Walleye stocking in Lac La Biche

Donkey Slayer · #1 08-01-2008, 07:26 AM

Just looking at the 2008 stocking report and i noticed Lac La Biche had over 38,000,000 walleye placed in it June.

Give her a few years.

http://www.mywildalberta.com/documents/2008Stocking.pdf

Penner · #2 08-01-2008, 10:22 AM

I would not get too excited about it. Lac La Biche has been stocked with plenty of Walleye over the past 15 years. Looks like the stocking isn't taking hold as well as it did on lakes like Pigeon. They must be having issues with establishing a self-sustaining population on Lac La Biche. Keep in mind they are only stocking Walley fry so it will be a good 4 years before they catchable. 38,000,000 is one hell of alot of of fish thou. I wonder who counted them?

It is really good to see that have started the Walleye stocking program again. It was stopped due to budget cuts a few years back. I think it is essential for Alberta to have a Walleye stocking program in place to help maintain healthy populations in our very few lakes that get so much angling pressure.

steelhead · #3 08-01-2008, 11:41 AM

"I think it is essential for Alberta to have a Walleye stocking program in place to help maintain healthy populations in our very few lakes that get so much angling pressure."

So they stock a lake that no one can fish at (except for subsistence netters), one that is soooo far that only air travel and snowmobiles can get to, and one that gets fishing pressure.

So far, in the last 2 years, only one lake with heavy, general public fishing pressure, has been stocked.

All the lakes they stopped walleye harvest at and recieve major pressure are in fine shape for walleyes and dont need stocking anymore. They are doing so well, that other species are being seen in decline (lanonne, ste.anne, pigeon, pine, sylvan). Sure they get alot of fishing pressure, but catch and release doesnt put enough pressure on the population to warrant further stocking. And the joke of a tag system doesnt remove enough fish to create a need for stocking. Many of these lakes arent even monitored or researched but left alone with decade old regs that are causing noticable problems now.

Without protection (most of these lakes have flat mud bottoms and no year round structure for the little guys to hide in) 95% of them will get eaten by predators in thier first 4 years. All i see them doing now with all these fry, are feeding the existing fish and predators in the lake.

Like Penner said, I wouldnt get too excited about it.

They have to open lakes to harvest before they can stock them with walleyes.

They aint gonna do that, so be prepared to live with what we got and had for the last 10 years, for another 10 years.

Anything the gov is doing for walleyes in Alberta is a complete joke. The most sought after gamefish in the province and the species that gets the least attention. And the fish and game groups in this province dont care about them either. Its all about the game! Oh, and trout!

STEELHEAD

unclebuck · #4 08-01-2008, 05:40 PM

steelhead, it is truly fortunate for us that you are "down south". We have a truly magic fishing area in the northeast, whether it be for pike, perch, walleye, laketrout, whitefish, or grayling. Yes, while we do have to travel by dogsled, and snowmobile,(if we are that advanced), Walleyes, can probably attest to the fact that in fact we do have the odd fish up here, right Walleyes?

Walleyes · #5 08-01-2008, 09:23 PM

What we got fish around our lakes at home ?? hey unclebuck,, Shhhh..

P.S. have you seen my lead dog around lost the bugger last spring when I went into town never seen him since lololo...

unclebuck · #6 08-02-2008, 05:08 PM

Walleyes, I found him and one of my wheel dogs out by your brother's place. I think your brother realized that he had the makings of a good team, and was only going to add to it to get to the finer fishing spots in the area!!! Perhaps you should have a short conversation with him.

beermilk · #7 08-02-2008, 05:13 PM

yup up here in the north its a hard life. i am living in fort mac but i have a trailer er i mean tee pee down by lac la biche in owl river.

