished from shore, for the last 30-40 years, obey the new rules?
Other great news, Tigers seem to have been classified, with catch limits put on them. I expect stepped up enforcment, on waters that have had changes due to the new regs.

[tallieho]

That's good news about Dolberg & the tigers.Finally reg's to help,to get the full potential out of these areas.There was a rumor of a Barbless rule in the province.Guess it didn't make it,to the printer..

[SNAPFisher]

Good news on the tiger trout change.

I don't know Dolberg but after downloading the depth chart, I'm on the fence about making this a quality trout fishery. Seems to have the history but certainly doesn't have the size of water and likely forage...but I really don't know the lake. But I'll probably try it sometime in the future.

[Deep]

Ah Dolberg....was a great place years ago. Lots of shore fishing bait fishermen have kept the size and numbers reduced. These changes and and an increased F&W visitation may help to return it to its past. Great potential there.

[rmatei]

Looks like some of the lobbying has started to pay off. I am glad to see that the government has come to some sane conclusions that I have been pushing for, any trout lake in this province that can support populations year round without aeration should be managed as a Quality fishery with lower/size limits and bait bans. Dolberg and Lower Chain (near Athabasca) are a start. Meat hunters can harvest all they want from the put and take lakes.

[tallieho]

X2..Lobbying worked but a great deal has to go to,the areas bio.For taking concerns forward & creating a new QSF.Now if other area biologist's,would follow suit.Maybe there would be more QSF's,thoughout the province..

[badzac]

It would be nice if they banned gas motors for this lake as well, way to small for gas. It's not like a storm is going to come up from nowhere and you can't make it back to the shore!!!

[Supergrit]

Finally a regulation change that makes sense.Dolberg was great trout lake at one time. There is lots of put and take trout lakes to go to other then dolberg.

[Thunder Elk Hunter]

Originally Posted by Supergrit

Finally a regulation change that makes sense.Dolberg was great trout lake at one time. There is lots of put and take trout lakes to go to other then dolberg.

First off I'm not picking on you Supergrit but using your post to respond. I have fished the lake but not for years I prefer to go west to trout lakes.

The lake is too small to make it any thing other than a put and take lake, just what it was intended for.
The locals out here are not very happy and a lot of the old fishermen that I have talked to are ****ed off that there was not consultation on putting a bait ban on this lake.

Heard some talk about putting pike back into the lake then those trout guys can take a hike.

"yeah what are they going to do take my licence away?" elder gent in I would say about his late 70"s. Table occupants nod and laugh

So all I'm saying is that with out proper consultation this trout lake may end dead!

Don't PM or anything else just wanted the forum to know that local folks are not happy about this.

[Stryker2]

Most trout lakes in Alberta are bait and keep the fish lakes, very few lakes cater to those of us who are C&R sport fly fishers, so the minute one gets turned into a trophy lake everyone gets up in arms!! Threatening to destroy the lake? Honestly people!!

[brown trout]

Whoops didn't mean to respond. Can be erased by mod

[rmatei]

Originally Posted by Stryker2

Most trout lakes in Alberta are bait and keep the fish lakes, very few lakes cater to those of us who are C&R sport fly fishers, so the minute one gets turned into a trophy lake everyone gets up in arms!! Threatening to destroy the lake? Honestly people!!

Agree with Stryker2. Really too bad we have a few forum members that don't see the wisdom of the new Dolberg Regs. Sounds like the "local" attitude is a lot like that which screwed up Hasse Lake years ago, "if I can't have it nobody can". Sure hope that FW enforcement is stepped to catch a couple of these fools that propose doing idiotic things.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by Thunder Elk Hunter

The locals out here are not very happy and a lot of the old fishermen that I have talked to are ****ed off that there was not consultation on putting a bait ban on this lake.

Heard some talk about putting pike back into the lake then those trout guys can take a hike.

This doesn't surprise me in the least. I've seen it firsthand in Ontario at a smaller lake about 20 miles out of Pembroke. The yuppies in the city were successful in turning the lake into C&R and the homeowners around the lake suddenly had their little piece of paradise invaded by city yuppies. It didn't take long for the lake to turn out to be one of the best places to catch pike. It was absolutely infested with them!

