Unsubscribed Special Walleye Licences available now!

As of 8:15 am this morning, unsubscribed Special Walleye Licences are now available for Pigeon Lake, Wolf Lake (near Bonnyville) and Lake Newell. A considerable number of licences are available.These licences will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, and the limit is one licence per person. If you were successful in the draw you can not obtain an unsubscribed licence (i.e. an angler cannot hold more than one Special Walleye Licence)


To find out what licences are still available on the three lakes and the corresponding draw codes, phone 1-877-289-0999 (toll free).


To reserve a Special Walleye Licence anglers can phone 1-900-451-3729 ($1.25 per minute) to reserve a special walleye licence. Callers need the following information:
A Wildlife Identification Number, which can be purchased at any licence issuer.
A draw code for the class of walleye and the lake desired. Cell phones, payphones and calling cards cannot access the 1-900 line.

Note:
Class A licence (Draw Code 60): two walleye larger than 50 cm in length can be kept.
Class B licence( Draw Code 61): three walleye 43-50 cm in length can be kept.
Class C licence (Draw Code 62): three walleye smaller than 43 cm in length can be kept.
(only available on Wolf Lake)

For more information on the Special Walleye Licence and Unsubscribed Licences follow this link: http://www.srd.gov.ab.ca/fishwildlif...ubscribed.aspx

Once reserved, licences may be purchased at an issuer as soon as the next day.

The special walleye harvest season starts May 8 on Lake Newell, May 18 on Pigeon Lake and June 1 on Wolf Lake and ends on all three lakes September 3.

For more information on fishing opportunities in Alberta, including the Special Licence for walleye and a list of licence issuers, visit www.srd.alberta.ca/fishwildlife/fishingalberta.

I hope this information helps! The Special Walleye Licence assists us to meet the walleye harvest/population goals for the lake and allows anglers to keep some walleye on these otherwise catch and release lakes.

Trevor Rhodes
Head, Fisheries and Wildlife Management
Prairies Area
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development

Besides the "Draw Codes" you should put in the "Draw Choice"#s

#701---Pigeon (~3902 permits avalible)
#702---Wolf (0 permits avalible)
#703---Newell (~ 266 permits avalible)

Robin.

Snagged a pair of Newell Class B licenses....I'd really like to get up to Pigeon this year, but not sure if I'll make it..

Thanks for the reminder!

Trev, you need to definately make it up to Pigeon, the Boat is ready.....Fun, fun, fun.

BTW I would rather chew tin-foil than waste my time with this retarded Fish draw!!!!!

I could not find my filleting knike so I had to go out and buy a new one, right after I reserved Pigeon permits for my wife and I.
The ultimate goal of the walleye reintroduction at Pigeon, was to have walleye to harvest. And now that goal has been reached and a limited harvest is possible.

And now my only problem is...baked with butter and herbs or beer batter deep fryed???????

Robin in Rocky
cmfic1, if I bake a walleye in tinfoil, I'll save the tinfoil for you to chew on if you like.

Seems everyone was ****ing and moaning that you couldn't keep any walleye... and now you can keep a few, people are still bitching. I suppose the tag system doesn't mean that much to some cause they were catching and keeping all along, but I for one am all for it. Now a guy can actually keep 2 out of the 200 hundred you catch in a day. I personally I have my tags and the missus has hers as well. With the influx of people coming to Alberta were going to have to come to a happy medium some where. And with the amount of fisherman on Pigeon any given day... 1 fish, per one license, per day is absurd the lake would never survive it. Unless we're looking for one giant "put & take" trout pond.

Rant over

Sounds good! I picked up mine for Pigeon on the weekend all at 43-50 cm for myself, my wife and my fishing buddy. The extra good story in this is that my wife's nieces are visiting from BC this summer. Last summer we took them out but had to release all the walleye. They understood why of course but were a bit disappointed. This year I'm taking them to Pigeon and I know they will really appreciate the opportunity to catch and keep and few.

Duffy, now thats funny, but you can save your tinfoil....Not interested.

I'm very sorry if what I wrote, made someone sad, I didnt want to start an uproar over this "Tag System" either. I never said nothing about, anybody else, or how they should think of the Draw. I just said I aint interested in it.

I also never claimed to be sad about not being able to keep any Walleye from the Lake. I'm not a real fan of fresh water Fish, & my Family certainly isnt.

What I have said though is my concerns with the F+W's meager attempt at trying to keep the Walleye Fishery @ Pigeon in tact, while the other species suffer. Just like several other "Management" issues across the Province, when it comes to Fish and/or Game.

I too have Fished this Lake for many, many years. The fact that you can no longer catch Perch, & Whites is what I am worried about, as well as the very limited numbers of Big 'eyes that you hook as compared to a few years ago when the numbers were a lot better. The Pike fishing too has taken a major downhill swing as well.

So those who want to start some sort of Argumentative thread stealing, thread killing issue with me, save your breath........P.M.'s are on, if you got an issue, hit the button!

Now my rant is over.

Good post! cmfic1, you are entitled to all that.

What I am interested in is what happens for the next say 3-5 years at Pigeon. Taking out some walleye now through the tag system will help to curb the inbalance. This winter I noticed that walleye getting fatter and healthier looking. They fought like buggers too. This is my experience only and I am sure others have different and similar ones. Removing some of the over-populated walleye classes should be a good thing for all species. Mother Nature will ultimately do the most correction. Hopefully we are now going to see an upswing in fishing quality in the future.

Hopefully we are now going to see an upswing in fishing quality in the future.

SNAPFisher, I really hope your right. I am certainly not any type of Biologist, but IMO the numbers were high enough 4 yrs ago, to start implementing some sort of management system. But as usual, F&W dropped the ball when it comes time for "Management", and maybe waited a little too long.

Just like the Grizzly, Antelope, Eastern Mule Deer (from the early 90's) the whole CWD fiasco, as well as several other Fish & Game issues in Alberta. They wait to long before they realize there may be a problem, then they devise some sort of "Rash" way to try and balance things out.

And after rethinking it, maybe (if still available) I will see about getting a "Tag", I guess I can just give the Fish away. I'm sure there would be some takers!

Thanks for the great discussion! I hear you. I hope their plan does make it difference too. I imagine reaction time is certainly a challenge for fisheries for all kinds of reasons.

Good luck and good fishing out there.

With the influx of people coming to Alberta were going to have to come to a happy medium some where

Funny you should say that, I actually read a recent article in an outdoors magazine that claimed that the number of fishermen was declining in BC, AB, and SK and that only in Manitoba had numbers actually risen. It was written by a Duane somethingorother in a mag that has a pic of a big wallie in an auger hole, just saw it laying around at work. Now I would like to know where this guy got his numbers and if its actually true, because it sure doesn't seem like it. It seems like there are more all the time! And in his article he was even ranting about how we need to encourage MORE anglers to get out in Alberta. Riiiight, like we need more people to help collapse our overpressured fisheries even further. Anyways, just my two cents.