FisherPotch · #8 08-02-2008, 05:54 PM

Quote "So they stock a lake that no one can fish at (except for subsistence netters), one that is soooo far that only air travel and snowmobiles can get to, and one that gets fishing pressure. "

Does lac la biche realy get that much fishing pressure? Is the lake only open to the netters? I've never fished the lake before but I've driven right along it in the mid of winter many a time and to my knowlege neither of those statements are true. For such a large lake I don't think it gets much pressure at all. I realy don't know though. All I know is everyone I know that fishes that region fish the lakes around it, not lac la biche itself. There is much better fishing around, especially for walleye. That I would think is why they are stocking Lac la Biche, because it's the one that doesn't have much of a walleye pop.

I do know that you can drive there with a two wheel drive car year round! Not sure where the snowmobile/air travel BS came from but now you know the truth.

Or maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about

wake · #9 08-03-2008, 01:34 PM

The waterbody has a high concentration of food for the eyes in the form of perch.

the unfortunate part is that the lakes outlets and the former favorite spawning ground the owl river have all but dried up...

Walleyes · #10 08-03-2008, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wake

The waterbody has a high concentration of food for the eyes in the form of perch.

the unfortunate part is that the lakes outlets and the former favorite spawning ground the owl river have all but dried up...

Wake,, you really should do some reseach before you make statements.. The Owl river is far from being dried up and it never has been even close to being dry it is still a very good spawning river the only problem will be with the suckers there are tons of them in the river in the spring.

L.L.B. lake has very minamal fishing press for its size mainly because the walleye fishing has been poor for the last 15 - 20 years and people come to the area for walleye. The big lake still has some awsome pike fishing and winter perch fishing is very popular on it as well. But for locals very few poeple go after pike I really never realised people fished for pike specificly until I came on this site

we veiw them as more of a pest around these parts..

It is very good to see them putting back into the lake many people have worked hard at getting this going for a number of years L.L.B. lake was netted hard for years and nearly cleaned out but netting is almost a thing of the past now and we hope the lake can recover back to its original status.

All of us local sportsman are very happy and excited to see this going on and hope it continues.

SNAPFisher · #11 08-03-2008, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclebuck

steelhead, it is truly fortunate for us that you are "down south". We have a truly magic fishing area in the northeast, whether it be for pike, perch, walleye, laketrout, whitefish, or grayling. Yes, while we do have to travel by dogsled, and snowmobile,(if we are that advanced), Walleyes, can probably attest to the fact that in fact we do have the odd fish up here, right Walleyes?

Woah, you guys have dog sleds?? I wish! Last time up there visiting the igloo the dogs had peed on the roof until it caved in and then they had run off.

beermilk · #12 08-03-2008, 02:42 PM

I hope it recovers too. with the father just buying a boat and him having a small piece of land down there in owl river i betting we are going to be doing some fishing on the lake.

I havent fished there yet did some fishing around L.L.B. actually just stayed at the campground a month ago beaver lake

FisherPotch · #13 08-03-2008, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walleyes

The Owl river is far from being dried up and it
never has been even close to being dry it is still a very good spawning river the only problem will be with the suckers there are tons of them in the river in the spring.

L.L.B. lake has very minamal fishing press for its size mainly because the walleye fishing has been poor for the last 15 - 20 years and people come to the area for walleye. The big lake still has some awsome pike fishing and winter perch fishing is very popular on it as well. But for locals very few poeple go after pike I really never realised people fished for pike specificly until I came on this site

we veiw them as more of a pest around these parts..

It is very good to see them putting back into the lake many people have worked hard at getting this going for a number of years L.L.B. lake was netted hard for years and nearly cleaned out but netting is almost a thing of the past now and we hope the lake can recover back to its original status.

All of us local sportsman are very happy and excited to see this going on and hope it continues.

I too am very happy after hearing this post. Thanks for getting us up to date walleye's!!

I've fished the region many atime, some of my fondest memories came from spruce point (Beaver lake) growing up. I caught a 6 pounder like 15 years ago at that lake, my kiddy rod broke but still got him in. I had just gotten over the chicken pocks but my parents couldn't stop me from tagging along on that trip. Man do I miss spruce point.

