For those who fish in Long Point Bay

[chickenhawk]

I went fishing down at the point the other day.....on the upside the fishing was good we caught 60 perch in the morning and 12 bass in the afternoon.....what i have noticed is that all the bass seem to be about the same size....and this is due to people keeping those 3-5 pound breeders.....i think a good idea for that area would be to have something like any fish over 18 inches must be returned to the lake.......becuz if this keeps up there wont be anymore fish there......anybody in agreeance?

[Musky or Specks]

Chicken what your talking about is anecdotal and has no footing in science. Before any decision like that can be made it reallt needs to be studied with some real scientific method.

[lunkerbasshunter]

i dont fish long point myself but neighbours were there last week and they caught quite a few bass that were 3-5 pounds. or that is what they were saying anyway. as for any fish over 18 returned, im all for that in any lake.

 

cheers!

[purekgw]

we fish long point all the time and i see what you mean although the bigger ones are there but getting harder and harder to find

[oncogene]

Hum that's alot of assumptions based on the experience of 1 angler on 1 fishing day in probably 1 small part of the lake.

 

 

What if, maybe, perhaps.... the 3-5lb bass aren't biting coz they have been C&R too many times over their growing years that they no longer get fooled by our lures anymore? Then We should make sure we do not release any bass over 18" back into the lake. And this will open up the space/food/resources for the smaller bass to grow bigger & faster..... Just my wild assumption & no actual scientific/statistical proof.

[chickenhawk]

ive fished long point my entire life and every year ive noticed a difference......too many ppl are goin out and filling their livewells with these fish and it damages the fish population.....there is no doubt in my mind that the big ones are there it is just becoming harder and harder to find these fish and if something isn't done soon we may not even have a solid bass fishery......just one mans opinion and i wish i could do something about it.....i know all i can do is release the fish i catch and hope for the best for years to come...

 

Till then,

 

Hawk

[Rich]

I've been saying it for 5 years now, nobody wants to listen.

 

I haven't lived here for my whole life, but I have been visiting and fishing the opener bass derby since I was about 8 years old. I remember the derby when I was 10 better than the others because my best friend won 1st place on our boat with a big smallie. Back when they still had a children's division.

 

Anyway, that same derby my dad placed 10th with a bass that was just under FIVE pounds. The winning bass of that derby in the adult largemouth category was 7.2lbs I believe. I know it was over 7. Smallie over 6.

 

Now the trend for the opener derby is just under 5lbs. 4.95 is considered a giant.

 

Bass fishing right now on the bay is better than I remember it as a kid. Catching 20 - 30 largies is not even a challenge now. The problem is, every fish is 2 pounds or less. You catch a three pounder and you're in awe of this "monster" bass. I'm sorry but there was a time when a 3 pounder wasn't much on the bay.

 

The problem isn't the locals keeping any bass. The problem is the locals only keeping BIG bass, because they figure it feeds their family better. They've caught and ate all of the big, breeding fish that the bay needs. Not all bass will grow huge, they have to have the genetic strain of trophy bass to get that big. And I think that's the reason for the decline in size of these bass.

 

What we need to push for is a slot limit on the bay. Unfortunately due to our wonderful Long Point Bay Meat Eaters Association oops I mean Anglers Association who have so much pull nothing like that will ever happen. Heck we'd be more likely to see a year round catch and kill season on everything. Then when someone piped up about conservation, they'd be saying "it's my legal right! You're a P3TA protester!"

 

I swear sometimes we should just fill up a minivan with the people down here who's IQ is higher than "piece of toast" move up north for a bit while the army does some "selective harvest" down here. lol

[modny]

i've kept a couple larger bass in the past, mostly because of injury sustained during the catch..

 

if i can i always release those big hogs so i can keep fishing for em in the future.

 

its a shame not everyone does this. IMO>

[chickenhawk]

couldn't have said it better myself Rich! 100% in agreeance

[bpsbassman]

I swear sometimes we should just fill up a minivan with the people down here who's IQ is higher than "piece of toast" move up north for a bit while the army does some "selective harvest" down here. lol

 

 

Seriously, some very good points being made.

Edited July 18, 2008 by BPSBASSMAN

[Wendel]

the inner bay is a slaughter house for bass.

I was out there last week just watching the charter boats bring in bass after bass... no matter what size it stays in the boat.

They only keep their limit of course, but man 12 guys on a boat x 6 bass is 72 fish, that's just the morning charter!

 

I wonder how many of those guys on the charter boats have licenses which entitled them to 6 bass not 2?

 

I'm all for putting a slot size in for the inner bay

[chickenhawk]

well im not sure how to go about doing something like that but if someone can explain how to id be happy to get the ball rolling on this situation

[The Urban Fisherman]

Hawk - why fish the bay when you can get hogs like this closer to home?

