Assessment of the Status of the Sport Fishery for Pike at Pine Lake, 1999

Author(s)

Bill Patterson

Summary

To recover or maintain Alberta's northern pike fisheries, a new pike management strategy was implemented in 1999. In 1999, the pike fishery at Pine Lake was classified as vulnerable (stable-recreational) and a 63 cm (maximum total length) size limit, 3 fish daily limit on pike was implemented in the sport fishery. In order to assess the status of the pike fishery at Pine Lake, a creel survey was conducted during May to August 1999. During the survey, the number of anglers utilizing the creel site was 413. The estimated total number of anglers was 6,669. The estimated effort during the survey was 16,868 hours. Angling pressure (angler-hours / hectare) was very high at 43.4 hrs / ha.
The estimated harvest of legal-sized pike was 169. The catch rate on legal-sized pike (>63 cm max TL) was 0.010 pike kept / hour. The estimated release rate on sub-legal pike was 0.058 fish / hour. The estimated total catch rate on pike was therefore 0.068 fish / hour. Few anglers were successful in harvesting a legal-sized pike and most anglers caught no pike.
According to historical information a decline of the Pine Lake pike fishery has been described mainly in terms of numbers of fish since the lake was never known for producing large fish.
Based on the criteria used to classify pike stocks in Alberta and historical information, the Pine Lake pike population is collapsed.

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