The New Fish on-Line tool!

[John]

I guess this is like a lot of things that are a work in progress. Do you continue to aim and forget to pull the trigger, like most things we pay our provincial and federal governments to do, or do you get something out there that is a base for continuous improvement?

 

Yes those of us (you) who are "experienced" fishermen and women have their own cache of spots and species, but IMHO this is a good thing and it behooves us to provide corrected information to MNR if and when we know the data is incorrect.

 

Good citizenship if you ask me..............

[blaque]

In an effort to lighten the mood in here and put to bed the walleye vs. pickerel debate..........please note,

 

Species is listed as walleye.......not pickerel.

 

Wheeew, we can finally bury that dead horse LOL

[cram]

Maybe I'm old school, but i don't think its a bad thing if people have to do a bit of work and research to find little-known lakes. Makes it worthwhile and rewarding.

 

The little lakes I walk into are treasures because they're not well-known...not sure I like that any jamoke who can run a google search gets the same info in 3 seconds.

[fishindevil]

cram said it first....remember long before there were computers YOU WOULD ACCUALLY HAVE TO LEAVE YOUR HOUSE AND FIND THESES LAKES,AND SPECIES BY DOING IT THE OLD FASHIONED WAY!!!! when to find out if fish were spawning or if the ice was out you had to go see for yourself....i think its at least an effort for the people who dont want to have to do the real homework on lakes and are not willing to go and explore i have fish probly close to 50 lakes or so that i just went and found all on my own,and yes ido have all the old paper maps,and stuff...and still use them as well as the new stuff..thanks for the link....cheers

[ctranter]

You guys all sound like the old guy from Corner Gas. What is the problem here?

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

thanks! i can always use more resources although the info is pretty incomplete.

 

here is a supplemental site with a similar concept:

 

www.nomap.ca

[Michael_Brown]

Nobody has ever used stocking list information before? Also most of those maps came from the government.

 

This link is a little more modern and with some fine tuning, should be useful. You have to launch something and take it out for a drive to see how it works.

 

No worries, with the thousands of lakes in Ontario, it might not be all inclusive of the small lakes and you would still have to leave your house to fish these lakes.

 

 

 

 

I personally think Ron is a troublemaker for posting useful public information like this and starting discussions. He is the kind of guy who would cast to your best spot or make you buy the coffee, even though your driving.

[Crazy Ivan]

This could be a useful tool.

It needs some work though, it lists Rainbow trout and Brown trout in Lake Simcoe. Dammit! All those trips to Georgian Bay chasing trout and I could have fished at home!

[troutologist]

This is a take off from the older LIO stuff the MNR had. It wasn't readily available, however. I suspect a lot of this info is somewhat antiquated, and having been and supervised summer students, the accuracy of the data entry may not be 100%.

 

Interesting tool, as always one part of the puzzle, those who look to it for all the answers will be dissapointed, those who use it to supplement further research will see its benefit.

 

I hope there is always a good portion of info left to personal discovery by those inclined to put in the effort. Though I suspect limited access would always limit the anglers even if a website said, "trophy brook trout here -->"

[Garry2Rs]

The info on lakes in my area is okay, but as others have observed, in many cases it's way out of date.

 

I've been in the North Kawarthas for 10 years now, and there were well established populations of Pike and Crappie in several local lakes when I arrived. These fish don't appear on the species list, so the data is obviously quite old.

 

On the other hand, it's a start and I for one am glad to see it.

Garry2R's

[ciscokid]

Don't know why I even bothered......

 

I guess most people can't see the real picture here.

 

For me, this will be a very useful tool. For an example, lets say I get blown off a lake that I had planned my fishing trip on. I can now do a search in the near by lakes to see what species there are available and in what lakes. At least it gives me a starting point. Another point could be if there is information on a certain lake, at least I know I should be able to get access to it wheather it be a logging road or a trail off a logging road.

 

Sure there will be some inaccuracies, suck it up! I guess you can look at it 2 ways, either send the MNR the name of the lakes with inaccuracies or just keep it to yourself and perhaps other people won't discover "your" lake.

 

I am still very grateful they compiled this list of lakes with the species of fish that inhabit them. I know it will make my homework much easier for my next exploration trip.

 

Cheers, Ron...

 

 

Just so you know I checked out some lakes I know well, some were dead on, mostly didn't seem completely off, for example for one lake it got lake trout, rainbows and smallmouth bass right, but incorrectly added brook trout and missed large mouth. This is a medium sized lake, another smaller lake it got rainbows but missed brookies. So just some info on the accuracy there.

