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  #31  
Old 06-14-2021, 09:49 PM
Mountain Guy Mountain Guy is offline
 
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Originally Posted by smitty9 View Post
And people are masters at rationalizing and justifying violating the rules, or at least the spirit of the rules. And the spirit of the rules are clear: camping at campsites only at Maligne. So the only thing left after that is enforcement and fines.
Can you help me rationalize the new booking system please
I live 1/2 hour away from the lake, as do many I know and most of the locals I know were unable to get a booking for any dates this summer. We've done an annual trip sames dates every year for 20 years up until they changed the booking system and now we've been shut out 2 years in a row. campsites are booked solid all summer long but there are vacant sites most nights.
Yes I know there's no random camping. Is sleeping in your boat random camping?
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  #32  
Old 06-14-2021, 09:53 PM
Mountain Guy Mountain Guy is offline
 
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Originally Posted by huntsfurfish View Post
For those spending the night in their boats.

No need for a fine.

Send out a search party to look for them then bill them for all costs.

Oh what the heck, give em a fine too.
Search and rescue? Well unless somebody feels they need to be rescued I don't think this really applies. But hey sounds dramatic.....good one.
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  #33  
Old 06-15-2021, 07:14 PM
smitty9 smitty9 is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Mountain Guy View Post
Can you help me rationalize the new booking system please
I live 1/2 hour away from the lake, as do many I know and most of the locals I know were unable to get a booking for any dates this summer. We've done an annual trip sames dates every year for 20 years up until they changed the booking system and now we've been shut out 2 years in a row. campsites are booked solid all summer long but there are vacant sites most nights.
Yes I know there's no random camping. Is sleeping in your boat random camping?
Maybe they changed the system so that non-locals would have an fairer chance of getting a spot, as opposed to the same locals always getting spots 20 years in a row?

More seriously - and before you jump at me - I am a non-local and I do believe it would be appropriate to set aside a small portion of dates and spots just for locals. That way, there's a decent chance locals can still get a spot when the booking opens up at 8am and there are 25,000 people in line, online.

No joke: at one point, I was in the queue ~22,800 in line!!!

Anyways, locals live there, support the town, the local economy, there should be something to recognize that. Or some argument to that effect.

The issue is the same all over the province; everyone is camping these days, everyone wants to be outdoors. Now add to this mixture, Maligne is stunningly beautiful, and Jasper promotes it up the wazoo. Isn't Spirit Island like the number one postcard (or is it Peyto...or Lake Louise...lol). So, moreover, the international tourists know it well. So there is HUGE demand.

Frankly, JNP could double the size of Fisherman's and Coronet and probably add another 1-2 campsites just to meet current demand. But how much human impact do we want at that lake? How many humans would start to negatively impact the experience and the environment?

Mountain Guy, I respect that your local and may have an inside scoop, but everytime I've been to Fisherman's and Coronet, I have never seen a vacant campsite. Not once.
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  #34  
Old 06-16-2021, 02:08 PM
Elstunn Elstunn is offline
 
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I’ve also rarely seen vacant sites, they always seem to fill up by the early evening. Unless the weather is bad the. You might see one, but that’s the same everywhere.

I have less of a problem with the overall booking system, but there should be some kind of waitlist/notification system that a person, specifically locals, could sign up for. That way if there are short notice cancellations they get first crack if you are easily able to use the slot.

Maybe this exists and I havnt found it
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  #35  
Old 06-18-2021, 06:21 PM
Mountain Guy Mountain Guy is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smitty9 View Post
Maybe they changed the system so that non-locals would have an fairer chance of getting a spot, as opposed to the same locals always getting spots 20 years in a row?

More seriously - and before you jump at me - I am a non-local and I do believe it would be appropriate to set aside a small portion of dates and spots just for locals. That way, there's a decent chance locals can still get a spot when the booking opens up at 8am and there are 25,000 people in line, online.

No joke: at one point, I was in the queue ~22,800 in line!!!

Anyways, locals live there, support the town, the local economy, there should be something to recognize that. Or some argument to that effect.

The issue is the same all over the province; everyone is camping these days, everyone wants to be outdoors. Now add to this mixture, Maligne is stunningly beautiful, and Jasper promotes it up the wazoo. Isn't Spirit Island like the number one postcard (or is it Peyto...or Lake Louise...lol). So, moreover, the international tourists know it well. So there is HUGE demand.

