2024-25 Sportfishing Regulations Delayed
 

From the Government of Alberta:

The department is in the process of developing the 2024 fishing regulations which requires careful consideration, feedback and understanding.

We are currently assessing all information and more time is necessary to ensure that we get it right. As a result, the 2024-25 sportfishing regulations will be published later than usual.

In the meantime, the 2023 regulations will apply.

All anglers must continue following those (2023) regulations until the new regulations are published for the 2024-25 angling season.

Yeah, the '24-'25 fishing season just came out of nowhere.

Thinking it might be delayed due to considerations of ongoing drought conditions. Hoping the government is able to balance conservation, recreation and farming irrigation.

Only time will tell

Personally I hope we just get heavy spring rains

2x

X3

From what I'm hearing, they're delayed due to indecisions on walleye and Pike retention limits.

Are they going to change them to negative 1?

:lol:

I'm hoping for a step in the other direction...

slot limits... it's the best way to go. Not sure how you enforce it, but slot limits are the way to go. Keep 16-18" walters and the rest get chucked. Need the big ones for good genetics, and the wee ones need to grow. Whatever it takes to create a trophy walleye fishery in this province, I'm all for it...

Seems slots or under x size seems to be the direction a lot of provinces are going. Some it’s 1 over and the rest in a slot or under

The overall trend is to protect larger breeding stock

I personally really hope that we move in that direction in Alberta. I think the Pike over 63 for example in a lot of lakes has really moved them in the wrong direction.

Agree some lakes would benefit from protecting larger pike and some other could use a thinning of an over abundance of small pike if we allow some smaller fish to be caught

Really there is different management needed for different waters but generally limited harvest of smaller or midsized fish protecting broods would likely be beneficial

100% I agree with you and the most important thing that I see is it is not a one size fits all solution. Each and every lake varies so much.

And how are we going to get any big ones once everyone is killing all the 16-18" fish? This is Alberta, a lot of fishermen, not a lot of lakes.

And why do we bother spending money on studies and the implementation of regulations that only part of the population has to abide by?

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Set the slot accordingly combined with an appropriate limit and you will always have fish that make it through and become breeders. The larger females also produce a larger number of eggs

It works even in states that have higher pressure than Alberta do to a much higher population

A tight slot is already being used for walleye in some Alberta lakes. Buck is the only one I personally fish and the slot is working with plenty of over and under walleye being caught

The is not a new untested management tool and there is a reason there is a big shift towards this direction in other provinces and states. There is plenty of waters that see high pressure throughout North America.

But this horse has been beat to death if you wish to have an open mind do your research and broaden where you get your information beyond Alberta. Your choice I am not going to try to change your opinion with anymore debate on it

Its nice to have more trophy catch and release lakes around big cities .
There is no reason that we need to drive 5 hrs to catch a big fish .

If I forget to renew my fishing license this year, I'll just decide that last year's still applies.

:lol:

Looks like Cold Lake is a slot size of 65-70cm for lakers now. Sask regs are available and that is one of the noted changes.

Thanks John for passing on your findings . Might need a Sask licence now to keep one in that slot size , until the Alberta licence regs come out .

The regs say that the rules are the same in Alberta and Saskatchewan. So I would say'slot size for cold lake

a-freakin'-MEN! Preach, brother...

This was for Wabamun Lake

Full on C&R won’t achieve that goal that should be clear when you look across the province. Protect the large fish, harvest reasonable numbers of smaller fish to keep reasonable numbers, don’t over harvest game fish that double as forage, and as much as some might cry about it artificial bait only in areas of concern.

I rarely eat fish and would be all for more trophy fish but also understand that resources in a body of water will only has so much forage to go around and fish need to eat to get big

Another big factor in Alberta is algae blooms stress fish slowing feeding/growth rate. The algae robs oxygen at night. This is why in aquaculture uses ponds they bottom is dredged/suctioned to remove organics, bacteria is also added to eat organics and often food coloring added to the water to prevent algae

Sadly water quality in some of Alberta’s water’s world be a huge challenge

It’s far more complicated than just C&R

Seems the concept of having "No Go" areas on lakes works as well. Sure may take a bit to figure where on each lake what areas would be off limits to fishing, and for people to get use to it...but another simple idea to give the fish a place to just do their thing without fishing pressure.

Mostly effective to protect spawning seasonally. Kinda mixed feelings on it being used beyond that

Shorter retention seasons are definitely effective. Ice fishing is also high impact do to easier access, increased use of bait, and survival rates can be lower

The reality is there is a ton of options but opposition to restrictions, enforcement, and funding are an issue

Do to a lack of a solid voice and lack of agreement amongst Alberta anglers we will continue to see whatever management is cost effective/easy to be applied

Personally from the lack of agreement and the fact most just seem to want everything for nothing I wouldn’t even consider putting in effort to push for change. No point in fighting anglers and attempting to lobby for change at the same time it becomes too mentally draining. Been there done that in a different sector outside of Alberta

Yup past experience has made me a little jaded

I agree ,they should of never added walleye to Wabamun lake. Should of kept it for pike only, and made it C&R. Those walleye are just eating all the bait that the pike have been feeding on. Pigeon lake and Lac Stainte Anne is all we needed for our walleye lakes 1 hr from Edmonton .
Alberta beach just needs to make a safer and usable boat launch like Wab has .

Still doesn’t hurt to have some harvest of smaller pike like a 1 under kinda deal. I am not posting where but there is areas with big pike with a 3 pike limit but they are not high numbers locations. These pike are getting big do to lots of fatty forage and reasonable numbers so there is lots of food to go around.

We have plenty of other waters in Alberta where it is C&R and there is lots of pike but average size is poor

Say it all the time balance between forage and predators is what you need if you want trophy fish. If your numbers of predators are too high they grow slower or stunt ending in less big fish

Either way it would be a battle because of the conflict from those who prefer walleye and would go against management’s dream of a walleye fishery they threw time/funds into