Shiner shortage doesn't auger well for anglers

[kickingfrog]

http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2457941

 

 

Shiner shortage doesn't auger well for anglers

Posted By JENNIFER HAMILTON-McCHARLES The Nugget

Posted 10:00pm Feb 19, 2010

 

Bob Esch, owner of Trout Lake Bait and Canoe in North Bay, holds a net of dace minnows. Many bait dealers have sold out of emerald shiners and the few who have the species remaining dont expect to have them around for long.— JENNIFER HAMILTON-McCHARLES The Nugget

 

The emerald shiner has become a hot commodity.

 

Bait dealers who still have a supply of the lucrative minnows expect to sell out long before the ice fishing season closes next month.

 

As word spreads about the shortage, fishermen are travelling far distances to stock up to assure they're not disappointed.

 

 

Josh McKay walked into Billy Bob's on Lakeshore Drive Thursday morning to purchase a few dozen.

 

He said this is early for bait shops to be running out of emerald minnows.

 

"In the summer you can use whatever you want, but in the winter you need minnows," McKay said.

 

Billy Bob Richards, owner of Billy Bob's Bait on Lakeshore Drive, said the 200,000 emerald shiners he currently has in his holding tanks should supply his customers for about a week.

 

"If you don't have the bait then you don't make the money," he said.

 

"I have been receiving calls from other bait dealers trying to buy my supply, but I don't have enough even for myself."

 

Richards blames the Ministry of Natural Resources for the holding the bait back.

 

He said restrictions put in place by the MNR to control the Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus has made it impossible to acquire live bait at this time of year.

 

 

Richards said the MNR restrictions prevent bait dealers like himself from transporting live bait from Lake Ontario, Erie and Huron including Georgian Bay and their connecting waterways and bringing it up north.

 

What's more puzzling to the 25-year bait dealer is there are two sets of rules.

 

Richards can't understand why bait dealers can't acquire live bait from affected areas, however individuals living in those same areas can transport the bait wherever they want.

 

"Tourists are being told to bring their own bait and many of them are coming from Southern Ontario, south of Highway 401," he said.

 

John Cooper, a spokesman for the MNR, said there's nothing stopping individual anglers from transporting bait from one area to another.

 

"We currently don't have a law that says that they can't do that," he said, admitting their is a chance waterways in this area could be affected if contaminated bait is introduced to the area.

 

"We encourage Southern Ontario anglers to not buy bait until they arrive at their destination."

 

VHS is an infectious disease that affects various species to include emerald shiners, walleye, yellow perch, rock and small mouth bass. Infected fish shed the virus in their urine and reproductive fluids. Fish are also infected when they eat an infected fish or minnow.

 

VHS can survive in the water for 14 days. It was detected in Canada in 2006 in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

 

Bob Esch, owner of Trout Lake Bait and Canoe, said he's seen a lot of new faces come into his store in the last few days.

 

"I wasn't surprised there's a shortage," he said.

 

"But the guys who aren't prepared are in trouble. A lot of camps could start losing business because of the lack of bait."

 

Esch said he has plenty of dace minnows, golden shiners and chubs to supply the recreational fishermen.

 

But you can't let the bait do all the work, he said. "The fishermen have to do it."

 

Esch said the dace minnow was the bait of choice in the 50s and 60s.

 

"Emerald minnows were only used in the springtime," he said. The change was made when bait dealers were looking for more volume."

 

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[Raf]

"In the summer you can use whatever you want, but in the winter you need minnows," McKay said.

 

Bull!!

havent used a minnow past two winters. I do 'alright'.

[bassman87]

Bull!!

havent used a minnow past two winters. I do 'alright'.

 

so if you whiped your ass with sandpaper we should too?

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

Emeralds are a waste of money!!!!....you just look at them the wrong way and they die let alone trying to transport them from the baitshop to your house without numerous casualties....gimme a Golden Shiner, Dace or Creek Chub any day!!!

[pike slayer]

here in the sault during the winter you have to go thursday to get dace if you plan on fishing the weekend. if not you will be stuck with chubs and pearl dace(looks lot like chubs) ohh and theres tons of shiners to go around.

[Billy Bob]

If your fishing Lake Erie WITHOUT Emerald Shiners your just out there jerking off....sorry but that's the way it is on Erie for perch.

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

If your fishing Lake Erie WITHOUT Emerald Shiners your just out there jerking off....sorry but that's the way it is on Erie for perch.

 

Thank God I don't fish Erie or evin live close to Erie.....are you talkin' from past experience BB???

[danbouck]

If your fishing Lake Erie WITHOUT Emerald Shiners your just out there jerking off....sorry but that's the way it is on Erie for perch.

 

yep, good thing there are lots down here

[Billy Bob]

Thank God I don't fish Erie or evin live close to Erie.....are you talkin' from past experience BB???

 

Yes, yes I am..