Frankly, JNP could double the size of Fisherman's and Coronet and probably add another 1-2 campsites just to meet current demand. But how much human impact do we want at that lake? How many humans would start to negatively impact the experience and the environment?

Mountain Guy, I respect that your local and may have an inside scoop, but everytime I've been to Fisherman's and Coronet, I have never seen a vacant campsite. Not once.
Actually, I don't think being local should give me special privileges. Nothing to do with that.....the fact is back when they had the 3 month prior to arrival booking system we always managed to get our sites.
Now? not a hope in hell. I'm done. That booking day was the most painful thing I've experienced in a long while. Buddy and I were talking about it today ( while fishing on the lake ) We decided were still going to do an annual trip with our group but it'll be somewhere else. Somewhere were you don't need to win the lottery to get a site...somewhere where we have a better chance of not be snowed on and where we don't need to pack for 4 seasons of weather.
Its sad as we loved that trip but thanks to our good friends back in Ottawa screwing everything up we're probably throwing in the towel on a great annual fishing trip...
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  #36  
Old 06-18-2021, 06:29 PM
Mountain Guy Mountain Guy is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Elstunn View Post
I’ve also rarely seen vacant sites, they always seem to fill up by the early evening. Unless the weather is bad the. You might see one, but that’s the same everywhere.

I have less of a problem with the overall booking system, but there should be some kind of waitlist/notification system that a person, specifically locals, could sign up for. That way if there are short notice cancellations they get first crack if you are easily able to use the slot.

Maybe this exists and I havnt found it
Yes the sites fill up in the evening....sometimes with people that don't have the site booked. And yes its also weather dependant , generally speaking ..Crappy forecast usually equals vacant sites.
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  #37  
Old 06-18-2021, 11:02 PM
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Penner Penner is offline
 
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Up for a few days first afternoon/evening not a single strike. Tried all the usual tricks, nothing. Only a few other guys out. Nobody caught anything. Tons of chironomids coming off the water. Went thru every bug I had in my box.

Fished the entire next day had a nice bow only 5mins in. Felt like it was going to be a good day. Ended up boating 30 trout. Long distance released a handful more. Like a light switch.

That is one moody lake.

Creeks are blowing in pretty dirty for this early in the year. Lots of snow up on the peaks yet.
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  #38  
Old 06-23-2021, 11:06 AM
Drewski Canuck Drewski Canuck is offline
 
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The part that is so strange about all the traffic at Maligne Lake is that everyone drives by Medicine Lake.

Parks Canada has done little to support a good launch site on Medicine Lake. There once was a trail going down to the water on the outflow end, and you can still see the path, but its access is cut off by the new viewpoint parking lot.

Back in the day, there were some solid numbers of fish caught on the upstream side where the Mailgne river dumps in, and alot of the fish were travelling into Medicine Lake and feeding all summer long before travelling back up the river to wintering holes. Not many did fish Medicine, but those that did were doing pretty well.

The pressure at Maligne could be reduced by simply providing some better launch access at Medicine Lake, along with primitive camp sites on the Upstream end. It may be a problem for launch and recovery as the season goes on and Medicine starts to drain in September, but there would still be a few months of extra fishing and camping added.

Drewski
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  #39  
Old 06-23-2021, 08:08 PM
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Penner Penner is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck View Post
The part that is so strange about all the traffic at Maligne Lake is that everyone drives by Medicine Lake.

Parks Canada has done little to support a good launch site on Medicine Lake. There once was a trail going down to the water on the outflow end, and you can still see the path, but its access is cut off by the new viewpoint parking lot.

Back in the day, there were some solid numbers of fish caught on the upstream side where the Mailgne river dumps in, and alot of the fish were travelling into Medicine Lake and feeding all summer long before travelling back up the river to wintering holes. Not many did fish Medicine, but those that did were doing pretty well.

The pressure at Maligne could be reduced by simply providing some better launch access at Medicine Lake, along with primitive camp sites on the Upstream end. It may be a problem for launch and recovery as the season goes on and Medicine starts to drain in September, but there would still be a few months of extra fishing and camping added.

Drewski
Problem with Medicine is that it is almost always windy and by late summer only fishable by wading as it’s a mud flat most years by then.

The other thing for me is I absolutely hate driving that stretch of road along Medicine. That cliff ledge sucks and I’m always nervous as those towering mountain rock faces at some point are going to shear off onto and over that road. They should have built that road on the west side of Medicine.
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