Ice Fishing Special Regulation Lakes

[DonAndersen]

Guys/Gals,

 

Each of these lakes has a date when it's legal to fish. Problem with dates is Clive. The climate is getting warmer or colder depending on his issue of the day with the result that date ice disappears keeps changing.

 

OK - been in Alberta for +60 years. Think I discovered ice about age 2. So most of us know what ice is. Just publish the regulations saying no fishing through the ice. Simple!! Dates don't matter.

 

catch ya'

 

Don

[dryfly]

Don, that is a good concept. But try to define "no fishing through the ice" in a way that a judge could accept or that lawyers could not successfully argue either way.

 

What you mean is "no fishing through man-made holes." Right? Okay, what if I break ice by wading through shore ice to cast into naturally open water. Guys were fishing Police last week into open water that in fact was completely surrounded by ice along the shore and in the main part of the lake. The water was open as a direct or indirect function of the aerators. So....they were indeed fishing through the ice. There is a lake near Brooks in which methane (or ???) would bubble up from the bottom. Even when there was two feet of ice on the lake there were a few open pockets of water a few feet in diameter.

 

We discussed dates the other night at the area fisheries round table. It was agreed that the date is fine and from time to time people will indeed be able to ice fish for a few days.

 

Also look at it this way. Darwin will take care of a few of them at this time of year.

[monster]

How is it that a group of people with your knowledge of flyfishing can be so critical of others that have paid the same amount for a license to fish, does this license say fly fishing only, is this license just sold to flyfishing attics no, this license is available to anyone who wants to fish, and fish anyway they wish as permitted by regulations that are put forward every year. Now this past week has had me rethink this Bullshead regs, First I always kind of looked up to the men and women who flyfish but not no more for what I have seen on this message board is down right idiodic and to see the real GREED that flyfisherman seem to have with bullshead and the descrimination of others who chose to fish on an seasonal lake that is open season and still has ice on it. I was out at bullshead 2 days ago there were 17 people fishing and I seen 3 legal fish leave that lake in the 4 hours I was there. Everybody was watching each other, some had binos others were walking around to see what people had landed this lake was self policing itself. Just to get off the subject for a minute, around 2-3yrs ago I was hunting up cadomin ab for sheep, I had come across a metis person of decent on top of the hot rocks area, anyways we had a small visit and somehow we came across the subject of bullshead and trophy lakes he had commented on how such a lake in the Edmonton area had some how found perch illegally stocked in this trout lake. what he had said was that some flyfishing club was pushing for a trophy lake and some of his friends did not like the way locals were being told not to keep your limit by this club, basically this club was just trying to promote catch and release from what he was telling me, so he says some of his friends stocked the lake with perch and pike on their own just to get back at the bug chuckers as what he called them. He would not identify the lake and swore at me for telling him I thought this little story was dreamn't up. That was the end of the conversation as he emptied his coffee and told me to get off the hot rocks and not to cross his path again, now I took this seriously as I think by the looks of him and the look in his eyes I simply stayed where I was and he left,basically I was froze with fear. Getting back to Bullshead maybe we as fishermen as a whole should be more concerned with the amount of fish being taken by the pelicans and the commrants then thinking everyone that is icefishing are poaching, besides until these species of birds are looked after this lake is never going to grow fish to their full potential otherwise Bullshead will remain what it is today. Thanx for giving me a chance comment on this lake.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

Bob,

 

look at pictures of bullshead 3 years ago

then look at pictures from last year

 

pelicans and comorants don't poach illegally by catching one, run home and toss it in the freezer, then come catch another

 

 

if you're telling me the average size has gone down drastically from flyfisherman and birds, and not poachers who for at least 95% are not flyfishers, you're kidding yourself....Icefishing lends itself to bait fishing, thats why there is this discussion

 

the birds were there before the crowds of last year, and the fish were a lot bigger.

