Wabamun pike are in trouble!!

[FISHBATTEREDBEER]

I was out today near seba,access is good,lots of ice,fishing was slowish.the pike are sick looking with large heads and very skinny,the ling and walleye look healthy.i think the walleye must've eatin all the bait fish.i use to catch some thick pike in there but the last 5-6 trips the pike are looking worse and worse!!

[RavYak]

Wabamun is toast, if they had opened it up so people could thin it out it might have had a chance but now a huge portion of the pike population has already died off and 75+% are still sickly many more of which will also die off. There are still a few big healthy pike in there but none in the pipeline to replace them so once they are gone it will take years to ever build a good population again...

The walleye aren't that healthy either. They don't look bad like the pike but they are streamlined and stunted and have barely grown the past couple years.

Wab used to be my favourite lake, I only fished it 3 times last summer and none this winter though cause it is just depressing seeing the state it is in now.

[FISHBATTEREDBEER]

100% agreed,this lake has been decimated by spills ,pollution,and over populating it with walleye.Many people don't know that mercury is emitted during the coal burning process at the power plants.These plants should be forced to filter the emissions or the water,maybe both.And yes the walleye are plump but they haven't grown a bit.I have figured out a way to catch lethargic fish in lakes like this but its a shame.I iced 7 "sick" pike,3 walleye and 2 ling in 4 hrs.

[pikeman06]

What a shame is right...hate to point my ever ready walleye blame finger but sorry, that's exactly what it is. They are ravenous little predators that feed day and night on the available food before the minnows even get a chance to mature and spawn as well as the game fish fry. Look at wolf up north. Had a wicked balance on its own with big quality pike and walleye if you knew where and when to find them. Big average size and very healthy but not crawling with them. Quality not quantity, and lots of whites and big shiners to keep them that way. Protect the walleyes and it happened there too. Crawling with skinny little walleyes and the pike average size nosedived within a couple years. Don't even get me started on pigeon and now wab...starving themselves out and nobody admits what is happening but throw another billion walleye in there. Lac La biche too.

[Talking moose]

Here's a wab pike from a few weeks ago. Looks good!



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[RavYak]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Here's a wab pike from a few weeks ago. Looks good!

The bigger ones are half decent shape because they must be feeding on the perch, walleye and whites.



The problem is the small ones, how are these supposed to grow into a large pike... All these just a fraction of the dying fish I caught in a single day this year...

[lakerman]

Lots of skinnies swimming around, caught abunch of small walleye, but officially this year I was skunked on whites, never even seen a perch and biggest pike was pushing 4 pounds, just a few years ago I used to see and catch the other species.

[fish99]

the biologists just do not get it , the healthy balance of nature in a lake , over population of walleye will remove so much forage that the other fish starve . when they stock these lakes with walleye and they take real well with good survival you have to have a harvest before the balance and food is destroyed .there will be more lakes with no food if this policy continues. not sure what they are saving these fish for .

[pikeman06]

Yes those pike in the condition they are in will never amount to nothing. Why the people who make the rules and call the shots continue to justify their terrible decisions is beyond me. Please if anyone knows pass it on. Why a "contaminated lake " gets stocked heavily when the catch and release was providing many of us with a shot at a real nice pike for central alberta. Please if whoever makes these calls reads this forum, and you frigging well better, give me a pm or i'll buy you supper and pick your brain in a respectful manner.

[Jack fish hunter]

The biologists have turned our trophy pike lakes into mediocre walleye lakes.

[catnthehat]

Any more posts on how or what a person should in in this situation and infractions/suspensions will result
Cat

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Any more posts on how or what a person should in in this situation and infractions/suspensions will result
Cat

Did I miss something?

[HighlandHeart]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

Did I miss something?

The comment above where the one guy was telling someone they don't know how to do their job, they better read this thread comment and threatening to take them out to supper and pick their brain if they didn't PM back.

[pikeman06]

Bahaha. Pick your brain is a figure of speech. Bahaha.