I was amazed at how many people fishing OOS bass

[ohhenrygsr]

I sometimes wish that we all have C.O Badges

[fish-miester]

I went out fishin yesterday for walleye and I mainly fish 4-6 fow with weeds mainly with a hair jig but i also like to use small-medium sized spinnerbaits and jerk baits and had some guy pull up to me asking if I have had any luck.. who was DEFENETLY fishing bass.. and I say this because out of his 4 rods he had 1 spro frog and 1 snagproof frog.. the other rods i didnt really pay much attention to.. I told him that I had only caught 1 walleye and a few panfish (jumbo perch etc).. and he was quick to reply no bass? I told him I had only caught 1 wich I did but I was not targeting bass as they are not in season.. he just laughed and said.. "ya..." I told him that its ilegal to fish OOS fish and you can be fined etc.. he just laughed and peeled off.. I was fishing alone and dont have a cell phone or else i would of reported him.. I continued fishing and about half hour later some guys in a seadoo boat pull up and they ask the same.. "any luck?" I told him the same.. 1 walleye.. few jumbos.. and like 2 crappie.. put all the fish back.. and they blew up.. they told me that I must be targeting walleye because i was 80 yards away from a patch of lillys and that i was fishing weedlines etc with "Jigs" .. I tried to explain that you dont have to troll to catch a walleye.. and that these methods have produced me fish in the past many times.. they went on how I was full of it. etc.. I just told them to go enjoy the beautiful weather.. and that they should google how to fish for walleye.. they wernt impressed.. but neither was I.

[solopaddler]

I sometimes wish that we all have C.O Badges

 

I'm picturing a bunch of dufusses running around like "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" trying to bust people.

 

Edited May 25, 2010 by solopaddler

[ctranter]

It's almost expected that non-fishing people will drop lines with no license fishing for "whatever" on a long holiday weekend, especially in nicer areas of cottage country. Also, it's a well known fact that the MNR only covers a fraction of the waterways that need to be reinforced, due to being severely underfunded. At least, for me, I take solitude in the fact that these non-fisherpeople (because many are girls too!) are probably failing to catch anything because they are noobs.

 

That being said all you can do it make the call to report it, even it you know damn well no CO will ride in on a white horse to uphold the conservation laws. Vigilante justice isn't the solution. The family I stayed with this weekend didn't fish, but they also had a "whats the big deal?" attitude about OOS fishing. Whenever I hear this I just teach the other party specifically why they are out of season (beyond the simplistic "they're mating" explanation)

[Toronto_Angler]

I'm picturing a bunch of dufusses running around like "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" trying to bust people.

 

 

lmao!

[BillsTheBassMan]

It's almost expected that non-fishing people will drop lines with no license fishing for "whatever" on a long holiday weekend, especially in nicer areas of cottage country. Also, it's a well known fact that the MNR only covers a fraction of the waterways that need to be reinforced, due to being severely underfunded. At least, for me, I take solitude in the fact that these non-fisherpeople (because many are girls too!) are probably failing to catch anything because they are noobs.

 

That being said all you can do it make the call to report it, even it you know damn well no CO will ride in on a white horse to uphold the conservation laws. Vigilante justice isn't the solution. The family I stayed with this weekend didn't fish, but they also had a "whats the big deal?" attitude about OOS fishing. Whenever I hear this I just teach the other party specifically why they are out of season (beyond the simplistic "they're mating" explanation)

 

Education in plain English is a great way to let people know why OOS fishing is wrong. Explain it clear and concise so they remember it when they're talking to others in the future.

[Billy Bob]

Education in plain English is a great way to let people know why OOS fishing is wrong. Explain it clear and concise so they remember it when they're talking to others in the future.

 

I see no problem with fishing for bass out of season...here in NYS it's legal and we have some of the best bass fishing in the world......many other southern states don't even have a season on bass...IMHO you guys are all over re-acting over this.

 

Bob

[spyder3g]

Uh no you can't chief.

 

At least we found one person here that targets out of season fish.

 

Good job, you should be banned.

 

I don't target any specific kind of fish. Sometimes I take a fishing rod and come to the pond, take a worm and put it in the water and look at the floater. How can I determine that bass or trout or pike is taking my worm (usually sunfish)?

Can you explain that?

[Slimeball]

It's unfortunate that some(poachers) knowingly target OOS species. Also unfortunate is the many anglers(many of them from the U.S. sadly) who dont take a few moments to read and understand the regs. The chain of thought seems to be that they can legally fish for out of season species "as long as they release them". Educating these people is key.

I have even posted a regs section on the website of the lodge i stay at. Still amazes me that when an individual asks for tips on their upcoming trip and i ask them what species they will be targeting, the answer almost always includes a species that the season is closed for the time frame of their trip.

