Blood Indian Reservoir; is it aerated or is it susceptible to winterkill?

[Dangus]

18 minutes ago, Smitty said:

You missed my point entirely. And how many of those were funded through the internet via Go Fund me or similar? Yes, municipalities have dealt with invasives, none to my knowledge were done with internet fund raising. It's all tax dollars. And they're done on a cases by case, very limited basis. And you know this obviously - you've been mentioning the perch issue for years, and very very little has been done. You disagree?

Very little has been done due to the likelihood of idiots restocking them. 

I doubt the public would lose their *hit over it being partially privately funded. 

Greenies and conservatives tend to agree on invasive species. 

[Smitty]

5 minutes ago, Bron said:

Very little has been done due to the likelihood of idiots restocking them. 

I doubt the public would lose their *hit over it being partially privately funded. 

Greenies and conservatives tend to agree on invasive species. 

And...another missed point. You guys are in kahoots right?  lol

Never once said the public would lose their *hit: - re-read the post. I am saying the public doesn't care. There's a difference. 

And, btw, I'd be happy to be proven wrong on that account. 

[DonAndersen]

10 hours ago, Smitty said:

You missed my point entirely. And how many of those were funded through the internet via Go Fund me or similar? Yes, municipalities have dealt with invasives, none to my knowledge were done with internet fund raising. It's all tax dollars. And they're done on a cases by case, very limited basis. And you know this obviously - you've been mentioning the perch issue for years, and very very little has been done. You disagree?

Smitty,

i realize the province does little. Municipalities seem not so comptose. Both done with tax $’s. 

Clearly, if one waits for tbe province nothing will be done.

the only solution is raising the money elsewhere.

i don’t discount any method.

Don

[Smitty]

3 hours ago, DonAndersen said:

...i don’t discount any method.

Don

That's a fair point. To your previous point about StreamWatch though, it strikes me (as someone who has a little bit of internet marketing experience), that in terms of the ROI of time and effort, it *might* be more efficient to pursue funding from a corporate partner rather than a GoFund Me. Again, happy to be proven wrong on that account. 

[Sparkplug]

On 11/16/2018 at 4:48 PM, DonAndersen said:

Sparkplug,

in order for browns to be large enough to become effective predators, they need food. Perch & Prussian Crap decimate the food resources. No grub means very littel growth.

Don

 

Makes sense.  So might there be the possibility of raising browns somewhere else where they can first grow to decent/piscivorous size, and then transfer them to BIR? 

 

 

 

[danhunt]

2 hours ago, Sparkplug said:

Makes sense.  So might there be the possibility of raising browns somewhere else where they can first grow to decent/piscivorous size, and then transfer them to BIR? 

My comment about crowd sourcing a rotenone treatment was intended to be somewhat tongue in cheek.  My point is I don't think trying to use an invasive species as a food source for a more piscivorous strain or species of cold water game fish is going to work.  I've seen this happen in BC with red sided shiners and perch and it is nearly impossible to achieve, let alone maintain, a large population of mature fish that will have an appreciable impact on the invasives.  At best, what will likely happen is that it will create a "head hunter" fishery where a few very large trout exist, but the sheer persistence required to catch them makes the reward not worth the effort to many anglers.

I've heard the comment before about certain groups targeting invasive species once they are established, and I have to suspect that it is small percentage of these same folks that are responsible for introducing them in the first place.  I tend to agree with Don, why do we then let them benefit from these illegal stockings?  I think when the first invasive species is detected the lake (I'm only talking lakes) I think it should be treated rotenone ASAP, and then there should be a follow-up treatment.  Once to kill the juveniles and adults, and then a second time after the usual gestation period (not sure if that is the appropriate word in this context) for the invasive species in question.  Then close the lake to fishing for 5 years to allow the invertebrate populations to rebuild before restocking with trout. 

I know this proposed action is drastic, but why in the name of all that is holy do we as a province have to ignore the work done by other fisheries managers in other jurisdictions that have faced similar issues and wait for the situation to explode before coming up with plan of action? 

* sorry sparkplug, that wasn't directed at you - I was going to respond to your post and then do a general post after, but it didn't end up that way.

[Sparkplug]

No sweat by me, danhunt.

