Fish-Hawk.Net

This article is 45 years old and those who ice fish for brookies and like to eat them should read it. Brook trout in Adirondack Park are well on there way back but there's still a long way to go from the time when 90% of the water inside the Park held brook trout. The difference between 1977 and today is the preservation of indigenous strains of Brook Trout.

Also the other thing you take from this.... Ontario isn't even where NY was in 1977.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

Good, interesting article Ganman. Tks for that. Why do you focus on ice fishermen? Lots of people fish in the summer as well, specially since the advent of ATVs.
"Domestic trout are best suited for put-and-take." That's what Ontario does, and I can't see that changing any time soon. Too much work, and not close to enough resources to make any changes. Too bad.

Cheers

I agree with your assessment smitty, That is what we have put and take, first come, first served. If that is what everyone wants fine. If we want better we have to make some hard choices and ice fishing would have to go. So would live bait. It would have to be single barbless hooks and reduced limits. Or why can't some waters be managed for quality fishing and others put and take?

ganman wrote: Or why can't some waters be managed for quality fishing and others put and take?

That is probably the best recourse I can think of, because they will never cancel ice fishing to that extent. I can't see it happening though. Just look at the way they've gone for Walleye fishing, with zone wide regs instead of lake specific regs. Far less work for the ministry, less confusion for anglers, and far easier to enforce. A lot of people don't like it, but that's the way it is.

Cheers

This is because too many walleye lakes have been depleted!

That is the common thread Jimmy, but I know a guy who has done great on the Miss for weed Walleye this year, with lots of fish over the slot. So who is right? The Miss was one of those lakes often mentioned as having probs.

Cheers

Sorry smitty but Mississippi is THE best walleye lake in Eastern Ontario. Like it or lump it compared to Bobs, Pike, Christie, Dalhousie, Calabogie, Black Donald, Centennial, and many others......walleye fishing in Mississippi is far better....not as good as it could be but better than the rest. That's not saying a lot.

Thanks for posting this article. It is a good read and quite informative. Clearly our stocking and conservation program is failing expectations.

ganman wrote:Sorry smitty but Mississippi is THE best walleye lake in Eastern Ontario. Like it or lump it compared to Bobs, Pike, Christie, Dalhousie, Calabogie, Black Donald, Centennial, and many others......walleye fishing in Mississippi is far better....not as good as it could be but better than the rest. That's not saying a lot.

I would have to disagree,

I have lived on that lake since 1997.

Every year I can catch walleye with ease on Dalhousie. Not the case so much on the Miss.
Areas that held walleye for years are now "dry"....

That's my observation over 16 years.

Great article. If something doesn't change, we'll have a worse situation around here.

Now if brook trout are so dumb, how come I spent almost four hours on an accessible lake in FMZ 18 which stocks 4000 brookies every year and not get a single bite? And before anyone responds that I don't know how to fish, I just had an 18 fish day on an accessible rainbow lake two days ago (all but two properly released.....yes, I do take fish home occasionally....when I feel the lake can handle it).

There are good reasons why I didn't catch anything at this lake and that is that there aren't very many in there. If there were, there would be the occasional rise for all the terrestrials I saw on the water. I didn't see much on the screen either. The Ministry informed me that they did some netting on that lake and did take out a 2nd or 3rd year fish. BTW, I was told that these particular stocked brookies are only expected to live for three years. But you need a critical mass of fish for the lake to fish reasonably well.

Now in and around the Center of the Universe they have C&R, barbless hooks, restricted seasons, etc but for some reason, we around Ottawa are still considered to be in the boonies. I think there are more fishers/capita here than there so the time has come for some serious changes. Ganman has stated that some lakes should have an ice fishing ban. That is a no-brainer but the powers to be are resistant to any change. Some people think everything is just fine as it is, that things haven't changed. In other words if you want to catch fish, then get yourself a quad or a snowmobile and drive for three hours.

Education is the most important thing that needs to be emphasized but the regs have to change (and be enforced). There should be "good" fishing for all types: a)those who only fish locally during the soft water season and without a 4x4, b) those who ice fish in accessible lakes, c) lakes for those who are more adventurous (well they have it all already, don't they?).

I participate in a western based forum and have learned that unlike here, the fishing has improved over the past 20 years since I left in the stocked lakes. That you can catch trout within the city limits of Victoria and Vancouver!

smitty55 wrote:

ganman wrote: Or why can't some waters be managed for quality fishing and others put and take?

That is probably the best recourse I can think of, because they will never cancel ice fishing to that extent. I can't see it happening though. Just look at the way they've gone for Walleye fishing, with zone wide regs instead of lake specific regs. Far less work for the ministry, less confusion for anglers, and far easier to enforce. A lot of people don't like it, but that's the way it is.

Cheers

Why wouldn't they like it? Because they like to keep 20 inch plus fish for the table? I think people like to bitch about anything that changes just for something to do.

I don't have much to add to the state of the Trout fishing in our area other than it stinks on those small lakes for whatever reason. Sure you'll see some decent catches (that isn't common) from the likes of Mike P and SM05 but as a whole, it's terrible.

RJ

Liked this quote... it's sooo true, WHEN THEY ARE ON!!! It's part what makes them such a strong and great sportfish, but unfortunately so fragile as well.

"brook trout can't stand fishing pressure. Their recklessness makes them unfit for a world with humans much in evidence."

Short life span, fast growth rate... the one plus they should have is an ability to recuperate stocks quickly... IF the right measures are put in place. In our area, the right measures are not in place.