I live in the area around rice lake. I fish the lake almost weekly. I hear about this everywhere I go, and everyone I've talked to about it has told me what a joke the whole thing is. If the RLTA thinks they are going to get the regs changed, they for sure have thier heads buried in the sand.
The lake hardly got touched at all by winter anglers this year. There were a few guys out of easy access areas, but at least 90% of the lake was untouched.
I'd be willing to bet there were no fisherman that went thru the ice. Snowmobilers maybe, but fisherman? I have my doubts.
I also bet that a lodge booked with americans fishing panfish for the week, would harvest more fish in that week, than were harvested all winter out of the lake.
The RLTA argument is so weak, I'd be embarrassed to even tell the MNR about it.
Do the members of the RLTA realize the damage thier doing with this whole thing?? I wonder just how many people looked for a new area to fish after reading this? I wouldn't even recommend rice lake as a place to go, after this.
I'll keep fishing it every week.
S.