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  #151  
Old 12-09-2011, 05:47 PM
horsetrader horsetrader is offline
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I think one's perception of the data is affected by whether or not someone is a "glass half full" or "glass half empty" type of person.

I personally found the data that was posted to be incredibly encouraging. There is proof of successful spawning (limited or not), and I have heard it said several times that the "walleye don't spawn in PCR." Apparently they do.

This is a young and man-made fishery: a scientific experiment of sorts. There is a lot of encouraging news in what was posted (if one cares to recognize it).

And honestly, when it comes to PCR, I can not for the life of me figure out what the fuss is all about. Are people being alarmists strictly to stir the pot? I can think of bigger things to get worked up about. Rome wasn't built in a day.

I'm also wondering how many of the alarmists have actually fished this lake.
I don't believe I'm a half empty type of person but where i came from we did not wait for a problem to get out of hand before we considered different way to help out but if this makes me a half empty person in your eyes so be it. I did not realize you had to fish a water system to be concerned over it must be another one of those alberta thing. And if you read you will see in my first post I said I had not fished this particular area. But see I don't need to fish an area to know when fish growth stops and fish are skinny there is a problem.
Its not called being an alarmist where I'm from it's called common sense.
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  #152  
Old 12-09-2011, 07:40 PM
huntsfurfish huntsfurfish is offline
 
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I don't believe I'm a half empty type of person but where i came from we did not wait for a problem to get out of hand before we considered different way to help out but if this makes me a half empty person in your eyes so be it. I did not realize you had to fish a water system to be concerned over it must be another one of those alberta thing. And if you read you will see in my first post I said I had not fished this particular area. But see I don't need to fish an area to know when fish growth stops and fish are skinny there is a problem.
Its not called being an alarmist where I'm from it's called common sense.
Concern is good whether you have fished the lake or not.
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  #153  
Old 12-09-2011, 08:39 PM
anthony5 anthony5 is offline
 
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Being fairly new to this forum I wasn't t sure I wanted to be bashed by the participants online, BUT eyes are creatures of habit, and there is no question that the eye,s are spawning but, how much protection is there for the young of the year to survive knowing the amount of predators that are in this small body of water with little food source. Key question is when will the spawning areas for walleye and if, will get a little protection without, suckers, burbot (ling) pike,walleye, picking off the small of the year . If they have a spawning area that is what they are looking for they will spawn when the urge hits, they have too. If this an unprotected area for the fry then the feed is on
Their habit is to spawn in the same areas as they were reared, year after year. If no flowing water is available these fish will make do, predators or not. If the natural spawning areas in PCR pick up some cover for these newby's then things will change considerably. Other than that leave this place alone and let it become what it may.

P.S. Not that old but been around long time!
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  #154  
Old 12-09-2011, 09:14 PM
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I don't believe I'm a half empty type of person but where i came from we did not wait for a problem to get out of hand before we considered different way to help out but if this makes me a half empty person in your eyes so be it. I did not realize you had to fish a water system to be concerned over it must be another one of those alberta thing. And if you read you will see in my first post I said I had not fished this particular area. But see I don't need to fish an area to know when fish growth stops and fish are skinny there is a problem.
Its not called being an alarmist where I'm from it's called common sense.
You'll find that all of the fish in PCR are healthy.

The eyes are not skin and bones. They are muscular and feisty.

The few we caught today were 14" and deep in the body.
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  #155  
Old 12-09-2011, 09:17 PM
horsetrader horsetrader is offline
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You'll find that all of the fish in PCR are healthy.

The eyes are not skin and bones. They are muscular and feisty.

The few we caught today were 14" and deep in the body.
As you say PICS!!!!!!!!!
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  #156  
Old 12-09-2011, 10:01 PM
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I wouldn't say the eyes in pcr are unhealthy but they aren't fat either like other walleye lakes.

I really think some sort of bait fish would take the pressure off of the eyes a bit and you might start to see more age groups in the future.
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  #157  
Old 12-09-2011, 10:23 PM
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I wouldn't say the eyes in pcr are unhealthy but they aren't fat either like other walleye lakes.

I really think some sort of bait fish would take the pressure off of the eyes a bit and you might start to see more age groups in the future.
x2

Maybe even crayfish would be a decent food source.

There is a crazy amount of gammarus in the lake, anything that would eat the shrimp and could hide would be a good bet to get more biomass moving up the food chain.

Burbot guts today were packed with gammarus, caddis, and chironomid larvae.
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  #158  
Old 12-09-2011, 10:40 PM
horsetrader horsetrader is offline
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x2

Maybe even crayfish would be a decent food source.

