albertatrout

https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=684911A4FB13A-0BE1-042A-9D1A23A8C1C710CB Some good news here. Arctic graying to be added at Raven as well. This could lead to some great expansion of fisheries opportunity. Kind of a surprise considering the cuts everywhere else.

Yup, Pembina did not need a closure to make more brook trout, it was already loaded.. An incredible amount of real data was ignored before that closure was made essentially just on a pile of assumptions. Hope to hear some changes on that file but not holding my breath.

I know that stretch of the Gregg, can not fish any of the headwaters due to ongoing "mining" these days. Hopefully access resumes in the coming years. Though mining, logging, and forestry do a lot of damage up there mining can also result in some very unexpected positive results fishing wise when they finally finish up. I will say the rainbow fishing improved greatly in the Gregg, McLeod, Embarras, and surrounding drainage over the past 15 years. Whether or not the purity of the rainbows has improved or worsened no one can really know. Beautiful tough little fish for sure. The government even uses some of those genetics in the hatchery system now (strain plpl). Talking with the hatchery folks they are a surprising fish even under culture scenarios.

I would say a fairly different scenario up there versus the cutties down south. The main athabow threat is introgression with other athabows that have varying levels of hatchery genetics. The government is still deciding if they need to be 95% or 99% pure to be considered athabows. Even if you brought the habitat to 100% functional it still would not address the few hatchery alleles floating around in the population. Short of finding a true 100% pure population, rotenoning everything, restocking from source, then building fish barriers all over the place, not much of a solution exists. Angling bans will make no difference as most of the core athabow creeks are totally unfishable anyways. Habitat needs to be addressed to save many of the grayling and bull populations up there, it won't help with the genetics issue though.

Problem in that system is the creek upstream is also jammed full of them. Also good chance they would be re-stocked as they are very very popular with a certain group that frequents that lake. I like your thinking, im just not overly optimistic it would work.

Full of carp, never has had winterkill issues and there is some very good potential for fish growth. Heavy use by the cooler filling crowd but still some large trout most trips out. The carp are very very bad, we have caught piles of them using some of the classic still water trout techniques. Most around 10". Not sure if coincidence but I'd say water quality seems to be going downhill with more carp. More murkiness for sure. I'd still say high potential for above average fishery with the stocking diversity. If interested check out the write up in atlas of Alberta lakes. It is a very productive system.

It' a done deal, consultation always happens after the fact in this province. Ask for the statistically sigificant data trends they are basing these closures on, oh wait, not enough data so they didn' even get that far. I've about given up on even trying to be involved in the process, until there' a change in the guard (Not talking politically here, I mean regional management) anglers are basically out of luck. Simply a disgrace. The proposed changes to protect cutties further south is even more laughable as genetic introgression is the key threat. Frustration abounds...

Anyone know the asking price? Link? I heard a number but if correct I can not see why the ACA is interested. Edit- google says $11,000/acre, sounds like about double what it should be for conservation dollars to be spent. A lot of resources to secure a small property if that price is accurate no?

You will not see non native fish introduced againn. That time is long gone. You can call edson office qnd discuss with the bios but the era of introducing anything new is gone. The Pembina in particular was a fantastic brook trout river but the government decided to remove anglers so the loggers and oil companies can try and wipe the few remaining grayling out (thqts how i see it anyways). Even a plan to reestablish native grayling in that drainage didn't go anywhere following a retirement, they are not that interested in anglers in that region and there is a serious lack of innovative ideas to help the remaining fish flourish/ recover. That being said, even without browns there is plenty of great fishing in that region. The streams are generally less productive and the fish are often small but they can be a lot of fun. There are many creeks in the McLeod drainage loaded with athabows and grayling, it's very different from the streams further south but still very satisfying to visit and explore. You can find the odd place with huge bulls, solid grayling (16 to 18"), and chunky athabows (12" is a hog but my personal best from a heavily ponded trib broke 20", unique fisheries exist). I feel the discussion should be limited to managing and reintroducing native fish populations up there, lots of opportunities exist so keeping pressure on Fish and Wildlife is worthwhile. Otherwise there are a few brown trout fishing opportunities in that area already, you have to look around for them but a few do exist in certain streams.

Can always call it in to the report a poacher line as well, they can get you in touch with the proper authorities. Lots of poor consultants in the province that just fudge numbers to keep the machines working. Contractors will cut corners whenever they get a chance too, lots of bad outfits when it comes to instream work in this province. Lots of self policing as well, sure you can guess how well that works.

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The pike would be the least of the worries in sustaining a good trout fishery, think more suckers and competition for food (just like Chain Lakes). Without serious thought/ planning, it will produce mostly little fish. If some large predatory fish are maintained (maybe the existing burbot, or by stocking and managing for some large browns) it may be possible to have a decent fishery. That reservoir will have all species present from its inflow (upper willow creek) and the over abundant walleye may be the only reason it's not already choked with suckers. I think it's a waste of resources changing it to trout of any sort anyways. Be better to forget the walleye, add lake whitefish, and manage it for the native burbot and pike. Be better spending money on developing a new pond or two elsewhere imo.

Do the videos show him fishing closed streams? If so, report it and submit the video links. I reported someone for being in a restricted area a few years ago from brag photos posted online, they nailed him. If you can tell where they are 100%, fish and wildlife can take it and run. They are spread thin, rap helps.

http://mywildalberta.com/AboutMWA/MWASurvey.aspx They want feedback for those who use the site. There are opportunities to provide comments relating to them focusing a bit less on the social media/ propaganda machine and instead a bit more on the biology and research end of fish and wildlife management..... Could maybe add temperature guidelines for trout angling guidelines Management area biologist contact info maybe I'm sure some of you may have constructive comments...

Thought I'd add a few shots from this year thus far. I haven't taken very many photos but have got out a ton, few different lakes, lots of streams, lots of fish. Here's some rainbow photo's from a few of the southern stocked lakes. Girthy, interestingly enough we have not caught a single fresh stocker this year. Now, only if the fish at outpost had this shape/ body condition. These lakes seem to have far more food, and the fish are far harder to catch. Flies seem to produce far bigger fish than what the shoreline bait chuckers are catching. I rarely encounter other flyfishers, it pays to explore. Bait fishers do not seem to be removing the larger fish, it's been a blast this year. We did the lake white thing a few times this year, sure not particular and they fight great. Did not see another angler while out for them. And a bit of stream fishing. I really don't get the camera out much on the rivers, enjoy myself too much to remember. Lots of whites, bullies, brookies, and bows this year. Oh, and grizzlies, up to 10 or so encounters with them fuzzy buggers as well. And, the bonus of low flows and no freshet is there are LOTS of fry around. Could still see egg sacs on many of them, but my underwater photo skills are lacking. Emergence was about a month early and they are thick! 2 years of good fry production in a row, seeing these guys takes away a bit of the frustration caused by the low stream flows.