Penner · #14 08-05-2008, 11:14 AM

Steelhead, FYI just for the record Primrose Lake is stocked most years as Primrose Lake is where the obtain all of broadstock eggs used to rasie the Walleye at the hatchery. If they never replaced any fish back into Primrose over time, the population would collapse. They stock back much less than the take out because the odd's of fishery raised fish surviving is much great than those in the wild (1:1,00 vs 1:10,000). It's only done simply to maintain balance.

It's not all only about trout. Trout are by far easier to rasie in hatcheries and Walleye on par cost 10x more to rasie than trout. Bodies of water are stocked with trout for put & take reasons to help relief the pressure on our native fisheries as well as to provide the oppertunity to keep some fish for dinner.

When I said

"I think it is essential for Alberta to have a Walleye stocking program in place to help maintain healthy populations in our very few lakes that get so much angling pressure"

I was not refering to L.L.B. itself as several folks already mentioned, it does not have all that much angling pressure on it today as the Walleye fishery colapsed many years ago. But at one time the Walleye fishing was excellent on L.L.B. and hopefully with the stocking one day it will return to its former self which in turn will help to re-distrubte some of the angling pressure up in the lakeland region.

As for the draw system, I think its a great idea and the only effective way of contoling harvest for a specificed body of water. You open any of the popular lakes to any harvest and you will get exactley what happened on Long Lake a few years back. Open for only two weeks and the Walleye population was hit hard once again. I think the draw system its an inovative method and it works great for hunting so why not try it for fishing. A smart move in my opinion.

The funniest thing is most of the "experts" want to re-open all of these lakes just like there were 10 years ago and it was those regulations that puts us into trouble in the first place. Let the "real experts" figure out what is best for the lakes and just go and catch fish.

wake · #15 08-05-2008, 01:39 PM

Ummmm...

I work for the fisheries lab.
I was just at the owl river in may.
Maybe I am just one of those goverments ''dont know what I am talking about '' people.

The main portion of the owl river is still ok, I was talking upper reaches.
It is not the same spawning ground it once was.

Walleyes · #16 08-05-2008, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wake

Ummmm...

I work for the fisheries lab.
I was just at the owl river in may.
Maybe I am just one of those goverments ''dont know what I am talking about '' people.

The main portion of the owl river is still ok, I was talking upper reaches.
It is not the same spawning ground it once was.

Well I'm not sure what part of the river you are refering to but a couple days out of a dry spring month does not tell the story of a river.. I happen to fish, hunt, trap, ski-doo and canoe the Owl on a regular basis, put 2 bear baits up on it this spring one about 12 miles from the lake and another about 40 miles from the lake, hunted beaver with the wifes uncle on it this spring for 3 days, Sledded up it this March all the way to Philameno (if you know where that is??) and the river seemed to be where it has been for the last 35 years as I remember it,, but please correct me if I'm wrong sir.. The Owl is a major drainage of the northern lakes and muskegs and it can fluxuate in a matter of days depending on the rain fall. This spring was dry around home for quite a while so I would not base your findings as a true picture of the river but an observation taken at a particular time.

And what part of the river were you at ??? you could of been at the rapids or at the river ford. Which if you were to in early May ( when the fish run the river ) was as high as I've seen it in a few years... So high as the Pelicans were even having diffuculty getting at the Suckers,, the Bald Eagles were even far inbetween because of the poor fishing do to the high water usually in the spring you can go in there and see a dozen or more Eagels but this spring they were thinner..

Just wondering is all we wouldn't want our governing bodys going back with false information for their reports... Since they have been doing such a great job with our fisheries so far..

wake · #17 08-05-2008, 03:04 PM

steelhead · #18 08-05-2008, 07:40 PM

steelhead, it is truly fortunate for us that you are "down south". We have a truly magic fishing area in the northeast, whether it be for pike, perch, walleye, laketrout, whitefish, or grayling.