Those homeowners were consulted too but how could they defend themselves from the number of members of the association lobbying for C&R? People will look at the results of polls and say, "See, 90% of people wanted this!". What they won't tell you though is that they got as many TU members PROVINCE WIDE to participate in the poll. With the internet now it's so easy to do. They rationalize doing it by saying that these lakes are for all Albertans. Democracy my butt!

TU is going about it all wrong. Instead of bullying locals and taking over their lake, they should be developing their own quality fisheries like they did with Muir. In this area I think that Hasse Lake would have been a good one to look at for something like that. You can't just bully locals and not expect anyone to take offence it. Pike getting dumped in there wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[RavYak]

So just how bad is the water quality in Thunder Lake? I understand the perch and pike populations are thought to have died off completely so I wonder if it would make a decent put and take trout lake? Or is the water quality too poor to bother with stocking?

It would be nice to see fisheries take on some projects to try and reclaim some of our dying lakes. Figure out ways to minimize nutrient loads, stock a bunch of grass carp etc to help control weeds/algae, install aerators to help fish survive tough winters.

I don't know if Thunder is a great lake for that kind of project but based on its size it could have good potential as a trout lake. A lot higher potential then a slough like Muir had and that project kept a lot of fishermen happy until they screwed up the aeration.

Anyways just a random crazy idea I had.

[Mr Flyguy]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

This doesn't surprise me in the least. I've seen it firsthand in Ontario at a smaller lake about 20 miles out of Pembroke. The yuppies in the city were successful in turning the lake into C&R and the homeowners around the lake suddenly had their little piece of paradise invaded by city yuppies. It didn't take long for the lake to turn out to be one of the best places to catch pike. It was absolutely infested with them!

Those homeowners were consulted too but how could they defend themselves from the number of members of the association lobbying for C&R? People will look at the results of polls and say, "See, 90% of people wanted this!". What they won't tell you though is that they got as many TU members PROVINCE WIDE to participate in the poll. With the internet now it's so easy to do. They rationalize doing it by saying that these lakes are for all Albertans. Democracy my butt!

TU is going about it all wrong. Instead of bullying locals and taking over their lake, they should be developing their own quality fisheries like they did with Muir. In this area I think that Hasse Lake would have been a good one to look at for something like that. You can't just bully locals and not expect anyone to take offence it. Pike getting dumped in there wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Sounds like Barrhead redneck yada yada!

[pipco]

[QUOTE=HunterDave;3773390
TU is going about it all wrong. Instead of bullying locals and taking over their lake, they should be developing their own quality fisheries like they did with Muir. In this area I think that Hasse Lake would have been a good one to look at for something like that. You can't just bully locals and not expect anyone to take offence it. Pike getting dumped in there wouldn't surprise me in the least.[/QUOTE]



What an absolute load of hogwash.

Dolberg is crown property which means it's public property not "owned" by locals.

Any troglodytic, moron even advocating the idea of dumping pike in there should be publicly bull whipped.

Hasse is dead due to years of drought and farming activity.

[Stryker2]

Originally Posted by badzac

It would be nice if they banned gas motors for this lake as well, way to small for gas. It's not like a storm is going to come up from nowhere and you can't make it back to the shore!!!

I didn't realize gas motors were allowed on a lake that size!! That's insane and totally unnecessary!

[tallieho]

even more insane is the Federal fisheries.Makes the decisions for gas or no gas,speed limits etc.

[johnny2]

If there isn't regular patrolling I expect there to be a lot of poaching up there this year... Won't surprise me if there is a bunch of blowback either. Most of the locals likely had little say with the new regs considering how they were handled.

RavYak.. Dolberg like Swan Lake by Debolt,& many others, have had bait fishing since inception. Hard to believe all those fishermen will go quietly into the night, because of a Bait Ban.

Dolberg's size & type of fishery now, should be Electric motors only. Once saw a Double Deck Cabin Houseboat, with twin 150hp motors out there. Really ? It's not Lesser Slave Lake.

[damaltor]

I expect there to be major grumbling on this change from locals and others also, but it is an AB lake and the majority of users are from Edmonton.

It is definitely going to need some enforcement and calls to RAP.