Has fishing Got Better or Worse

[Dale S]

Do you think the fishing has got any better since the commercial fishing has shut down.

I'm thinking it hasn't got any better for the simple reason of all the 0 limits for fish. The past few years and next year there has been, and will be, lots of lakes shut down.
Did you know when the commercial fishing was on, the biologist would be out on the ice when they pulled there nets. This is how they would do there surveys for the lake. Getting a good read on the lake. How do you think they do it now. They survey the sport fishing anglers. (Yeah we don't. lie.) That's how they come up with more closures.

[SNAPFisher]

[FlyTheory]

It’s too soon to be able to tell. Therefore no difference yet

[fisher Gord]

Investigate FWIN- Fall Walleye index netting. That is their giant tool they use to close lakes to retention. 1 bad net bamm closed need at least 3 good years with all year classes showing to open, then they move the goal posts back because of expected high fishing pressure.

[Red Bullets]

The only difference might be that in lakes like Pigeon the whitefish have grown into big fat brutes. Not as nice in the smoker as a smaller whitefish. Too fatty.
And during summer kills there are more dead whitefish.

This is a good summation of the commercial fishery in Lac La Biche area over the past 2 centuries.
https://www.researchgate.net/publica..._Biche_Alberta

[Wes_G]

Obviously there is bycatch of walleye and pike but I thought the commercial fishery was just whitefish?. And in all lakes, at least down south, you can still keep a limit of 10. So there shouldn't be much of an effect on the walleye and pike populations.

[targaman]

It will get worse as the Whitefish population will increase year after year. Commercial fishing has been going on for 70 plus years in Alberta. By removing the commercial fishing industry in Alberta the whitefish population will surely increase. With this increase in population there are additional mouths to feed and its starts at the bottom of the food chain(invertebrates). The same food that fry Walleye and Pike also compete for. We have seen it first hand on lakes where the excess whitefish population has not been removed. The majority biomass will consist of whitefish and predatory species will eventually decline. In the South it is worse due to the water fluctuations of our water reservoirs in the spring and summer. This affects the spawn of the pike and walleye. No affect on whitefish populations as they are fall spawners and lake levels are constant at that time. Of course I'm no Biologist just a commercial fisherman for 34 years. and my father 20 years before that. So of course what do we know about fishing compared to 3 year college graduate.

[58thecat]

Well don't fish, I catch and I really am having a blast around this neck of the woods......perch, walleye, pike and lakers all in the same day, what's not to like?


Could target whitefish but never really enjoyed catching them aaaaaand......burbot on the bottom....forgot about the poor man's lobster!!!!!


Must be spoiled in NE Berta!

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by targaman

It will get worse as the Whitefish population will increase year after year. Commercial fishing has been going on for 70 plus years in Alberta. By removing the commercial fishing industry in Alberta the whitefish population will surely increase. With this increase in population there are additional mouths to feed and its starts at the bottom of the food chain(invertebrates). The same food that fry Walleye and Pike also compete for. We have seen it first hand on lakes where the excess whitefish population has not been removed. The majority biomass will consist of whitefish and predatory species will eventually decline. In the South it is worse due to the water fluctuations of our water reservoirs in the spring and summer. This affects the spawn of the pike and walleye. No affect on whitefish populations as they are fall spawners and lake levels are constant at that time. Of course I'm no Biologist just a commercial fisherman for 34 years. and my father 20 years before that. So of course what do we know about fishing compared to 3 year college graduate.

That is outdated thinking. Things have changed. Limits have changed (some) - and I'm talking whites here. A lot more anglers fishing whites. So I predict that populations will be maintained if not start to drop just due to angling. Just look at Gull as an example. Limits will change at Pigeon and other popular white fish lakes. They will have to...and hopefully not too late. Commercial fishing was the first casualty and anglers will be another in the future. Of course if I'm wrong, I'm going to be in a whitey heaven!!

Of course the government is to blame and those in charge.

[Weedy1]

These poll options would have been relevant in your poll.

Yes, I have gotten better at fishing.
No, I haven't gotten any better at fishing.
My friends haven't notice any difference, they still say I suck at fishing...

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by Weedy1

These poll options would have been relevant in your poll.

Yes, I have gotten better at fishing.
No, I haven't gotten any better at fishing.
My friends haven't notice any difference, they still say I suck at fishing...

[Drewski Canuck]

Yes and NO.

At LLB the FN / Metis fishing pressure has exploded, and they are typically gunning for walleye, not Whites. How can one man eat a truck box full of fish, and then come back for more in the same month?

Commercials did wipe out the Jumbo Whites in Slave Lake over time. Hopefully there are some genes left for Jumbo Whites in Slave Lake, but that is the result of large mesh nets.


In alot of the northern lakes no one has really mastered the technique for catching deep water whites anyway so no real impact from stopping commercial fishing. if anyone knows how to get whitefish stuffed full of blood worms to take a hook in 50 FOW, i'll gladly take you fishing. 70 - 100 Whites a net was common at Calling lake in a 50 FOW set during the commercial days, and everyone was stuffed full with blood worms.

Calling Lake is like alot of northern lakes where the Whites stay in the deep water all winter and feed on blood worms, and are extremely hard to catch.

The Commercial crowd were their own worst enemies in causing the shut down. They would target what there was a low quota for, being walleye, and after the first pull the season quota for Walleye would be met. That would end the netting for them because the walleye quota was already met. That was what happened on the last year at Calling. There was still the majority of the whitefish quota, but a group of guys decided to set nets off of the north end of VW point where the walleye sit in deep water, and were way over on Walleye, and big ones, on the first pull.

Because of their greed, everyone else was shut down.

The reason for the Minister shutting down commercial fishing on the basis that it "was not sustainable" had more to do with the fact that the governing body that was to take over regulation of the members, SORT OF LIKE APOS OR AMVIC, could not get their members to pay fees sufficient to keep the organization running. The Province was kicking in money every year despite the Province getting next to nothing for the fish the Commercials were taking.

Even loggers and oil producers pay a royalty of sorts for the public resource taken, not the Commercial fishing crowd!!!

So did stopping commercial fishing really make a difference to Sport Fishing?

Probably not as there has been an influx of FN & Metis netters that filled the gap on lakes where commercial fishing was done like LLB, and in alot of instances, are taking even more of what was a low quota fish such as walleye.

FN & Metis netters are taking fish from lakes that were not traditionally subject to commercial fishing as well, so commercial fishing cannot be blamed for low populations on those lakes. That is why there is ongoing closures at lakes after 20 years of zero retention around St. Paul / Bonnyville.

Drewski