There is a crazy amount of gammarus in the lake, anything that would eat the shrimp and could hide would be a good bet to get more biomass moving up the food chain.

Burbot guts today were packed with gammarus, caddis, and chironomid larvae.
I would agree with you there I think crayfish would be an ideal food source to introduce. And should be easy to control to that area.
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  #159  
Old 12-09-2011, 10:51 PM
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I would agree with you there I think crayfish would be an ideal food source to introduce. And should be easy to control to that area.
Ya, I was thinking about the issue of dispersal, and I really don't know anything about crays in AB, so I won't speculate.

Just thinking there might be an alternative forage of some kind we haven't thought of.

I fished a lake trout lake in Northern ON once which was full of crays and the lakers fed on them as a primary food source. Medium sized and very plentiful fish. kinda cool
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  #160  
Old 12-09-2011, 11:11 PM
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Ya, I was thinking about the issue of dispersal, and I really don't know anything about crays in AB, so I won't speculate.

Just thinking there might be an alternative forage of some kind we haven't thought of.

I fished a lake trout lake in Northern ON once which was full of crays and the lakers fed on them as a primary food source. Medium sized and very plentiful fish. kinda cool
I highly doubt crayfish introductions would ever happen as they would easily disperse both upstream and downstream in the Willow Creek system.

My understanding on crayfish in AB is that they were only native to the Beaver River drainage (Cold Lake region). Then they were discovered in the NSR a number of years ago (perhaps 15 years ago) well east of Edmonton. We found them in our water monitoring equipment ten years or more ago at Pakan bridge on the NSR. Now they have moved up the NSR west of Devon - as far a we know.

The most famous or rather infamous illegal introduction of crayfish in the province is of course Mcleod Lake, better known as Carson-Pegasus Prov Park north of Whitecourt.

Last edited by Ronbill; 12-09-2011 at 11:17 PM.
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  #161  
Old 12-09-2011, 11:13 PM
horsetrader horsetrader is offline
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Ya, I was thinking about the issue of dispersal, and I really don't know anything about crays in AB, so I won't speculate.

Just thinking there might be an alternative forage of some kind we haven't thought of.

I fished a lake trout lake in Northern ON once which was full of crays and the lakers fed on them as a primary food source. Medium sized and very plentiful fish. kinda cool
Have fished with fished for and eaten lots of crayfish. There is only one species of crayfish in alberta. But there will be a decline in invertebrates with the addition of crayfish but they are also a bottom feeder and will clean up dead fish and decaying plants filtering water and cleaning with fish and or plants can greatly improve the fishery.
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  #162  
Old 12-10-2011, 08:34 AM
huntsfurfish huntsfurfish is offline
 
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Deleted, already mentioned
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  #163  
Old 12-11-2011, 02:05 PM
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Crayfish would be a very bad idea. They would compete with the walleye and are awful invasives.. I know stomach content data from lakes choked with them down here has shown sportish don't key in on them that well. We don't need more invasives in our waterbodies.
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  #164  
Old 12-11-2011, 03:01 PM
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[QUOTE=jrs;1202563]Crayfish would be a very bad idea. They would compete with the walleye and are awful invasives.. I know stomach content data from lakes choked with them down here has shown sportish don't key in on them that well. We don't need more invasives in our waterbodies.[/QUOTE

I agree completely
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  #165  
Old 12-12-2011, 10:47 AM
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Originally Posted by Beeguy
Maybe even crayfish would be a decent food source.

There is a crazy amount of gammarus in the lake, anything that would eat the shrimp and could hide would be a good bet to get more biomass moving up the food chain.
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Originally Posted by horsetrader
I would agree with you there I think crayfish would be an ideal food source to introduce. And should be easy to control to that area.
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Crayfish would be a very bad idea. They would compete with the walleye and are awful invasives.. I know stomach content data from lakes choked with them down here has shown sportish don't key in on them that well. We don't need more invasives in our waterbodies.
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Originally Posted by Ronbill
I agree completely (with jrs)
This sums up nicely the dangers of "arm chair" fisheries management.

We've had someone with actual knowledge of the lake explain rather clearly what the issues are, and yet, we still have people proposing all kinds of rash ideas that are counter to that explanation to "improve" the fishery.

IF there is a disease, it's critical to make sure the "cure" isn't even worse.

Last edited by freeones; 12-12-2011 at 10:52 AM.
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  #166  
Old 12-12-2011, 01:08 PM
Dgirl Dgirl is offline
 
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So, a lot of good info and interesting discussion here. What if we started, as anglers, to put together a database. There's enough people here willing to wade in with opinions. Would people use it? Or would it just be more data that does nothing to help the fishery?

