fishing off season, catch and release acceptable?

[River Rat]

targeting OOS fish is wrong but.............. it happens all the time. I'm sure it does damage to the fishery but most fish are released as the fines are high.

 

The worst influence I have seen on the fishery in the last ten years (other than invasive species) is the internet. Poachers are one thing but when a guy posts tons of pictures showing backgrounds (of rivers specificaly) saying "double digit drop backs right here on thursday" ...and the post comes on Friday, you should see the number of fish that are taken out legally that weekend.....2000 to 4000 hits a day people!

 

I've seen it 100 times on rivers, on ice and even open water lakes. Cell phones, navionics chips and the internet are the real threat.....poachers have become a secondary problem IMO.

 

RR

[Roy]

You hit a real sore spot with me with this topic. Sure a lot of people do that oos c&r thing. It is illegal.

But here's a hook to this story. Bass season opens the 19th of June here in zone 8 of Quebec. Berkley are having the B-1 tournament and called it for the 19th which gives the participants no time for a prefish. Berkley was able to secure prefish for the tournament starting the 15th of June. Money talks and Bull walks as they say. Pros 'playing' the tourney have gone down in my esteem (not that they care I know)....the QMNR just confirmed what I think of them in the first place and, I will never, ever buy another berkley product again. There's a whole lot to this story but I'll leave it at that.

I know that as an admin in this community I shouldn't be posting about these things but I'm also a member with my own opinion on things....right or wrong.

 

Have a super day!

[Raf]

that would leave a sour taste in my mouth too Roy.

 

..and who says you cant talk about your opinion.

[Greencoachdog]

You hit a real sore spot with me with this topic. Sure a lot of people do that oos c&r thing. It is illegal.

But here's a hook to this story. Bass season opens the 19th of June here in zone 8 of Quebec. Berkley are having the B-1 tournament and called it for the 19th which gives the participants no time for a prefish. Berkley was able to secure prefish for the tournament starting the 15th of June. Money talks and Bull walks as they say. Pros 'playing' the tourney have gone down in my esteem (not that they care I know)....the QMNR just confirmed what I think of them in the first place and, I will never, ever buy another berkley product again. There's a whole lot to this story but I'll leave it at that.

I know that as an admin in this community I shouldn't be posting about these things but I'm also a member with my own opinion on things....right or wrong.

 

Have a super day!

 

 

It's ok if the Pro's do it... because they're fishing for money yanno!

Edited June 2, 2009 by GCD

[scugpg]

I saw someone fishing wacky rigged worms the other day in the boat. Next time I see something like that they'll get an earful and a call to the MNR. What idiots

[Moosebunk]

Good point Roy.

 

On a personal note...

 

Caught a few OOS smallies this past winter. Four guys, 8 holes, spread right out in depths from 4 to 18 feet. One of my holes gets 3 OOS smallies, big suckers too. Best smallie outing I've ever had. Meanwhile, the other guys holes not twenty feet away are firing walleye. Am I moving?... no way. Later caught 3 walleye too out of the smallie hole and missed some fish. Wasn't there targeting bass but I feel it's absurd to pass on a great fishing area because OOS fish are being hooked 1 to 4 to the target species. Scenarios like this have happened other times as well... heck, I caught 2 OOS sturgeon recently while using deadbait tactics to take 12 (I think it was) mixed bag walleye and pike at locations where all those fish swim. Also catch most of my ice-out pike at warm water outflows where OOS walleye may be lurking as well. Fishing in-season fish is allowable but I wonder what a CO would have said about some of these cases...?

 

The bass season IMO isn't right. This fish on a pedestal is absurd. The "slow" growth for these fish compared to U.S. fish means nothing, as, it applies to pretty much all of our countries sportfish. Walleye and trout across the province need to be stocked yet they're seasons allow ice fishing and much shorter closures. Bass are open year round in some parts of Northern Ontario where bass are fewer and farther between, so why in the south do they close this fish?

[Greencoachdog]

Bass are open year round in some parts of Northern Ontario where bass are fewer and farther between, so why in the south do they close this fish?

 

 

Because 90% of the Canadian population is huddled around the border trying to stay warm and the fishing pressure would be too great.

[Moosebunk]

Because 90% of the Canadian population is huddled around the border trying to stay warm and the fishing pressure would be too great.

 

GCD, that same 90% picks at the other species which now need to be stocked in many border lakes and rivers. Maybe for a few years they should alleviate pressure on those fish by giving them the same elite closures as bass...???

[Raf]

nobody fishes bass in northern ontario. 90% of the population is close to the US border and have somehow been manipulated into thinking that bass is a prized fish. their popularity lies with the fact that they are an easy to catch oversized panfish easily accessible to many which paints a huge bullseye on them. they also mean big buck$ to the industry (tournaments, sponsors etc).. so 'we' need to protect this 're$ource'.

