NSR, how low is too low?

[RapStaff]

Sorry no youtube link, I got to experience it first hand.
To busy cheering to think about getting it on film.

[NSR Monger]

Originally Posted by RapStaff

Sorry no youtube link, I got to experience it first hand.
To busy cheering to think about getting it on film.

hahaha well think of other sometimes, we would all like to see that lol

[Alberta Bigbore]

I would say it's lower than last year this time.. But not 4 feet. My old haunt in fort sask still doesn't have much standing room by the bush.. So it could be alot worse

[davegrant]

Originally Posted by NSR Monger

Well.........yes instead of looking on google maps for free, go BUY a book, great advice.

Secondly, this spring I did lots of walking due to choice, (walking over an hour many times) but if you park at the closest possible spot, it is pretty rare one needs to walk a couple of KM's to get to their spot. There are many "secluded" spots on the NSR in Edmonton, I would still consider myself a river fisherman just becuase I dont park farther then needed just to walk a couple of KM's. I dont think you can classify people on how far they walk to fish. If I walk 2 hours to get some where but you can park 5 minutes away, that makes me a better fisherman because I walked for 2 hours?? Show me a point in the city where the closest you can park is over 2km's away......

Thirdly the river can raise and drop 2 feet in a week at anytime in the open water season, not just the fall. The river might drop another couple feet, I wouldnt consider us having "a long way to go" before it gets to the lowest point of the year. I'm pretty sure the river is only about a foot higher then last year this time judging from some of my spots, but I could be wrong so I will look for some data on this.

The ONLY useful information in your comment is that, yes, look for bends and points, they help create pools for the fish to hold in.

I guess you missed my point. The NSR in the city of Edmonton has about 5 percent of quality fish holding spots. I'll let you fish these and i'll concentrate on the other 95 percent which take a little effort to get to. Just talk to any of the guides that make a living finding fish for clients. BBJ or Keith(Get Hooked) are welcome to coment here. By the way, I learned these spots by buying a book may I suggest WALLEYE WISDOM by the LINDNER Brothers or WALLEYE THROUGH THE WEST by our very own outdoorsman TJ SCHWANKY sorry TJ if I spelled your name wrong but it is an awesome book.
Don't be so quick to critisize and you might learn something.

[NSR Monger]

Originally Posted by davegrant

I guess you missed my point. The NSR in the city of Edmonton has about 5 percent of quality fish holding spots. I'll let you fish these and i'll concentrate on the other 95 percent which take a little effort to get to.

I'm confused, so 5% of the nsr is edmonton city limits??? please explain??? lol
you can only catch fish in 5% of the river in edmonton??? I guess i did miss your point. Where did you get this data also??
If you drive to the mountains and hike for an hour to fish during the week thats good for you i guess?? Some of us have jobs and cant spend 5 hours just to get to the spot we are going to fish lol

Originally Posted by NSR Monger

I'm confused, so 5% of the nsr is edmonton city limits??? please explain???
If you drive to the mountains after work and hike for an hour to fish during the week thats good for you i guess?? Some of us have jobs and cant spend 5 hours just to get to the spot we are going to fish.

I'm going to assume he means that 5% of the NSR within city limits has good fish holding spots. Or maybe it's 5% of the good fish holding spots are within Edmonton city limits. Either way, I think he's exagerating a little.

[NSR Monger]

Originally Posted by WorldClass

I'm going to assume he means that 5% of the NSR within city limits has good fish holding spots. Or maybe it's 5% of the good fish holding spots are within Edmonton city limits. Either way, I think he's exagerating a little.

lol agreed

anyways, back to the point of this thread, there are still many spots you can fish the river in Edmonton. I know 2 of my spots are still producing. 1 spot that worked well with levels higher in the past is not right now, so I tried a different spot lol

Also try casting different distances from shore! when the water levels were higher they might have been biting closer to shore than they are now, so mayb try casting a bit farther out to get to the fish.

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Originally Posted by Alberta Bigbore

I would say it's lower than last year this time.. But not 4 feet. My old haunt in fort sask still doesn't have much standing room by the bush.. So it could be alot worse

not sure unless its come down alot in the past 5 days was down there Friday , and it wasnt down much but its crystal clear . Id emagine with the rain weve had in the past 3 days have brought it up . I dont know Theres alot less shore room then there was last year at this time . I might have to pull out the walleye stuff out of the boat , and header down to my spot . Chuck some 1/4 oz jigs .

