Quote:
Originally Posted by andyandrew65
I have been going to Touchwood lake for nearly 15 years now and I can agree that Pike fishing (walleye has always been 0) has drastically decreased over time. However, that being said I can tell you all that catching a Pike that is over 63cm was never an issue.
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There is the issue right there from my seat. Balance is key, you close down a Walleye keep limit in a water body you must close down the Pike keep limit in a water body just the same to keep things equal. One could argue the same of Perch, Whitefish, and Burbot also. Us anglers are a keen bunch and we will adapt quickly and focus on what we can catch/keep. Easy for us to point the finger elsewhere when really, we should be looking in the mirror. Keep limits are in place intended to be a maximum not a quota.
End of day liberal keep limits and us anglers/commercial fishermen greatly diminished fish populations across the province in the 80's and 90's. Us anglers/commercial fishermen have ourselves to blame, the government was to obtuse and to late to the table to prevent it and now SRD is trying to change things and to improve angling opportunities and for the most part from my perspective I feel they certainly have.
In my opinion SRD has (for the most part) only been reactive as opposed to being proactive (wait until the problem has occurred rather than anticipating and getting out in front of it) and to me that is frustrating. It can't be easy playing Mother Nature and doing it with limited resources.