New Regs 2013, 2 Rainbow Trout Limit

Also go to the south shore of Lake Erie. Tons of steelhead in those rivers. They stock them like crazy with bows. The cat rocks!

Longshank, I agree with u I just think 5 bows is excessive. I understand the whole atlantic salmon program is a failure. They should put all that effort into fish they know will work, cohos, kings, steelies. The US fills this lake for us and can't keep 5 rainbows a day! JMO. I am not in favour of taking fishing ops away. I think we need to make more. As for our MNR I understand your frustration and share it. They take way too long to act on things. Eg. Cormorants. We should b doing culls not studys. Constantly giving into Indians which takes away from all of us. Its a tough mess to fix!

Guys we have awesome steelheading right here in Ontario. I've fished the Cat,Oak, 18, walnut, elk and many more state side. Yes u get big numbers everytime but to me its not the same as fishing here. Way too many people and not the same quality of fish IMO. These r the good old days of steelheading. My son is 6 and hooked 3 fish on sunday and landed 1 completely by himself on Sunday. Just sayin we do have great bow fishing here. BTW I only fish rivers on Gbay and Huron.

Ok, then level the playing field across the board.

Just go to a 3 fish aggregate limit For all of lake O....like the USA. BUT, then up the possesion limit to the same.

In the US you can take 3 fish every day all year long..not us.....daily and possesion limit is same.

As for size limits it's interesting US has a size limit and we don't because of our fixation on "the fishing guide" US doesn't bother with it.

Why is that?

I don't get the line from the Minister....fishery is self sustaining.agian if so, why mess with it?

We are fixed on old management policies, but instead of managing anything.it's way simpler to just constantly......reduce limits', increase slot sizes, that type of thing.

Far as the great fishery you are referring to it's good, not awesome. Awesome to me would be hooking up with 20 to 30 daily......... and that fishery you refer to may well be gone in 5 years.

I hope I am wrong

Longshank
I see what ur sayin with limits on bows. We could definitly up the possession limit or just leave it at 5. I rig lake o 25 to 30 times a year and don't eat fish from there but understand people do. (Just a personal choice) I consume many huron fish. Our MNR will call almost all fisheries self sustaining because they do absolutly nothing for the majority of them except stand in the way of making them better. As for size limits not sure how this could benefit steelhead. As for the awesome steelhead fishery I am referring to hooking 30 steelhead in a day can and does happen often. This isn't just on one particular river either. Not sure if it will b like this in 5 years but right now is the best I have seen it in the 25yrs I have fished it. A slow day is hooking 10 fish.

Why should the charter guys with all the big money boats get to kill all the fish and the lonly shore guy can only take 2 or none. I sopport the new limit for torut on lake ontario. You dont need to keep 5 fish. join the rest of us and take it!

I will try to explain something about us Charter guys...killing every fish.

Simply not true to begin with. without us, whole ne product limnes and fishing technique advancements would not occur or least slow down quite a bit.

we freely share tremondous ammounts of tactics for catching fish and generally help others getting into great lakes fishing.

your assumtions are in error.

You are allowed 2 fish, I get it , know that. Chances are you go out more than once.

Clients coming onto charter boat typically do 1 outing per year

I see guys down here at Port D every day from October till May.....every day for some of them and it's not all C&R, so not all shore fisherman are the same

You do the math.

But my main point is that the fishery ws/is not in trouble......it is stable

Minister himself stated most boats do not reach the limit of 5 fish.

This is a political reduction....not a managerial one

Or I could have said, why don't you spend some bucks and get a boat and join the rest of US

Think of a lakewide fishery and a a ministerial mandate, not just singular gratification

Longshank
No doubt charter guys kill a whole whack of fish (its your business) can the lake sustain it? Yes. I understand all points of view on this matter (shore anglers, US side concern) if people see one guy getting more than the next there will be words said and questions asked. Why can this guy take more fish than me cause he has a boat? Think about the other side of the coin. I personally see both sides of this and agree with both. But ultimitley the MNR polices us and has the final say. Most of the time decisions made are never backed by reasearch or common sense. As for charter boat operators making the lake better with products and info. Most will just promote what there sponsors provide. Lake O fishing is not rocket science I have changed very few tactics in the last 10yrs and always produce fish.

