Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

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emeraldpirate
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Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by emeraldpirate »

Hey All,
With the Ice fishing season fast approaching what are you guy's looking at for alternatives to live/dead minnows. Are we allowed to used preserved/salted minnows or do we have to go to gulps and the likes. And what are the fines for using minnows. And what are the impacts as far as participation in the sport with this new rule.

Curious to hear everyones views!
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by Walleye'm Fishing »

Here are my answers to your 4 questions:

1- My alternatives to dead minnows for Quebec ice fishing with a dead stick: -plastic swim baits, plastics, plastics, plastics. I might even use worms depending on what species I am targeting. A plastic swim bait on a dead stick in a little bit of current will work just fine for walleyes. If I'm fishing for brook trout, worms always do the trick beneath the ice. Don't be afraid to downsize and use smaller plastics like 2 inch tubes. They will work well for most species that you will target this winter.

2- We are not allowed to use preserved/salted minnows

3- Not sure what the fines are for using minnows. It's not just the fine that one would have to deal with, it would be the embarrassment too...

4- On a selfish note, hopefully the new rules discourage many fishermen so I'll have far less competition on the ice. :lol: Rules change all the time in the fishing world so all we can do is adapt. I don't think that this rule will change much except for your dead sticks. You'll need to get a little more creative with that. A Gulp minnow has just as much scent as a dead minnow so I think it will work just as well for you.
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by Bass Addict »

A white l'l foxee....enough said
There will be an influx of Great Grey Owls in the winter of 2017
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by joco »

Got my share of lakers and whitefish
On mini white tube..
And mrchamp. Etc. Lures still good,,,, just keep fishing and jigging they will come :x .


Have a great ice season


But yes good question and tread. Sad that qc minnow thing
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by qcconnection »

You can use dead minnows for the “ winter fishing “ period in Quebec from December 20 until March 31.

I salted my own smelts last year and it worked prettt good.
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by smitty55 »

qcconnection wrote:You can use dead minnows for the “ winter fishing “ period in Quebec from December 20 until March 31.

I salted my own smelts last year and it worked prettt good.
Pretty sure you are wrong there. Use of any minnows dead or alive is now prohibited.

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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by qcconnection »

smitty55 wrote:
qcconnection wrote:You can use dead minnows for the “ winter fishing “ period in Quebec from December 20 until March 31.

I salted my own smelts last year and it worked prettt good.
Pretty sure you are wrong there. Use of any minnows dead or alive is now prohibited.

Cheers
Actually, I’m pretty sure I’m right, unless the MFFP (Quebec equivalent of the MNR) posted the following for a joke.

http://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/english/publicat ... t-fish.asp

Big chart 3/4 down the page.
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by Walleye'm Fishing »

The only fishing zone that you can ice fish while using dead minnows in Quebec (in the Ottawa area) is zone 25 along the Ottawa river.
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by qcconnection »

Walleye'm Fishing wrote:The only fishing zone that you can ice fish while using dead minnows in Quebec (in the Ottawa area) is zone 25 along the Ottawa river.
No. That’s not true.

Here’s a map that details the use on dead bait fish for winter fishing. Again, taken from the Ministry’s web page.

http://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/faune/peche/pdf/ ... -carte.pdf

The zones in white, it is prohibited to possess live or dead bait fish any time of year.
The light green indicate that dead bait fish may be used for winter fishing (Dec 20-March 31 2018)
The darker green indicates that dead smelt are the only bait fish that may be used for winter fishing.
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by smitty55 »

qcconnection wrote:
smitty55 wrote:
qcconnection wrote:You can use dead minnows for the “ winter fishing “ period in Quebec from December 20 until March 31.

I salted my own smelts last year and it worked prettt good.
Pretty sure you are wrong there. Use of any minnows dead or alive is now prohibited.

Cheers
Actually, I’m pretty sure I’m right, unless the MFFP (Quebec equivalent of the MNR) posted the following for a joke.

http://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/english/publicat ... t-fish.asp

Big chart 3/4 down the page.
My bad. I thought it was starting this winter but I guess it will be winter of 2018. On one site someone mentioned that QC was even considering banning leeches and worms in the future, but I can't see that happening.

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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by qcconnection »

Smitty,

It did come into effect this year, but they’ve decided to leave things as is for ice fishing for the most part (with the exception of the Ottawa river zone).

One other thing, the Ministry put out a press release a couple of weeks ago saying that to encourage more angling opportunities, any Quebec resident can ice fish during the “ winter fishing “ period without a license, as long as they expect the regular regulations.

I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is.
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by RJ »

By far the most ridiculous thing I've heard put in place. How the heck are guys that set up those 10 wooden tip ups in a line ever going to catch a fish again if they can't use dead bait?

Thanks for straightening this out qcconnection!

RJ
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Re: Minnow Alternatives For Ice Fishing in Quebec

Post by smitty55 »

qcconnection wrote:One other thing, the Ministry put out a press release a couple of weeks ago saying that to encourage more angling opportunities, any Quebec resident can ice fish during the “ winter fishing “ period without a license, as long as they expect the regular regulations. I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is.
Yea that sounds real scary when it comes to abuse. Or I guess they could look at it as an opportunity for the ministry to make a ton of money with fines...if they have the enforcement.

One thing I can't understand in their logic is if it's deemed bad for the environment to even use dead bait now after it's been working ok it seems for the last what, 25 years now, then why is it still ok in the winter then? That makes no sense.

One more thing that I find odd is, if the goal is to promote angling opportunities, I guess tourism isn't part of their plans. Continually adding more and more restrictions over the years just makes Quebec less attractive to out of province/country anglers in my thinking. That's lost revenue. Craig may not agree if I recall hehe. But hey, if that's what they want.
But honestly I have no idea how much of a tourism based ice fishing industry there actually is in Quebec. It is hard to ignore the use of live minnows in the winter, all my ice fishing trips with the boys were in Ontario, usually 3 days, meanwhile, except for three years at Temagami most of my summer vacations for a long time were week long Quebec trips to Kipawa.When I first went there you bought your live minnows from outfitters on the watershed and carried the receipt in the boat to prove the bait came from Kipawa waters. That was cool, made sense, except we had a lot more visits from the boys. Then it changed to dead minnows which was OK too. I would salt up around 20 or more dozen Emeralds from Serge every winter. The Lakers and Walleye liked them just fine.

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