Fish-Hawk.Net

Alright few lads came into the shop this morning... Asked for spear heads....

I said your going for carp? Guy replied nope! 15lbs walleye!! I stayed silent waiting for the laugh or "just kidding" no reaction.... He was serious there was that silent awkward moment.... This all took place on the phone!

So I said to myself he must be a native... So I waited to see who it was and what they looked like! Turns out I got off lunch and those guys had been in and loaded up on spear heads! I got a glimpse of them and they didnt look native however you only need a fraction of native these days apparently! Good news is I got his license plate #.... Right before they pulled out of the lot! Hmmmm this raises a dilemma what do I do? any suggestions? Ideas??

It was a Quebec license plate!

Just for info.. This post isnt to start any drama or what have you! Its just a dilemma Im in! Im deciding what to do! Because those are world class fish! Who knows maybe they have a bad scale and theyre really 8-10lbs eyes, regardless its terrible! Are they on the Ottawa? Quinte ? st lawrence? I have no idea! Its just sad!

contact the MNR, explain the situation and give them the plate number.

In my opinion, in this situation:
Better to do something and be wrong, then to do nothing and be right!

PLEASE call the MNR for Ontario and Quebec, tell them the story and let them do whatever they choose to.

DS

My first question is why does LeB's sell spearheads at all?

Go read this on the Quinte board if you wanna get sick about things...

http://forum2.quintefishing.com/viewtop ... 9a&start=0

If those fellas had any status at all.....thank them for shopping at LeB's and they'll be on their merry way.....it's been going on for decades and won't stop....

RJ

you never no they might be lurking here to.

joco...........sad situation.

the eyes are spawning or will be shortly in creeks etc..so a pair off wader and those thing and there you go............are fisherries. ..pretty easy..hope they get caught somehow.
they must do it at night i no a few place where it could happen here in the region might chek it out...

joco

Nothing will be done no matter who you call, as soon as the word native is mentioned the mnr crawls into it's shell and turns their heads. Doenskt matter if it's one 15lb walleye, or 6 truck loads.

Sad situation.

It's even in the news - that some sell the fish they spear, pics and all... disgusting.
http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisp ... ?e=2520923

If they were status they would have a tax exemption card and would have produced that at the cash, like RJ said why does Lebarons sell spearheads, forget the MNR or Quebec MNR and talk to the owner of the store if they can't buy spearheads there, then they can't buy spearheads there, you have done all you can do, except follow them and film them, then post it on U-tube.

fatluke wrote:Nothing will be done no matter who you call, as soon as the word native is mentioned the mnr crawls into it's shell and turns their heads. Doenskt matter if it's one 15lb walleye, or 6 truck loads.

Sad situation.

Too true Luke....but lets not forget that its anyone who is not a caucasian male that the MNR crawls into its shell....

Jimmy from the Harley wrote:

fatluke wrote:Nothing will be done no matter who you call, as soon as the word native is mentioned the mnr crawls into it's shell and turns their heads. Doenskt matter if it's one 15lb walleye, or 6 truck loads.

Sad situation.

Too true Luke....but lets not forget that its anyone who is not a caucasian male that the MNR crawls into its shell....

Mon Dieu we agree...........

Back home the natives used to stay on the reserve so it was not as visible or talked about unless you were there to see it. For the past 7-10 they have been coming off the reserve to Belleville and Trenton and "exercicing their rights".

Again, it is not all natives. I had native friends and they would take a lot of fish but it was never sold. They would fill their freezer, and there elderly relatives freezers. This if fine. It's the truck loads of mercury filled spawners that the markets and restaurants in Toronto are serving.


And whoever mentioned about why is lebarons selling spears. Well I would assume they are "frog spears". Even crappy tire sells them. As for having them not sell spears....good luck. Money talks. They don't care about their customers, why would they care about the fisheries.

Tough call, but if we assume they were native and at this point that’s all it is, an assumption. If they have the treaty rights to harvest fish by that method, then it is what it is they have that right end of story I know that doesn’t sit right with people on this board, my self included, however everyone has rights that they can exercise that will not sit right with others from time to time. I guess we could look at trying to re negotiate treaties across the country, but I would guess after a couple of weeks we would gladly go back to “allowing” them to spear fish.
Or perhaps they were not native at all. Just a bunch of poachers, which with the limited resources the MNR on both sides of the river have,(tax cuts in action folks-careful what you wish for) are in all likelihood able to get away with what they have planned. They would after all have to be caught spearing fish. Simply buying the spear does not make anyone guilty of anything.
Which brings up why are stores would sell the spears in the first place? Bring it up with the manager of the store. Is it profit over common sense or is there a legitimate market that needs to be served. How many spears do they sell over the course of a year? Would it really affect the bottom line if they didn’t sell them?

fatluke wrote: And whoever mentioned about why is lebarons selling spears. Well I would assume they are "frog spears". Even crappy tire sells them. As for having them not sell spears....good luck. Money talks. They don't care about their customers, why would they care about the fisheries.

We agree again....

I honestly think there is nothing you can do about this particular case.
Try talking to your boss about having the store no longer carry spears. While you're at it, tell him to stop selling sturgeon rigs too.

LB can't sell too many of them if they had them in stock.