BASS SEASON IS NOT OPEN UNTIL THE 4TH SAT IN JUNE

[Rich]

Here in NY we now allow fishing for out of season bass on a catch and release only not to mention our trophy season on Lake Erie Bass starting in May.

 

Our bass fishing has never been better. Maybe Ontario should take another look on how bass should be regulated. However, I must add most anglers here do not keep bass even when in season. Why eat a crummy hot dog when there are steaks and juicy pork chops swimming the waters.

 

I've been saying the same thing since I was 12 years old, at least on the great lakes a year round (with C&R restrictions) season would not hurt anything.

[BillM]

Agreed. We had a real hardtime keeping the smallmouths off our muskie lures last weekend on the French.. Stayed away from the rocks as much as we could and fished whatever weeds we could find. Smallmouth bass were smashing everything!

[scuro]

its tough having the regs the eay they are, in FL is open all the time

 

In BC they throw them up on shore like some people throw carp or bullheads on shore in Ontario. They consider them garbabge fish.

[bucktail]

I remember fishing Dalrympal a few years ago on the pike openor.

No matter where we went we caught bass. Water was 53 degrees so it must have been the first feeding movement of the year ( way too early for the spawn)

We were throwing magnum spinnerbaits and jerkbaits but it didnt matter.

I also think it may be time to look at new regs for some areas. i have been reading alot lately that most Ontario lakes are near or at carrying capacity for bass due to the last decade of warm weather.

I think this year it will be eat a bass let a walleye go.

[lunkerbasshunter]

i am a bass guy so i find it way easier in general to catch bass then it is to catch walleye. My favorite lakes are infested with bass! which is good for me but may not be so good for the fisheries that really on the walleye bite.

 

In my opionion the bass fishing is better now then it ever has been but im only 31 so cant speak for the for the 60's 50 or earlier. I think the combination of c & r and zebra mussles and warmer seasons have improved bass fishing in this province in a big way!

 

Cheers!

[JohnF]

Here in nw ontario smallie and lm are open all year but size limit (none over 13.8")until july 1 and after july 1 there is no size limit

and our smallmouth fishery is terrific

 

Has that perhaps got something/anything to do with our ice going out much earlier?

 

JF

[steverowbotham]

whether you agree with it or not, that is not the debate, the fact is that it is the law, the season is set for a reason.

 

Stay away from their beds, incidental catches happen, but do not keep them, do not fish for them purposely until the 28th is my point.

[JohnF]

whether you agree with it or not, that is not the debate, the fact is that it is the law, the season is set for a reason.

 

Stay away from their beds, incidental catches happen, but do not keep them, do not fish for them purposely until the 28th is my point.

 

I buy that. I even gave up on chasing carp when someone here said they'd started the mating thang. Time enuf this summer when they're just being fat and lazy.

 

JF

[wgk36]

I'll be fishing bass tomorrow in a tournament. Our season opens this weekend here in "La Belle Province".

[Billy Bob]

whether you agree with it or not, that is not the debate, the fact is that it is the law, the season is set for a reason.

 

Stay away from their beds, incidental catches happen, but do not keep them, do not fish for them purposely until the 28th is my point.

 

I find at least here and I am sure elsewhere that our government sponsored Fish and Wildlife agencies are WAY too slow to act in the best interest of us or the fisheries. Just because they set up game laws from years ago doesn't make it the correct thing to do. Only through lobbying from our gun/fishing clubs that some outdated game laws here have finally been changed. Many more are being discussed today to benefit our wildlife/fishery populations. Without our club Federation we would be still governed by ancient law set up in the 1940's. Get involved with a hunting / fishing club for a better tomorrow on your lakes, rivers and streams.

 

Bob

[steverowbotham]

I find at least here and I am sure elsewhere that our government sponsored Fish and Wildlife agencies are WAY too slow to act in the best interest of us or the fisheries. Just because they set up game laws from years ago doesn't make it the correct thing to do. Only through lobbying from our gun/fishing clubs that some outdated game laws here have finally been changed. Many more are being discussed today to benefit our wildlife/fishery populations. Without our club Federation we would be still governed by ancient law set up in the 1940's. Get involved with a hunting / fishing club for a better tomorrow on your lakes, rivers and streams.

 

Bob

 

So you're saying that protecting their spawning period is a bad idea and we should have that changed ?

[BillM]

So you're saying that protecting their spawning period is a bad idea and we should have that changed ?

 

I think he is saying that the bass population has exploded and perhaps having the season open a few weeks earlier isn't going to have an impact.

 

I tend to agree.

 

Is there anywhere in Ontario that the smallmouth bass population is actually suffering?

[Billy Bob]

What I am saying is a column of water will only support so much life. If it is over run by bass there will be other species that will suffer.

 

How long did it take for Fish and Wildlife Departments realize a slot limit is more beneficial than have a minimum length ? ? ?

 

The biggest problem with Fish and Wildlife Departments is that it ALWAYS involves politics and that is never a good way to manage anything.

