[Bighandswalker]

Originally Posted by Walleyedude

This is a seemingly never ending topic on this forum, if you do a search, you'll find DAYS worth of reading, so when guys get a little testy when it comes up, you'll understand why.

AB focuses it's stocking program on trout. I'd like to see some walleye stocking, but I feel it would largely be put and take due to the limitations of the waterbodies themselves.

Beyond the number of anglers and the number of waterbodies, the next biggest factor working against AB, is the productivity/carrying capacity of the lakes. Small southern AB reservoirs are an order of magnitude, maybe several orders of magnitude, less productive than lakes like Last Mountain or Diefenbaker. They simply don't have the same ability to support the biomass. Smaller size combined with lower temps, fluctuation water levels, less forage, and less vegetation equals slower growth rates and fewer fish.

The reason for the min size requirement is to ensure that a fish has reached maturity/spawning age, and hopefully had the chance to spawn at least once, before it's harvested. The very high angling pressure and small fish populations means that any legal size fish are quickly removed from the system. If you remove fish before they've reached spawning age and there's no recruitment, or not enough recruitment, the system collapses. It's more along the lines of the trophy hunting mentality - you don't shoot the small bucks if you want them to become big bucks and pass on their genes.

I’d never thought of comparing it to hunting in that way. I see what your saying.