Praise for Alberta Fishing Limits

67Elmo · #1 06-05-2014, 06:55 PM

While I know Fish and Wildlife gets a fair amount of flack at times on this forum, let me tell you my experiences with walleye fishing at Lac Ste Anne west of Edmonton:

After finishing university and spending a few years in Toronto, I moved to Edmonton in 1980. I had done a ton of walleye fishing in my native Manitoba, so back then I did a fair amount in Lac Ste Anne. Even though I knew how to fish walleye "Manitoba style" (jigs with minnows, pickerel rigs, trolling Canadian Wiggers, etc) my statistics were as follows. ONE WALLEYE PER TEN (10) FISHING EXPEDITIONS. The fishing was insanely poor for walleye, and I always would slide up to other boats fishing and ask if they were having any luck. In EVERY case that I remember back then, the answer was "Nope, no luck". I think in those days the limit was 8 walleye per person per day.

Now with the limit being zero for walleye, except for 3 a year if you get a draw slot size, the walleye fishing is awesome! Its nothing for me to get a dozen fat walleye in an hour or so in the evening (all released of course, except for the 3 size B I take home over the course of the summer for the frying pan). My biggest is about 6 lbs so far.

Fishing like this would be absolutely IMPOSSIBLE if there were limits on walleye. In a year or two they would be "all gone" just like in the early 80s. So I commend the wisdom of "zero limits" for any lakes near any major centres in Alberta. It just has to be done this way. Kudos to Fish and Wildlife for giving Albertans awesome fishing on our doorsteps.

BeeGuy · #2 06-05-2014, 06:59 PM

Gotta start somewhere.

RavYak · #3 06-05-2014, 07:15 PM

Benefits and drawbacks. You catch more fish but eat less...

I personally prefer walleye lakes that I am lucky to catch one or two as long as I can take them home over lakes where I can catch 50 and not keep any. The reason being that I consider walleye to be an eating fish not a sport fish.

Pike on the other hand I love catch and release and I think Wabamun is wonderful because of this. Sadly can't give SRD any credit for that though, maybe CN but not SRD...

BeeGuy · #4 06-05-2014, 07:20 PM

I'd like to see burbot get their due.

We have a long ways to go in this country.

It is a difficult balancing act, and many good changes have been made (revoking the barb ban hehe), but there are still glaring issues that need to be dealt with.

SCHOOCH · #5 06-05-2014, 07:43 PM

I personally especially at CVR would like to see some type of tag or even a slot limit go in place, we can regularly go out and catch 50+ eyes in a afternoon. What i do notice out there though is that the wallys seem to have these overly big heads attached to a very skinny body, of course some are 5+ lbs and look normal to me.....i'm not sure if there is too many eyes for the food source that is available or if thats normal, i grew up fishing back in Ont. and i can't remember ever seeing fish that just looked like they were starving. I do realize that a ton of fish get taken outta there yearly at the hands of the idiots that poach and the honest anglers are SOL.......

Habfan · #6 06-05-2014, 07:58 PM

Back in those days in Sask & Man we fished for walleye because of the challenge, and the fish fry at the end of the day ! Learning the skills to catch fish when others can't is more of a rush to me !! I agree it is a lot of fun to catch a pile of walleyes every time out on lakes that are catch & release but I still have to go out for some keepers just for the challenge !

savethesalmon · #7 06-06-2014, 07:48 AM

The quickest way to fix a bleeding fishery is to put a zero limit on it (unless you are pro wild gammete collection for population rehabilitation) but what are these minumum catch and keep limits for fisheries. Now the bigger fish that have the proven genetics to make more big fish are all being caught and killed, and knowing that the largest percentage of eggs come from the first few years classes of spawning fish your just ruining any opportunity of a trophy fishery. Eventually harvesting all of the oldest year class, there will come a point in the year where you have to wait for fish to grow into that catch size limit. stretching tails and short fish for many. Just a thought no proof Slot limits ? Tag systems?

cube · #8 06-06-2014, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 67Elmo

Now with the limit being zero for walleye, except for 3 a year if you get a draw slot size, the walleye fishing is awesome! Its nothing for me to get a dozen fat walleye in an hour or so in the evening (all released of course, except for the 3 size B I take home over the course of the summer for the frying pan). My biggest is about 6 lbs so far.

Kudos to Fish and Wildlife for giving Albertans awesome fishing on our doorsteps.

There is more to managing a fishery than just one species in my opinion.

In this time you are talking about the Pike population has plummeted to only 1 or 2% of what it once was. The Perch population has also been devastated and now sits at just a few percent of what it once was. The White fish population now sits at about 25% of what it once was. (Data from SRD's FWIN results)

I believe it's SRD's/Fish and Wildlife's responsibility to MANAGE THE WHOLE FISHERY NOT JUST THE WALLEYE. I fully believe, in the last decade or two if the walleye population had dropped that drastically they would not have waited for 9 years to do something about it. Not to mention that they have know about this phenomenon even longer. They have known from lakes like Pigeon etc. that when you manage a lake solely for one species there is a catastrophic effect on the other native species.

I can understand that they get allot of pressure from the walleye lobby but I still feel it is their duty to act not only politically but also scientifically.

Just My Opinion

savethesalmon · #9 06-06-2014, 09:06 AM

No doubt, have to establish a food chain. Same problem with lake ontario. They put in all these Salmonids and now they have to raise herring to feed all these fish in the lake.

livinstone · #10 06-06-2014, 09:47 AM

l think they should put fishing on a draw so they can control who can go catch and release

Jamie Black R/T · #11 06-06-2014, 09:51 AM

Do people really think you can bring walleye back into the eco system with ZERO effects on the other species?? something has to give to make room for them.

cube · #12 06-06-2014, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamie Black R/T

Do people really think you can bring walleye back into the eco system with ZERO effects on the other species?? something has to give to make room for them.

But do you really need to COLLAPSE the other species.

Jamie Black R/T · #13 06-06-2014, 10:33 AM

when people are willing to pay for a separate license and draw fees for one type of fish, why protect the others?

I dunno. I see what youre saying. But also enjoy a good feed of 10 inch perch out of lakes, with walleye tags, that everyone complains have no perch lol

Like bob said. Some long term commitment to research and enforcement to sustain healthy fisheries would be the best outcome. Funding not an issue since we are all willing to pony up right?

What are we waiting for?