We have the same in the south, even better! except grayling and limited Lake trout. Not as many lakes down here closed for walleyes. Most are open for 3 over 50. They opened up 3 lakes for keeping walleyes in the last couple of years also, whereas they have closed a couple in your area. These lakes have a great balance for all species and monsters to boot! Many records come from the south. My concern is central alberta as with those lakes being closed, people will travel south and north to keep a bunch. Poeple will travel farther and put more pressure than many lakes deserve. Open up a few central lakes, stock them regularily, and the pressure will be off LLB and many other lakes in your area. Spread the pressure out other than concentrating it to 2 areas. maybee you will be able to keep some out of many of the closed lakes in your area, Of which, there are way more there than in the south.

and fisher posh, all those descriptions werent just for LLB. Bistco you have to fly or sled into. Not usable by general public. primrose where yes, they are taking broodstock from, is heavily netted and not usable by the public. LLB is useable by the public and the only public accessible lake being stocked after 3 years of the gov saying theyre bringing back the stocking program. one lake. quite hillarious.

Mr. Penner Yes i know primrose is where the broodstock is coming from, and it is full of great walleyes. I understand they need to restock to keep it stable, but the lake is netted heavily. kinda nasty knowing they are netting all the broodstock.
one of your concerns was the price tag on all this! what, we dont have the bucks to pull off a walleye stocking program? They do it in Saskatchewan, and well, in many other poorer provinces,and it works very well for many of thie rlakes!! and they have an eight of the cash we got, were just bein cheap and its hurting all lakes. The price tag should not be a reason to put a halt to a program that would save many other lakes. Make sense?
the draw system would be a great tool, if they monitored the lakes they were trying it on to see the effects, but, theyre not.
the experts are right in opening up the lakes again, but they need supplemental stocking to keep them stable, and some lakes need waaaaay less walleyes in them. But with no stocking, that will not happen. It can be the way it was before, but the cheap ass gov wont spring fo rit!
they got you duped too.

Walleyes, yer hillaroius, You may have seen alot in your times living there, but did you ever study trends, waterflows in all tribs, netting, fish counts, forage studies, and all the other crap the gov would pull off to come up with what was mentioned? NO. Your focus was puttin bair bait out. So yah, its quite obvious you have no clue whats goin on in your own area even though you seen it all in the last 30 years. I seen lots of things too, but it dont equate it with things getting better or worse. Except for this walleye stocking bull theyre pullin on us all. Poor wake for having to hear that from you!

Many of you wont agree with what i'm sayin, i dont care. But you gotta look past your beliefs to realize things can be better, and could have been 13 years ago, or more. just he gov is too cheap and wont give back after taking sooo much! We could have it all, but they have convinced us all it will never work that way, when many know it will! I know it will work the old way. but its all about the money they say we dont have. How sad, truly.

steelhead

Cornsy · #19 08-05-2008, 08:57 PM

38 million walleye?? did i read this post correctly??

FisherPotch · #20 08-05-2008, 10:01 PM

Steel head,

I've never had a warning but I'm likely going to get one for this. My user name is Fisher Potch learn to read!

You never said the word Bistcho. So don't even go there, you don't have a clue. I flew in and outa there every month working as a summer student for paramount resorces at a gas plant just miles from the lake. Fished the lake damn near everyday. It is usable by the general public you just have to get there. Like LLB open to the general public to my understanding. I stated I've never fished LLB, not many people do.

You posted lies man. Get your facts straight or don't post, or be sure to be more clear. If you don't you can expect to get jumped on by locals that actually have a clue.

Ever fished lanonne? I slayed burbit and pike there this winter, people also target perch. I didn't catch one walleye and thats what I catch everywhere else.

Maybe you wern't BS'ing you just wern't clear. So next time if your talking about Bistcho or Primrose start a thread, this one was about LLB. Or atleast state that those are the lakes that you are talking about rather than pulling it out your arse 4 days later!