We could report date and hours fished, number of fisherman, bait used, # fish caught and size of fish in an on-line database. It'd be a neat feature for AO if only for bragging rights. Heck, I'd enjoy just setting this up independently for fun.

I've fished PCR and had a great day on the water. We would have loved to keep one for supper. Too bad about the mercury content. We would have been happy to pay for a tag to do it. As it was, we've made plans to trundle down next year for another great day of catch & release.
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  #167  
Old 12-12-2011, 04:52 PM
horsetrader horsetrader is offline
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Response -





This sums up nicely the dangers of "arm chair" fisheries management.

We've had someone with actual knowledge of the lake explain rather clearly what the issues are, and yet, we still have people proposing all kinds of rash ideas that are counter to that explanation to "improve" the fishery.

IF there is a disease, it's critical to make sure the "cure" isn't even worse.


Thats right everyone should be like you and just bury your head in the sand and not see the problems. But see there are others that are not afraid to make suggestions and if someone can show where it won't work that good. After all this is a discussion forum.But thats ok you just sit back and wait for others to post then when it's commented on you can jump in like a big man.

....... got to love moronic people....
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  #168  
Old 12-13-2011, 03:22 PM
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Thats right everyone should be like you and just bury your head in the sand and not see the problems. But see there are others that are not afraid to make suggestions and if someone can show where it won't work that good. After all this is a discussion forum.But thats ok you just sit back and wait for others to post then when it's commented on you can jump in like a big man.

....... got to love moronic people....
I know there's at least one quote "from the horse's mouth" around here somewhere about resorting to personal attacks and name calling when you've clearly lost a debate and you have nothing useful left to say. I really can't be bothered to track them down, your post speaks for itself.

The sky isn't falling.
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  #169  
Old 12-13-2011, 05:06 PM
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I think CVR is a pretty good analogy, I ws actually thinking about that last night. Even 7-8 years ago you could go and have 100 fish days there almost without fail, and they'd all be around the same size as they are now at PCR. It's a different fishery today for sure. The quantity isn't there anymore, at least not regularly, but the quality of the fish does seem to have improved somewhat.

I wonder if these same discussions were going on about CVR back then??????

Last edited by lilsundance; 12-13-2011 at 10:31 PM.
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  #170  
Old 12-13-2011, 05:12 PM
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I think CVR is a pretty good analogy, I ws actually thinking about that last night. Even 7-8 years ago you could go and have 100 fish days there almost without fail, and they'd all be around the same size as they are now at PCR. It's a different fishery today for sure. The quantity isn't there anymore, at least not regularly, but the quality of the fish does seem to have improved somewhat.

I wonder if these same discussions were going on about CVR back then??????
Was CV stocked in the same manner? with millions of fry?
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  #171  
Old 12-14-2011, 08:17 AM
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Was CV stocked in the same manner? with millions of fry?
I believe it was, but I don't know for sure.
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  #172  
Old 12-14-2011, 10:21 AM
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what does pcr stand for.i keep hearing alot about this.
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  #173  
Old 12-14-2011, 10:26 AM
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what does pcr stand for.i keep hearing alot about this.
Pine Coulee Reservoir
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  #174  
Old 12-14-2011, 11:21 AM
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BeeGuy
"Was CV stocked in the same manner? with millions of fry? "

Would pretty much guarantee it. as mentioned before, the number used for Pine Coulee was actually pretty conservative. Survival of fry is very low, and walleye are rarely reared at hatchery to greater size due to their predatory nature at young age (try to eat each other). Initial plans included stocking over more years to diversify age class in PCR, pretty incredible how succesful the stocking was.
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  #175  
Old 12-14-2011, 02:15 PM
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Just going to throw this out there....... CVR may have been stocked in the same way but it is still a different lake with different hurdles. I believe through help of the a couple bios on board, we have somewhat unofficially established that PCR has an issue with blue-green algea that is creating a issue for establishing high populations of forage foods..... In order to compare one lake to the other, it is only acurrate if the both suffered from all of the exact challenges. And when considering lakes, each one has its own DNA so to speak.
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  #176  
Old 12-14-2011, 03:05 PM
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Just going to throw this out there....... CVR may have been stocked in the same way but it is still a different lake with different hurdles. I believe through help of the a couple bios on board, we have somewhat unofficially established that PCR has an issue with blue-green algea that is creating a issue for establishing high populations of forage foods..... In order to compare one lake to the other, it is only acurrate if the both suffered from all of the exact challenges. And when considering lakes, each one has its own DNA so to speak.