 

Bob

[bucktail]

Unfortunately ever lake is almost a case by case example.

My favorite lake has had a MASSIVE shift in species, the MNR stocked walleyes in it and they have ended up competing with the once AWESOME largemouth population. It appears that in this struggle for forage the smallmouth population has exploded.

I now catch smallies in all my largemouth spots and can catch 50-75 bass a day but they are all smallies no largies.

I dont think anyone wants to see bed fishing ( even tho thats what it will be in 2 weeks since the temps are still low) but a more proactve management on certain waters IE Lake Erie by Ny for example.

 

 

Ill end this with my plea to board memebers this year.... eat a bass let a walleye go this year. Its just good biology!

[JohnF]

Unfortunately ever lake is almost a case by case example.

My favorite lake has had a MASSIVE shift in species, the MNR stocked walleyes in it and they have ended up competing with the once AWESOME largemouth population. It appears that in this struggle for forage the smallmouth population has exploded.

I now catch smallies in all my largemouth spots and can catch 50-75 bass a day but they are all smallies no largies.

I dont think anyone wants to see bed fishing ( even tho thats what it will be in 2 weeks since the temps are still low) but a more proactve management on certain waters IE Lake Erie by Ny for example.

Ill end this with my plea to board memebers this year.... eat a bass let a walleye go this year. Its just good biology!

 

History has proven that mankind has a pretty crummy record when it tries to mess with Mother Nature. We introduce a new species, inadvertently (gobies) or deliberately (trout), or start restocking an existing one and somehow the downside costs often exceed the upside benefit. It may take years for the pattern to emerge but emerge it does. We get accidental eradication of another native species we were perfectly content with, we get less tasty farm trout or we get a change in the spawning patterns of the very beasty we're labouring to preserve. Perhaps we should just accept that we're a part of some grand plan and let our fishing depredations work their magic, positive or otherwise, and chalk it up to The Plan. Sometimes what we get in place of a waning or lost species is less exciting, like the bunny in Australia, but sometimes it's better. Asian Carp I leave up to each of you to decide.

 

It's interesting that Mother Nature always seems to have an answer to our nonsense. When we screw up and deplete one living resource she often comes back with another. Of course it may well mean we have to learn to make Gobies or even Zebra Mussels a sport fish.

 

The point is that our world is a-changin' on it's own, in large part just because we're here and growing, numerically and industrially, and it may well not matter what we do to try to prevent it, the changin' will go on. Mayhap what we really need to do is to roll with the ass-kicking from Mother Nature, mainly due to our own burgeoning population and just make the best of it. The MNR perhaps should concentrate on the waterway polluters and those who fish to excess. We fisherpersons are simply a part of the equation. The powers that be need to find better ways to adjust to us cuz we're here to stay, in more arenas than just the fishing one.

 

YMMD

JF

[Guest lundboy]

The powers that be need to find better ways to adjust to us cuz we're here to stay, in more arenas than just the fishing one.

 

YMMD

JF

 

The powers that be have the solution, it's in the works... nobody is gonna like it though.

[Roy]

What a relief when the 4th Saturday in June arrives.

[JohnF]

What a relief when the 4th Saturday in June arrives.

 

Ya mean we'll all shut up and fish?

 

JF

[misfish]

What a relief when the 4th Saturday in June arrives.

 

 

Ya mean we'll all shut up and fish?

 

JF

I dought it.LOL

[BabyHerc]

How long did it take for Fish and Wildlife Departments realize a slot limit is more beneficial than have a minimum length ? ? ?

 

The biggest problem with Fish and Wildlife Departments is that it ALWAYS involves politics and that is never a good way to manage anything.

 

Bob

 

Bingo.

[Canuck2fan]

There is also some confusion over regs. I know a few people that thought that bass opens on the 21st because they moved it ahead a week last year (4th Saturday instead of 5th Saturday).

 

No actually it is still the 4th Saturday this year they have never had it as the 5th Saturday. I edited this because I thought it said the last Saturday in June which was wrong on my part my apologies.... June only has 30 days so it will only be not the last Saturday like once every 11 or 12 years ....

 

OOS bass fishing seems to be so low on the list of priorities for the CO's and so the people who will take advantage of that do, because why should they care when the Ministry and Politicans don't? The worst part is if you really stand up to these poachers you are the one who will probably find yourself in deeper trouble with the law. (read charged with assault here...) VERY SAD indeed.

Edited June 15, 2008 by Canuck2fan

[bushart]

OK we all catch incedental bass when targeting other species but our lake for the past 3 weeks has been full of bass boats 5 feet from shore pitching baits---now I've been around long enough to know whats going on so you be the judge---found this guy in the middle of the lake today--I'm guessing around 17-19 inches

 

 

 

 

Bushart

 

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[MCTFisher9120]

I also saw a dead bass over the weekend, It was a largemouth about 2lbs, stomach looked full. DO NOT TARGET BASS!!!!!

[Guest gbfisher]

What a relief when the 4th Saturday in June arrives.

 

What happens on the 4th Saturday?................... Musky Season opens I think......