By: Jeff Matity GetFishing.ca
“L
eave Only Footprints and Take Only Pictures” signs can often be seen while strolling through a National Park. When we respect and obey those simple instructions we preserve the beauty of these special places for ourselves and others to enjoy. The same cannot be said for pike fishing destinations, not even when Special Regulations are in place to protect fish stocks. Bait fishing with multiple-treble-hook rigs and poor angling practices can be disastrous.
SPECIAL PLACES AT RISK... It is Great Fisheries that make Great Fishermen. Case in point, the world-famous Tobin Lake in Central Saskatchewan is a 4-Season mecca for four-foot-long pike. The fish are even protected by a Catch-and-Release Protected Slot between 75 – 115 cm (29.5” – 45 1/2”). Most would speculate that these Regulations should ensure trophy fishing forever as all mature fish over 75 cm must be released and only potential World-Record-Class pike over 115 cm may be harvested. Unfortunately, this is not the reality of the situation.
The method distances the first treble away from the head of the bait – away from the gullet of the pike. As the pike inhaled the bait, head first, the first hook to enter the fish’s mouth is the hook placed in the sardine’s back. Akin to its name, when using the Quick Strike Rigs, European specialist strike immediately... before the pike swallows the bait. Fast forward several decades and, for whatever reason, many North American anglers and tackle companies have gone to horizontal rigs (hooks in both the head and the tail). Some even have threetreble hook rigs to get better “hooking success”?!? As for running to the tip-up for a quick hook set? Many anglers doddle and let the fish hold the bait too long... especially so if the first fish is lost for some reason. I don’t know how many times I’ve hear, “Give ‘em time to swallow it.” A treble hook that is allowed to be swallowed hooks the fish deep, often with fatal results. The logical conclusion, it would seem, is that on Tobin Lake many big fish are sport-caught and released... unsuccessfully!
FISHERIES MANAGERS CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH
It stands to reason that sloppy angling techniques and faulty practices that leave protected-slot fish, literally, Dead in the water are not the wise use of a one-of-a-kind, world-class fishery. Community agencies and Fisheries Managers worked hard to put Tobin’s regulations in place to protect big, mature, trophy fish with the expectation that anglers develop and practice the best angling methods and know proper catch-photograph-release techniques so that fish Do survive the angler encounter and remain fully capable to recover and thrive after the hook-fight-land-handle-photograph-release procedure. Tobin Lake’s protected slot, facing unsuccessful release, is on a collision course with disaster. Forget magnificent fishing and lucrative tourism dollars. A mediocre fishery could easily result due to the lack of ownership and thoughtful stewardship by anglers. Fisheries managers or other stakeholders can only do so much. A beauty Pike caught by the authors son Ben.
In recent years, after complaints from local anglers, over what they described as a downward trend in pike angling quality in Tobin, Fisheries staff did an ambitious population assessment. Well, the fish are there... however, one factor has become quite obvious.
The “Big Fish Matter” movement out of the Dr. Bruce Tufts Fisheries Laboratories in Ontario has raised the awareness that big fish are more valuable than just for show on the wall. Native fish species of freshwater like pike, walleye, lake trout and even panfish species Do Not live beyond their reproductive years. Like reptiles and other coldblooded animals, fish, in fact, grow and reproduce their entire lives. Not only that, female fish produce more eggs of ever-increasing quality as they age. This doubly reflects poorly on Tobin Lake anglers unwittingly killing pike with improperly-fished, Quick Strike Rigs.
During the entire angling season, thousands of anglers target giant pike by using dead baits – open water use of baits under bobbers and below tip-ups in winter. Specifically, these dead bait fish are used with Quick Strike Rigs that originally copied, European-style rigging. Europeans strictly rig their sardine or herring, head-down, Remember, by law, Tobin fish are being released; but, not where one hook is placed in the back and the other in the tail. successfully. This is due to 2 things: 1) the inconsistency of (Continued on page 32.)
Just Fishing . 30
Fall 2023
