New regs coming...opinions?

[g unis]

hopefully less grief for all. the problems i see here in southern ontario is we are run by the commercial industry gill netters. the m.n.r. does not keep license monies, and are dictated to from provincial beauracy. our problems dictate to not having a strong dedicated voice against the political greasing the commercial industry does to align political canditates in there court.. join a group get involved it aint easy by no means but to keep your sport and wants going you best voice your opinions collectively, . as for mnr presence we see cos daily patrolling st clair.

[Fishboy]

Do the fish in your freezer count toward your possession limit?

[g unis]

fish in freezer count as possesion. you must consume your fish before keeping more while fishing.

[Trophymuskie]

Ok I came across some more information.

Here is the map of the proposed regions.

http://publicdocs.mnr.gov.on.ca/View.as ... t_ID=18651

And here you can find Enhanced Stewardship which pretty well explains what they are up too.

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/fishing/fm ... dship.html

Make sure to click the links on the left for the tool kits ad see what they have planned for certain species, I guess those that are completed at this time.

Enjoy it's a great read.

Richard Collin

[Jigs]

Trophiemusky:

Thanks for the info. Like you said, it's a great read.

I'm a bit disappointed that night fishing for crappie is still going to be allowed on the Rideau system, and that the limits are probably going to remain the same; although it states that it "could" be 15 and 5 for a sports and conservation licence respectively............Not likely.

Over the last 20 years the crappie population has been decimated by overfishing in this area,(Rideau Lakes) and although some good catches are reported by some people some times, by and large it's in the toilet.

No size limit is being considered for them, and ice fishing at night (where they really get hammered) is probably going to be continued.

So, unfortunately, it looks like bullshxt is once again going to baffle brains, and bureaucratspeak still rules.

The only gutsy thing the MNR ever did in this area was to stop ice fishing for Lakers on the big Rideau. We now have one of the best lake trout fisheries in the area, with wild trout being caught as well as stocked.. People whined at the time, but the result has been phenomenal.

The MNR must be cognisant of the declining crappie population, so one must believe they don't care???

Too bad, because, if the govt. is truly interested in "attracting a tourist base", nothing would do it better than a viable and growing Crappie population. Americans lovem. So do most of us.

Ah well.................after many years of reading bureau-bull in convoluted govt. pamphlets which do more to confuse than clarify, and seeing MNR staff get cut to the point where poachers are laughing, should know better than to believe "one more study" is really going to help.

Regards:

Jigs.

Harrumph, Harrpumph

[wolfe]

Slot sizes!
IMO...The most inefectual ... politically driven... recreational angling industry killing (see paragragh above)...bulloney going! How can the Ministry be sure that the slot fish are the ones that reproduce the most. They can't... its based on "research"...or conjecture... or both. What is the death rate of fish caught at deep depths or improperley handled that just happpend to fall into the slot size? %60-%70 or greater?
Did ya ever hear this one? Guy gets stopped by the MNR... gets checked... has his limit or less even..but one fish in the slot... MNR: "you can't have that slot fish".. Angler: "but he had his bladder sticking out of his throat" MNR: "To bad, you must return that fish to the water..." Angler: "I kept it thinking that it was going to die" MNR: "It doesn't matter, return it regardless" Angler: "but my lure knows no slot" MNR: "Doesn't matter, it goes back"roll:
The comercial guys will be happy to tell you about the slot sized fish that are caught and died and thrown over board. NOT!

Hmmm... now that law makes sense . Just lower the limit and ban commercial fishing until stocks return.

Jimmy

Hi, Jimmy'sDream...

You make some good arguments, but I have to say, in my (local) experience, slot sizes have brought back a struggling walleye population to a supreme one on Oneida Lake, NY. It took less than 5 years, and I mean it really made a significant difference. They had some of the best walleye fishing ever the past year or two... and now ya know what? They're easing up on the slot limit now. DUH! We'll be back where we started in a few years. Ah well...

W.

[g unis]

hi wolfe.
here on st clair the slot was innefective and abandoned. our fishery is dictated from the western basin of erie. at one time the thames river was a major spawn run, now its an enviromental nightmare from farm runoff and land use pesticides.. i would agree to monitering slots on smaller lakes but tourism dollars and pressure from sportfishers wanting more put pressures on mnr for resolve, more fish.. slot sizes are innefective on the great lakes, monitering of walleye stocks on commercial fisheys are KEYin our future. if you could imagine a fishing commercial operator has a 200,000 pound quota and there are 2 sizes of walleye harvested, nu1 fish 3.50lb
nu2 at 2.oo a pound. they will pull the larger fish out of the gill net and sink them. thus more money for nu 1 fish. if they are brought to dock they count against quotas on the gill netters license. THATSwgere we get into poor fisherys. sad day when gov. turn a blind eye to this because they will receive their royalties anyhow on every pound processed. sad huh but true george

[wolfe]

g unis,

I can certainly see how it would only be a drop in the bucket to combat population losses from commercial fishing with slot sizing. I understand what you're saying...

W.

[fishmaster]

Hey Wolfe,
I'm just wondering how much the slot limit on your lake had to do with the revival of the walleye. I myself like slot limits but how does anyone know if they really work. What's not to say that your lake had a couple prime season's for spawning, maybe a couple good years of feed, etc. Everyone has many good arguements about these new changes but like I have been saying all along it won't do any good without more enforcement. Maybe we should ask them for a tip line like the Moosebusters. I have heard good things about the amount of poachers that have been reported through that service. My only fear is that something like that would probably work too good and there won't be enough C.O's to investigate all the calls(which already happens now) .

[Jimmy]

hi wolfe.
here on st clair the slot was innefective and abandoned. our fishery is dictated from the western basin of erie. at one time the thames river was a major spawn run, now its an enviromental nightmare from farm runoff and land use pesticides.. i would agree to monitering slots on smaller lakes but tourism dollars and pressure from sportfishers wanting more put pressures on mnr for resolve, more fish.. slot sizes are innefective on the great lakes, monitering of walleye stocks on commercial fisheys are KEYin our future. if you could imagine a fishing commercial operator has a 200,000 pound quota and there are 2 sizes of walleye harvested, nu1 fish 3.50lb
nu2 at 2.oo a pound. they will pull the larger fish out of the gill net and sink them. thus more money for nu 1 fish. if they are brought to dock they count against quotas on the gill netters license. THATSwgere we get into poor fisherys. sad day when gov. turn a blind eye to this because they will receive their royalties anyhow on every pound processed. sad huh but true george

Couldn't agree more George...

[Markus]

Here's a few more details from the MNR website....

New Fisheries Management Zones
The twenty new Fisheries Management Zones are based on ecological and social factors, and easy-to-find boundaries. These zones will go into effect on January 1, 2007.

Here's the link for more details...

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/fishing/fmz/newzones.html

[Scum Frog]

I like the idea of dropping the lake to lake rules and more regional rules. It's crazy having different rules for every lake you fish. Just too confusing, especially to thise who only fosh a few times a year. It was getting to the point where the CO even had to carry the regs around becuase they were even getting confused!

[g unis]

boy if we are included with the western basin as zone 19 i would love to see the 2 rod proposal go thru. its in ontario and lake erie, why not st clair

[Markus]

g unis, never noticed that! Lets hope. That would be a huge tourism boost for lsc's canadian waters.

[Markus]

Here's a better look at SE and SW Ontario.....