Pigeon Lake

[7magtime]

Originally Posted by fish99

my grandmothers brother had a licence to net fish buck lake back in the day ,
she had some whites her brother gave her in the deep freeze .i could not believe the size of them , we weight them the biggest was 9.6 lbs , that was cleaned with head on . after seeing those huge fish me and buddy went to buck instead of pigeon ice fishing trying to catch them . we could see them down the hole but we could not get them to bite .

Thanks for confirming, there was some tanks in that lake back then.
Haven’t fished it in years, are there still good numbers and good sized whites in South Buck?

[fish99]

Originally Posted by 7magtime

Thanks for confirming, there was some tanks in that lake back then.
Haven’t fished it in years, are there still good numbers and good sized whites in South Buck?

we gave up ice fishing buck , now only hit it a couple times a year for walleye now.
we ice fish pigeon for whites now as they are almost as big as what buck was back in the day.

[7magtime]

Originally Posted by fish99

we gave up ice fishing buck , now only hit it a couple times a year for walleye now.
we ice fish pigeon for whites now as they are almost as big as what buck was back in the day.

Ya all I’ve heard mentioned about South Buck the last few years is the walleye too….

[SNAPFisher]

The few times I have hit Buck...been over 5 years though.... not a white seen. Just pike and walleye. Didn't see any perch. The last netting results I recall had next to nothing for whites in them. Probably a tough bet....but hey, what if...

[fish99]

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

The few times I have hit Buck...been over 5 years though.... not a white seen. Just pike and walleye. Didn't see any perch. The last netting results I recall had next to nothing for whites in them. Probably a tough bet....but hey, what if...

eventually the walleye if unchecked will eat every fry in the lake until there is not much else left . no babies making it to adult hood, the other spieces will be gone.

[Curtsyneil]

South buck has a zero limit on whites for the last couple years. You can c&r them if you can catch them. They are still in there the last 2 summers I would see them floating dead on the surface and yes they are big fish. Maybe in 10 years or so the population will be greater to retain a limit again. I know in March can be the best time to catch them when the ling are rolling on the sand bar.

[Soiler]

I’ve never fished Buck for whites it was always perch when I was a kid but the Whites I used to chase in Battle years ago were always big to. Can’t seem to tear myself away from Pigeon much anymore tho. The wife got a nice one today we weighed at 7.3lbs. Hard to go anywhere else.

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by Soiler

I’ve never fished Buck for whites it was always perch when I was a kid but the Whites I used to chase in Battle years ago were always big to. Can’t seem to tear myself away from Pigeon much anymore tho. The wife got a nice one today we weighed at 7.3lbs. Hard to go anywhere else.

God, that’s a tank. What’s your go to hook on Pigeon? If you dot mind sharing.

[Soiler]

All depends on where I’m fishing for them… it’s not like the old days where you could bounce a wetaskiwin on the bottom all day.

[trigger7mm]

When we used to fish it a lot, back in the day, the good old copper wire worm used to catch fish after fish.

[pikeman06]

Nice slab there Mrs soiler! That's worth the effort.

[fish99]

another nice white , has anyone cracked the 8 lb mark yet.

[Soiler]

My 3rd white this season went 8.37lbs and was 27” long… my first over 8… now to catch one that beats 9lbs…Lol

[fish99]

Originally Posted by Soiler

My 3rd white this season went 8.37lbs and was 27” long… my first over 8… now to catch one that beats 9lbs…Lol

that's a big white, good luck on breaking 9 lbs , please post pics when that happens .

[Drewski Canuck]

Funny Story about South Buck Lake told to me by the late Jans Magnesen from Winfield.

There was an Auction in the bar parking lot when the nets were being pulled and people were bidding on commercial caught whitefish sold in the fish box quantities of various weights.

A Very big white was being sold separate from the totes of whites that were being bid on, and one very drunk person of a group of drunk persons bid $100 on the fish.

How it ever got to $100 shows the magic of liquor and auctions.

But yeah, those whites were huge, but no one could figure out how to catch them without a net.

