On some bodies of water the length limit has been removed for game fish (ie. Pike)
Brief:
In the mid 90's when it became clear that a new management regime was required for game fish in Alberta. As a result Fish & Wildlife introduced length limits on fish and removed bowfishing opportunities since there was no way to measure a fish before harvesting it with archery tackle.
Summary:
As the fishing has evolved in Alberta, it has now become clear that length limits are impractical in some bodies of waters. I would like to propose, that in these cases that bow fishing of the game species that have no length limit be permitted to resume.
Anyway, there's a thought. Let's debate this and see what develops.
i did it for suckers and it was a blast.... would love to do it again so will the arse who walked into my garage and helped them selves to my bow fishing rig please return it.........
To sight up pike for bowfishing it is in the spring, in the shallows, and most pike you will be shooting are the egg laden hens. The hens at this time get enough pressure from anglers as it is, hence the elimination of bowfishing for pike, pretty tough to release them... I usually wouldn't support the elimination of a hunting/bowfishing opportunity but with pike it made sense to me.
As I understand it the reason for withdrawing the length limit on some water bodies was to increase the harvest. So therefore, if the goal is population reduction then removal of the females is a desirable option and if it happens to be via bow fishing why not?
Some of the trout stock reservoirs end up with pike in them. Coronation Dam for instance being one of them. So they've removed the length limit to try and get rid of the pike.
Re-Instating Bowfishing of Game Species
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