[monster]

Hi there Brent, no I did not mean flyfishermen are to blame. I think we as a whole should be doing something about these species of birds, somehow there has to be a way to discourage these birds from feeding from this lake. I really like the idea of the trophy status, but this lake can be improved immensely, with these criteria such as allowed to take home 1 fish under 15 inches, bait ban, no icefishing, no motors of any sort,also I would be in favor of a pay to fish or special License or stamp this way you could control the date the lake is open to fish. With the smaller size allowing 1 fish under 15 inches this should keep some of the meat eaters from fishing this lake. As far as the icefishermen using bait when I was out there I did not see anyone fishing that way. There was a parks guy fishing, he actually came over and talked to me and I reconized who he was, he just wanted know how things were going. He left the lake at 12:00pm I had left shortly after, no one would have known who he was as he was dressed like anyone else that was out icefishing, he also told me he had been there since 7:00am. Getting back to the pay extra to fish this lake this may also chase away the bait chuckers, the funds collected from this special stamp or license could be used in various ways, aeration, getting rid of the birds, or maybe make the lake wheelchair accessible like building a deck of some sort for the handicapped. also once Michelle lake starts get rolling again and Reesor gets cleaned up which is starting construction in november on the repairs for the dam. I'm figuring in about 5 years you will not see the fishing pressure we are seeing now because hopefully Reesor Lake And Michelle Lake will be back to full capacity and the fish grow to their full potential in these lakes. Thanx Brent for taking the time for reading what I have to share Have a good Day.

[Taco]

Bullshead is overstocked, there's only X amount of food in there so more fish mean smaller fish, people were told yrs ago that yr 3-4 would be the peak size wise and thats exactly what happened.

[beedhead]

First I always kind of looked up to the men and women who flyfish but not no more for what I have seen on this message board is down right idiodic and to see the real GREED that flyfisherman seem to have with bullshead

 

I'm staying outa this one... ....WOW...

[birchy]

I enjoy ice fishing.

[reevesr1]

Hey BobE,

This board does not have a group mentality any more than there is a group spin fisher mentality or group ice fishing mentality. My hope (or at least my belief) is most people have little issue with ice fishing, or any other form of fishing for that matter, as long as it is done within the regs. They just don't speak up as much.

 

From my standpoint, the whole "fly fishermen don't poach" argument is totally baseless. Most fishermen, regardless of preferred style, don't poach. If a poacher happens to be an ice fishermen, the response is not BAN ICEFISHING! Same with spinner, or flyrod, or whatever. It is to stop poaching. Style of fishing has nothing to do with it.

 

While I'm on a rant, I'll go back to an old one one of mine. I categorically reject any argument that bans one form of fishing (and I mean any style of rod and reel)over another. I think, almost without exception, they are bullshit and elitist. The one exception would be bait fishing, for the mortality argument. I would agree with removing treble hooks in catch and release fisheries for their long term effects. But if I can fly fish a river, my friends should be able to spin fish. And if the lake is open seasonally, and there happens to be ice, then ice fishing is ok too. Follow the rules and all is good.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how people can internally justify limiting someones access to fishing just because they don't have a skinny rod (or as a friend of mine calls it a "skinny gay pole"). If you want to ban all forms of fishing, fine. But to pick one over the other is crapola. Set rules that conserve, not rules that restrict. Especially don't set rules that restrict everyone who does it different than you. That's not conservation, that's greed.

 

Rant off.

[Tako]

From my standpoint, the whole "fly fishermen don't poach" argument is totally baseless. Most fishermen, regardless of preferred style, don't poach. If a poacher happens to be an ice fishermen, the response is not BAN ICEFISHING! Same with spinner, or flyrod, or whatever. It is to stop poaching. Style of fishing has nothing to do with it.

 

END OF THREAD!!!!!

[troutlover]

YOU GOT IT PERFECT RICK!!!

[reevesr1]

Don,

Sorry for the hijack.

[monster]

No I do not like to stir things up I felt the people on this message board are very knowlegeable, but today when I read DRYFLY s comment, read the last few lines and you will see who is stiring up what. My interpertaion is he wouldn't mine seeing someone fall through the ice at Bullshead and maybe drown, I have not once threatened anyone or used VULGAR language on this or any other message board. Bullshead used to winterkill every 3-4 yrs, if there was a dry spring usaually a winter kill happened there was no water no fish. Now the water levels are staying to capacity and the fish survive, lets try and keep this going. By the way can you imagine if everyone that read DRYFLYS statement thought the same as me, and would if some one goes and drowns. I know he left the statement for interpertaion but it was pretty easy to see what he wanted people to read, but who am I to decide how people view his post.

[Weedy1]

This should be good.

