Quote:
Originally Posted by pikeman06
You can argue all you want boys but if you think all these walleye "factories" are a good thing or that it will lead to a healthy sustainable fishery you just don't know so don't try to tell us albertans that grew up and fished these lakes over the past 20 or 30 years that what we have now is good. Just because you pull out your boat twice a year and hammer the half starved and frozen minnow fed wallies like there's no tomorrow doesn't mean you are a fish catching machine. I miss the schools of little perch when you launched your boat and the little jackfish scooting out of the weeds when you pull up on shore. Those fish were the future and keeping a few perch or a pike or two made sense because the lake was alive with them. Tell me what you see now? Nothing. Wallies ate em all and they ain't coming back. Sheez done. Wabamum is the proof in the pudding. On a zero retention lake with no winter kill it's just like pigeon now. Can't blame that one on the anglers. I hope the natives net the be jeezus out it. Shame to see such a big fertile water body reduced to a toilet bowl full of look alike wallies starving to death.
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Can I get an Amen!
Like I pointed out earlier, if they had set the retention limit to 1 per person per day and went with that for a while and see where that got them. If they didn't see an improvement in the first 3-5yrs, add a slot size to the lakes that weren't doing well and bump up the limit on the lakes that were doing good.
Nature is about balance, and if you create a man made imbalance and expect it to solve the problem, you're a fool. Predators need prey, and despite what some may think, prey needs the predators. Not only did Alberta create a man made imbalance on most lakes, they caused excessive angling pressure on the lakes they didn't screw up, in turn wrecking the lakes that prior to the big closures, had no problems.
What happens when people can't keep fish out of one lake? They go to one they can. The concept is rocket science to some, but fortunately not all. Open up retention with a slot size to start, and I bet you'll see lakes across Alberta start to improve. Sure, a 5 fish per person might have been a bit excessive, but a zero retention on walleye has been just as detrimental to the health of our lakes imo. Except for the people who like to catch and release 75 walleye a day without a care in the world for the rest of the game fish in the lake.
Do you think they'll have the budget to add a pike restocking program, or one for perch?
Not likely!!!