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Old 11-06-2008, 02:57 AM
Shmag Shmag is offline
 
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Question Are AB walleye reg's screwed up???

Hi and thanks for visiting, Is it me or are the alberta walleye reg's screwed up. It just doesn't make any sense to me why we protect walleye's up until they mature. Until they are able to spawn then it's open season on them. In some lakes it could take up to 10 years for that walleye to spawn. We protect it for ten years and then joe blow comes along and takes that fish and it may of never spawned. We protected that one fish for ten years for nothing. Am i missing something???
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Old 11-06-2008, 05:25 AM
deanmc deanmc is offline
 
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UUUhm, are you suggesting that no one should harvest any walleye?
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Old 11-06-2008, 05:56 AM
Winch101 Winch101 is offline
 
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Default Alberta Walleyes

Most fisherman cant catch walleyes ...The lakes where you can keep walleyes ( certainly south of Edmonton )are tough fishing .

It certainly does make sense that a slot limit would be more effective

but it seems this Govt and the ones before it didnt want to make it too complicated ....The lakes that have been closed have awesome numbers
Fish Pigeon I think there is a danger of walleye fece contamination ...
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Old 11-06-2008, 06:54 AM
Safety D Safety D is offline
 
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Default Pike??

What about the lack of pike now in this province. I would like to see Walleye opened and a complete closure on Pike for 5 years province wide...
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Old 11-06-2008, 08:36 AM
jeprli jeprli is offline
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Same thing goes for walleye and pike, if you can take them it's 50cm and over or 63cm and over, which means just when the fish matured and is ready to spawn we remove it from it's waters. It makes more sense to take the smaller fish 30cm-45cm lets say and leave all the big ones in the given water, that's how you build up a good population and trophy fish.

Another problem i see often is how the fish is released after catching it, most people take no care at all and behave like it's a piece of wood or something. Pike are very troublesome if not released proper, their slime coat gets rubbed off either on net or boat floor, or rocks, and then people release it back into water, this fish becomes a buffet for parasites and bacteria, it has no self defense against it's surrounding habitat. Most fish you don't even have to pull out of the water to unhook, or if you really want to hold it, wet your hands, don't use some gripy gloves and squeeze the life out of it.

Just look at the Bow river, only one trout under 30cm, and i doubt anyone even takes them home for dinner, i know i never do, always c&r on the bow. The browns got massive and rainbows too, and both in very good numbers, when you go out on the water in evening it's spectacular to watch them rise.
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Old 11-06-2008, 08:36 AM
bobalong bobalong is offline
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Default Pike

I am not sure if complete closures are the answer. I was at a meeting back in about 93-94 at the Kinsmen field house when the Fish and Wildlife held a huge public forum on walleye closures , big game draws, guide area designations, etc. When the proposal for non-retention of walleye on numerous lakes in Alberta came up, some people were upset (especially campgound operators on walleye lakes) but most of the people in attendance agreed it was necessary. The logic behind the complete closures (catch and release only) was that walleye lake populations had been depleted and on some lakes virtually decimated (a little late with the closures). It would take years for these populations to come back (closures began in 95 I believe), which is what you are seeing on a lot of the local lakes now.
At this public forum one of the attendees (a member of this board, or used to be) stood up and asked "what sort of reduced limits were they going to implement on the pike" as now a lot of people were going to keep pike if they could not keep walleye. The reply was "we have lots of pike in this province there is no need for reduced limits". Point being if you close one species in a lake anglers target what ever species is left, and eventually the population of that species becomes vulernable or collapsed as well. Unfortunatly some of the fishery management decisions in this province are only implemented after fisheries are depleted or collapsed, which is why it takes years and years for them to recover. The pike scenario has gone exactly like the walleye scenario, very little or nothing was done until fisheries were collapsed, they have not learned a thing.
I believe walleyes in this area mature about 7-8 years of age so they should have a few year classes from the walleye in a lot of our local lakes.

Last edited by bobalong; 11-06-2008 at 08:42 AM.
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Old 11-06-2008, 08:48 AM
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i think the walleye reg's are screwed personally. i mean look at pine lake, when i was younger we used to catch hundreds of perch a day, but now the walleye at e them all and theyre tough to find yet you catch hundreds of walleye a day, why not open it for a month a year just to get the perch levels back and the walleye levels down.
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Old 11-06-2008, 11:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Battery View Post
i think the walleye reg's are screwed personally. i mean look at pine lake, when i was younger we used to catch hundreds of perch a day, but now the walleye at e them all and theyre tough to find yet you catch hundreds of walleye a day, why not open it for a month a year just to get the perch levels back and the walleye levels down.
X2 I almost dont even bother for perch outta there anymore
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Old 11-06-2008, 06:43 PM
B.O. B.O. is offline
 
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It appears to me that our walleye are managed for quantity as opposed to quality. Many anglers judge success on numbers of fish caught per outing. Our fisheries managers have chosen to protect the more abundant, and aggressive smaller fish, therefore anglers can effortlessly catch many walleye.
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Old 11-06-2008, 06:57 PM
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Quote:
Are AB walleye reg's screwed up???

