Lets have a discusion

[lunkerbasshunter]

i fished alot last year on lake nipissing. The fishing was good for walleye. THe only problem was the slot. all fish i caught were all in the slot. I would like to see it set to anything under 18 inches you can keep and anything over you have to put back. this way if you want to keep 1 or 2 for the table great but you have to let the bigger ones go. The limit of 4 is fine but 2 would be better.

 

For Largemouth all over I would like to see the limit go to 4 but only smaller ones. Smallmouth im fine with a limit of 6 but still why keep a fish that is 5 pounds 15 years old???? let it go to spawn more big ones. keep the smaller ones.

 

Pike im cool with as is.

 

Musky why keep a musky? have it c & r

 

Just one more note about nipissing. extend the season. let it go till the end of november instead of october 15th.

 

Just my thoughts anyway.

 

Cheers!

[irishfield]

Yep... I have the cell # of Wayne L from Midhurst and he even answers on his days off...relays immediately to whos working and they're here toot sweet. I also have the cell numbers for both Peter and Mike that do the Temagami region programmed into my cell phone.

Edited April 20, 2007 by irishfield

[ecmilley]

While I am not familiar with Simcoe I live on a kawartha lake and the bass and walleye limits seems fine to me, i really don't see anyone keeping 6 anyway, rules and regulations are just worthless paper unless enforeced i would like to see lic. fees raised to say 35 bucks a year, due away with the conservation license and increase mnr presence on the waters.

Get the Federal goverment to actually use some common sense in controlling water levels in the trent severn system to allow for more effective spawning of target species, have a all around open season for crappie/perch on all trent waterways (zero fishing at damns) and even possibly rotate winter walleye fishing on the kawarthas.

If I can think of anything else I'll be sure to update

[Fisherman]

I have no problem with lowering the Perch limits on Simcoe to say 30/15 for Sport/Con licence. Most of the other limits are okay, if slot size limit's are needed, I'm fine with that too. I would say my biggest bone is playing C&R with fish once you have reached your "allowable" limit. You have your fish, go catch something else. Going out every day to poke holes in fish to see how many you can catch, to me, it's sort of boasting, ego boosting or whatever you want to call it.

[fliptheslop]

I have to agree with Canuck, unfortunatly just the other day I saw this first hand, I watched a guy fight a six pound steelie for over a 1/2 hour, the fish ran from the port hope marina almost back out to the mouth of the lake, he than drug it back to where he had been fishing, at least 400 yards, than continued to fight it for another 10 minutes, I asked him if he was planning on keeping the fish, he said no I just catch and release, I than said do you ussually fight them for this long and he said allways, I than said maybe you should net the fish, His responce was, I dont need you to tell me how to fish, I said someone needs to teach you because you are not a catch and release angler, you are a catch and waste angler, because in my opinion very few of the fish you put back are going to survive, and yes a fellow and myself counted 7 dead steelies up against the wall in a corner of the river, Im sure all there because no one needs to tell some of these guys how to fish

[OhioFisherman]

Something like 25 years in a row of trips to the GB, sometimes twice a year, I don`t think I kept 10 fish total. I was there to fish, not eat fish, or bring them home, just more to it for me than a fish count.

 

I have fished bass tournies with a 3 fish limit, it makes it tougher, the game changes, you need to factor size in more to your tactics and hope it works. No problems with a 3 fish limit in a tournie for me. I don`t need to keep any when it`s over, and I would fish for them regardless.

 

Pike are a change of pace, same with ski`s, for me part of the draw of Ontario. No interest in the little guys, no interest in keeping or eating any of them. They both have to be 40 inches for me to consider it a good fish, not big, just good. Can`t get big ones if everyone keeps little ones.

 

Walleye and everything else? fun to catch if they are big enough, a steelhead or walleye once a year keeps momma and the kids happy, or at least of my back.

 

I limited myself, I like to see fish for tomorrow.

[mikemo]

I'd like to see more barb-less hooks. If not across the province, then on some of the busy waters.

[Daplumma]

I know I'm not from y'alls country but the conservation license should be dropped.The guys from the states will pay whatever the price is so you may as well have a full license price.Out of state licenses in the states are way high.I would guess that most fisherman from the south are c&r.Its an expierience thing,not a meat gathering mission.As far as limits,its tough to have limits for individual lakes but they do it here for stretches of the rivers.It has been C&R on a 7 mile stretch of the river I fish for the last decade for bass.I would say that if the CO's had more money to work with then the limits could be tailored to a particular body of water and enforced.Maybe the extra money could come from the elimination of the conservation license?

Joe

[lookinforwalleye]

Not picking on ya here,but there are those that fish for lakers on Simcoe, Sports lic is 2,con is 1. So if they are targeting this fish only,they know what they are allowed. If they want more fish for the table,then they need to target others to fill thier need.

