Jonny

It sounds like your frustration comes from fishing in a park. But that kind of a place is for everybody, so you need to get further afield. Besides, if it's easy to get at it's probably fished too much anyway. Look for spots where you have to work to get at the water. Then you'll be fishing less-fished waters, and the dogs and kiddies will leave you alone.

If you're talking about the cancellation of the spring bear hunt, I don't want to talk about that made-in-the-south piece-of-crap decision. My brother could give you an earful though. There are some good people who work in the MNR, and if you're implying that their hands are tied by politics and red tape, I agree.

Never "shoot the breeze" with a CO while out in the field or on the water. He's usually looking for you to say something suspicious. Though you haven't done anything wrong, it's best to just be courteous, let him check what he needs to check - license, stringer, tags, etc. - and then be on your way. Your buddy he ain't.

Thanks for the tip, Crosshairs. I will be at the band office anyway some time this week or early next week. I'll see if I can introduce myself and ask a few questions. As for smelts, I thought I would come up dry this year, but my wife and I just got back from a little "smelting" about an hour ago. We got about 1/2 of a 2 gallon pail (that's, um, let's see... about a gallon? . My math's not that good since I retired.) Anyway, plenty enough for a few feeds. We could have kept on dipping and caught more but we were trying to limit our catch to what we would eat. I guess our spot wasn't as good as yours, but good enough. As long as I can catch pike, bass and perch, the walleye are relatively safe from me. I actually like boneless pike fillets best of all. And a few feeds of smelt in the spring? Top notch. (Don't get me wrong though - I do love a good feed of pickerel every once in a while.) When I was president of the Timmins Golden Nugget Conservation Club for a few years, we actually worked with the MNR putting on fishing seminars where we tried to encourage people to target fish other than walleye. I don't know if we had a lot of impact, but Nipissing could certainly use some diversification in angler preferences.

I think it might be very hard to quantify the native harvest. How large was it 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago? I don't think any figures were kept, were there? If there had been, we could guess at how much impact netting had, and whether current levels are a concern. Somebody mentioned 1000 huts on Nipissing in the winter. Is that a guess, or is it based on something solid? It seems to me there's so much we don't know, and the main fault for that would go to the MNR - either for not researching and keeping various stats, or for playing them so close to the vest that we have a hard time quantifying things. I could be wrong, but I always get the feeling from the MNR that they would rather sit on any information they have, rather than share with the public. They don't like dealing with the public. What do you get if you go to the north Bay MNR office now? --- a little porch with a locked door and a telephone where you're supposed to dial the extension of the person you want to speak to. An extra catch? --- There's NO DIRECTORY BESIDE THE TELEPHONE! The place is like a little Fort Knox.

Let's put the blame squarely on everybody. We all had a hand in it when the going was good. If we're too dumb and un-cooperative to do something about it now, then I guess we'll get what we deserve - an equivalent of the collapse of the Newfoundland cod fishery. It sounds doom-and-gloom, but it's not that remote a possibility. I do disagree that the MNR, and by extension the gov't of Ontario, has done enough to protect/enhance the walleye fishery, in a variety of ways. Nipissing used to be a "showcase" lake for pickerel. I don't think it can sustain either the native or non-native harvest now, not at the levels we've been assuming are OK. I do believe that any changes should affect all users of the resource equally.

Good article, Kickingfrog, thanks. This makes sense, but it also makes sense to me that if zooplankton levels are good, then competition amongst walleye fry wouldn't matter. Just because there's a large hatch of walleye wouldn't mean the zooplankton would "run out". The spawn on Nipissing used to be a lot greater than it is (many spawning beds have been degraded), yet all those fry obviously used to find enough to eat.

There's been an update to the article, re: comment by Nipissing First Nation biologist Richard Rowe: Does that sound like it makes sense? Not to me, but what do I know.

Could attitudes have changed? Everybody's in the same sinking boat. The end of a sustainable fishery is in clear sight if we go on like we have been. I think everybody realizes that. Where the optimism comes in is wanting to believe that somebody might actually do something about it. Now that the native fishery can sell their catch "above board" legally, and make a pretty good industry of it, there's a stronger stake in an organized response to declining stocks.

I wonder if we could ever see such a thing as a co-operative stocking/habitat program involving both native and non-native stakeholders? Probably not, but wouldn't that be a "flagship" sort of enterprise! It could even lead to better understanding in other areas, but it would require both honesty on both sides and diplomats on both sides who could look at the long-term health of the fishery for all. Too tall an order, I know I'm dreaming. It's hard to be a pessimist all the time though.

Some years ago North Bay Hunters and Anglers and the MNR had a Walleye hatchery program which was discontinued by the MNR - - reason Lack of Funds. That program was never re-introduced even though it was members of the Club that did all the work on a volunteer basis. MNR costs - $0.00. Restocking programs should be seriously considered. But in addition to the MNR's lack of interest, it will be harder to get people motivated to participate when they see themselves "topping up the barrel" while there's a BIG hole in the bottom because of the netting (which takes about 3/4 of the pickerel harvested on Nipissing). But we should also look at ourselves rather than only pointing fingers at other people. Years in the past lodges, outfitters, and the tourist operators contributed to the pickerel decline. Back in the 40's up to the late 70's tourist operators were encouraging tourists to go out several times a day to come with a limit of 6 fish each time - - - that went on for years - - - summer and winter. Some of that mentality lingers today when "hot streaks" appear. Everyone is concerned over the pickerel; how about the perch and pike population? We don't see many remarks about those species. Lake Nipissing is a great bass fishery - - - how about "Walleye Fanatic Fisherman" changing to spend more time fishing bass. Fishing is fishing, and bass will give you a lot more challenge and fight than the Walleye. Are pickerel fishermen scared of change, or are so-called sport fishermen really meat hunters?

Sadly, I don't think we're going to see a resolution to this and, between the sport fishing and the netting, the Nipissing pickerel fishery may quite likely be destroyed altogether, existing only as a pale shadow of its former self. And the MNR will be the proverbial Nero, fiddling while Rome burns.

Well all right then!

I'm always kinda shy til someone breaks the ice.

Personally, I thought that was really generous of you. I looked around at the smilie selection and I didn't find one of these:

Not to mention the thumb pointed at "you-know-who". But seriously, guys jumping in with the assumption of a locked thread really bugs me. It almost seems like they're calling for the thread to be locked, only not saying it. Maybe it's just a bit of fun, I admit, but it's not very constructive.

I fully agree.

Why is there always the assumption that a news article from our local paper needs to be shut down? It seems a "bury your head in the sand" kind of reaction.

Updated picture this AM... compare to the pic in the lead-off post (taken March 26th)... Last year at this time the water was rising rapidly.

I can see lots of possibilities for where this thread might go.

From the North Bay Nugget: Full article @ http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2528165

Not to derail the thread but, yeah, it's a well-known quote. Too bad it's so wildly inaccurate.

Official "ice off" day was declared as yesterday, April 8th. We've gotten enough rain and snow in the last two days that the fire bans in our region should be eased. The creeks are up, better water flow into the lake, and the lake is up slightly. It's too early to be optimistic; the next few days should tell what the effect has been.

You've got lots of bigger 'uns waiting for you! Pike ... probably my favourite fish for catching.... and eating. You walleye (pickerel) guys move over...

Depression-era hobos didn't have aluminum cans to work with. Looks like a neat idea, though.