Fish-Hawk.Net

i have been laughing to myself ever since i found out they put a limit
on cats in the ottawa this year. (silly, silly, silly )
i would love to know what other people think of this. the purpose
of the cat-fest was to cut down the way overpopulated number of cats
in the river, now they put a limit on them? please share your opinion.

jigger wrote:i have been laughing to myself ever since i found out they put a limit
on cats in the ottawa this year. (silly, silly, silly )
i would love to know what other people think of this. the purpose
of the cat-fest was to cut down the way overpopulated number of cats
in the river, now they put a limit on them? please share your opinion.

When I heard,I couldn't believe it as all I've ever heard is that the river is very overpopulated by catfish(at least west of ottawa) and that there is a need to lower the numbers.Who knows,maybe things have changed???

Does this mean the Cat Fest is no longer the Cat Fest? Me and Bobber was gonna do it for the first time, see if I can bring back the magic when all I could catch was a cat, millions of them, no wait, more den dat, tousands.

not much has changed my freind. its imposable to fish with a bobber
round here and not have most of your bait taken by cats.
last year my father and i was in the cat-fest and got over 125 cats
in 2 days, and i dont mean 2 days right through, i meen a couple hours
here, a couple there...
also they put most of the fish back in the river. i saw them do this.

Overpopulation leads in the longterm to stunded fish as there is too much competition to catch the same food.

The cats in question are they one of the smaller cat species ?
.. as in some parts of canada (Red River in Manitoba springs to mind) cats can get to a nice size 20lbs plus...

What limit did they put on them 100 per day ? 150 ?

sports:12/day
conservation:6/day

size limit:only one greater than 55cm (21.7in)
they are small, most no more than a pound or two. both bull heads and
channel cats.

I would like to see that stats on the Ottawa River.

Spinner, do you have a link?

I watch a show where Bob Izumi was shwocasing a netting by MNR for 24 hours. IT was to see what the population was in the RIver.

The amount of Cats in the net was monsterous! There was even a cat with a walleye in his mouth still! That was last spring I believe.

I trust the MNR in its regulations. Perhaps some stats to backup the regs.

I would like to see Carp removed forever from the Rideau. Bad Bad Fish!

Lucannus wrote:I would like to see that stats on the Ottawa River.

Spinner, do you have a link?

I watch a show where Bob Izumi was shwocasing a netting by MNR for 24 hours. IT was to see what the population was in the RIver.

The amount of Cats in the net was monsterous! There was even a cat with a walleye in his mouth still! That was last spring I believe.

I trust the MNR in its regulations. Perhaps some stats to backup the regs.

I would like to see Carp removed forever from the Rideau. Bad Bad Fish!

Here's a couple of links that give the indications of an overabundance of catfish.If I find another I will post it as well.
http://www.townarnprior.on.ca/catfest.htm

On the one below, click on the fishncanada news release

http://www.countyofrenfrew.on.ca/humanr ... eases/2002

[quote="Fishhawk"]Does this mean the Cat Fest is no longer the Cat Fest? Me and Bobber was gonna do it for the first time, see if I can bring back the magic when all I could catch was a cat, millions of them, no wait, more den dat, tousands.[/quot

?

a limit on channel cats? I can't believe there would be a limit on brown bullheads.

CCB

Lucannus wrote:I would like to see Carp removed forever from the Rideau. Bad Bad Fish!

oh Lucannus.. I better not get you started on the carp from that statement alone i can see you don't like them one bit.

I also better not tell you that i fished for carp exclusivly in England and a few times in France for about 12+ years. The carp fishing industry over there is very very big and the number of anglers to number of lakes is crazy. On some lakes if you get there late you have to come home as there is no room left.

When i moved to canada i shipped all my gear over (cost a few $$ geezz) without realising how good the fishing was in this area. For my first few years here i again would fish for carp on the St. Lawrence down towards ingleside and long sault. My best fish last year was 34lb, the year before 32lb.. but i'm still looking to catch a 40lber !

Here is the 34lber:


Over the last two years i have gotten back into pike fishing in the early spring as i used to do this in england in the winter (our winters being a lot milder than here ) .. Now with my movement back into pike i have now realised how good the muskie fishing is and i'm starting to get the urge to target them for summer and fall as the carp scatter into deeper water come summer making them harder to locate...(perhaps not in other lakes or rivers but they do that in the St. Lawrence)

I do however realise that they have an influence on other species but after fishing for them now for 15+ years i find it hard not to protect them. They are a fantastic fighting fish although not great to eat but due to their successfull reproduction and lack of predators their numbers are probably so large that they bump more desireable species out.

Having said that any sort of fish control can backfire and although removing carp, catfish etc.. can improve things removing too many can have a negative effect. From the sounds of things though i suspect the limit of 6-12 is crazy when you consider some perch limits are 100-150 !!

I feel it's ridiculous, that they stick a limit on cats . Every time I go up to the Ottawa I can catch 15 to 30 cats by dragging a jig for eye's . I have caught a couple of ten pounders, there's no dought that they fight great. It still doesn't seem right. On another note I heard that the Cat fest was not running anymore, if this is true it would be asham . It's a great day to take your kids out fishing , and besides it's fathers day weekend and we can do what we fathers want on our day.

What a bunch of idiots, the Ottawa is so overpopulated with cats they should force people to take fish out instead of a limit. I believe they should have cast fests in every community along the river and use the fish to feed the poor and hungry.

Now who do you think will stop at 12 bullheads? BTW bullheads are good food for muskies.

Now I have read this and talked to the MNR suveyors from Quebec this summer and believe it or not 85% of the fish in their nets are catfish.

I know a lot of the lower Ottawa walleye fishermen call it quits because they were catching too many cats.

Every article I have read on the Ottawa channel cats indicated excessive numbers.. Head west and fish the Grand River at Dunville..lots of 6-15 pounders and you can catch till your arms fall off! Not uncommon to catch 150 lbs of cats in an afternoons fishing. The Ottawa is bigger than the Grand so I expect its cats are healthy and well.

John wrote:

Lucannus wrote:I would like to see Carp removed forever from the Rideau. Bad Bad Fish!

oh Lucannus.. I better not get you started on the carp from that statement alone i can see you don't like them one bit.

Hahaha!

Well I am never opposed to nay fish, Last year I would hit all the holes I knew would carry Bass , see a boil or movement and get excited only to see 5 or 6 carp swimming around under the lily's. Every perfect bass hole was inhabited by Carp!

While I will admit they are a good fight, like cats I guess, I feel they are overpopulated and dominating native species. LIttle elephants under the water disturbing everything.