Should there be Laker tags at Cold lake for 2020

[-JR-]

I think its time they release some tags for 65cm and larger Lakers at Cold lake .
But at the same time keep it general for all to catch one 75 cm Laker.
I do believe with all the money raised ,that it should go back in making bigger dock and of course a covered in fish cleaning station

[Kurt505]

I don’t agree with “fish for prophet”, it sets a scary precedence.

Keeping 75cm plus seems like a brain dead compromise imo, killing the big breeders. A limit of one 45-55 would be nice though.

[35 whelen]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

I don’t agree with “fish for prophet”, it sets a scary precedence.



Keeping 75cm plus seems like a brain dead compromise imo, killing the big breeders. A limit of one 45-55 would be nice though.

Exactly keep a smaller one let the bigger ones grow

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

I don’t agree with “fish for prophet”, it sets a scary precedence.

Keeping 75cm plus seems like a brain dead compromise imo, killing the big breeders. A limit of one 45-55 would be nice though.

Expecially on a slow growing species like lake trout

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

I don’t agree with “fish for prophet”, it sets a scary precedence.

Keeping 75cm plus seems like a brain dead compromise imo, killing the big breeders. A limit of one 45-55 would be nice though.

Agree just luv to have one to throw on the BBQ.....maybe next season things might change....if not it's still an amazing time out on the water when you can catch so many species on that lake....and now it's freakin' peaceful too

[Bhflyfisher]

Changing the slot to one under or one between 50cm-60cm would be better. Even a draw with limited numbers of tags at no cost would benefit the fishery. No need to turn it into a "profit". Be nice to see things for once just be focused on improving population structure and the health of the lake.

[Kurt505]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

I don’t agree with “fish for prophet”, it sets a scary precedence.

Keeping 75cm plus seems like a brain dead compromise imo, killing the big breeders. A limit of one 45-55 would be nice though.

Fish for prophet.... bahaha!

I guess I’m hoping for a miracle

[RavYak]

I think a slot limit 1 fish 63 to 70 cm(25-27.5 in) would work but would be fine with tags. I am opposed to adding tags for smaller fish and also leaving the current regs in place, I want to catch big lakers and you can barely do that even with current regs. I have no interest in eating these grease bags, I would rather go catch a pike and eat a 10 times better fish instead.

[pikeman06]

Originally Posted by 35 whelen

Exactly keep a smaller one let the bigger ones grow

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What are you talking about? This is alberta fishery management bud, we don't roll like that...kill your breeders to the point of no return then shut it right down a few years too late and throw a million new predators in to really mess things up then sell tags and claim that's how ya rebuild a fishery when they are the ones that wrecked it to begin with. Sure I'll buy a tag and throw it in the garbage to save a potential breeder. Then go to pierce and catch a couple nice 3 lb trout and eat them. Not filter thru 30 of them trying to get a keeper.

[Kurt505]

Originally Posted by pikeman06

What are you talking about? This is alberta fishery management bud, we don't roll like that...kill your breeders to the point of no return then shut it right down a few years too late and throw a million new predators in to really mess things up then sell tags and claim that's how ya rebuild a fishery when they are the ones that wrecked it to begin with. Sure I'll buy a tag and throw it in the garbage to save a potential breeder. Then go to pierce and catch a couple nice 3 lb trout and eat them. Not filter thru 30 of them trying to get a keeper.

^^^ Like ^^^

[-JR-]

The big lakers are disappearing because of all the netting that is going on at cold lake . If the native are allowed to keep any size i think there should be one tag given not 3 like a walleye
I also still think the money raised threw tags must go to the lake they were given to and to be used for more boat launches or bigger docks so you can tie your boat to till you load up . gets very crowed when the wind picks up.
i think we would all be in favour of a indoor fish cleaning station like you see in Sask.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by -JR-

The big lakers are disappearing because of all the netting that is going on at cold lake . If the native are allowed to keep any size i think there should be one tag given not 3 like a walleye
I also still think the money raised threw tags must go to the lake they were given to and to be used for more boat launches or bigger docks so you can tie your boat to till you load up . gets very crowed when the wind picks up.
i think we would all be in favour of a indoor fish cleaning station like you see in Sask.