No AB walleye regulations arent screwed.


Pretty much the vast majority of the AB fishing regulations are screwed up.
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Old 11-06-2008, 07:06 PM
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Originally Posted by B.O. View Post
It appears to me that our walleye are managed for quantity as opposed to quality. Many anglers judge success on numbers of fish caught per outing. Our fisheries managers have chosen to protect the more abundant, and aggressive smaller fish, therefore anglers can effortlessly catch many walleye.
X2 on this statement. It would be nice to manage for quality fish, a good size range with a pyramid style breakdown. Big fish the top of the pyramid and lil guys at the bottom. The bigger guys are fewer in numbers but you need many many younger walleye to just have a few survive to be the big boys. This would be like the "text book scenario" of quantity and quality. Then you have to throw other species into the mix and it gets even more complex to manage. Not an easy job by any means.

I like the idea of a slot limit. But it has to be worked with closures to ensure a beter chance on success.

Example: Say we went to a 40 to 50 cm slot on lakes that curently have a 50 cm size minimum. Then the lake would likely only contain fish under 40cm's! Enless the lake was closed for a few years prior to going to a slot limit. A year or two closure would allow fish to mature past the slot size to ensure the strongest fish spawn. Even to go back and forth between slot and closure every year or every other year could allow for fish to get past the slot limit, to sustain the population. In the scenario with alternating between closure and slot limit it could be worked so that near by lakes could alternate. Lake "A" 40-45cm's and Lake "B" closed, then the opposite the next year. This way people still have some access to fish for food. I have gotten good and used to C&R and I'm more than willing to practice it on the mass majority of outings, I know many other people feel the same way.

Unfortunatly as population rises so will the pressure on the fisheries, the lakes will becomem even harder to maintain. Personaly I'd like to throw in the safety factor and be on the safe side. Alot easier to manage a decent fishery than a collapsed one.
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Old 11-06-2008, 07:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lethalconnection View Post
no ab walleye regulations arent screwed.


Pretty much the vast majority of the ab fishing regulations are screwed up.
lol
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Old 11-06-2008, 07:26 PM
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off topic but i think we need to mange the lakes for example pine coulee all those skinny walleye well soon die out, do to loss of standard bait fish, I think they should start worrying about are resources instead of setting up new regulations.

just my thoughts...
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Old 11-06-2008, 07:54 PM
Shmag Shmag is offline
 
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Hey everybody, thanks for repling to my post. I enjoyed reading all the comments. It's nice to see alot of you have the same awareness and express the same interest as me. I think every lake should be treated differently. In Slave a few years back they tried a slot limit, but backed out after a year or so. One point that should be made if you are going to commit to a slot program you have to stick with it. It takes about 7 years to show it's benefit, and if you bow out early then it's wasted time. I think while some lakes are closed completely then there should be no other lakes with a 3 limit. There are walleye seekers out there that will only fish where they can take the most home, eventually depleting that fishery. People that fish pigeon, i would be concerned!!!. A few years back they wouldn't let people take walleye from Vincent lake the numbers were good and lots of trophy's. They had a massive winter kill and alot of walleye's that could of been harvested were piled up on shore. I DON'T CLAIM TO KNOW ALL THE ANSWERS, but maybe different stratagies need to be tried.
I will reply more and look forward to reading more from you guy's out there and thanks again for your comments.
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Old 11-06-2008, 08:31 PM
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The management of the walleye in alberta is just one of many problems. For instance lots of catch limits.

Ok lets see here at some lakes such as Newell you can keep 10 whitefish. Now many people cant catch that many in a day but whatever they do catch they can keep, hmmm thats weird if u can keep 10 there SHOULD be an abundance of that species of fish in the lake that can support a harvest number that high. But there isnt(same goes for other ridiculous limits such as burbot, perch, etc, etc).

