Should trophy fish be easy or difficult to catch?

[fish gunner]

I am very lucky to have lived in some of the worlds fishing meca's. kitimat ,54lb spring decent but not huge for that system in 10 years of trying.coho, steelhead same experience large fish landed but not the monsters the river produced every year.nelson ,I lived one mile from the balfor ferry. two fish over 20 lbs in ten years of fishing,15lbs smaller than the lake record. for me a trophy is a personal thing . I dont care if theres 40lb pike in alberta my trophy pike out here is 15lb. half the size of my personal best but still my alberta trophy.fish in a frying pan are good to eat once.fish get to grow big when they are returned unharmed.one of my friends released his personal best walleye without a picture just because it rolled its eyes in the snow at cold temps.next year we might get a chance at the picture of a life time if it was in the pan, end of story.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by canadiantdi

I'm sure it was a lot easier 50 years ago to find an extremely large healthy pike in Alberta. I find it strange that people are happy now that they are harder to come by, just to make the trophies more special.

Originally Posted by anthony5

I have been at this game for almost 50 years and 35 of them have been in Southern AB. Took me 28 of those years to catch a 46" pike. I have seen many 30lb+ give my offering a raised eyebrow look and mosey on their way, did I shed a tear, no but a few @#%*@ words followed and then wondered what I needed to do to get it right.

[canadiantdi]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

So do you really believe that the Alberta fishery is the same quality as it was 50 years ago?

[BeeGuy]

If anyone doubts the number of trophy fish in this province, they just need to scroll down and open a few more threads. Trophy fish get posted here every week.

Just because someone hasn't caught one doesn't mean the fishery is entirely mis-managed.

Just look at Badger, a lake everyone knows about, isn't very big and produces 25lb+ fish every year.

The only problem Alberta has is a lack of water. There are plenty of quality fish in the water it does have.

If there are 200 cars parked on Cross Lake, it can hardly be blamed on SRD when the perch disappear.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

If anyone doubts the number of trophy fish in this province, they just need to scroll down and open a few more threads. Trophy fish get posted here every week.

Buck Crazy posted a picture of a 48" pike and I'm 99.9% sure that it wasn't caught at a C&R lake. I don't know Buck Crazy or which lake (for sure) that he caught it in but I'm 99.9% sure that it's been mentioned numerous times by numerous posters in the past week as being a poor location to catch pike. He's gotta be pretty entertained by what has been posted.

I'm thinking that a few guys might be asleep at the wheel.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by canadiantdi

So do you really believe that the Alberta fishery is the same quality as it was 50 years ago?

I don't know, I wasn't fishing Alberta 50 years ago and I have a feeling that neither were you. I'll listen and take what anthony5 says at face value.

If you think about it, he's fished Alberta for 35 years and he didn't catch a 46" pike until 2 years ago. Wouldn't that suggest that the fishing for large pike is better now than it was 35 years ago?

......whatchyougot?

[Speckle55]

Originally Posted by Bush

Well said Wayne. The inner drive that makes me want to go fishing is the fact that I want to catch that one that's bigger than my last. When something grabs the hook I get so excited weather it's big or small i dont really know till its landed and if every time I cast my line it's a 40 lber the same as the last it would take the suspense out.

A lot of people on here think that fish just get bigger with age but age really has very little to do with it. There size is determined by how well they eat and mostly what the lake will support

FACT:A pike can die of old age at 26 yrs and still only be 30" long in a lake that's NEVER seen a fisherman

Agree

i have a 25 year old mounted 47 inches from a good lake feed wise

David

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by packhuntr

All the guys talking about catching hog predators every cast and balking about the benefit of healthy fisheries ARE completely off thier rockers! That simply IS NOT a realistic perception. No system is supposed to be flooded out with predators. APEX predators are to represent the smallest numbers in any system, ie top of the food chain, and subsequntly all predatory species and thier age classes are supposed to represent smaller numbers than that of prey. People talking about trophy this and trophy that is so unbelievably sad its unconcievable. If this thread is representation of what anglers ARE, or what being an angler IS in this day and age, we need people to spend more years of thier life in grade school. This is the saddest thread ive seen on here in a long time. Its no wonder why Biologists will not listen to anything people have to say unless in possesion of proof of education. LONG LIVE THE HOPE FOR HEALTHY FISHERY MANAGEMENT IN ALBERTA. Its tiring watching accesible fisheries being rode into the ground due to pizz poor regulation and overfishing of large predators, by "stewards" that couldnt care less what repricussions thier actions represent.

