Summer Sport Fishery Angler Survey at Haig and Moose Lakes, Alberta, 2016
Author(s)
Nikita Lebedynski
Summary
High fishing pressure, coupled with slow-growing and late-maturing populations, has resulted
in the overharvest of many of Alberta’s sport fish populations, especially northern pike
(Esox lucius) and walleye (Sander vitreus). To generate information required for the management
of these species on Haig and Moose lakes, we conducted a creel survey during the summer of
2016 (June 1 to August 31). We used reduced-effort creel surveys with the addition of a
ratio-of-use survey at Moose Lake to collect data on angling effort, catch rates, biological data and
other sport fishery demographics.
At Haig Lake, 248 anglers were interviewed, and fishing pressure was estimated at 2.6 h/ha
(95% CI = 2.0 – 3.4) during the survey period. Total catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) was 2.3 fish/h
and comprised 2.0 fish/h and 0.3 fish/h for walleye and northern pike, respectively. Total yield of
walleye was 639.8 kg (95% CI = 470.6 – 850.7) or 0.70 kg/ha (95% CI = 0.51 – 0.93). Total yield of
northern pike was 52.6 kg (95% CI = 28.2 – 86.7) or 0.06 kg/ha (95% CI = 0.03 – 0.09). Walleye
ranged in size from 300 to 532 mm fork length (FL; n = 391). Northern pike ranged in size from
260 to 1,050 mm FL (n = 119).
At Moose Lake, 711 anglers were interviewed, and fishing pressure was estimated at 1.4 h/ha
(95% CI = 1.2 – 1.6) during the survey period. Total CPUE was 0.6 fish/h and comprised 0.1 fish/h
and 0.5 fish/h for walleye and northern pike, respectively. Total yield of walleye was 183.1 kg
(95% CI = 111.2 – 273.4) or 0.05 kg/ha (95% CI = 0.03 – 0.07). Total yield of northern pike was
496.8 kg (95% CI = 388.5 – 623.4) or 0.12 kg/ha (95% CI = 0.10 – 0.15). Walleye ranged in size from
285 to 621 mm FL (n = 36). Northern pike ranged in size from 408 to 755 mm FL (n = 130).