Automatic fisherman, finally made mine...

Thanks for the info. My bet

I was just waiting for it to appear.
This rig is legal.
Copied from the Regs Summary

"Possess a spring gaff, snagger or spear gun within 30 m (98
ft.) of any waters.
A spring gaff includes any device which uses a
mechanical spring," other than the fishing rod under tension, to
set the hook for an angler."

Key phase is in bold.
A rod under tension is not a spring under the regulations.

Nothing illegal with springs on a unit as long as the spring is not setting the hook.
Think of a downrigger release. Many use springs as part of the release mechanism.
Neither Slammers or Jaw Jacker's use springs to set the hook.

I wish they would make people read the entire regulations before they issue them a licence.

Prob here is: The so-called 'licence' is not really a licence.

By 'licence', we mean someone is qualified and thus licenced to perform something or whatever such a a lawyer or a medical doctor or elementary school teacher, or as simple and as popular as a vehicle driver (such as you or me who has passed a test and thus is qualified to drive, and thus is issued a driver's license)

However, in this case, a fishing licence is literally nothin' more than "Yes, you have paid the fee, and therefore you are allowed to fish";-)

that's an awesome set up Kevin but i'm just wondering if an ignorant CO would question you about the rod holder part...it does look like a spring and if he's ignorant enough he could argue that it is helping with setting the hook...just wondering

It only looks like a spring. It is pretty solid piece of metal there.

This time 4 years ago when I was on business trip in Stockholm, Sweden, I once did ice fishing for pike there, with a group of co-workers who were working together with me on-site on the same project. We hired two local ice fishing guides who provided everything (fishing gears, lures, live baits, survival suits, bbq lunch and bon fire on ice, ...). We used this kind of setup as shown on the below pics. The metal "string" (the portion between rod or stick and the bell) does look like a spring to me, though. Thus I'd wonder if this kind of setup is legal here in Ontario:

Another one:

you would have too really p### off a CO for them to cite you for it. As yes it looks somewhat like a spring enough for maybe reasonable grounds to lay a charge and let a judge decide however if your courteous and well mannered they may even ask you for the direction how too make one for themselves.

Great job it's legal.thanks for sharing

as it doesn't act to set the hook I read it as legal. Its more like a strike indicator similar to the springs on most good panfish ice rods.

Even if you read ALL the regulations, some of them are difficult to interpret. Isn't that part of the reason to have this board? So we can help each other. Part of that being to clarify the rules and regulations so that we can all enjoy our fisheries. Now we all know. I have no doubt the topic will come up again and will have to be re-hashed next year.

yakfisher....What do you mean next year...It's been rehashed 3 times
this year already and the Laker/Whitefish Season is only 3 days old.

Bob

Not being rude but let's get back to the post nice hope you get many years of fishing out of it