You started out and were doing okay but you kind of lost your focus when you got to the last sentence.

[packhuntr]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

If anyone doubts the number of trophy fish in this province, they just need to scroll down and open a few more threads. Trophy fish get posted here every week.

Just because someone hasn't caught one doesn't mean the fishery is entirely mis-managed.

Just look at Badger, a lake everyone knows about, isn't very big and produces 25lb+ fish every year.

The only problem Alberta has is a lack of water. There are plenty of quality fish in the water it does have.

If there are 200 cars parked on Cross Lake, it can hardly be blamed on SRD when the perch disappear.

Bee, You say just because some guys havent caught big fish doesnt mean its entirely mismanaged.
That could surely be the case for guys that dont do alot of fishing. Id even say that could be true for alot of guys that do alot of fishing but might not know how to do it. For guys that target strictly large predators on a year round basis Id say that assumptions are like azzholes.... LOL.
For example Bee. Since the start of Brooks Elks early open water derby, held foremerly on Newell and currently R.Hills res. My boat has never been out of the top 4, with multiple 2nds 3rds and a couple 4ths, 1 win that still holds the most pounds on 3 ever weighed at 41 3/4 from back when weights were used (livewells), and one year where I hooked and lost an estimated minimum 60 pounds on 3, with witness, One unbuttoned within net range and was a mere 15lb fish. All one day scenario, no time spent prefishing. I know my local lakes and I love hunting large predators. We have watched these fisheries stunting out. This is not wild assumption, it is fact. The majority of people that catch large pike in this province are not letting them go and they need to be, if it takes regulation to do it all the better, the choice needs to be (in my opinion) be removed all together. Its critical to the overall health of the fishery.
Additionally I disagree with your saying that its not SRD's fault if people "legally" fish out species/lakes.

[TyreeUM]

Originally Posted by packhuntr

Bee, You say just because some guys havent caught big fish doesnt mean its entirely mismanaged.
That could surely be the case for guys that dont do alot of fishing. Id even say that could be true for alot of guys that do alot of fishing but might not know how to do it. For guys that target strictly large predators on a year round basis Id say that assumptions are like azzholes.... LOL.
For example Bee. Since the start of Brooks Elks early open water derby, held foremerly on Newell and currently R.Hills res. My boat has never been out of the top 4, with multiple 2nds 3rds and a couple 4ths, 1 win that still holds the most pounds on 3 ever weighed at 41 3/4 from back when weights were used (livewells), and one year where I hooked and lost an estimated minimum 60 pounds on 3, with witness, One unbuttoned within net range and was a mere 15lb fish. All one day scenario, no time spent prefishing. I know my local lakes and I love hunting large predators. We have watched these fisheries stunting out. This is not wild assumption, it is fact. The majority of people that catch large pike in this province are not letting them go and they need to be, if it takes regulation to do it all the better, the choice needs to be (in my opinion) be removed all together. Its critical to the overall health of the fishery.
Additionally I disagree with your saying that its not SRD's fault if people "legally" fish out species/lakes.

I see exactly what you are saying, and I do not think bee guy would completely disagree with you either. One thing you have to consider though is the fisheries management plan that Ablerta has established. Is the over all goal of the management plan to create angler opportunity for everyone in the province or is it to manage water to produce trophy fish? So is the province really mismanaged? Or is the management plan just different from how you would choose to manage it?

[rapala76]

Originally Posted by packhuntr

Bee, You say just because some guys havent caught big fish doesnt mean its entirely mismanaged.
That could surely be the case for guys that dont do alot of fishing. Id even say that could be true for alot of guys that do alot of fishing but might not know how to do it. For guys that target strictly large predators on a year round basis Id say that assumptions are like azzholes.... LOL.
For example Bee. Since the start of Brooks Elks early open water derby, held foremerly on Newell and currently R.Hills res. My boat has never been out of the top 4, with multiple 2nds 3rds and a couple 4ths, 1 win that still holds the most pounds on 3 ever weighed at 41 3/4 from back when weights were used (livewells), and one year where I hooked and lost an estimated minimum 60 pounds on 3, with witness, One unbuttoned within net range and was a mere 15lb fish. All one day scenario, no time spent prefishing. I know my local lakes and I love hunting large predators. We have watched these fisheries stunting out. This is not wild assumption, it is fact. The majority of people that catch large pike in this province are not letting them go and they need to be, if it takes regulation to do it all the better, the choice needs to be (in my opinion) be removed all together. Its critical to the overall health of the fishery.
Additionally I disagree with your saying that its not SRD's fault if people "legally" fish out species/lakes.