 

haha alright sorry dude you were away while I caught it and had to show off...you know where I got it......

 

All kidding aside, I have to agree with you and Rich on this. I've only lived out this way since last fall,

but I've noticed a very "old school" mentality around here. Reminds me of growing up in Northern ON.

When I was a kid we didn't keep "eaters" we kept the biggest fish we could within our limit.

 

Also I hear things like "I don't care if bass is out of season, if I catch one I'm keeping it" and "I don't need no

damn license to fish" (on the pier in Rowan) And it's not just the bass, as you guys know, I'm all for a

feed of fish, but I know people who'll go out with 3 people in the boat and keep their limit of perch, bring

them home, then go back out two more days in a row and do it all over again. I mean seriously, who needs

500 perch in their freezer?!?!? I don't know if they're just naive, stupid or just don't give a crud.

 

Anyways, I don't fish the bay at all really as I've only got that little pontoon boat, but I plan to fish it in the

future and hopefully by the time a bass boat is in the budget there's still going to be some bass out in

the "bermuda triangle" for me to catch.

 

Cheers,

UF

[BillM]

I thought letting the big ones go and keeping the little guys for the table was common sense?

 

I guess there are more people who lack common sense then I originally thought.

[bpsbassman]

I guess there are more people who lack common sense then I originally thought.

 

Goes back to Rich's remark......

 

sometimes we should just fill up a minivan with the people down here who's IQ is higher than "piece of toast" move up north for a bit while the army does some "selective harvest" down here

[steve_paul]

It is interesting, this was brought up awhile back on the local board and the concensus was "it is your right, keep your limit". There was no talk on the selective harvest - keep the smaller, throw back the prime spawners.

 

It is all our right to keep a fish for the table, it is too bad though as others have mentioned, too many of the wrong fish seem to make their way to the fryers.

Edited July 18, 2008 by steve_paul

[chickenhawk]

is there a way we can get something done about this?

[Rich]

Good luck. I'm sure the MNR would put serious thought into this issue.

 

The serious thought being: whether to recycle the letter, or put it in the trash.

[Reef Runner]

Sounds like the Anglers Association is entrenched with the interest of the charters there. Catching big bass is big business, but as we do all to well in North America, we don't put reasonable limits on consumption until the problem starts hurting local economies. It would be a hard sell to align the "immediate" interest of the fishery with the charters, and thus, a hard sell to the MNR. Although, long term, their interest are all ready aligned.

 

Write a thoughtful letter to the MNR for their condsideration including your points mentioned above, a case study proving slot sizes working, impact analysis on the local economy and, in closing, advise as to a petition being formed on the matter. Send a copy to the MNR and also your local press. Get statements from the anglers association and those petitions filled by as many as you can. Update the press and maybe they'll pick up the story, get some spotlight and take it from there.

 

But that's just grassroots wishful thinking

Edited July 18, 2008 by reefrunner

[timmeh]

I would agree that starting a petition would at the very least start to get others informed of the issue and that's always the first step. The more people you can get on your side the louder you voice will be. However don't expect much to change quickly. But sending a letter to the MNR would not hurt anything. They've already released the issue with walleye in L Erie and have changed regs throughout Ontario so it's not impossible that in the future a change could come about.

[Musky or Specks]

The local mentallity down there is pretty brutal. Poaching out of season is incredibly common. Just this spring I was down there crappie fishing and this guy and his girlfiend show up with a fishing rod and a net and start walking up and down the creek looking for steelhead to snag. Lucky they were complete inbreds and didnt see the fish that were sitting right under a tree root. This was in broad daylight right in a Conservation area. Another time on an opener I talked to a property owner to get permission to fish a creek that ran through his property. He gave me permission but told me That I should have been back there in March thats when he was catching them all.

[Rich]

Poaching, heck yah.. there are no rules in the south. I was carp fishing at my spot in December and a guy came up and asked me why I wasn't fishing for trout. I said "they're out of season" ... he looked at me, puzzled for a minute, then said "but.. the water temperature should be perfect."

 

I can't tell you how many people I've seen while carp fishing that have wondered why I'm not fishing trout out of season. When I tell them why, they all say "who cares?" "No one gives a F**K around here" - both regular replies by the yocals I run into.

 

Thank goodness I never see any of them with a fishing rod. I'd be on the phone to the MNR in a heartbeat. Not like the MNR would do anything about it but it's always worth a try.

 

There are so many poaching stories I could tell.. oh man. I work with yocals. Worst one was a guy telling me he kept a big bass out of a pond in May because "he didn't have the heart to put it back"

 

Grrrrrrrr time for BBR to move

Edited July 19, 2008 by Rich

[Musky or Specks]

Dont move the fishings to good your way. The nice thing about it is only locals are fishing it. Not a lot of outta towners like me.