 

LFW, your comment about GUTLESS,well Im sure the guys that are out there in the field are not. They are the ones I feel want what we want sota,but thier hands are tied.

 

Let me be perfectly clear here my gutless comment was directed towards the policy maker level of the MNR, I am certain the troops in the field are doing the best they can and I support them 100%

[lookinforwalleye]

I know I'm not from y'alls country but the conservation license should be dropped.The guys from the states will pay whatever the price is so you may as well have a full license price.Out of state licenses in the states are way high.I would guess that most fisherman from the south are c&r.Its an expierience thing,not a meat gathering mission.As far as limits,its tough to have limits for individual lakes but they do it here for stretches of the rivers.It has been C&R on a 7 mile stretch of the river I fish for the last decade for bass.I would say that if the CO's had more money to work with then the limits could be tailored to a particular body of water and enforced.Maybe the extra money could come from the elimination of the conservation license?

Joe

 

 

What the heck is a Y`ALLS?

[bigfish1965]

Y'alls is plural of Y'All which is actually already a plural.

 

I'd like to see increases in bass harvest in areas farther north to try and control the spread a bit. Walleye should be four fish across the board except perhaps for Erie staying at six.

Salmon and trout should be knocked down to a 3 fish aggregate limit in the put and take waters.

I'd like to see a bigger slot for pike and perhaps a four fish limit on hammer handles. Keeping one over the slot should count as two pike.

More than anything I'd like to see them abolish the conservation license altogether.

[Moosebunk]

Yeah... this is one tricky buggah of a thread.

 

Into the Glenlivet.... was thinking for a second about a response.... but maybe I'll wait ti'll tomorrow.

[Pigeontroller]

A friend of mine from Wisconsin told me Y'all is singular, and All Y'all is plural.

[Gary George]

Greatest single problem with fish limits is that they aren't enforced effectively.

 

Lowering or adjusting them would only be truly effective if enforcement is consistant and thorough.

 

MNR is gutless, regular CO's in the field are in an untennable position and are spread to thin. They are trying to wipe an elephants donkey with confetti.

 

Lightline fishing and catch and release is not as bad as meat fishing. Get over it. The Ganaraska is probably the hardest hit steelhead river in the Province. Regularly hosting runs in the 15000 range. Catch and release by lightliners is the most common technique on the Gany. Who would want to keep fish from an urban tributary of Lake Ontario that runs past the largest urban storage of radio active waste in the Province? Still this river has a huge run every year.

 

Comparitively the tributaries of Georgian Bay where water is clean and fish are thought to be more edible have very low run numbers and seem to be frequented by meat fishermen. Catch and release is still practiced but not nearly as often. The Bighead is the equal of the Gany for purposes of spawning, maybe superior as it has no dam, yet has never had the same kind of runs. Only one explaination for that, more fish are removed.

 

I too think large invasive fish are a mistake, Pacific Salmon aren't sustainable in these lakes. However Atlantic Salmon once made Lake Ontario home so it seems that the lake can support fish like Atlantic or the similar Steelhead.

 

Limits on Salmon don't bother me but lowering the limit on other migratory salmonoids would be a good idea if enforcement is beefed up.

 

The biggest improvement to fishing lisences would be the written test suggested by another poster. One level of lisence would simplify things as well.

 

Fewer better enforced rules would be more effective than lots of hard to keep track of, poorly enforced rules!!!!

[tonyb]

Let's not get started with the Atlantic salmon

 

for Simcoe...

Perch 50(25)- Fine where it is...

Crappie - No Limit, they compete with Perch for food, lets protect the World Class perch fishery on Simcoe, people can go elsewhere for Crappie...

Pike - 2, 4 what's the difference...majority release Pike anyway.

lakers 2 - Fine where it is...

White fish 2 - Fine where it is...

Walleye - There's walleye in the lake?? hehe

Bass - 5 is fine...do people actually eat bass?

[snag]

I have to agree with Brian.

 

We all need to take into consideration the biggest upcoming threat.

 

POPULATION.

 

Our numbers are steadily growing,

Fishing is gaining more popularity,

and fish populations may be negatively affected by Climate change.

 

More conservation is required in areas threatened by high usage.

[rickster]

Up here in the northwest we have a few lakes that were getting hit pretty hard not only from sportfishing but also from the commercial side as well. Rainy Lake being a prime example. I don't remember the year they implemented there slot rule for walleye but I think it was about ten years ago or so. Ten years ago you had to fish all day to get a limit of four decent eaters. By eaters I am talking the 15-18" walleye. The slot size that was put into place is walleye between 13.8" and 17.7" can be kept as well as one over 27.5" with a four fish total. Now you can go out there and you may have to fish all day to get your four fish to eat because everything is over the 17.7" max. Tons of 20-25" fish. Slot size works plain and simple.

Just my two cents....