Drewski

[Foot Stomper]

Amazing how nice 0C feels after such a cold spell.
Grabbed a few minutes after work and dropped a line a the west end.
Had one up to the bottom of the hole but nothing topside.
Well worth the 90 minutes to be out on the ice! Perfect actually!

[lenka]

Was out today as well but did not see any fish. Snow is really deep though!
Ice was measured at 21" with lots of flooding water with so much snow we have now.

[pikeman06]

Originally Posted by Curtsyneil

South buck has a zero limit on whites for the last couple years. You can c&r them if you can catch them. They are still in there the last 2 summers I would see them floating dead on the surface and yes they are big fish. Maybe in 10 years or so the population will be greater to retain a limit again. I know in March can be the best time to catch them when the ling are rolling on the sand bar.

They are still in there, they always hung out in certain areas, and were catchable at a couple short times of the year, first ice being the best, and believe it or not a deep water summer bite for big whites, fussy as to what they would bite back in the day and I hope they can come back on their own. That is a strain of whites worth protecting. My big concern with the "Golden triangle" of trophy whitefish lakes, ste. Anne, battle, pigeon, and south buck is the lack of any significant recruitment that I notice anyways. Sure you got a few of the big dinosaurs still swimming around but where are the 2 lbers? That's not a good sign, summerkills are slowly knocking off the big ones I hope this isn't gonna be the last of the central alberta whitefish years. Nobody stocking them either. Get a nice one while you can. Beautiful fish.

[Curtsyneil]

Well with no limit on the whites in buck I guess they kinda are protecting them and also no commercial net fishing. Now with a slot size for walleye maybe more whites will start to show up. The only fish you can keep in buck now is walleye and perch.

[Red Bullets]

My MIL used to net South Buck and it was always slow going. Usually 8 to 12 whites. They were always 4 to 8 lbs. 24 years ago the Alberta record whitefish was caught at South Buck at 11 pounds and 10.1 ounces. My bet is the next record will be from Pigeon.

I used to catch 7 to 9 lb whites at Smoke lake by Fox Creek. Only place i could catch them was in 2 feet of water under the ice, and they came thru like freight trains.

[fish99]

20 inches of ice now .

[rk4]

Are the conditions good enough to drive on right now? Snow/ice thickness?

[fish99]

Originally Posted by rk4

Are the conditions good enough to drive on right now? Snow/ice thickness?

there are some trucks out. mostly snowmobiles thou

[rk4]

Originally Posted by fish99

there are some trucks out. mostly snowmobiles thou

Thank you

[fish99]

lots of people out today, should be good paths to drive on now especially with the snow melt.

[tirebob]

Originally Posted by Outbound

Interesting. I don't eat fish at all, but my wife might like them smoked. Where I'm from in BC, whitefish are basically trash fish. Just chuck em back.

Where I am from in BC, we used to love the white fish run in the Similkameen river every year! We would bake or fry them and the bones would pull out without much trouble. Delicious flesh!

[snowman160]

Is anyone driving over that heave right on shore up against the boat launch at mullhurst an not getting hung up?

[fish99]

Originally Posted by snowman160

Is anyone driving over that heave right on shore up against the boat launch at mullhurst an not getting hung up?

was over it yesterday

[RACKER]

I went with a buddy with a quad and tracks today out to the humps in the middle. Trucks can make it out at the launch at Mulhurst. There were a bunch of trucks that drove out to the point at Silver beach. There was one truck that drove out to middle where I was. Overall the snow is passable with a good 4x4 but the never ending worry about heaves under the snow make it worrisome. The ice was 15-18 inches where I was and all the holes had water creeping out. Marked a lot of fish 8ft under the ice but had zero luck on walleye. First time I’ve ever been skunked out there. Hope others had better luck than we did.

[JEGiesbrecht]

Originally Posted by 7magtime

Ya all I’ve heard mentioned about South Buck the last few years is the walleye too….

everyone mentioning "south buck"... may be a dumb question but are we just talking aboiut the south end of Buck lake or is there a "south" buck lake?