From the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources:

Fishing season opening and closing dates vary depending on the species and the area. It is illegal to attempt to catch fish for which the season is closed, even if you are going to release them. Fish accidentally caught during the closed season must be immediately released back into the water.

Closed seasons protect fish at vulnerable times of the year, especially when they are spawning or protecting their young.

[BillM]

I don’t target any specific kind of fish. Sometimes I take a fishing rod and come to the pond, take a worm and put it in the water and look at the floater. How can I determine that bass or trout or pike is taking my worm (usually sunfish)?

Can you explain that?

 

Well perhaps you should start targeting fish that are in season. If you are fishing for whatever (let's say sunfish, crappies and bluegill for example) and are repeatedly hooking into bass, one would think you'd pick up and move.

 

I don't think playing stupid will get you very far with the CO, although please give it a shot and let us know how big the fine is.

[Dutchy]

I don’t target any specific kind of fish. Sometimes I take a fishing rod and come to the pond, take a worm and put it in the water and look at the floater. How can I determine that bass or trout or pike is taking my worm (usually sunfish)?

Can you explain that?

 

Yeah, good luck with that. Ignorance is no excuse. If you are catching bass OOS, move to another spot or use a different bait. I'd love to be there when you try to use your above rationale with a CO.

 

I nearly got fined by a CO for something far more minor than catching OOS fish. They don't care about what your intentions are or your Bull excuses.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Dutchy

[solopaddler]

I don't target any specific kind of fish. Sometimes I take a fishing rod and come to the pond, take a worm and put it in the water and look at the floater. How can I determine that bass or trout or pike is taking my worm (usually sunfish)?

Can you explain that?

 

Floater?

[bucktail]

I think its time they looked at changing the regs on bass.

I read a study that stated almost all lakes in Ontario are near or at the carring capacity for bass.

This problem happens every year but with limited CO's there is no way they can enforce it. Maybe all C&R from May 15th till openor.

I dont think there is any fixes to this problem the way it is now.

[hirk]

I think the known biology of LM/SM in terms of survival/recruitment related to spawning does support a early catch and release season in Ontario that would not have a negative impact on populations and I would like to see it atleast on a trial basis for a period of time that would allow for statistical anaylsis to validate it's acceptability.However the current laws as such clearly state it is illegal to target oos bass and it infuriates me when I see ass clowns that KNOW BETTER doing it just because they think they can get away with it.It's not ok to fish without a lic. because that's the law,why do these clowns think it's ok too break that law,I'd love to see CO's start dropping charges on em,pay up or let em tell the judge they were not targeting bass.Word gets around people are being charged and the jokers may find new respect for our laws.It takes a real sportsman with moral fibre to go in and pound LM/SM this time of yr..

[ctranter]

It's unfortunate that some(poachers) knowingly target OOS species. Also unfortunate is the many anglers(many of them from the U.S. sadly) who dont take a few moments to read and understand the regs. The chain of thought seems to be that they can legally fish for out of season species "as long as they release them". Educating these people is key.

I have even posted a regs section on the website of the lodge i stay at. Still amazes me that when an individual asks for tips on their upcoming trip and i ask them what species they will be targeting, the answer almost always includes a species that the season is closed for the time frame of their trip.

From the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources:

Fishing season opening and closing dates vary depending on the species and the area. It is illegal to attempt to catch fish for which the season is closed, even if you are going to release them. Fish accidentally caught during the closed season must be immediately released back into the water.

Closed seasons protect fish at vulnerable times of the year, especially when they are spawning or protecting their young.

 

 

100% agree. Also, how do you account for newbies who put in some basic effort into regulations and seasons, but receive confusing information through the reg sheet. Of course the typical banter is "they are straight forward", which is true, but more so after a lifetime of being familiar with them. When I started fishing I became frustrated with the language and terminology used by the official documents. How hard would it be for the ministry to make a user friendly site as the first search return on google, that gave generalized information to those typically unfamiliar with reading regs, or at the very least brought people up to speed with the process of following the regulations charts? Just my 2¢

[BillsTheBassMan]

I see no problem with fishing for bass out of season...here in NYS it's legal and we have some of the best bass fishing in the world......many other southern states don't even have a season on bass...IMHO you guys are all over re-acting over this.

 

Bob

 

This would be a disaster in Ontario.

 

I agree that NYS has some of the best Bass fishing, but what you fail to mention is the amount of funding that NYS puts towards its fisheries. We do not have that here in Ontario. I think you would also be rather alarmed if you saw the differences in COs from NYS to Ontario. The way the MNR has done it here is that they've made the rules to pre-emptively enforce the issue as opposed to funding enough COs to catch poachers and people who abuse the rules.

