HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF,WHY BOTHER?

[HARRYFISHBALLS]

 I have several friends/family members fishing in SASK/MANITOBA and it's very discouraging living in AB with limited time to fish and knowing your not going to catch or keep anything like them!! The number of lakes in AB that you  can keep a walleye are easily counted on one hand and pike aren't too far behind. Kind of pointless to buy a license anymore.Don't get me wrong I do have 3 lakes where I have or can catch double digit walleye but 0 limits. Same with pike. With so few lakes our F&W have a lot of time to troll the known fishing spots and are eager to fill out tickets.I might just skip buying a license this yr.

[mapleleafman3]

I feel your frustration man. F&W needs to do a better job managing the fisheries. I also feel they are too focused on Trout. But still with no keep limits, I can't give up fishing. "A bad day fishing is better than a good day of work".

[kedzman]

I think its ridiculous that i consistently drive 3+ hours from edmonton to fish to get into Quality Quantity and Consistency... Sask has crossed my mind multiple times, as well as montana. Already do an annual big trip to the northern coast of bc every summer. Maybe might have to change my winter fishing plans and rather than doing 1 day trips around alberta do a multiple day trip to northern sask or manitoba. Maybe im wrong but not sure if its a management issue as much as it is a population and pressure issue that our lakes constantly face. Look at most small lakes around edmonton that go through 4 year cycles of perch, because the year that its happening word spreads and theres tons of people out daily. I remember maybe 6-7 years ago fishing obed and pulling out a 15 per person limit of 12+inch perch in a few hours and the monster browns. Now i stop by every time driving by in the summer on my way west and theres 15+ trucks and trailers on a given day with boats launched, how can a lake that small with that much traffic sustain consistent fishing? it cant. Truth it still produces the odd monster brown and perch thanks to catch and releasers but its not the same. I hate to sound so pessimistic but any lakes with easy access close to metropolitan areas are gonna get hammered just due to volume. Sure slave lake has huge populations of walleye and with the limit of 1 per person in the summer, however if that were to change to lets say 5 per person how long would the lake sustain? Throw in the fact that i think its absolutely disgusting for our government to introduce tags for walleyes and upset the natural balance of diversity on certain lakes.. but thats a different topic all together, 

[Shotgun]

Too few lakes too many fisherman.   Simple.  Sask has 10 times the lakes we have, Manitoba even more.

Before the internet got guy's thinking they had to help their "brother" fisherman things were not too too bad.  But troll around and bam you just found your self a good spot so get al hold of the gang and let's go fishn.   Any wonder why they are all turning to C&R?  The lakes that still produce good size fish are now few and far between.   If you want good size fish and the ones you can keep then maybe it is best to plan a weekend or week in Sask.

SHOTGUN

[walleyes]

Sask also has a very active Walleye stocking program. Alberta gave up ours long ago and we are paying for it. Take, take, take. The UCP say they will restart the program again and look at opening up our fishery opportunities. Our current communist regime will be holding meetings over the next couple months across the province, you just wait and see how they close opportunities down. You think it's bad now just hold on. Many many decent lakes in the Lakeland region that had no business being closed to Walleye retention but it's the idiots way of fish management, just shut it down and fine people, it's simple.  Millions spent on useless trout stocking in this province, money spent on sterile fish that will never and can't spawn yet no money spent on helping native fish. And yes stocking works, if it wasn't for stocking there wouldn't be a salmon on the west coast right now yet it's an active comercial and sport fishery all thanks to stocking programs.

I was raised in the Lac La Biche region but couldn't take it anymore. We moved out to Cold Lake 5 years ago. Decent sized little city and I'm 25 min from the Sask border, best of both worlds. I've got over a dozen decent Walleye lakes with in a 1 hr drive of my house. All with either 3 or 4 fish retention on Walleye, 5 on Pike, 25 on Perch. All these lakes are on an active restocking program from the province. Why can't Alberta do this for their tax payers. Pisses me right off.

[Drewski Canuck]

The Simple Answer of the CUT CUT CUT Management by the Government is the source.

You  see,  Fish are not sexy.   There is a real Mind Set in the Bios of the Province that fisheries are not for fish keeping,  unless it is stocked trout,  and then don't  EVER REHABILITATE A LAKE!!!

Other Provinces value the recreational value of  fish, and the fact that fish can be caught for the simple pleasure of  EATING!!!   Not ours!

The Mindset of the Conservatives for years has been that we should PRIVATISE the Lakes,  and the fish by the way,  and let some Management Company charge for everything and  anything they can,  including the FISH.    The Company makes a profit,  the Ultra Right Conservatives see a  small fee to the Government, and the Government spends no more on the Lake,  or  the Fish. 

The Budget has been continually shrunk,  and  departments have been merged into on another,  for Years,  resulting in less and  less management, and  less and less staff.    The money is  then shunted to something  more  sexy,  like maintaining a  Trade Office in Hong Kong and New York,  for a population of  3.5 million?

The Wild Rose MLAs  had their fun with the Bios,  by  organizing Town Hall Meetings in St. Paul.   The Bios got to explain why lakes closed for 20 years  could not be re opened to  REGULATED users to  keep walleye,  and explained why the year classes where not recruiting despite this closure  (think nets as the answer). 

So  it  would seem,  that the message has been sent,  and  we will see what changes we get.

The reality is that we need fish stocking.    The reality is that the population is  aging and there will be more fishing pressure in the future.

The reality is that fishing is a valid form of  recreation.  the reality is that we can afford to stock walleye if the Government gives the budget to do so.

Drewski