AB regs on cleaning fish and transportation are much more strict then in SK. You can't fillet a fish prior to travel(because need to be able to prove length) so not much point in good fish cleaning stations.

You have to watch Cold Lake for this, the CO's watch the fish cleaning station and will ticket people for filleting fish then leaving to drive home.

[-JR-]

Originally Posted by RavYak

AB regs on cleaning fish and transportation are much more strict then in SK. You can't fillet a fish prior to travel(because need to be able to prove length) so not much point in good fish cleaning stations.

You have to watch Cold Lake for this, the CO's watch the fish cleaning station and will ticket people for filleting fish then leaving to drive home.

But you are allowed to filet them if you are going straight to your camping stall and fry them up ,as I was told by a fish cop at cold lake.
I am just not fond of cleaning fish when flies and hornets are all around the table and there is no water hose to clean up the table or rinse the fish .
Has every one seen the set ups they have at most lakes around Sask.
Because of these condition at our lakes I gut my catch out on the lake .

[mooseknuckle]

Originally Posted by RavYak

AB regs on cleaning fish and transportation are much more strict then in SK. You can't fillet a fish prior to travel(because need to be able to prove length) so not much point in good fish cleaning stations.

You have to watch Cold Lake for this, the CO's watch the fish cleaning station and will ticket people for filleting fish then leaving to drive home.

Weird? I must have gotten a newbie CO a couple weeks back. I left a 1sq/inch skin tag on each fillet and told that was all good? Why let you fillet at all then wouldnt they be able to walk into your camp and your cooking a fish fine you and confiscate cuz you couldnt prove lenght?

[mooseknuckle]

Originally Posted by -JR-

But you are allowed to filet them if you are going straight to your camping stall and fry them up ,as I was told by a fish cop at cold lake.
I am just not fond of cleaning fish when flies and hornets are all around the table and there is no water hose to clean up the table or rinse the fish .
Has every one seen the set ups they have at most lakes around Sask.
Because of these condition at our lakes I gut my catch out on the lake .

Wow ao confused? So i would have.to find a CO prior to cleaning and taking back to camp?

[RavYak]

mooseknuckle, if you are staying at the campground and take it straight back to your campsite to consume it immediately you are ok. Theoretically if you are going to take it back to campsite and put it in fridge/freezer they can fine you although I don't know if they go that far or not. That is why they asked you what you were doing with it(fishing to see if they could ticket you).

If you throw it in a cooler and drive home to Edmonton then you can be ticketed. The CO's at Cold will watch you fillet your fish, put it in your truck then as you go to drive away will ask you where you are headed. If you say home or somewhere other then back to the campsite to cook it for supper then they will ticket you... It has happened to others on here and to people I know.

The 1 inch of skin is a SK rule. No allowance for that in AB regs. Regs clearly state you can gut your fish but if it must be a certain length it must remain whole for transport(including head, tail and skin). Completely ridiculous but there are CO's that enforce this especially at Cold Lake.

http://www.albertaregulations.ca/fis...ansportingfish

I am from SK. I wish it wasn't so far to drive, I wouldn't even bother buying AB licences anymore...

[mooseknuckle]

Seems silly, but what do i know. What if i cook all the fish but only eat half... get stopped the next day on my way home? Fined for leftovers?

[CBintheNorth]

Originally Posted by RavYak

I think a slot limit 1 fish 63 to 70 cm(25-27.5 in) would work but would be fine with tags. I am opposed to adding tags for smaller fish and also leaving the current regs in place, I want to catch big lakers and you can barely do that even with current regs. I have no interest in eating these grease bags, I would rather go catch a pike and eat a 10 times better fish instead.

Pretty well this.

2 or 3 tags for 65 - 75 cm. That's it. Above and below gets let go.
There would be way less people weeding through hundreds, if not thousands of fish trying to find a keeper.
Pressure goes down, quantities harvested actually get controlled, fish get to breed at least once, big proven spawners live a long productive life, trophy quality goes up, a few fish get taken home , etc. etc..
I was speaking to a fisheries biologist and their fear was that if they allowed a slot limit harvest (only 65-75 can be kept) that with the pressure the lake sees, there'd be too few fish make it through the slot to sustain the population. I think they're right.
Tags would work well though, if allotted properly.

