Wes Bender

As Gerrit mentioned earlier in the thread, this IS a sign of things to come. It is no surprise to me. 2 years ago we had a fire ban on the long weekend. That was the first time for no camp fire on the long weekend of May that I can recall. I have been going fishing on the walleye opener for 15/20 years. I will still go this year, unless the MNR has a road block or a new fire starts in the area where I will be fishing. I will just have to drink more beer to keep warm instead of having the fire. Just a little harder to roast wieners. hahaha

Ok You have my attention now. I have a few spots that I fish from shore. They have been known to hold a carp or 2. What do I use? Like I mentioned before I have never caught or fished for them so I wouldn't know where to begin.

I noticed that carp is a fairly popular fish. Why? are they good eating or is it just the thrill of the catch that makes it so saught after? I have never caught one or tasted one for that matter. There are carp up here in NWO but I don't anyone who goes carp fishing per say. Just curious is all.

I totally don’t think it is right. There are seasons for a reason to preserve the resource. If they want to take more than the daily limit then so be it, that’s their ‘Right’. But they should still have to obey the seasons. I later found out that a person can go to the reserve and buy a 20 lb bag of walleye fillets. A fishing buddy of mine told me he bought some. I gave him heck too. He is responsible for creating the flippin demand. A few days later I was talking with a CO about the issue and trying to find out what actions were taken on the incident I reported. He had no details but gave me a bunch of numbers to try. He mentioned that a bunch of calls came in a few days before mine about some people camped out under the bridge with a deep freezer and a generator. The freezer was full of walleye. What the @!#&@! How much fish does one need? Unless, they are selling it. They were 'legal' so nothing was done. Niagara earlier in this thread made the comment, "they do it once and get away with it... they will do it again over and over..." How true it is. I understand that it was a pretty awkward situation for Pigeontroller to be in, Call the hotline or not. Me, I hate my neighbours so I would have turned them in. Those sots put 1 too many bags of garbage out on garbage day, and my fingers are on the dialer..hahaha I can’t say yeah or niegh on Pigeontroller’s decision. But he at least let the guy know that he didn’t approve and reminded him of the legality of the situation. Good on ya!

I have a similar but different story. I was steelhead fishing in a river that has a spring walleye run as well. That day the walleye were in there thick. I could not get a drift without hooking a walleye. They were bumping into my legs as they were swimming up stream. A school of 20 or 30 ten pounder was right in front of me. It was a nice sight to see. Then I saw the pile of guts on the shore. All the fish were over 8 lbs each. That really got my blood boiling. Walleye season was closed. It became evident that I was not going to get a drift by these fish target only steelhead so I decided to pick up and head to another river. There were a few others fishing down stream from me. I was watching then catching walleye after walleye. So I decide to stick my nose in. I made my way down stream and proceeded to make idol poop chat. Then I noticed one dude clean fish in the back. I asked them if those were walleye and they said yes. I fricken snapped and said, what the @#&@, it is not in season and they are fricken spawning. They the guy cleaning piped up. "Not for me it's not". As it turned out the guy claimed he was 'First Nations' so he didn't need a fishing license or have to follow the rules and seasons. I called the hotline when I got back to the truck. So on my way down the highway I passed an OPP. So I made a quick U-Turn and went back to chat with her. I explained to her what was going on and I informed her that I just made a call to the MNR hotline. The cop then promptly made haste for the river to make the bust. The MNR called me back about 5 minutes later to make certain that I was sure this guy was not 'First Nations' before they dispatch a CO to the river. I don't really know how to put this without sounding like a racist but he looked as white as the next guy. I am not racist and I hope I don't offend anyone. But this guy did not look 'First Nations'. Apparently the MNR receives a lot of calls to this same river with people potentially poaching walleye. The poachers are from a near by reserve, and technically are not poaching. Who do you think are the first to whine about the declining walleye population in the Black Bay of Lake Superior? This brings up a whole other issue and argument not meant for this forum, but I thought I would share my story and the outcome.