[FishinDaddy]

"slay some Walleye"??? Take Limit for Walleye in the NSR is 0 that's zero. With proper catch and release I hope you aren't slaying any.

[buckmaster]

Originally Posted by FishinDaddy

"slay some Walleye"??? Take Limit for Walleye in the NSR is 0 that's zero. With proper catch and release I hope you aren't slaying any.

Really???

[Geezle]

Originally Posted by FishinDaddy

"slay some Walleye"??? Take Limit for Walleye in the NSR is 0 that's zero. With proper catch and release I hope you aren't slaying any.

It's a figure of speech

[latenite]

Originally Posted by FishinDaddy

"slay some Walleye"??? Take Limit for Walleye in the NSR is 0 that's zero. With proper catch and release I hope you aren't slaying any.

Sorry, but I agree with FishinDaddy, in that it seems more and more anglers are targeting Walleye. I know we all are aware how long it takes them to mature to spawning age, and yet people are increasingly targeting them. I see it on Sylvan and Gull alot. I got to say it does bother me a bit, mostly because of the mortality. Barbless or not, some of those fish will die when released. Granted the populations are recovering very nicely in those bodies of water, but if the limit is "zero", why are anglers targeting them so aggressively? I mean, they're not just casting, they're jigging in the hopes of catching walleye. Seen it on Pigeon too.
My two cents; if you want to fish them, I certainly can't stop you, just putting it out there.

[NSR Monger]

Originally Posted by latenite

Sorry, but I agree with FishinDaddy, in that it seems more and more anglers are targeting Walleye. I know we all are aware how long it takes them to mature to spawning age, and yet people are increasingly targeting them. I see it on Sylvan and Gull alot. I got to say it does bother me a bit, mostly because of the mortality. Barbless or not, some of those fish will die when released. Granted the populations are recovering very nicely in those bodies of water, but if the limit is "zero", why are anglers targeting them so aggressively? I mean, they're not just casting, they're jigging in the hopes of catching walleye. Seen it on Pigeon too.
My two cents; if you want to fish them, I certainly can't stop you, just putting it out there.

Do you work for PETA?? Do you mate with walleye?? Why are walleye more important then any other fish?? Is it better to go kill a bunch of whitefish just for fun instead?? like wow are you talking out of your *****, theres basically only 3-4 fish to target around Edmonton, trout are a bit more south/west (i think) And you can catch Pike with a jig just as easily as a walleye. If they are jigging and catching mostly walleye, my guess is there is predominantly walleye there over pike, meaning in theory, you should be more concerned about killing the pike that you catch less often.

Any fish you catch has a chance of mortality, regardless of the species, practice proper methods of catch and release and these numbers can be pretty low. If the fish is not gut hooked, it has a VERY HIGH chance of surviving just fine. If the fish happens to get gut hooked, there is still a good chance the fish can survive is released properly. Mortality can depend highly on the fisherman releasing the fish.

Also you say "they're not just casting, they're jigging", like what does that even mean, how does one jig without putting his line in the water (casting)? Do you just cast with nothing on the end of your line?? Would it be better to target them with a bottom bouncer or a p-rig or a spoon or a lindy rig??

Thanks alot for your two cents you put out there, next time make it a dollar it might be more useful. Maybe next time you can tell all us fisherman what we should be targeting to make you happy.

Also, do you even know how long it takes them to get to reproduction age?? or is that just straight from your ***** as well

[latenite]

Originally Posted by NSR Monger

Do you work for PETA?? Do you mate with walleye?? Why are walleye more important then any other fish?? Is it better to go kill a bunch of whitefish just for fun instead?? like wow are you talking out of your *****, theres basically only 3-4 fish to target around Edmonton, trout are a bit more south/west (i think) And you can catch Pike with a jig just as easily as a walleye. If they are jigging and catching mostly walleye, my guess is there is predominantly walleye there over pike, meaning in theory, you should be more concerned about killing the pike that you catch less often.