I couldn't agree more with you, people should not have the choice anymore

[canadiantdi]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

I don't know, I wasn't fishing Alberta 50 years ago and I have a feeling that neither were you. I'll listen and take what anthony5 says at face value.

If you think about it, he's fished Alberta for 35 years and he didn't catch a 46" pike until 2 years ago. Wouldn't that suggest that the fishing for large pike is better now than it was 35 years ago?

......whatchyougot?

Because one person couldn't catch a fish a long time ago means that..... oh nevermind..

sigh.. ok, you win.. humans are helping... we are the reason the fish in Alberta are thriving...........

The more anglers and fishing pressure the lakes get, the bigger the fish get!!! ya!!

[Don Andersen]

How come this either or crap.

We now have a couple of tiny ponds in the Rocky area that are C&R and everything else is general regulation.
Why not a mix?

Don

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by packhuntr

Bee, You say just because some guys havent caught big fish doesnt mean its entirely mismanaged.
That could surely be the case for guys that dont do alot of fishing. Id even say that could be true for alot of guys that do alot of fishing but might not know how to do it. For guys that target strictly large predators on a year round basis Id say that assumptions are like azzholes.... LOL.
For example Bee. Since the start of Brooks Elks early open water derby, held foremerly on Newell and currently R.Hills res. My boat has never been out of the top 4, with multiple 2nds 3rds and a couple 4ths, 1 win that still holds the most pounds on 3 ever weighed at 41 3/4 from back when weights were used (livewells), and one year where I hooked and lost an estimated minimum 60 pounds on 3, with witness, One unbuttoned within net range and was a mere 15lb fish. All one day scenario, no time spent prefishing. I know my local lakes and I love hunting large predators. We have watched these fisheries stunting out. This is not wild assumption, it is fact. The majority of people that catch large pike in this province are not letting them go and they need to be, if it takes regulation to do it all the better, the choice needs to be (in my opinion) be removed all together. Its critical to the overall health of the fishery.
Additionally I disagree with your saying that its not SRD's fault if people "legally" fish out species/lakes.

Well, to play the devil's advocate,

lakes (and rivers) are not static systems, they go through cycles, both naturally, and in response to human impacts. So, one cannot expect any water, whether riverine or lacustrine to remain in a static state.

SRD cannot predict when or if a lake will become a hotspot, particularly if it is a small lake, and SRD does not have the resources to micromanage at this level.

Perhaps they need in-season limit changes like they have in BC (for salmon) so that when a hotspot for harvest (not C&R) is identified they can clamp down on harvest before it's too late.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by rapala76

I couldn't agree more with you, people should not have the choice anymore

the choice to what?

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

How come this either or crap.

We now have a couple of tiny ponds in the Rocky area that are C&R and everything else is general regulation.
Why not a mix?

Don

Do you mean, either/or, as in, all or nothing?

[Scotty P.]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

How come this either or crap.

We now have a couple of tiny ponds in the Rocky area that are C&R and everything else is general regulation.
Why not a mix?

Don

Thank you! I am wondering the Same thing. Why Not make some lakes C&R only for those that feel it will make for larger fish and keep limits on keepers for other lakes so that those who want to eat a few can. Seems like a win win to me

[BeeGuy]

Upper and Lower K more or less.
Wabamum
PCR

any others to add to the list?

oh yeah,

the grayling lake(s)

[Bigtoad]

A few more thoughts as I nurse my morning coffee:

1. I don't like the poll questions. I would like trophy fish to be more readily available but still be difficult to catch. I pick both. I read "readily available" as there are more trophy fish in the system, not that I can catch them at will. Just because there are more trophy fish (whatever that means to you) in the system, doesn't guarantee you'll catch more of them. However, with people releasing more fish and bigger fish, the average size of the fish should increase and there might be a few more surprises mixed in as well.

2. I would call a "healthy" fishery one where there are all age classes present. There are some of these in Alberta, especially some of the C&R streams etc, but there are a lot of waterbodies that are not what I would describe as "healthy." There is the mismanagement.