Quote Steelhead
So they stock a lake that no one can fish at (except for subsistence netters), one that is soooo far that only air travel and snowmobiles can get to, and one that gets fishing pressure.

I fail to see where you said Bistcho. You didn't, so people corrected you. Thats what happens here when you post BS.

Quote me
Does lac la biche realy get that much fishing pressure? Is the lake only open to the netters? I've never fished the lake before but I've driven right along it in the mid of winter many a time and to my knowlege neither of those statements are true. For such a large lake I don't think it gets much pressure at all. I realy don't know though. All I know is everyone I know that fishes that region fish the lakes around it, not lac la biche itself. There is much better fishing around, especially for walleye. That I would think is why they are stocking Lac la Biche, because it's the one that doesn't have much of a walleye pop.

Notice where I said "I realy don't know though" That's cause I've never fished it!! Have you??? I was stating what I've heard and seen. And asking questions because I don't know. Thats what people do when they don't know, thay ask! You just BS'd their way through it like you are some LLB fishery guru / biologist. Thats how you sounded man, honestly I don't want you running our stocking program that is for sure. I wouldn't want the job, these guys have there work cut out man, its an uphill battle have some respect they are majorly underfunded.

Fact: LLB gets little pressure for it's size. Others have backed me on this.
Fact: you can drive there in a car. If you'd been there you would know.
When you made your first post I thought you were talking LLB, YOU were the only one thinking Bistcho because YOU didn't stat it ANYWHERE!!! Notice the thread title "Walleye stocking in Lac La Biche"

So don't you go calling me names when you obviously made the mistake of thinking that you know anything about it or you just forgot to say Bistcho. Everyone makes mistakes. But to go spazzing on everyone else when you F'd up is disrespectful. I've already stated that I don't know from experience just word of mouth, but these mouths wern't spitting lies.

I don't know where Primrose came from, I never say'd anything about it. Nor do I know anything about it. So i'm not sure why you directed that towards me.

We all know damn well the program is underfunded, start a thread.

You wana avoid having me rant on you like this? Next time spell my name correct I'm sick of the childs play on here. And as pre warning I'ma be on the forum till 6:30 am. You wana start a war? I'd recommend staying down.

I'll also appologize on this open forum for spazzing. I don't like doing it but I'm absolutly sick of people screwing up my name on purpose. Sorry Steelhead. Sorry folks.

steelhead · #21 08-05-2008, 10:11 PM

easy buddy,

I made a spelling error, like i did many times in my post! sorry for missing aletter

i didnt call anyone names nor have I or will i ever,

I state my points, and you can respond to them as you wish, but that was not how i responded to you, treat others like you would want to be treated. I responded to everyone elses relpy to me with points, not name calling and no "up yours" comments.

I have hired a helicopter and fished bistcho and flown from out of zama city, been there, I have fished lanonne, labiche, holy, why am i responding to this

sorry you misread my post and took it the wrong way,

like I said, i dont care what you think, i post what i have observed and found through looking deeply into whats goin on, you dont like it, dont treat me that way, i never did to you, if you think i posted lies, then prove me wrong, i will almost guarantee, you cant.

steelhead

Walleyes · #22 08-06-2008, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wake

Ooops sorry wake bit of a type o I see why the big huh ??? it was early May that I was with my bear baits..

But I would like to know what part of the river you were at that you feel it is drying up.. I am not sure how far up a river walleye go to spawn I was always lead to beleive that they will go as far as they can and if thats the case there is lots of river for them.. If we could only get some of the suckers out of the river they may have a chance.

Walleyes · #23 08-06-2008, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Walleyes, yer hillaroius, You may have seen alot in your times living there, but did you ever study trends, waterflows in all tribs, netting, fish counts, forage studies, and all the other crap the gov would pull off to come up with what was mentioned? NO. Your focus was puttin bair bait out. So yah, its quite obvious you have no clue whats goin on in your own area even though you seen it all in the last 30 years. I seen lots of things too, but it dont equate it with things getting better or worse. Except for this walleye stocking bull theyre pullin on us all. Poor wake for having to hear that from you!

