A bit of a Scene on Mooneys Bay

[Nickjazz]

Hey Fishawkers,

So this morning I had plans to meet up with a couple who are friends of mine at 7:30 on Mooney's bay to go after some perch. When I arrived, they were nowhere to be seen, so I went home and took a little nap.

I came back at 9 am and driving across hog's back, I could see their blue clam popup shelter. They were further down than I expected, down past the big toboggan hill rather than out front of the Canoe Club where I had fished years ago.

As I turned off of riverside, I was surprised to see two fire trucks, two police cars, and a smaller fire vehicle that was backing out with a rescue zodiac on the roof and another on a trailer. I quickly asked the guy directing traffic about my friends who were out ice fishing but he assured me that they were OK and that someone else had gone in but was OK too. I assumed someone had walked on thinner ice near the falls or along the creek at the base of Walkley Rd.

So I got out of the way of the truck and trailer, then parked and hiked down to meet my friends. I could see they were already packing up, and there was a crowd of about 4 firemen and 2 police officers standing on shore. Not seeing any signs of broken ice, I started to walk out to meet my friends, and was immediately shouted at by the officers/firemen on shore. So I went over to have a chat, and found out that nobody had gone in and that this whole scene was the result of my friends out ice fishing.

I later got the full story from my friends. Apparently some people on shore had seen them out there, and had simply assumed that someone when through the ice and called 911. One officer was the first to respond, and was quite friendly. He called them to shore, asked about the ice (6 inches across the river), and said something along the lines of "well you seem to know more about what you're doing than I do, so be safe". Soon after, a second cop and the firemen arrived, and my friends were told to get off the ice, and that they weren't allowed to fish there.

Not wanting to cause a scene (or have their new gear confiscated), they played ball and packed it in. When I arrived and chatted with the crew on shore, they were not nearly as friendly. The second cop tried to tell me about the kid who (very sadly) drowned in the very same river, but of course that was in an open section and had nothing to do with ice fishing. One of the older firemen was adamant about ice not being safe to walk on if there was less than 10-12 inches.

10-12 inches?! It seemed apparent that the guys with the zodiac, who might actually know something about ice safety, were long gone. I'm glad the first cop was friendly about the whole thing, but I don't know where they got off telling my friends that they weren't allowed to fish out there at this time of year. I've seen several people fishing on Mooney's Bay over the years, and there were already holes on the bay, frozen over after someone else's earlier fishing expedition.

Oh, and no bites.

[fiiish]

Did anyone ask what law was being broken exactly?
In any case I probably would have packed it in too just to not cause a scene but if the police tried to confiscate my gear there would be a scene and I'd probably end up in jail for that one.
As far as 10 to 12 inches of ice to be safe? Yea, cause we ice fishermen weigh as much as a car with all our gear. (Well, maybe some of us do )
With 6 inches of ice, I would just make sure to spread out a little bit. Stay safe!



Maybe the Ottawa police can learn something from the Winnipeg police...

<iframe src="http://www.winnipeg.ca/police/river_patrol/IceChart.pdf" width="600" height="300">
</iframe>

[Super]

Huge difference between kids playing on unsafe ice and fishermen walking /fishing on the ice.
I am surprized that someone called 911, but these days with cell phones it is just so easy for people with no knowledge to call in.

I have been seeing a lot of talk on Fish-Hawk about 4 inches and that it is safe.
According to the chart above from Manitoba, most guys on Fish-hawk should wait for 5 inches, me included.
David

[cprince]

Huge difference between kids playing on unsafe ice and fishermen walking /fishing on the ice.
I am surprized that someone called 911, but these days with cell phones it is just so easy for people with no knowledge to call in.

I have been seeing a lot of talk on Fish-Hawk about 4 inches and that it is safe.
According to the chart above from Manitoba, most guys on Fish-hawk should wait for 5 inches, me included.
David

I'll wait for the ice to make it to the Polar Bears butt on that chart!!!



Finding a pork rind source and having quit smoking coinciding with each-other means I put on my 7 extra winter pounds in June... and every month since I think...!!



Craig

[Nickjazz]

Yeah, we didn't want to make a scene either, so didn't put up a fight. Still, it would have been nice if they had simply asked us not to fish there just because it made people worried, rather than making something up about us not being allowed to fish there at that time of year.

All of us (officers included) agreed that passers-by with cell phones were the real problem here. Maybe they just need to get desensitized to seeing people on the ice at Mooney's Bay.

[Hollywood]

I wouldn't be suprised if it was some tree-hugger not wanting you to catch a fish more than anything else hahaha. Good call though getting off the ice, no sense pee pee them off even if they were wrong. You could end up on the other side of a cell-cam video.

[UltraMag Jimmy]

Same thing happened last year, but at that time there was at least 16 inches of ice. It made the citizen.

[Eli]

They can't just make up you are and are not allowed to do. Should have got his badge number and reported him sans hesitation.