while blue-green algae may be a contributing factor, I still believe that it is the massive populations of pike-walleye-burbot in PCR which are suppressing both recruitment and a sustainable forage fish population.
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  #177  
Old 12-14-2011, 03:30 PM
Ronbill Ronbill is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Dan Foss View Post
Just going to throw this out there....... CVR may have been stocked in the same way but it is still a different lake with different hurdles. I believe through help of the a couple bios on board, we have somewhat unofficially established that PCR has an issue with blue-green algea that is creating a issue for establishing high populations of forage foods..... In order to compare one lake to the other, it is only acurrate if the both suffered from all of the exact challenges. And when considering lakes, each one has its own DNA so to speak.
Even though CVR gets Bow River water, there are similarities between PCR and CVR in terms of water quality. Also, both are offstream reservoirs with inlets and outlets placed along adjacent areas (not flow through systems). As discussed earlier, this is not the best arrangement as it creates ideal water column stability for growth of cyanobacteria. Thus BOTH reservoirs suffer from nuissance blooms of cyanobacteria (infact we did conduct sampling on CVR this summer and fall to document phytoplankton community assemblage and biomass - results pending analyses).

I think there are some key differences between the two that influenced the initial biota and the resulting fisheries of each reservoir.
In the case of CVR, construction of the reservoir incoprated two existing mature waterbodies - namely Barkenhouse Lake and adjacent "South Reservoir" (see Atlas of Alberta Lakes). Resident species (incoporated into CVR) include: white sucker, longnose sucker, shorthead redhorse, burbot, fathead minnow, spottail shiner, trout‐perch, and brook stickleback (Mitchell and Prepas 1990). This means CVR had a diverse assemblage of fish including forage fish to feed a growing sportfishery.
Unlike PCR, CVR was originally stocked with brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout during its first year of operation in 1985. These species have varied diets and are not strict piscivores. Only later was CVR stocked with walleye (over a three year period from 1990 to 1992). In addition pike and trout migrated in from the EID north Canal system.

So compared to PCR, CVR likely possessed far more biodiversity and thus a more balanced ecosystem able to support large predatory fish species - from the time the reservoir was created.
I think with time PCR will balance out a little more. What's needed is greater diversity in its biota.
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  #178  
Old 12-23-2011, 04:58 PM
horsetrader horsetrader is offline
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I think CVR is a pretty good analogy, I ws actually thinking about that last night. Even 7-8 years ago you could go and have 100 fish days there almost without fail, and they'd all be around the same size as they are now at PCR. It's a different fishery today for sure. The quantity isn't there anymore, at least not regularly, but the quality of the fish does seem to have improved somewhat.

I wonder if these same discussions were going on about CVR back then??????
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronbill View Post


Even though CVR gets Bow River water, there are similarities between PCR and CVR in terms of water quality. Also, both are offstream reservoirs with inlets and outlets placed along adjacent areas (not flow through systems). As discussed earlier, this is not the best arrangement as it creates ideal water column stability for growth of cyanobacteria. Thus BOTH reservoirs suffer from nuissance blooms of cyanobacteria (infact we did conduct sampling on CVR this summer and fall to document phytoplankton community assemblage and biomass - results pending analyses).

I think there are some key differences between the two that influenced the initial biota and the resulting fisheries of each reservoir.
In the case of CVR, construction of the reservoir incoprated two existing mature waterbodies - namely Barkenhouse Lake and adjacent "South Reservoir" (see Atlas of Alberta Lakes). Resident species (incoporated into CVR) include: white sucker, longnose sucker, shorthead redhorse, burbot, fathead minnow, spottail shiner, trout‐perch, and brook stickleback (Mitchell and Prepas 1990). This means CVR had a diverse assemblage of fish including forage fish to feed a growing sportfishery.
Unlike PCR, CVR was originally stocked with brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout during its first year of operation in 1985. These species have varied diets and are not strict piscivores. Only later was CVR stocked with walleye (over a three year period from 1990 to 1992). In addition pike and trout migrated in from the EID north Canal system.

So compared to PCR, CVR likely possessed far more biodiversity and thus a more balanced ecosystem able to support large predatory fish species - from the time the reservoir was created.
I think with time PCR will balance out a little more. What's needed is greater diversity in its biota.




I guess we don't always know what we think we do.........


As you can see i'm back .....LOL......until someone whines again.


MERRY CHRISTMAS>>>.
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  #179  
Old 12-23-2011, 05:33 PM
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I guess we don't always know what we think we do.........


As you can see i'm back .....LOL......until someone whines again.


MERRY CHRISTMAS>>>.
Dang your back already? Think before ya hit that submit button boy. Or you go back to the corner.
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  #180  
Old 12-23-2011, 07:58 PM
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Dang your back already? Think before ya hit that submit button boy. Or you go back to the corner.
Na can't change my ways always say what I think. Up to others if they want to listen.
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