Peppers Lake
 

Was at Peppers Lake on Sunday and was amazed to see that fisheries has put rainbow trout in there. This has always been a brook trout lake, and as far back as I could find has always been stocked with brookies. Any know why they would do this to a brook trout lake?

That's stupid, why would they do that? There aren't enough good brook trout lakes as it is!

Brookies can spawn on gravel and naturally reproduce without a creek or river.

Rainbows not so much.

Drewski

It really seems odd. Having looked into the stocking of lakes in the province there appears to be brook trout stocked at other lakes . I sure would like to hear some logic on the this from the fisheries department.

Well I received some feed back on Peppers lake, see below. I did not realize this was connected to the Clearwater river as i have paddled the whole lake and didn't see an in or out flow on this lake. I guess I missed these.



Thank you for visiting the Alberta Government feedback web site. Following is the response to your question prepared by Environment and Parks :

Thank you for taking the time to write to Alberta Connect. The following is a response to your inquiry.

AEP and our stakeholders are working to recover bull trout, a native fish in Alberta that has experienced severe declines in abundance and distribution. Competition and hybridization with brook trout is a significant threat to the recovery and long-term survival of this species. Peppers Lake is connected to waters containing bull trout, and continuing to stock brook trout poses a continuing risk to the bull trout within the Clearwater River watershed. We know Peppers Lake is an important recreational fishery enjoyed by many fisherman, and so AEP is committed to stocking other trout species, such as rainbow trout and cutthroat trout, that pose far less risk to native fish in the area.

I hope this information will be helpful.

The Brook Trout in that lake tasted awful.

Interesting! I was out there last Saturday, caught 1 Brook trout, the rest were rainbows. I thought it was strange compared to previous years...I guess that explains it! :)

Thanks for the info Gerry, it is appreciated.

I've only fished there once and stopped there once but it looked like a pretty closed system to me. So, went to ole Google Earth view and you can see the South side has the possibility to overflow on very high water years. Maybe far fetched but possible it seems.

Makes no sense whatsoever. If the Brookies tasted awful, so will the Rainbows. I agree that there are not enough good Brookie lakes around. This happened to be one of them. Not to mention both rainbows and Brookies stocked by the province are triploids and sterile. How is it they are concerned with hybridization or threatening native/wild species? Seems like BS to me.

Further to that. Peppers creek (correct me if I’m wrong) runs directly into the Clearwater and is LOADED with Brookies. So is Elk...These are not triploids, NOT sterile and would be the primary source of any naturally occurring hybridization. What’s the play there if they are so “concerned?” 🙄
So ridiculous.

Why this province has such a hate on for Brookies is beyond me. Especially on a contained lake stocked with sterile fish. Muskiki is another prime example of this insanity. This arguably WAS the best brookie lake in the province at one point. Stocked rainbow lakes are a dime a dozen. Brookies add variety and an alternate opportunity for anglers which should be embraced, not dismantled.

Pepper Creek connects to the Clearwater.
Peppers Lake has no outflow to any stream flowing anywhere.

Don

anyone have another brook trout lake within 3-4 hours of Calgary, don't mind the drive. I like the taste and texture stocked or not compared to stocked rainbows.

Thxs all.

Competition I understand, but hybridization with brook trout? What species does that create? Haven’t heard of one yet