3. Not all lakes should have stricter regs: I grew up by Chain Lakes East of Ponoka. It has hammer-handle pike in it that are stunted and often winterkill. Not sure if stricter regs would help a place like that. It was fun to go as a kid though and there needs to be places like this too. Also, some lakes seem to be doing quite well with the current regs and people are catching all age classes. Those fisheries seem healthy so current regs should remain.

4. So of all of the waterbodies (lakes, ponds, streams, rivers) in Alberta, let's say that all of the waterbodies with limited potential (like Chain Lakes by Ponoka) that will never be healthy are "p" and all of the waterbodies that are currently managed as healthy fisheries are "h", and if the total waterbodies are "w", then if we use the formula: w - p - h = x , then "x" should be the number of waterbodies that are not healthy, that have not reached their potential, are being mismanaged, and need more strict regulations. Right? I think "x" is a pretty big number.

Cheers.

[canadiantdi]

Originally Posted by Scotty P.

Thank you! I am wondering the Same thing. Why Not make some lakes C&R only for those that feel it will make for larger fish and keep limits on keepers for other lakes so that those who want to eat a few can. Seems like a win win to me

Sounds good

[Don Andersen]

How to make a trophy fishery - dump a rail car or 2 in it.

Or

how about the Exxon Valdez. After the spill, the number of sport fish available went through the roof.

They share one trait. No more killing.

And BEE Gee - iif you think that K. Lakes will grow any amount of decent size fish, I got a bridge for ya'.


Don

[Speckle55]

if you guys think Wabumum Lake is Great after the rail car spill you are right its just that it was great before the rail car crash.. the Power plants outflow has changed the lake as in man made advantage.. its like a aerator..

90 percent of Alberta Anglers don,t care about size of the fish they catch
6 percent are C&R
3 percent are True Trophy Hunter that will do Catch and Release
1 percent are C&R and TTH and are scienctific Anglers

this is just a opinion and

Food for Thought
David

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Damn rights a Trophy should be hard to catch , shouldn't be able to catch them cast after cast . That would only happen in a perfect world . I think it would also take away from the fun .

The thing about fishing you never know what your going to get , one cast could be a 18 lb walleye , or a 1 pound perch . That is the thing I like you never know what your going to get . You can target big fish all you want but just because you are doesn't mean they are going to play along .

[Fish-killer]

Maybe if people stop being Lazy and actually hike or walk more than 1 KM to a spot on a lake or river, Maybe you guys can catch something big!!!!


Upper K lake needs to be stocked with Rainbows again. Enough with bulls. Its been since 2004 since they have stocked rainbows!

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

How to make a trophy fishery - dump a rail car or 2 in it.

Or

how about the Exxon Valdez. After the spill, the number of sport fish available went through the roof.

They share one trait. No more killing.

And BEE Gee - iif you think that K. Lakes will grow any amount of decent size fish, I got a bridge for ya'.


Don

Lower K has lots of large Bulls and provides a great fishery for tourists and locals alike.

If it's the peace bridge you can keep it, however, I fail to see how a lake that can provide large trout for many people is not a trophy fishery.

[drhu22]

Originally Posted by fishpro

Quick poll to see what people think - Do you like the idea of having large/trophy fish more readily available and easy to catch, or should they be more difficult and rare?

Add any extra thoughts in the comments section.

I think 7-11 should sell them.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by drhu22

I think 7-11 should sell them.

[drhu22]

Originally Posted by drhu22

I think 7-11 should sell them.

It would create more jobs, and boost the economy!

[TyreeUM]

Originally Posted by Fish-killer

Maybe if people stop being Lazy and actually hike or walk more than 1 KM to a spot on a lake or river, Maybe you guys can catch something big!!!!

haha been thinking this the whole time I was reading this thread. I don't understand why people that drive to the closest lake, drill holes in the same location, drop down a five of diamonds think they should be catching "trophy fish" like the people that post pictures of large fish on this forum. This question asked in this thread just seems so stupid.

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by TyreeUM

haha been thinking this the whole time I was reading this thread. I don't understand why people that drive to the closest lake, drill holes in the same location, drop down a five of diamonds think they should be catching "trophy fish" like the people that post pictures of large fish on this forum. This question asked in this thread just seems so stupid.

isnt that how the preacher caught the world record walleye through the ice at tobin?

x2 this thread is Gay!