[Tako]

Nevermind

[monster]

Taco you are right, we have a good thing going with bullshead once the other lakes [Ressor Lake, Michelle, and Spruce Coullee]Start producing like they can and have in the past what more could you ask for in trout fishing. It will be a good 5yrs before we see all these waterbodies producing, this should take alot of pressure off Bullshead and therefore no over crouding. I wish evreyone the best of luck this spring in fishing adventures.

[troutlover]

It's my understanding that bullshead doesn't go dry

aymore cuz they stoped taking too much water from it for agriculture to maintain the fishery. Which blows my mind cuz getting farmers to give up their water ain't an easy thing to do

 

[moderator edited]

[DonAndersen]

Guys,

 

Page 19 of General Regulations under Additional Restrtictions says " Angling not permitted through ice [a] into beaver ponds or into flowing waters in Zone 1.

 

Guess that settles the fishing through the ice issue.

 

Guess the dates regulation was chosen to limit ice fishermen. Govt' must recognize an issue and therefore installed dates. The issues are fishing through ice.

 

And Clive, I fear that some ice fisherman or other WILL FALL THROUGH a hole provided by aeration units. The Govt will get sued and back out of aeration quick. There goes a pile of possible lake opportunities.

 

catch ya'

 

 

Don

[reevesr1]

Don,

Now I'm really sorry for the hijack.

 

Clive,

I did not realize bobe's comment was directed at you. I read your comment as a joke, as you intended.

 

BobE,

While I obviously agree that ther can be an element of anti-any method of fishing other than ff, I don't think dryfly fits in that category. Me thinks you overreacted. Seems to be a trend!

[dryfly]

BobEMonster...surely your comment were not directed at anything I wrote ... basically saying that using dates were just fine since trying to define anything else was impossible. Surely not me good sir ? ? ?

[TimD]

Guys,

 

Page 19 of General Regulations under Additional Restrtictions says " Angling not permitted through ice [a] into beaver ponds or into flowing waters in Zone 1.

 

Guess that settles the fishing through the ice issue.

 

Guess the dates regulation was chosen to limit ice fishermen. Govt' must recognize an issue and therefore installed dates. The issues are fishing through ice.

 

And Clive, I fear that some ice fisherman or other WILL FALL THROUGH a hole provided by aeration units. The Govt will get sued and back out of aeration quick. There goes a pile of possible lake opportunities.

 

catch ya'

Don

 

 

Don,

 

The beaver ponds restriction is to give fish a break when over-wintering in the deeper water that the ponds afford. Much the same thing as preventing fishing at fish ladders, it prevents anglers from targeting 'trapped' fish. Like I said before, in our situation at Muir the local fisheries person did not feel he could ban ice fishing because it is a legal way to fish, the best alternative would be to do it by date. We agreed with the date concept because it would work for most years.

 

From what I hear Bullshead is not aerated so any aeration-safety based argument would not necessarily be applicable.

 

People ice fishing with artificial lures are fishing legally in waters like Muir and Bullshead, if there is a poaching problem then the solution is either education or enforcement. The people that fish Muir have been doing a good job of keeping an eye out for poachers and teaching people how to fish legally.

 

Regards,

 

Tim

[monger]

Troutlover, the reason Bullshead can maintain it's water levels now is because water is sent downstream in a pipe as opposed to the open creek bed. The amount of evaporation from the creek was huge, and therefore a vast amount of water was removed from the reservoir. Today, there is actually more people being served with less water loss. The effeciency of this water transfer leaves us with year round fishing. The irrigation districts are now looking at piping water in a lot of areas that used to run open ditches. It makes sense, but there will be quite a bit of "man-made" habitat lost along these areas where water used to flow through the Alberta "desert".

[bigbowtrout]

I love bannock with jelly and peanut butter mmmmmmmmmmm

[monger]

Soon Troutlover, we filled up the memory card on Thursday. We need a new camera

[reevesr1]

RW,

Hey man, it's pretty obvious you hate the board and many of the people here. Your posts are almost uniformly negative, which is too bad. I'm pretty sure (and I could be wrong, but I doubt it) you are a reincarnation of a guy who retired from the board a while ago because he didn't like the direction it was taking. That guy had something to contribute and was a good guy to fish with and debate with. You seem to want to contribute nothing, just point out all the problems with the board and many of its members. If that is going to be your persona, fine, but don't expect any positive replies.

 

I sure wish you would retire this Red Wiggler character, as he brings nothing to the table. Bring back the old persona.