 

I also got info that there's brook trout in a remote backwoods lake (not even an atv trail to it) near my cottage, I've known of it on the map for sometime and always been curious. It would be about a 2.5k hike through bush with canoe and equipment. there's a possible river to take about half a kilometer in if big enough... Do I trust it? Not going to be happy after that trek in to find out its a dead lake. And here lies the problem with this fish online tool for me. Still something though and I am going to try it, who knows you making this post might have lead me to hitting a jackpot.

[lookinforwalleye]

cram said it first....remember long before there were computers YOU WOULD ACCUALLY HAVE TO LEAVE YOUR HOUSE AND FIND THESES LAKES,AND SPECIES BY DOING IT THE OLD FASHIONED WAY!!!! when to find out if fish were spawning or if the ice was out you had to go see for yourself....i think its at least an effort for the people who dont want to have to do the real homework on lakes and are not willing to go and explore i have fish probly close to 50 lakes or so that i just went and found all on my own,and yes ido have all the old paper maps,and stuff...and still use them as well as the new stuff..thanks for the link....cheers

 

I am to old and lazy and gas is too expensive to explore Ontario.

All these lakes rivers etc. are stocked and or looked after by public money and if the average Joe public guy has a tool to help him decide whether or not to drop a 100 bucks on gas for a days fishing then I think it`s a good idea.

 

All you guys with the I found it you stay away attitude need to lighten up a bit the average Joe is not going to bother with your "hidden gem" and Don`t worry if it`s not near a major highway and does not have a good launch ramp then I am not interested,like I said I am lazy!

[johnnyb]

Concept is good....needs work, but it's a start.

 

When it comes to fishing spots and maps, I think of Vince Lombardi saying to the effect of letting the other team have his playbook. He'll still beat them, because execution makes the difference.

For one...you can plop lots of people down on a "hotspot" and they won't catch fish because they won't use the right technique.

For two...the stereotypical "online angler" lives in "The City" and is either going to look for the closest spots to home, or is going to spend a day driving to some secret brookie hole listed online, only to find that the road GoogleMaps shows going in there is actually a snowmobile trail 5kms away from the lake.

 

This will just be another tool in the endless search of where to fish next

 

 

[TDunn]

thanks! i can always use more resources although the info is pretty incomplete.

 

here is a supplemental site with a similar concept:

 

www.nomap.ca

 

 

Been using it for years!

I wasnt gonna post it....surprised you did doc!

A GREAT tool for exploring the north with accurate info!

Edited April 14, 2011 by TDunn

[dhickey]

just a thought.

before i start iwould like to say that any body that knows fishing would find this information useles.

ie. Ron the time spent compiling your information amounts to expirence that is yours. to say that somone with no expirence can go to the same spot and have the same rusuts is absurd.

 

just a thought...

 

for every other licence that we aplly for ther is a basic level of knowledge required.

except for fishing!!!

 

i think that a basic knowledge is required. for a fishing licience.!!!

ie.

spieces identification/legal bait/catch and posetion limmits/genaral areas where spieces can be found/seasons/catch and realees methods/ect...

the system as it stands now gives anyone a licence and then hopes that they read the regs.

 

fishing is not a right its a privaledge just like driving/hunting/or any licience that many of us need to make a decent living...

 

 

saltydawg.

 

 

so

am i to assume that i am wrong?

 

no one has even talked about the licience issue?

 

if the MNR wants to waist or money that we paid giving us information that is not corect.

 

whats up with that??

 

i personaly know of several people that dont know enough to check regs .or even how to identify fish or even know how to clean them for eating...

 

 

the MNR does more harm to themselves as well as legal anglers that i can come to grips with..

 

not to say that i object to being questioned buy MNR while fising.(i welcome their primarey focus)

 

PRESERVE AND PROTECT OUR RESOURSE...

[Moosebunk]

I could just imagine the undertaking this would be for a few Ministry people, working on a project such as this to simply perfect the fish species list for the 44,000 (or even a 1/10th of that) lakes and rivers this Province has for us to enjoy.

 

I remember the first day I got into a car to drive. I parallel parked effortlessly the first time, operated first the automatic then standard vehicles with flawless perfection, and by the end of the day won the Indy 500 and Dakar Rally Race and was given the Stanley Tools Cup as being the best automechanic and driver on the planet.