While your rotentone/"drastic" solution would probably work, the sad/cynical accompanying thought is that all that remediation work could be undone by one repeat of the stocking of the invasives again.  Depressing thought, but nonetheless when the root cause of the problem isn't addressed, the chance of a recurrence is certainly there.

So how can the root cause - people illegally stocking invasives into our waterbodies - be addressed, if at all?

Do people dump perch into W Alberta trout lakes because they don't have ready access to decent perch lakes otherwise?  Can't think of much in the way of other reasons to illegally stock perch into otherwise non-perch waters.

Would having designated perch- or carp-only "sacrificial" lakes for those crowds possibly do the trick?

 

[danhunt]

Without knowing precisely who is responsible its hard to know what their motivation is, but an illegal restocking is definitely possible.  My experience is anecdotal, but from what I've seen there is a lag time between when perch are introduced and start showing up as "bycatch" and when they truly dominate the lake.  If it is something as simple as "gee, wouldn't it be nice if we only had to drive to XYZ lake instead of ABC lake to catch some perch" then by never letting them get established and provide a fishery to the people looking to catch them it could discourage them from attempting future illegal stockings. 

 

[bcubed]

i have always wondered... why perch? do people actually enjoy eating those stunted little bastards?

[Smitty]

39 minutes ago, bcubed said:

i have always wondered... why perch? do people actually enjoy eating those stunted little bastards?

Alot of people think they're great eating; same family as walleye, and walleye are considered by many to be the top table fare fish in the province. Light dusting of flour, seasoing, butter, and squeeze of lemon, and its pretty good, imho.

I myself don't favor them until they reach at least 15cm, but there's an easy way to clean the little ones and then bake them.

 

 

[bcubed]

12 minutes ago, Smitty said:

Alot of people think they're great eating; same family as walleye, and walleye are considered by many to be the top table fare fish in the province. Light dusting of flour, seasoing, butter, and squeeze of lemon, and its pretty good, imho.

I myself don't favor them until they reach at least 15cm, but there's an easy way to clean the little ones and then bake them.

 

 

I’ve eaten walleye and they are good, just never understood the draw of perch with the effort vs meat. People be crazy.

[angler]

Perch and sunfish, two of the tastiest of fish. No work to eat. Smaller ones- head off,  guts out, skin. Dip in egg and flour, fry, stand on rib cage and peel the meat off the carcass. No bones. Larger ones, filet.

[bcubed]

[professori]

On 11/17/2018 at 8:06 PM, Smitty said:

You missed my point entirely. And how many of those were funded through the internet via Go Fund me or similar? Yes, municipalities have dealt with invasives, none to my knowledge were done with internet fund raising. It's all tax dollars. And they're done on a cases by case, very limited basis. And you know this obviously - you've been mentioning the perch issue for years, and very very little has been done. You disagree?

Personally I find very little to differentiate between John Q. Public deciding that a particular body of water would benefit by stocking it with perch and then doing so and John Q. Public deciding a particular body of water would benefit from poisoning and then doing so.  It still amounts to an individual or a small number of people taking actions that they decide will benefit themselves.  It is the same muddy thinking in both cases.  

[monger]

But a lake of stunted 5" perch benefits no one. With no population controls, the value of a predator free perch lake quickly falls to near zero

[Smitty]

1 hour ago, monger said:

But a lake of stunted 5" perch benefits no one. With no population controls, the value of a predator free perch lake quickly falls to near zero

You hope. And all here agree.

But don't under-estimate the bucket brigade crowd; the value anything - small as it is - that can fill there freezer. 

But yeah, seems to be the mother of no-brainers that balanced ecosystems with predators is the way to go.

[DonAndersen]

On 2018-11-25 at 1:10 PM, monger said:

But a lake of stunted 5" perch benefits no one. With no population controls, the value of a predator free perch lake quickly falls to near zero

Sounds like you fished Phyllis Lake, 

 

Don

[monger]

No...but our community lake in Calgary has suffered the same fate. The trout are starving and can't grow

[SilverDoctor]

On 11/27/2018 at 10:30 AM, monger said:

No...but our community lake in Calgary has suffered the same fate. The trout are starving and can't grow

Lake Sundance? I remember Phyllis  BP (before perch) what a crime that such a great little Trout fishery went that route. 

 

[monger]

Yes Lornce. Board won't OK a rotenone treatment, so now they are talking about throwing food pellets