[wind drift]

Originally Posted by pikeman06

What are you talking about? This is alberta fishery management bud, we don't roll like that...kill your breeders to the point of no return then shut it right down a few years too late and throw a million new predators in to really mess things up then sell tags and claim that's how ya rebuild a fishery when they are the ones that wrecked it to begin with. Sure I'll buy a tag and throw it in the garbage to save a potential breeder. Then go to pierce and catch a couple nice 3 lb trout and eat them. Not filter thru 30 of them trying to get a keeper.

Actually, any lake trout in Cold Lake over 60cm is a potential “breeder”, and the minimum size limits protect the majority of “breeders” and their eggs because in any normal population there are many more young adults than old adults, due to effects of cumulative mortality. Killing the kids and teenagers doesn’t make more large fish, or more fish of any size. If you don’t want to kill an old trout, you don’t have to, but don’t kill the young ones.

I think some folks might not remember how bad it was at Cold Lake in the 80s and 90s when there were damn few lake trout left. The campgrounds were half empty. There was no guiding industry, like today. This fishery we have now is remarkable compared to back then. So, ya, it has been rebuilt here.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by wind drift

Actually, any lake trout in Cold Lake over 60cm is a potential “breeder”, and the minimum size limits protect the majority of “breeders” and their eggs because in any normal population there are many more young adults than old adults, due to effects of cumulative mortality. Killing the kids and teenagers doesn’t make more large fish, or more fish of any size. If you don’t want to kill an old trout, you don’t have to, but don’t kill the young ones.

I think some folks might not remember how bad it was at Cold Lake in the 80s and 90s when there were damn few lake trout left. The campgrounds were half empty. There was no guiding industry, like today. This fishery we have now is remarkable compared to back then. So, ya, it has been rebuilt here.

The regs that wrecked Cold Lake were far more liberal than what anyone here is proposing. Heck the regs that rebuilt Cold are more liberal then some of the ones being proposed...

Your thinking is flawed because it assumes every kid/teenager is killed. Regs that protect a larger fish population do grow larger fish as long as the regs are such to allow some fish to live into that protected size. The lakers in Cold grow to maturity fairly quickly then they plateau, the current overwhelming population of breeder size fish is not required to sustain the population.

You talk about fishing quality but you also fail to understand that many if not most anglers would rather go fishing and only catch a few fish but be able to keep one or two of them rather that be able to catch 50 and have to throw them all back.

[Penner]

First off a laker isn’t great table fair to begin with so having a conversation on keep limits to me seems funny. Hypothetically if there was interest in building a trophy fishery in Cold Lake then I’d be in favour of a tag system where there would be tags for smaller fish managed by a few Class of tags but no large or trophy size could ever be kept (nothing over 75cm). Alternatively to a tag system, a very tight slot size limit (like one between 56cm-59cm) might be possible. Or a sustainable stocking program with more liberal keep limits.

Originally Posted by RavYak

The regs that wrecked Cold Lake were far more liberal than what anyone here is proposing. Heck the regs that rebuilt Cold are more liberal then some of the ones being proposed...

I would suggest your thinking is flawed if you think “Regs” wrecked any population of fish on Cold or any other fish bearing waterbody in this Province. The “Regs” don’t keep the fish nor do the people that set them.

[wind drift]

Originally Posted by RavYak

The regs that wrecked Cold Lake were far more liberal than what anyone here is proposing. Heck the regs that rebuilt Cold are more liberal then some of the ones being proposed...

Your thinking is flawed because it assumes every kid/teenager is killed. Regs that protect a larger fish population do grow larger fish as long as the regs are such to allow some fish to live into that protected size. The lakers in Cold grow to maturity fairly quickly then they plateau, the current overwhelming population of breeder size fish is not required to sustain the population.

You talk about fishing quality but you also fail to understand that many if not most anglers would rather go fishing and only catch a few fish but be able to keep one or two of them rather that be able to catch 50 and have to throw them all back.

