Outdoors

Group working to learn more about Simcoe bass fishery

The Aurora Bassmasters are interested in more than just catching bass in Lake Simcoe.
The York Region angling and conservation group would like to learn as much as it can about the behavioral patterns of these fish.
And they want to share the information with others who might not be with the club, but have an interest in wetting a line in this trophy-producing lake.
Past live release tournaments staged on this lake that borders on a part of York Region have revealed smallmouth bass have been known to tip the scales in the seven-pound range.
As an added example, the Aurora Bassmasters cited that at the 2003 Crackle Cup, an event staged in late October, the winning weight for five bass was 29.59 lbs. —  the heaviest bag ever weighed during a Canadian live release bass tournament.
In an effort to carry out their research, the Aurora Bassmasters received a grant from the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Community Fisheries and Wildlife Improvement Program (CFWIP). With the assistance of the ministry’s Aurora District Office and in co-operation with the Ontario BASS Federation, club members have begun this year to place tags on caught smallmouth and largemouth bass.
The fish are then returned safely to the waters where it is hoped other anglers who catch one of the tagged specimens will report their catch to the ministry’s Aurora District Office.
Jason Borwick, an Aurora District ministry biologist, notes the project is the first of its kind on Lake Simcoe.
“Along with the Bassmasters, we are eager to learn as much as we can from this CFWIP project and are hopeful any recreational angler catching a tagged bass will report it immediately to our office,” he said.
From this long-term project, the ministry hopes to attain several objectives. These include: seasonal movements and distribution, determining long-term survival results of catch and release tournaments, the population dynamics of catchable size bass and determining age and growth rates.
The group also hopes future components of this project can add to the data on released bass caught in deep water areas.
This month the Aurora Bassmasters reported  40 smallmouth and largemouth bass were sampled, tagged and safely returned to the waters during a July 22 club tournament  on Cook’s Bay. The largest smallmouth tagged was 5 lbs. and heaviest largemouth was 5.59 lbs.
The club hopes to tag more bass during the remainder of the season.
Should an angler catch a tagged bass from Lake Simcoe or any of its adjoining rivers, they are asked to call the telephone number displayed on the tag (905-713-7400) and report the following: date of catch, location caught and released (or kept), length of fish, colour of tag and tag number.
The Aurora Bassmasters hopes the project will help highlight the bass fishery of Lake Simcoe and hopefully play a role in uniting all anglers and agency staff to protect and conserve this fishery for future generations.

Changes aim to bolster walleye fishery

You’ll get little argument from local anglers that the most sought-after species in terms of edibility is the walleye.
Surveys conducted by the Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed the walleye is indeed the preferred fish of most Ontario anglers as it accounts for 25 per cent of the catch.
In 2000 alone, the ministry cited more than 25 million walleye were caught, with an estimated 6.5 million retained by anglers for the dinner table.
Not included in those figures are what First Nations people are allowed to harvest legally and what was caught by illegal means by poachers.
Needless to say, that created a rather large dent in the walleye population.
With more people wetting lines and learning about the great gourmet fare walleyes can provide, their stocks have taken a hit, especially in southern Ontario where waters offer easy access to the species.
In recent years, the ministry, along with concerned anglers and stakeholder groups, have acknowledged this growing dilemma and, starting Jan. 1, will take steps to improve the situation.
The most significant change will apply to all southern Ontario inland fisheries management zones, which includes the Kawartha Lakes region where interim possession limits will be reduced to four  from six. For those possessing a residential conservation licence, the possession limit will be cut to two from four.
Of the keepers, only one can measure more than 45.7 cm (18 inches).
“Walleye populations are down in Ontario’s inland lakes for a number of reasons, particularly increased fishing pressure in the south,” Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay said in a news release. “The changes we’re making will help address that decline.”
The ministry is also ill establishing fisheries management councils for each of the new management zones to improve input and also plans a comprehensive review of walleye management in southern Ontario, including stocking, habitat protection, invasive species and recreational angling regulations.
Ramsay was quick to point out the changes are interim and do not apply in areas where walleye populations are deemed as healthy, where there will be little or no change to the regulations.
The change in possession limits was an inevitable move and a positive one.
After all, who needs to keep six fish? Four is more than enough to adequately feed a couple of people.
My only concern, and one I’ve witnessed while fishing the Bay of Quinte where a four-fish limit has been in place for some time, is that some anglers tend to get greedy. Some will go out in the morning and get their four fish. After cleaning them and putting them in the freezer or in giving them to someone who might not fish, they will go back out in the evening to haul in another four.
While walleye fishing in the Kawarthas is tough enough, let alone to get a four-possession count, there could be a period, particularly in the spring or in late fall a few days prior to or just after the arrival of a new or full moon, when this scenario could take place.
A limited number of conservation officers on duty combined with a limited  budget puts an extra strain on enforcement efforts.
More details on the changes can be found here