Didn't intend to be hillaroius there steel,, just trying to paint a more accurate picture of the river for all those concurned, I would think that someone who lives by the river his whole life (42 years) would have a bit of a handle as to the state of the river but I geuss those that come out for a couple days once in their life may know more about it than us dumn locals..

I have observed them doing their studies,, they came down to the house to do a study on Gull Creek a couple years back. Gull Creek is a small pike spawning creek that runs out of L.L.B. lake and runs just down the hill from my house I live about a mile from L.L.B. lake. Anyways they came two years in a row. One year two young university students come to the house wanting to find thier way down to the creek ( they drove over it on the way to my house) anyways the 9 year old takes them down to the creek and shows them around. And as usual they came in June when the creek is very low and damned up again. After they get back I was chatting with them and they had come to the conclusion that the Pike can't spawn in Gull Creek do to the water levels being to low,,, hello !! its June !!! they should of been there in April when it was running over the road and broke all the Beaver damns and the Pike were up it all the way to the neibours pasture...

So exuse me if I am a little condisending but I have experienced some of the studies that have taken place. I am not saying that all are done this inacurately but please don't tell me that I do not have a handle on a river that runs through my neibourhood and one that I spend a great deal of time on. I don't have a degree in Bioligy but I do have a diploma in common sense...

But I could really careless about all this and I hope that the program continues and that some day soon we can go out and catch some of the hogs that used to run in that lake,, man were they something..

steelhead · #24 08-06-2008, 10:12 AM

The drying up of lakes and rivers have been goin on in quite a bit up that way. Siebert is a good example. Is it still 10 feet on the down low?

One of the biggest and most harmfull problems these fish have to face is the degredation of thier habitat. Most or all of it is not natural. Looseing 10 feet on a lake, or a stream drying up, destroys vital rapairian habitat where the little guys hide, feed and grow.

One cause. That area is full of steam injection wells to make the oil flow easier. They have to get thier water from somewhere. The people of Marie Lake were right to stop any seismic in thier area. If they find the oil, then that water table will get it too.

We have been blinded by the govs excuse of overfishing while it is used to hide the fact that the oil companies are running amok with the water that supports these fish.

Can anyone tell me any other lakes in the area affected by low water levels? From what i have heard, the sand river is in peril too. And from what i saw last year, its almost coming true.

A very sensitive area you fellas live in. And the search and mining for oil is helping it slide much faster. I love that area too and visit it yearly. I would hate to see overfishing blamed, when its not!

STEELHEAD

I will never doubt your observations Walleyes. Sometimes what we see and observe doesnt tell us the bigger picture. Yes, the studies can be way off in thier timing. but they are being studied. Either way, they will blame overfishing while we never hear about habitat destruction.

Walleyes · #25 08-06-2008, 10:47 AM

I wondered how long it would take to blame the oil companies for this

At least we all care steel which is something anyways...

Steel,, if you ever get the chance give me a shout I would be glad to take you out for a walleye fish some time to one of my little honey holes and then maybe we could talk a little more about this stuff face to face as you can see I have dificulty putting stuff to written word..

Take care,, and good luck..

Penner · #26 08-06-2008, 11:49 AM

The interesting thing on the Seibert Lake water levels is that there are no oil developments within close proximity of Seibert Lake …Yet! However Pinehurst, Spencer, and Touchwood are only a stones through away a the water levels on those lakes remain fairly stable. There appears to be something else going on but I have no ideas to what that may be. I wouldn’t say the Seibert Lake water levels problems are because of oil development. I wouldn’t say that decimated water levels in Mann, Muriel, Cache, etc. are because of oil development either. Nothing for oil development for miles around those lakes.