Size limits: Best example, Pike. Does it seem logical to beable to keep fish that are doing the repopulating in the lake? I sure as heck dont. If we want to beable to have good pike fishing and good quality we need to change the size limit. Now i still do believe a few should b harvested so that they dont stunt the other fish in the lake so if anything we should have a tag system for big pike such as musky in manitoba.

Trout ponds: Now i totally agree that there should b meat ponds(limit of 5 bait allowed and full of tons of small fish easy to catch) for those of us that want to take the kids and family out to catch alot of fish or just to get some good eatin trout. BUT i dont the vast majority of the trout ponds/lakes should b that way just because they are stocked. Once again need better limits on alot of them. If the lake will beable to have a self sustaining trout population well i say those become the trophy lakes such as 1 over 21" (such as Bullshead but for those of you that have fished there u have noticed jsut like most trout lakes the size is stunted), so there should also be lakes that dont allow fish to be kept.

Bull trout: Now i know this is a touchy subject for most but the population is starting to come back really strong in some bodys of water...almost to strong, they are such an aggressive fish they are starting to harm the population of other fish in the same body of water with them. So in some bodys of water once again i do believe there should be a tag system implemented so there can b some harvested to keep the population to a manageable size so the other species can co exist with good numbers.

Walleye: Well where to start, lots of lakes with stunted walleye, lots of lakes with alot of walleye and few of other species just due to, too many walleye that are not being harvested. Now i do like the tag idea but at the same time some lakes can b opened right up now not asking for something RIDICULOUS like 10 but something like 1 daily and 2 possesion nice small number. But keep a close eye on the population over the first few years if they start to drop drastically implement the tag system again or close it right up for numbers to come back and keep the lake on tag system.

But in the end it all comes down to one thing......MONEY, to inforce and put such things into action would cost too much and the goverenment just isnt willing to put that type of money forward to help our natural resources apparently.
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Old 11-06-2008, 09:13 PM
bobalong bobalong is offline
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Default Walleye

I have been reading all the posts on this as well, as I have watched the managing and lack there of ,of our fishery management decisions over the past 20 years. A lot of the biologist (not managers) in this province have some very good management principles and ideas but unfortunatly the funds required for these ideas have been declined. Even now our province only stocks 2-3 lakes in the whole province (and one stocking is just to replace the eggs that are taken in the spring to stock the other lakes). If you check the SRD site and research the dollars spent on walleye about 300k, compared to trout 6.5 million you will see where the majority of funds are going. I enjoy trout fishing to, but there has to be a long term commitment by the govt in this province to help sustain the walleye population and that is going to take man power and money.If you look at provinces or states that have excellent walleye fisheries you will find that they enhance their walleye fisheries with stocking every year, not once every 3-4 years but EVERY year. There was NO walleye stocking in Alberta from 1999-2006. Our govt (managers) will not commit the dollars to walleye stocking because they believe it cost to much. From the numbers I have seen walleye stocking (compared to trout) is expensive, this is where the commitment parts come in. IMO it is the only way you are going to maintain the walleye fisheries in this province. I have been a member of clubs and sat on fishery committees where numerous anglers have said they would pay more for their fishing licence (if they were assured the funds go to walleye stocking (there seems to be lots of trout funds). They have volluntered to supply boats and manpower to assist with walleye stocking, fin sampling whatever is needed to help sustain the fishery, all declined.
We had a fishery manager at one of our meetings and when I asked him why the most popular sport fish (walleye) in Alberta received the least dollars he could not (or would not) answer the question.
I apologize for being so long winded but after the govt stocking Pigeon lake 3 time in the 90's and watching it grow into a world class fishery and then letting it decline to the state it is now I really question some of their thinking. I know of no other stocking/catch and release program that was so succesfull, not in Canada or the U.S. What more proof do you need that a regular stocking program works. I agree they did leave the lake closed too long (mis-managed), as all of those big fish ate lots of little fish and I am sure many starved and were poached as well. I probably fished Pigeon about 10 times a year back in the hay day (about 5 years), so in about 50 days I spent on the water or ice there, I was never checked once, not once.
I remember driving out to Pigeon back then and feeling like a little kid (those of you who fished it back then know what I meen). The anticipation to get fishing and waiting for that next bite is like none I have ever had (except at Nipawin maybe), but this fishery was only an hour from home. I still go fishing there maybe 3-4 times a year thinking I might still find another big one, but it has not happened in the last three years. It is still a good fishery, but now just a mere shadow of its days of glory. Man I miss it.
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Old 11-06-2008, 09:37 PM
alpikes alpikes is offline
 
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Default Sportsmanship

I've read and very respected everyone's opinion on this topic. IMO, all the rules and regs are here as guidelines to ensure us fishmen a future in our sport. But the real deal is within our conscience at every outing. We fish and decide to keep or release our catch is what really determines the future of our hobby.