[mattyk]

I would like to see a drop in the limit of walleye to 2 for the entire province and implement a slot. I would like to see the perch limit on simcoe reduced to 15 fish. Maybe reduce the pike limit on simcoe to 2 fish.

[misfish]

Hey all good responses.

 

When does Moosebunk wake up??????????????????

[Terry]

this is a topic that i can't keep a firm opinion on.......I can flip flop on this one daily

were as it is called sport fishing, so I would think that means our fisheries is for fishing more then keeping...or they might call it mean fisheries, which they don't

I keep every few fish, so reducing limits seems great

but what about the guy that does eat 3 or more meals of fish a week, it has become part of his monthly budget and a way to make ends meet and maybe really likes the taste of fresh fish and it saves his family of 5 a fair bit of money...it is almost a job, more them a sport...he is within the law, he would not think of breaking the law..to him this is a right and the gov. has passed a law that states that hunting and fishing is a right( or did it pass).......

do we have the right to take food from his families mouth but reducing limits....something that has become part of his way of life his tradition his culture ....

I am so confused..most time I do have strong opinions and stick by them

but I like lower limits

[POLLIWOGG]

I'd like to see C+R banned for everything but carp and mudcats or at least banned from warm waters in august. If your going to throw it back the only difference is a carp will give you a better fight than an eye or trout and you can't hurt them with a club.

[Canuck2fan]

Lightline fishing and catch and release is not as bad as meat fishing. Get over it. The Ganaraska is probably the hardest hit steelhead river in the Province. Regularly hosting runs in the 15000 range. Catch and release by lightliners is the most common technique on the Gany. Who would want to keep fish from an urban tributary of Lake Ontario that runs past the largest urban storage of radio active waste in the Province? Still this river has a huge run every year.

 

Comparitively the tributaries of Georgian Bay where water is clean and fish are thought to be more edible have very low run numbers and seem to be frequented by meat fishermen. Catch and release is still practiced but not nearly as often. The Bighead is the equal of the Gany for purposes of spawning, maybe superior as it has no dam, yet has never had the same kind of runs. Only one explaination for that, more fish are removed.

 

The biggest improvement to fishing lisences would be the written test suggested by another poster. One level of lisence would simplify things as well.

 

Fewer better enforced rules would be more effective than lots of hard to keep track of, poorly enforced rules!!!!

 

You seem so sure of your argument about the actual taking of fish being harder on the fish population, but you are comparing apples to golf balls by using two different lakes and their tribs. You also offer absolutely no "proof" other than this opinion of yours that you are correct.

 

If it is all about protecting the fishery what is wrong with having a 5 fish "landed" total then the angler must go home? I don't think anyone can argue sensibly that stressing the fewest number of fish per person just before they spawn will do anything but IMPROVE a fishery. I have seen tons of eggs "wasted" that are dripping out of hens that were caught by people fishing well after they had caught 5.... Also I have seen the so called C and R crowd when they know they have a audience put on a new spawn sack every 5 or 6 casts to better maximize the number of fish they can show off fighting. Now not too many of them answer when you ask where they got the eggs in those sacks either.... If they "bought" them why would they not say so? If they didn't buy the eggs they either harvested a fish or milked the eggs from one and to me that is just as harmful to the fishery, by any way you look at it. So when those type of things stop happening everytime I go out by the C and R crowd I see, my friend I will maybe be able to get over it. Until then I will keep posting my opinion about C and R.

[misfish]

Canuck2fan,what would you say,or anyone else for that matter,that the MNR CLOSED ALL RIVERS AND TRIBS FROM THE MOUTH UP until opening weekend in April ?

[AzuluSpookd]

Although I don't fish Simcoe that often, I agree with Brians first post. I tried cleaning 50 perch one time and it was way too time consuming

 

As for Georgian Bay...I'd like to see the Walleye slot dropped and continue with the 2 fish limit. Either two fish under 22" or 1 under and 1 over 22", if you so choose.

 

I have a trailor on the French River as well, but I think the limit and the slot should be minimized. The slot size up there is one of the biggest in the province, 15" to 25". Very difficult to catch an Eye up there more than 25". Most fish I've caught up there are 16" to 22"....

[Canuck2fan]

Canuck2fan,what would you say,or anyone else for that matter,that the MNR CLOSED ALL RIVERS AND TRIBS FROM THE MOUTH UP until opening weekend in April ?

 

I would be all for it actually if that is what it takes to make the populations return. I would feel pretty bad though for the tackle, fuel sellers and restaurants around where they are open on Lake Huron though. I try to go out 2 or 3 times a week whenever the water is open to fish. I have never hit my limit of two fish either, when I am keeping fish btw during the "extended" season on the tribs. I do however spent about 100 to 150 bucks a week on fuel, tackle, and eats in the areas I go to.... It doesn't sound like much but you multiply that by the hundreds of guys who I see around fishing over the course of that extended season and losing it would probably mean some hardship for some of those places.