ice fishing kawarthas?

[cram]

Hey -- probably a dumb question but i honestly don't know....is there no ice fishing on the kawartha lakes? Interested in balsam in particular. If so, why??

[MuskyBill]

Nope, just Scugog, & it's only a short season at that.

[cram]

curious -- why? Is it because of the musky population?

[Rich]

My guess is because of the publicity and relative closeness to Toronto. Not sure why Scugog is open however, as it's the closest and most popular.

[Ron]

We've been asking the MNR this for years. They have been working on an answer for the same amount of time. We are hopeing to get it open for Pan fishing in 2010. It is the only area in Ontario other than Algonquin Park that is closed to ice fishing.

[irishfield]

Most likely a cottage association that had pull at the time....

[Grimace]

I have always wondered about that.

[Sinker]

Man would I love to drill a few holes on some of my summer spots on the kawartha's!!! Can you say fish fry

 

Sinker

[mbac31]

I was told by a Ministry guy that it was due to fishing pressure, lakes could not sistain a healthy population being open for that long. Lets face it Scugug is not exactly a walleye catching paridise come hard water season for most.

[Jer]

I would like to see a winter panfish season (crappie, perch) with maybe a limited pickerel harvest to keep it interesting. I have people ask me all the time why the season is closed around here. I have no idea.

[Sinker]

The problem with opening a panfish season, is the walleyes will still get caught......and prolly kept. At the very least, they'll get harmed for no reason. I live in the kawartha's, and I think its just fine the way it is.

 

Sinker

[jediangler]

Just the amount of litter that would be left on the ice from a hard water season is enough reason to keep it closed.

[Jer]

The problem with opening a panfish season, is the walleyes will still get caught......and prolly kept. At the very least, they'll get harmed for no reason. I live in the kawartha's, and I think its just fine the way it is.

 

Sinker

 

 

Why is this not a concern anywhere else? Besides, I'm only talking about a 1 or 2 walleye limit. Why should the vast majority of responsible anglers suffer for what a few bad apples might do (poaching)?

 

We do this way too much in this country...restrict the enjoyment of the many for the fear that a few will take advantage...but that's a whole other topic.

[crappieperchhunter]

Nothing would make me happier then having the Kawartha's open for the Hardwater season. And if it happens before I retire to live in Bobcaygeon....all the better.

 

I have never been able to understand the logic of the closure at all. At the very least a short ice season like on Scugog should be given a trial period....AT THE VERY LEAST.

 

I would think it would take alot of pressure off Lake Simcoe and ADD alot of $$$ to the Kawartha economy.

 

My best guess would be that the MNR would never get any money to get out and do enforcement. Especially now with the way the economy is heading. Hard to justify spending more tax payers $$$$ on fishing when people are losing there jobs.

Edited December 15, 2008 by crappieperchhunter

[forrest]

The less lakes to remove trucks from the better.

[danbo]

They drop the water levels every fall to make room for the spring floods.

I think it's a safety issue. Their could be air pockets under the ice if water levels are dropped in winter too.

[tbayboy]

That was the answer I was given by a resort owner (who'd benefit from renting in the offseason) Danbo. They said that Scugog is open as it is the only one that doesn't have the levels mucked with.

[irishfield]

They drop the water levels every fall to make room for the spring floods.

I think it's a safety issue. Their could be air pockets under the ice if water levels are dropped in winter too.

 

They drop most of the lakes in Zone 11, and most places for that matter... Temagami gets dropped about 3 feet... Cassels gets lowered as much as 18 feet. They're all open for fishing.

Edited December 15, 2008 by irishfield

[jwl]

They drop most of the lakes in Zone 11, and most places for that matter... Temagami gets dropped about 3 feet... Cassels gets lowered as much as 18 feet. They're all open for fishing.

 

a bit off topic, but when I lived in The Soo and went ice fishing on part of the Montreal River a few times, heck they would drop and raise the water levels all the time...you could feel the ice drop when you where standing on it , now that is a wierd feeling.....it wouldn't go anywhere because it was locked right in a bay like section of the river and it was pushing 30 inches thick, but still a freeky thing to have "the floor" rise and lower on you in a day

[hirk]

This is only my guess but I always figured it was to protect the fisheries from over harvest BECAUSE these lakes all have (except Scugog) Tourist Resorts and local economies based on summer tourism.

[Jer]

They drop the water levels every fall to make room for the spring floods.

I think it's a safety issue. Their could be air pockets under the ice if water levels are dropped in winter too.

 

 

That doesn't make any sense. Nobody is stopping the thousands of snow machines/ATVs/trucks out there every winter. There's even an ice road most years running up Chemong from the causeway to Curve Lake. Much safer ice around here than in lotsa places open to fishing (Quinte & Simcoe come to mind).

[Jer]

This is only my guess but I always figured it was to protect the fisheries from over harvest BECAUSE these lakes all have (except Scugog) Tourist Resorts and local economies based on summer tourism.

 

 

...and Haliburton, Muskoka, Nipissing, Simcoe, etc. don't?

[hirk]

Well Nip. and Simcoe are huge fisheries so pressure would be less of a concern and Haliburton has many smaller lakes that don't have the resort concentrations on any single body of water the Kawartha's do.They also rotate Laker lakes in Haliburton to offset pressure.I don't know about Muskoka?

[forrest]

speculation: concentrate the ice guys and huts so it is easier to police/regulate in the popular region.

 

Scugog is easier to regulate because it is not too far out of the way.

I only went ice fishing once and it was the only time I was asked for my license.

 

forrest

[Guest steel'n'esox]

The same is true for the soft water season which closes Nov 15 for all species, with all other regions that I checked for Muskies all other regions are open to Dec 15, other fish species namely bass and walleye are open to either Nov 30 or Dec 15. It took the ministry 10 years to drop the steelhead catch from 5 to 2 fish, but the ministry still couldnt do it right as the boaters can still keep 5 fish in Lake O. Hence the MNR (ministry of no results)They are as useless as teets on a bull