As for the Marie Lake situation, just to be clear it wasn’t just the seismic testing that was required to take place that most sane folks were upset about but the fact that the oil company OSUM Corp. wanted to build caverns beneath Marie Lake using an unproven hybrid SAGD technology as the current SAGD technology could not extend out far enough to the oil reserves right under Marie Lake. There is no doubt the oil is under Marie and there is lots of it. Probably just a matter of time before someone gets to it.

FYI, OSUM Corp. has lease rights on the north shores of Cold Lake and as well in and around Moore Lake. It will be interesting to see what OSUM Corp. is planning to do with those leases.

steelhead · #27 08-06-2008, 01:27 PM

Walleyes wrote "But I could really careless about all this"

I guess i got confused when you told me this in a previous post. If you dont care about all this, things will never change.

Between Wolf Lake and Seibert, there is some oil Activity. It was oil activity that made some of the roads there. The LaCorey and Iron river areas are full of steam injected wells and not too far south. Bonnyville and all around Cold Lake is a mecca for these same wells. They arent taking water directly from the lakes, but they are from the groundwater. It takes hundreds loads of water to get at this oil. Lots of hills in that area. Some lakes at different elevations of each other and on different water tables. Runoff streams arent the only supply these lakes have, they do rely on groundwater to keep full. Wanna make it rich, own a water truck in these areas. A slight imbalance in the groundwater can have adverse effects for a hundred KM's in these areas to feeder creeks and the lakes as proven to be true in many other parts of this country and this province. Seeing as many of these drying lakes are within 30-40 kms of major steam injection sites, It is highly possible that they can lower water levels in any waterbody. Depending on how the groundwater sits in an aquifer, it may only affect certain lakes. Water levels on other lakes being "fairly" stable Is also an indicator of impending troubles. Look at the willow lines on some of the lakes you mentioned, they hide the old shores quite well. Even a permanent 2 foot drop in water levels can kill a shoreline habitat. And the oil companies also made plans to take water from a few lakes in the area, but were shot down. The need water. They will get it.

When I asked fisheries techs lat year at Siebert why the water was so low, they did mention, as one of 2 causes, that the groundwater was being exploited. The other was poor snowpack. Groundwater being the first mentioned. 2 years of heavy snowpack hasnt fixed these lakes. wheres the water going? They might not have the caverns under a lake, but when theyre within 40 KMs of many lakes, there will be adverse effects. They stopped the caverns under one lake, but there quite a few in between them all under dry ground.

And Walleyes, I would really like to go fishin with ya someday. All the people I fish with up there just want to go for perch and pike. Fishing with someone that has been in that area for as long as you have would be excellent. And yes, I would look forward to conversing with you. The internet doesnt show enough emotion or allow quick points to be shared easily. All the best, and happy fishing!

Steelhead

CORNSY - yes, you are correct in reading 38 million walleyes.

Walleyes · #28 08-06-2008, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Walleyes wrote "But I could really careless about all this"

I guess i got confused when you told me this in a previous post. If you dont care about all this, things will never change

I just meant that my point of veiw is not really that important in the big scope of things is all..

And all the speculation on the use of ground water is just that speculation,, I will not say its not true nor would I say its absolute but I'm sure it has some affect. But that is a whole nother subject all together now isn't it...

wake · #29 08-06-2008, 03:19 PM

Sorry walleyes for the huh.

I just take a little offense when someone questions the quality of work we do and when we suggest protecting waterbodies I hope we arent just saying ''we think'' this waterbody should have these rules.

I have studied this lake since the mid 80's and things have changed alot as time often does to things.

Looking at eggs we have collected from the lake in the past we have seen reasons such as water quality effecting the embryos and often killing them before they ever get a chance to hatch.

I could go on with reason after reason.

I am part of a team trying to help maintain and improve fishing across this province, not ruin it.

I fish and hunt when ever I get a chance, so I am not strictly ''the guy'' who is just some science or biology nerd.

I hope this helps.