 

It's new. It's a new tool. I saw some mistakes, same as I might in my kids math homework. All the material is there for them to put 2+2 together perfectly in math, but yet it's new to the kiddies so they make a few mistakes and learn by it. Who's to say that the MNR in this case won't be happy to see some up-to-date, personal and/or objective feedback to help tweak this project to a higher standard? They may not be dealing with 2+2 in every single little puddly-pond case.

 

I like it. I like the tool. I like the idea of it. I would like to see such tools help scatter people across the land, so that maybe hard hit lakes get a bit more of a break, while lakes that could use a little pressure to help balance the Provincial angler's supply and demand take on some new life. I like that there are some mistakes seen at the onset for this project as well. If someone cares enough to want info corrected, it may just lead to more communication between the users and protectors of the resources. I wanna ask them if it's for real that Otter Lake outside of Smiths Falls actually has brook trout?

 

I like what Roy said too.

 

Like the BackRoads Mapbooks that can be a little off too, or often have old info and/or not all species listed, this online version of that idea is just another tool (not a Bible) to help us through our fishing lives.

[Guest gbfisher]

I could just imagine the undertaking this would be for a few Ministry people, working on a project such as this to simply perfect the fish species list for the 44,000 (or even a 1/10th of that) lakes and rivers this Province has for us to enjoy.

 

I remember the first day I got into a car to drive. I parallel parked effortlessly the first time, operated first the automatic then standard vehicles with flawless perfection, and by the end of the day won the Indy 500 and Dakar Rally Race and was given the Stanley Tools Cup as being the best automechanic and driver on the planet.

 

It's new. It's a new tool. I saw some mistakes, same as I might in my kids math homework. All the material is there for them to put 2+2 together perfectly in math, but yet it's new to the kiddies so they make a few mistakes and learn by it. Who's to say that the MNR in this case won't be happy to see some up-to-date, personal and/or objective feedback to help tweak this project to a higher standard? They may not be dealing with 2+2 in every single little puddly-pond case.

 

I like it. I like the tool. I like the idea of it. I would like to see such tools help scatter people across the land, so that maybe hard hit lakes get a bit more of a break, while lakes that could use a little pressure to help balance the Provincial angler's supply and demand take on some new life. I like that there are some mistakes seen at the onset for this project as well. If someone cares enough to want info corrected, it may just lead to more communication between the users and protectors of the resources. I wanna ask them if it's for real that Otter Lake outside of Smiths Falls actually has brook trout?

 

I like what Roy said too.

 

Like the BackRoads Mapbooks that can be a little off too, or often have old info and/or not all species listed, this online version of that idea is just another tool (not a Bible) to help us through our fishing lives.

 

 

You mean to tell me that after all that work I'd have to go and check the lake myself to see if the info was correct? PPPFFFFTTTT.....

[Moosebunk]

You mean to tell me that after all that work I'd have to go and check the lake myself to see if the info was correct? PPPFFFFTTTT.....

 

Never thought of that, but good idea Andy.

 

YEP. Why not? I checked about 20 lakes off the site I know, and about 5 of them were right but wrong at the same time, the rest... right by knowledge....... I can't say that someone else didn't already go to that lake once upon a time, catch something, (or say they did) and report that a certain species is or is not in the lake. I don't know how many of the people working on the project, or the people who provided info for the project, got to fish every species in each lake they provided info for? I don't know if a known stocked speckle lake had inadvertently received other trout species, or maybe once upon a time been stocked with a different fish I don't know about, or, is or has been stocked privately, or once had a natural population believed to have died off, did die off, but is still being considered as a possible species in a waterbody. I can only guess as to the many ways info has been collected. In other words, the idea of look for yourself is probably best. Agreed. Use the map tool, prepare for a species, roll the dice and go fishing. Just like you almost do when you already know exactly what's in a lake to begin with.

 

Hey kiddo... I'll give you the word but I want you to try and spell it first on your own. You get it wrong, we'll call you a failure and scrap the idea of spelling.

[kickingfrog]

 

 

Hey kiddo... I'll give you the word but I want you to try and spell it first on your own. You get it wrong, we'll call you a failure and scrap the idea of spelling.

 

Not funny. I spent 3 weeks looking up pneumonia.

 

That's an old line from someone else BTW.

[irishfield]

I wanna ask them if it's for real that Otter Lake outside of Smiths Falls actually has brook trout?

 

 

I don't know.. but I do know that it's so damn cold in AUGUST that if it has Lakers in it then they'd only be 3 feet down!