King Killer, I just had to respond. I guess you do not remember Allan Pope almost giving away the farm back in the "70s. Thank God he was stopped in his tracks. We elect these guys, we should have a say. Like Shank has been trying to tell you guys, there is alot more going on here. We must demand professional, science proven info. Look what happenned with the spring bear hunt. Politics won the demise of the hunt, the effects are not disputable yet we are not able to reverse that decision. I am not a charter, but I do put alot of effort into my fishing. I also am a C/R type person.
I have not read much here about the new treaty that is being negotiated with the Algonquins. Do you not think that will affect our fishing privliges?? JUST WAIT and see.

I dont need a boat I spent loads of money on flyrods, float reels, rods, waders, flies, and more more. Charter guys go out everyday with boat loads of people and bring back cooler loads of fish, 6 guys x 5 thats 30 dead fish day after day after day. lonly shore guys casting a fly is lucky to even catch 2 trout in a day. we cant even fish everyday for trout only when and where open and the when the fish are in.

Believe me , I get the point about shore anglers etc. enhancing fisheries........all for it without question.

I alreadys stated I would be happy with a limit of 3 fish........not 5.

I can't speak, nor will for other charters, but will say that I release approx. 40% of my catch or ty to.

Not all charters are sponsored the way you may believe, there ain't no free ride. if you do get a sponsor, then you need to do shows, seminars, take the staff fishing etc.

No changes, really........new lines.floro came from charter industry.perhaps not lke O, but from pros.

cut bait, Atomic flies and spin dotors, lead core, dipseys and more just suddenly appeared?

maybe it's different on the North shore, don't know .don't fish there don't want to.

But we are getting off topic just a tad.

My whole rant there from day 1 has beeen about the decison made based on what? and for whom exactly and what is the real agenda MNR has in mind.

Take lake O out of this discussion for now and just think of all the cutbacks in fishing opportunities province wide.limit reductions, shortened seasons and more over past 20 years. Tell me we are heading in the right direction with hatchery closures or hatcheries only being operated by volunteers.

The lake O fishery was brought into life by stocking.period!

same for lake simcoe wf and L. trout

I'm all for natural fisheries being viable, but I don't see that when we have the population we have now and an expected increase in the GTA (Niagara to Whitby) to almost 30 million over next 20 years.

The MNR needs to do more, not less and I'm not talking about legislation

Some people will get what I am talking about and others will not.

It's all good, been a great discussion and as I said before, I hope I am wrong on my observations.

If I offended anyone I apologize, but hey suck it up it is a discussion!

Good discussion. I am a fisher in NYS and its good to hear that Ontario is taking steps in the right direction.

Hardly, I appreciate the whole discussion to date and encourage anyone that loves fishing to read the whole post.....all of it

Further, get involved with MNR and it's long range plans before you bless them

(they do have a max. target on how many bows to allow in each river)

Stay informed, not "I heard that"

We all love our steelhead, I want to see more...think some of you missed that altogether.

Anyways....good luck to all, hope you catch a big one and then think about where it came from.

Backwoodsman bob
Don't know of allan pope as I was born in 1978. If u read some of my posts you will see that I personally think our MNR does not manage many of our resources properly mainly due to politics and fear of standing up to certain groups and lack of research. This indeed could fit in here. I fish lake oO in the boat a lot and personally won't eat fish from there, but understand many do. I guess we do need to be he
Heard more as sportsman on these issues!

Btw not sure if u remember. But I'm sure it was your group who fished the saugeen in the early 90s every september. I was the kid who sold u guys flys. Sorry to go off topic guys