Any fish you catch has a chance of mortality, regardless of the species, practice proper methods of catch and release and these numbers can be pretty low. If the fish is not gut hooked, it has a VERY HIGH chance of surviving just fine. If the fish happens to get gut hooked, there is still a good chance the fish can survive is released properly. Mortality can depend highly on the fisherman releasing the fish.

Also you say "they're not just casting, they're jigging", like what does that even mean, how does one jig without putting his line in the water (casting)? Do you just cast with nothing on the end of your line?? Would it be better to target them with a bottom bouncer or a p-rig or a spoon or a lindy rig??

Thanks alot for your two cents you put out there, next time make it a dollar it might be more useful. Maybe next time you can tell all us fisherman what we should be targeting to make you happy.

Also, do you even know how long it takes them to get to reproduction age?? or is that just straight from your ***** as well

I see from your reply you have nothing constructive to say, just @#$% ! How long have you been fishing? A month???? You yap, but offer no results.
I fish for whites, pike, perch and rainbows because they have A CATCH LIMIT. I don't target walleye if there zero limit.
To me, casting is when you "whip" your lure out over the water, jigging is when you just drop it over the side of the boat and jig. Hope that clears it up for you.
Male walleyes mature in 2-4 years, females in 3-5. I googled it, next time try it yourself. Or would you rather bark straight from your *** ?

[chriscosta]

Lmao wow a lil touchy haha anyways on waters like pigeon and sylvan where the walleyes infest the lake and have boatloads of anglers doin c n r for walleye and only walleye you can watch people get hundreds a day and yet I dont see any dead floaters so in my experience its rare that a fish is killed by a hook

[FishingFrenzy]

Originally Posted by latenite

I see from your reply you have nothing constructive to say, just @#$% ! How long have you been fishing? A month???? You yap, but offer no results.
I fish for whites, pike, perch and rainbows because they have A CATCH LIMIT. I don't target walleye if there zero limit.
To me, casting is when you "whip" your lure out over the water, jigging is when you just drop it over the side of the boat and jig. Hope that clears it up for you.
Male walleyes mature in 2-4 years, females in 3-5. I googled it, next time try it yourself. Or would you rather bark straight from your *** ?

Male Northern Pike mature at approximately 4-5 years, generally grow to approximately 28”/71cm and have a life expectancy of 15-25 years.

Female Northern Pike mature at approximately 5-6 years, grow considerably faster than males and live considerably longer.

In the northern waters, females often are larger, grow faster, live longer, and mature in three to four years. Males mature in two to three years at a smaller size.


So its NOT OK to target walleye because they take 2-5 years to reach maturity... but its ok to target pike even though they take longer to reach maturity? On the same note perch take the same amount of time to mature as walleye....

It appears as though you my friend, are the one talking thru your bumhole.

Walleye are fish just like any other fish, and im going to continue to catch and release them. Fish are fish are fish, I like catching them all. Infact in many 0 walleye limit water bodies, walleye predominate over other fish. So shouldn't we target walleye, to save the struggling populations of other species.

[latenite]

Only touchy when members start blabbering without anything constructive to say.
I do agree, that there are not many floaters considering how many anglers are fishing for them, which is good. Also the populations are recovering very well, which is nice to see.
Like I said though, it was just my opinion, I can't stop people from fishing for them. That's the point of a forum, to voice our stories and opinions.
And no I don't work for PETA, I'll leave that for Pamela Anderson.

[NSR Monger]

Originally Posted by latenite

To me, casting is when you "whip" your lure out over the water, jigging is when you just drop it over the side of the boat and jig. Hope that clears it up for you.

I mostly river fish, explain how I can jig like that from shore. jigging is using a jig head........and I already knew how long it takes for walleye to mature, its on the sign at slave lake hahaha also yeah i did start fishing like 3 days ago hahahah your a goof

What do you mean I offer no results?? I have caught well over 100 walleye this year, I killed them all hahaha

Do you fish for pike at Wab, cuz the limit is 0 on all fish there, meaning no one should ever fish at Wab i guess

[latenite]

Originally Posted by FishingFrenzy

In the northern waters, females often are larger, grow faster, live longer, and mature in three to four years. Males mature in two to three years at a smaller size.