 

I also think it is kind of a joke to allow people to "live release" bass year round. The fish get pulled off their spawning beds and their nests are easily disrupted. Fish die to improper hooksets and mishandling. Their eggs get eaten. Keep in mind, this is only for the people that are actually following the "live release" part of the rule (which would probably hover around 60-75%).

 

The main reason that the fisheries in the US are open year round is the amount of revenue it produces. It is a simple case of putting the dollar first and the health of the fishery second. What we have seen though is more money going back into the fishery in the US though (probably from more use of the fishery and the need to sustain it). I'd be very interested to see a report on the health of these American fisheries vs the health of the same fisheries 5, 10, 20 years ago.

 

Regardless, if you give all the idiots free reign to fish for Bass whenever they want in Ontario, you'd be finding that the waters don't have bass for too long . . . even with the live release rule. The fact is there just isn't enough funding to maintain the fishery after allowing all that pressure. The money, followed by an improved fishery, needs to come FIRST. It can't possibly come second.

[peterc]

Please somebody educate me . Yesterday I've been pitching a swimming jig with a wire leader . I've caught 3 hammerhandles on this presentation but I also caught a shiphead ,a gar pike and 9 largemouth under 3 lb.Is it ilegal what I'm doing or some of you just like the politics of fishing?

 

Peter

 

 

[Dutchy]

Please somebody educate me . Yesterday I've been pitching a swimming jig with a wire leader . I've caught 3 hammerhandles on this presentation but I also caught a shiphead ,a gar pike and 9 largemouth under 3 lb.Is it ilegal what I'm doing or some of you just like the politics of fishing?

 

Peter

 

The point would be that if you are in an area with lots of bass you should move. While you may not be specifically targeting them, if you are catching lots of them you should move location. Taking them off the nest is bad as it puts the eggs and fry in severe danger of being eaten. Bass will aggressively hit anything goes past their nest. They don't know there is a hook in it, so we have to exercise some caution on their behalf if we want to keep the fishery going. Its not politics, its common sense. They are OOS for a reason.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Dutchy

[timmeh]

While our fishery may in fact be capable of supporting a year round C&R bass season there is 1 major reason I am strongly against it.

 

Bass are found in nearly every waterbody and caught by a variety of methods. So by opening bass year round you are saying you can fish any system anytime of year. So what would be stopping me from going to the upper saugeen, maity, or any steelhead trib and throwing on a mepps spinner or floating worms in march or april, for bass or course. And if a big run of steelies happen to be coming through and I start picking them off no problem right? As long as I release them.

 

Or maybe I'll go to my favorite walleye lake in april and bounce jigs for bass. And if I get a bunch of spawning walleye no biggie, I'll just let them go.

 

Our bass populations are in good shape and MAY be able to withstand the accidental pressure of catching a few during their spawning season while fishing for other species. But are the populations of other key game fish, like trout and walleye, capable of supporting the same pressure if they're caught by "bass anglers" during their spawn?

[hirk]

I never suggested it should be a yr. round fishery.I think a c/r season from perhaps the 3rd wk in May until the current opening might work.I agree with the issue of tying it into other seasons.By late May in a typical yr. a high percentage of fish would have finished the spawn cycle and be off the beds and it has been proven in studies that nest recruitment from sucessful nests can offset the void of nest failure due to the balance of food/competion.

[Cudz]

I don't target any specific kind of fish. Sometimes I take a fishing rod and come to the pond, take a worm and put it in the water and look at the floater. How can I determine that bass or trout or pike is taking my worm (usually sunfish)?

Can you explain that?

I spent a few minutes today looking at a floater. I had totally forgot that we ate corn last night. Seems that I don't even chew my corn.

[Lunatic]

not that this is any excuse,but today i caught a 4lb oos bass and quickly released it. but i saw loads of LM bass everywhere i paddled,it was insane, and i saw many very very young bass as well. i think due to the heat we've been having they have spawned early this year, so im expecting a strong turn out for bass this year because they spawned early and dont need to worry so much about poachers keeping them or disrupting their beds.

 

but then again,im no expert.

[danbouck]

I spent a few minutes today looking at a floater. I had totally forgot that we ate corn last night. Seems that I don't even chew my corn.

 

[pike n' whities]

Floater?

 

 

c'mon, leave the novice alone now.....

[MCTFisher9120]

I've caught one 2lb bass on a spinnerbait 2 weeks ago. Took a good look at her holding her over the water then let it go. It was nice to see but honestly it happens. There are to many ignorant people targeting bass with plastics and other means. However, when I'm fishing for Pike I fish shallow and deeper, along shore lines and away from them. If a bass is there it will probably strike, if I see it following or close to the area im targeting then i dont cast to it...simple.

 

Bass are bass and there are so many in our lakes these days. All we can do is admire the work the CO's do catching one criminal at a time.