Actually, assuming that the mortality rate of teenagers is lower than what is sustainably produced when there is no real means to control the number of fish removed in that size/age category is flawed. Not every teenager has to be removed to cause decline, just more than what is replaced.

Also flawed is the premise that fish individual growth “plateaus” due to some “stunting” process, simply based on observations of the sizes of fish caught. We want to think that, but more plausibly, fish don’t just stop growing when they pass a size limit and scarcity of larger legal fish is a sign that mortality rates are high.

Those assumptions are biased and likely lack any real data on fishing pressure, mortality, growth rates, etc. other than personal observations.

The fishing pressure on the lake is much higher today than it was when those more liberal regs were in place. It’s a big lake, but not immune to fishing pressure.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by wind drift

Actually, assuming that the mortality rate of teenagers is lower than what is sustainably produced when there is no real means to control the number of fish removed in that size/age category is flawed. Not every teenager has to be removed to cause decline, just more than what is replaced.

Also flawed is the premise that fish individual growth “plateaus” due to some “stunting” process, simply based on observations of the sizes of fish caught. We want to think that, but more plausibly, fish don’t just stop growing when they pass a size limit and scarcity of larger legal fish is a sign that mortality rates are high.

Those assumptions are biased and likely lack any real data on fishing pressure, mortality, growth rates, etc. other than personal observations.

The fishing pressure on the lake is much higher today than it was when those more liberal regs were in place. It’s a big lake, but not immune to fishing pressure.

I didn't say stunting, I said the lakers grow quickly then plateau. It is also based on data not bias or my personal observations... They grow to 20 inches in ~7 years, become mature around this time or shortly after. At 10 years old they are 24 inches long, mature and after this they grow very slowly, ~0.5 inches per year.

https://www.ab-conservation.com/down...ld-L,AB,05.pdf

Since you bring up stunting, hockey stick stunting is a real thing and our own AB bios have brought it to our attention. It is the reason for our walleye tag system and it has been seen on a number of AB lakes including buck lake which is outlined in the following link.

https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/7707...t-jul-2011.pdf

As for fishing pressure the number of hours may be up but I doubt there are more fish kept. It is a huge lake and it doesn't really see that much pressure other then on weekends and even then there is lots of water that sees very limited pressure.

People that think our lakes are over pressured should go fish other provinces and states. We have more pressure then neighbouring provinces like SK. That doesn't mean we have high pressure, it means there are lots of lakes an very few people that live in SK...

[Kingfisher]

Who on earth would trust any politician to put money back into the lake where the tags were purchased for? Is it happening today? NO. Is it going to happen tomorrow or any time in the future? I highly doubt it.

So you can have all the poles you like. You can jump up and down and pound your fist. However, at the end of the day fish and wildlife will put the funds into a general revenue, and disperse it as they see fit. Mostly into their salaries. I can't say that they haven't put any new docks in. Because they put a few in over the years. But I don't hold my breath. As for a cleaning station. I don't think I've seen one throughout Alberta. I could be wrong though.

They seem to have an addenda and from the town hall meetings I have attended they come to the meeting only to tell everyone what they are going to do. Not ask what we think they should do.

[Mackinaw]

it would be hard to put tags on cold lake as it splits with Sash and they have no tag system

mack

[CptnBlues63]

Originally Posted by -JR-

I think its time they release some tags for 65cm and larger Lakers at Cold lake .
But at the same time keep it general for all to catch one 75 cm Laker.
I do believe with all the money raised ,that it should go back in making bigger dock and of course a covered in fish cleaning station

Boat launch fee's.......something like $5 per launch and/or a day/month/yearly fee.......are an effective way of providing $$$ for improving boat launch and docks. You could also put it toward cleaning stations.

I'm not sure why this hasn't caught on in AB but quite a few places do it in SK and the ones that do have awesome boat launches compared to the crap we put up with here.

I haven't gone after lake trout in a long time......none near where I live and when I go on a fishing trip, I go after walleye. But for you lake trout enthusiasts, you need to check out Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho.

Not only are there no limits of any kind on lake trout, you can get a $15 bounty for each lake trout head you bring in. Or at least, you could last June.