Frenzy, would you agree that from this line, the "average" maturity age is 3 years?
I did some more research with a friend and the in info I gave on walleye maturity is actually for souther climates. It appears in northern climates like ours its at least double, say 6 years average. We also discovered that walleye fry mortality rate is almost 80%. Something NSR monger should have told us since he read it on a sign. That would have been a result NSR.
Also NSR, if you drop a minnow on a hook down a ice fishing hole, and bounce it up and down, what do you call that?? Casting? I call that jigging. I also use jig heads to jig as well.

[Zorehor]

What if we cast a jig head?

[NSR Monger]

Originally Posted by latenite

Also NSR, if you drop a minnow on a hook down a ice fishing hole, and bounce it up and down, what do you call that?? Casting? I call that jigging. I also use jig heads to jig as well.

I call that ice fishing, you cant really "cast" in the normal sense when you are ice fishing.

plus i asked you what its called when i cast a jig head out from shore then reel it back in. is that casting or jigging? hahaha plus your not really addressing the other comments on ur other ridiculous comments. you still havent told us why you have a hard on for walleye so bad and want us to catch (kill in ur eyes) any other fish then ur precious walleye.

plus you better run out to wab QUICK and stop everyone from fishing a lake with a ZERO catch limit. Is it ok to target PIKE in body of water that has a zero limit on pike? or is it only wrong to target walleye when the limit is zero.

when i was at slave last month an TARGETED WALLEYE is that ok since there is a limit of 1 per day?? p.s. my buddy and i KILLED and ATE 4 walleyes, I hope thats ok with you, I should have asked if you wanted to have sex with any of them first

[carterM]

Originally Posted by NSR Monger

I call that ice fishing, you cant really "cast" in the normal sense when you are ice fishing.

plus i asked you what its called when i cast a jig head out from shore then reel it back in. is that casting or jigging? hahaha plus your not really addressing the other comments on ur other ridiculous comments. you still havent told us why you have a hard on for walleye so bad and want us to catch (kill in ur eyes) any other fish then ur precious walleye.

plus you better run out to wab QUICK and stop everyone from fishing a lake with a ZERO catch limit. Is it ok to target PIKE in body of water that has a zero limit on pike? or is it only wrong to target walleye when the limit is zero.

when i was at slave last month an TARGETED WALLEYE is that ok since there is a limit of 1 per day?? p.s. my buddy and i KILLED and ATE 4 walleyes, I hope thats ok with you, I should have asked if you wanted to have sex with any of them first

Wow... Talk about completely missing the point of someone's argument. What he's saying is that he has a problem with targetting a species of fish which has a 0 limit as the population in that body of water is vulnerable to overfishing. Wab would not fall into this category as the 0 limit there is an attempt at creating a trophy fishery (or maybe out of concern from the CN spill??).

His comment regarding seeing people jigging vs casting is regarding jigging off the side of a boat being a method to target walleye whereas casting would be more likely to target pike. He's using this to differentiate between accidental bycatch of walleye while targetting pike, or fishing to catch either pike or walleye (casting would probably fall into this category) and actively targetting walleye by vertical jigging (probably going to catch more walleye than by casting).

His problem would (I'm guessing?) be with targetting a vulnerable population, not targetting walleye. You hear the same concerns being brought up by trout fishermen regarding targetting trout in water with a higher temperature (and therefore lower dissolved oxygen content) which makes them a more vulnerable population.

Not everyone who raises an opinion contrary to yours is talking out his backside. I don't agree with him btw, but come on...

[BGSH]

NSR MONGER LOVES TO ARGUE THATS ALL HE'S GOOD FOR.

[carterM]

Ah... Sorry Shawn. Haven't been on here much lately. If he likes it so much, you'd think he'd be good at it by now.

[WayneChristie]

thought this was about water levels not fishing for walleye???? get back to the intent people! low water levels are a perfect time to scout for new fishing holes, runs and other fish holding structure, Ive found some awesome places to fish in the fall just exploring and using my eyes, they produce all year and if I hadnt searched when the river was low and clear I would have never found them. (Bow river BTW) doubt the NSR is any different. and if its wrong to fish for fish with a zero limit call me a badguy, because I fish for sturgeon every chance I get.