Personally, I spent an generous amount of money to my boat, fishing gears and other related expenses every year to support this fishing hobby. And I am sure that definitely my fellow sportsmen do the same as well, more or less but we all do spend the money. And we do this because we can catch a fish or two at each outing. It's the excitement of catching a fish that drives us to keep heading back to the water years after year. Can anyone one of us keep this up if there nomore fishes in the lakes, ponds, rivers etc...? Just look at how much money our economy will loose if fishing is no longer existing in Alberta. So to be able to keep a fish or not, does this mean important enough to risk ours and our children's future? Thanks for reading my comment and this is just 1 man's opinion.
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Old 11-06-2008, 10:43 PM
happy perch fisher happy perch fisher is offline
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Slot sizes would'nt work on most lakes because people would just clean everything out in the slot size before they get to mature. The limit are set 43or50cm on alot of lakes because aleast the walleye will get to spawn aleast one time before there kept. Look at what happens at slave every year people got out there and live on walleye out of that lake. Slave walleye population is going to **** really fast because of the over harvest. A big walleye out of there use to be around 70cm now there around 55cm. Slot sizes i could see somewhat working there if alot of people stopped eating 3 walleye a day out there or more like most people do. Even throw your daily limit is only one over 43. Also if your look at the lake most of the fish are in the 40-50cm range. so which would basically destroy the main range of walleye in that lake. Lol i love hearing how people think the walleye are all stunted at one size because of lack of food. While lets think what happened to all bigger walleye out of that lake. 3 years ago the draw system came out on that lake. At the begging of that year most people where filling there 50cm plus tags on fish in the high 60 to the low 70cms by the end of year very few walleye where in that size range. So people just kept kept keeping smaller and smaller walleye till they where just hovering over the legal size for the tag. Now thats just pigion u open anything smaller lake up and within 2 weeks everything in that size limit will be gone. May work for a couple years till all the old spawners die off which is probably a low number before the slot limit was implemented. So basically u end up in the end with a bunch of coplased lakes and a bunch of ****ed off fisherman. I did'nt think F&W is doing a great job but i think there doing a ok job of managing it.
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Old 11-06-2008, 10:56 PM
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Lethalconnection hit it right on the head.
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Old 11-06-2008, 10:56 PM
Shmag Shmag is offline
 
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Hey Bobalong, well written. You seem to know your stuff. I think you should run for Fisheries Minister. You will have my vote!!!!

It gets very frustrating as it seems to be alot of uncertainty in the management. With Slave in particular, they went from a limit of 3 to a slot size to a limit of 1 than a limit of 3 and now i think it's 1 in summer and 2 in winter. All in a matter of 5 years, just seems like the people in charge have no plan in place. One thing is for certain, about 6-7years ago on Slave walleye tourny usually big fish of the day was 9- 10 lbs and it's been going down every year. This years big fish was just over 5lbs. If this trend continues can the fishery survive another 6-7 years. Mean while we keep taking the fish that hold the golden eggs, and it's legal
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Old 11-06-2008, 11:03 PM
happy perch fisher happy perch fisher is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shmag View Post
Hey Bobalong, well written. You seem to know your stuff. I think you should run for Fisheries Minister. You will have my vote!!!!

It gets very frustrating as it seems to be alot of uncertainty in the management. With Slave in particular, they went from a limit of 3 to a slot size to a limit of 1 than a limit of 3 and now i think it's 1 in summer and 2 in winter. All in a matter of 5 years, just seems like the people in charge have no plan in place. One thing is for certain, about 6-7years ago on Slave walleye tourny usually big fish of the day was 9- 10 lbs and it's been going down every year. This years big fish was just over 5lbs. If this trend continues can the fishery survive another 6-7 years. Mean while we keep taking the fish that hold the golden eggs, and it's legal
They would get so much back fire if they tried to close slave down for even a year. Personally i would think slave would be a much better fishery if where only aloud to keep one fish a week but how would u control that. If u think about it i would say about 60 percent of the fish kept out of slave are by about 10percent of the people. These guys are the ones that live out there during the summer eating walleye 3-5 times daily.
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Old 11-06-2008, 11:13 PM
Shmag Shmag is offline
 
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Hey happy perch fisher, I agree there would be a riot if there was a closure. Oh just so you know i am from Slave and i am lucky to eat fish once a month!!
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