fisherguy

Appreciate all the responses and insight. As one of those guys that fished BL frequently in late 80's early 90's, sounds like this fishery is a lot more sensitive today than it was then. The tighter regs in play today should be a good thing.

Good day all'. fairly confusing chat with my son about Kawartha walleye slot sizes in general this morning before he headed out on Balsam this afternoon. It's been many years since either one of us fished this gem of a lake. As I read the 2020 FMZ 17 regs, states under 'species exceptions' Mitchell & Balsam Lakes walleye 'NONE keep' slot is between 37-55 cm (by my calc : 14.5"-21.6"). Zone Wide FMZ 17 walleye 'keep' slot is between 35-50 cm. (by my calc : 13'7"-19.6"). My interpretation of the FMZ 17 Zone Wide keep limits of 35-50 makes sense as these fish are in the 2.5 lb and under weight class. Probably not prime spawners ? The Mitchell & Balsam keeper slot over 55cm (21.65") would be approximately 4lb plus class according to google calculations. MNR is essentially encouraging the harvesting of larger class walleye, of which must be a result of nettings, creel surveys etc. Contrary to my logic in thinking these larger fish from Balsam & Mitchell should have had the same regulation coverage as Zone Wide FMZ 17? And yep, he released 2 nice pics. https://files.ontario.ca/mnrf-fishing-regulations-summary-fmz-17-en-2020-01-20.pdf

Ya mamona, it doesn't really happen without a few pics does it. So there's no confusion, that pic is of our man Big Cliff. Thanks again Cliff.

Well Cliff, what you lacked in pier fish the other day you sure made up in clams. What a beauty day. That clam measuring device you incorporated into the bucket lid sure paid off. Made the CO's day a lot easier. Thanks for having me along. I'll keep in touch. A few pics from the day.

I'm in.

Good meet and greet this morning Cliff, that's a great community of anglers you have there. Thanks for letting me in for a couple of hours. And the fishing ... well, a bit slow this morning. Bonus to the day, Pelicans patrolling and Dolphins breaching a few hundred meters off the pier.

I'll see you guys at the pier tomorrow morning for a chat. Thanks for the generous pass offer. I won't interrupt your prime fishing time,, this time :)) A couple of bux for walk on is no problem. If it's a blowout see you at the Trail.

Now that sounds like a fair exchange !

Lol, I see your point, you don't need to be asking your fishing bud to mind your line every half hour You guys plan fishing the pier tomorrow morning (Friday) ?

Looks like we're getting a break in the weather soon. I've never fished or clammed in S.C. Clamming on the week end would have been fun, but I didn't bring along anything resembling boots. Monday morning forecast looks good for pier fishing. I'll wander over Monday around 9 in the morning, about a 3 minute walk. Bringing 2 bux for pier walk-on as per sign. I'll be the guy carrying 2 aluminum coffee mugs, what do you take in yours?

Hey Cliff, the Mrs and myself are renting next door at Kingston Plantation Feb-Mar. Great fishing - clamming posts. Good to have some insight into what's going on fish wise at the Apache pier. Agree, the weather hasn't been great to date. There's a 37 acre pond here that apparently has stocked largemouth, might give that a shot if it ever warms up. Hopefully the weather cooperates next few weeks for your pier fishing. Might see you out there one day.. if it ever stops raining.

Ya Sinker, alternatively the Walmart Energizers (850's deepcycle) are a good deal. I've had good luck with couple over past 5 years. The one is 5 years old and still cranks.

Their website also has a Canadian 800 tech help number, might be worth a shot.

I've had fair luck walking the beaches at the resorts sunrise for a few hours before the resort traffic. A spinning setup with 6-8 lb mono will do. 1/4oz jig heads with Berkley 3" Jigworms (pumpkinseed-tan colours), Neonz tails, twister tails etc., slow retrieve and twitching. Hail mary casts in 3fow to edge of the turtle grass at 2 hours incoming high tide and 2 hours on dropping tide works. There are schools of small Majora, boxfish, various Snappers, caught a small Fluke last trip, and the ultimate, Bonefish. Bones won't hesitate to jump these baits. A bit of luck needed fishing for Bones blind casting, with Polaroids, when you find a pod, lead the cast in their direction of travel by 20'. If they don't scatterer, should produce a jump. What you don't want with this particular rig is one of those nasty Cudas, heheh, retie. http://www.cubamania.com/cuba/forumdisplay.php?f=93 might get you more info, good luck.

Priceless iceguy, MNR might have to append their 08 regs.