Sunfish and fishing tourism in Zone 18

[DropShotr]

This topic was argued somewhat passionately several months ago. I will wait to see the numbers before commenting about regulations.

At this point, I see nothing wrong with a cooler of properly prepared sunfish fillets to be taken for personal consumption. I do, however, have a BIG, BIG problem with even 1 fillet being sold.

It boggles the mind that someone would be so consumed with trying to "break even" on a fishing trip. What's the point of the trip, to have fun and enjoy Canadian nature or worry that you might not "break even"? How stupid is that?

With that kind of mentality, do eveyone a favor and stay home.

DropShot'r

[Sportspal]

So about 350 lbs of panfish at $4.00 USD/lb should just about cover my costs.

If the average panfish is half a pound, and you have 350lbs, you harvested roughly 700 fish in a 2 week period?
The ministry guide for fish consumption generally says you can eat 8 panfish a month safely, so you have enough for 90 months of eating for one persion, 45 for two people, so on and so on.

Is it sold for $4.00 a pound in PA?

I think you hit the nail on the head RJ. This sort of mass harvesting is shamefull, especially since you can pretty much garantee that this happens more often than not.
If 1000 people did similar things, there would be close to 1 million less panfish per year. Food for thought.

[Paddler]

Guys,

Sorry, my post wasn't worded as well as it could have been.

Let me clarify, first I do not support people commercializing wildlife resources.

Secondly, I was just throwing out examples of how many fish I would have to keep to try to pay for my trip.

I realize that at times the possession laws are broken.
But it looks as though overall compliance at border checks, etc. appears "relatively" good for the number of anglers check.

I do not drive 850 mile round-trip to try to "pay for my trip" with panfish.
My wife and all family members purchase conservation licenses so the most we could keep would be 100.

Do we, No.

Bottom line is do what is right for the resource.

take care all.

[Todd B.]

Paddler,

[quote=RJ]The greatest indicator of what has gone on was a random stop that was conducted at a border crossing last June. In a 3 hour stretch, 55,000 panfish crossed the border. Read it again. 55,000. That was a real eye opener to the MNR and the biologists. [/quote]

While there is a limited (legal) commercial panfish fishery, it is clear that there is a need to enact some strict regulations on recreational panfish limits.

[jeff62]

decimated just as almost all of the US fisheries have

This just must have happened in the five years i've been here.Because i remember the fishing to be way more productive both size wise and numbers than it is here.

[adempsey]

I fished in Rice Lake for many years (is that zone 18? or 17? I forget) and have definitely seen people target all panfish, including sunfish.

It's the first time I saw someone using an electric knife for filleting (was many years ago). One place even had an old motorized potato peeler they used for scaling a bunch of fish at the same time.

I have no clue if these folks took them home or not, but I imagine they did. If I recall most were from Ohio or nearby states.

There was an online questionnaire/survey by the MNR regarding these changes. No clue if it's still accessible.

I figured they wanted to impose limits so they can open up ice fishing.

[gorfman007]

Still a lot of huge pan fish in Bob's.

[fishermccann]

We never had Crappie in our lake in the Kawarthas untill 5 years ago, We don't want anything "new" in the lakes , come catch all you want.