[Moosebunk]

Or, open bass to icefishing to help the other species.

[Fishnwire]

Bass is closed pretty much all winter right up until the end of June up north here in Sudbury. I'm not aware of anywhere near me where it is open all year round.

 

I personally would try to avoid taking OOS bass during breeding, even at the expense of decent legal in-season fishing. I hate like hell to pull a big breeder off it's nest this time of year. Knowing I've almost certainly doomed it's precious clutch of eggs is pretty hard to take. That said...I'm not really sure why SMB is closed in the winter, so I wouldn't have moved off that walleye bite if I was you either.

 

Catching smallies through the ice like in the scenario you described is basically a fluke, and as such, pretty hard to avoid. Guys "accidentally" catching big bass this time of year is a little harder to defend...More so if the kid is using a wacky worm, or other bass-obvious bait.

Edited June 2, 2009 by Fishnwire

[Roy]

nobody fishes bass in northern ontario. 90% of the population is close to the US border and have somehow been manipulated into thinking that bass is a prized fish. their popularity lies with the fact that they are an easy to catch oversized panfish easily accessible to many which paints a huge bullseye on them. they also mean big buck$ to the industry (tournaments, sponsors etc).. so 'we' need to protect this 're$ource'.

 

You got that right, Raf. Bass were/are considered a garbage fish in the north...as are pike in lots of areas. Why do you think there's a catch limit of 10 muskies in NB with no minimum size?

[Headhunter]

I agree with Bunk... I don't see any really viable reason why we have a closed season for bass. Small mouth being an invasive species not with standing, I think there are more than enough bass in this province to allow year round fishing.

IMHO... let the flaming begin!

HH

[Fishnwire]

nobody fishes bass in northern ontario.

 

What? Walleye is more popular, but there are plenty of guys who love to fish for smallies up here. There's not much of a large mouth fishery to speak of, but there are plenty of bass fishermen.

[Raf]

sudbury <> northern ontario fishnwire. i was thinking more along the lines of nw ontario, thunder bay, timmins etc.

 

typically the only people who fish bass up there are from southern ontario or americans.

[Greencoachdog]

GCD, that same 90% picks at the other species which now need to be stocked in many border lakes and rivers. Maybe for a few years they should alleviate pressure on those fish by giving them the same elite closures as bass...???

 

 

Sounds good to me!!!

[Fishnwire]

Gotcha Raf...I was thinking north of Barrie = northern.

[Jonny]

sudbury <> northern ontario fishnwire. i was thinking more along the lines of nw ontario, thunder bay, timmins etc.

typically the only people who fish bass up there are from southern ontario or americans.

 

There are no bass around Timmins (except stocked). The water temps stay too cool. To get into some decent bass from Timmins you have to go south to around the Gogama-Shining Tree area.

 

There are lots of people in the Sudbury - North Bay area who fish for bass... smallmouth.

[JohnF]

Whether you like it or not we do in fact have seasons for bass in Ontario. Therefore to defend selectively ignoring the regs with which you disagree is to in fact defend all poaching.

 

Pro poaching - Is you is or is you ain't?

 

JF

[Roy]

Well said, John. Just enough words to get the point across effectively.

[JohnF]

Well said, John. Just enough words to get the point across effectively.

 

Are you implying that I am sometimes long winded?

 

JF

[Roy]

Are you implying that I am sometimes long winded?

 

JF

 

Dayum! The hell you say!

[JohnF]

Dayum! The hell you say!

 

We need an emoticon for a great big wet raspberry.

 

JF

[charlesn]

sudbury <> northern ontario fishnwire. i was thinking more along the lines of nw ontario, thunder bay, timmins etc.

 

Raf, there is a flourishing bass fishery up there and 2 of the largest (and longest tenured) bass tournaments in Canada are in that region. The KBI (Kenora Bass Invitational on Lake of the Woods) and the one out of Fort Frances (Rainy Lake something I think). The communities really get involved and it's apparently a really big deal for up there. If it wasn't so darn far, I'd love to drive my boat up there and test myself against those guys/gals. However, from here it's a closer drive to Guntersville than Kenora...

 

Charles

[Ben_Daniels]

It's hard to tell people not to do something we think is wrong, but that they'll never get caught/in trouble for. I DO NOT fish for OOS Bass but I see why some people do, 99.9% of the time there is no repercussion, as far as CO's. Its like saying don't jay walk because you'll get a ticket. I've been living and fishing in Ontario for 4 years and I have never seen a single CO in person, yet I pay a lot more for a liscence than I did when I lived in Florida. Give us some more CO's and just maybe people will have the fear of conservation put into them enough to stop poaching, just my two cents.

 

-Ben

Edited June 2, 2009 by Ben_Daniels