Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Lots of trouble understanding fish limits

We've had a rash of problems with new guests understanding Ontario's fish limit regulations.
Daily limits and possession limits are exactly equal. This means you can have one day's limit in your possession which means in the freezer, in your cabin fridge, in the lodge fridge and in your boat.
If you have the conservation licence that comes free with our fishing packages, then the limit is two walleye and two northern pike. If you buy the full-size licence, the limit is four walleye and four pike.
No matter which licence you get, you are only allowed to have in your possession one walleye over 18 inches. You cannot have any northern pike in the slot-size of 27.5-35.5 inches and you can only have one larger than the slot size.
The problems always arise from people who want to make sure they have "THE LIMIT" to take home. So they quickly sock away their entire allowable catch in the freezer. Then they bring in more fish to eat at camp.
This makes them over-limit on their possession. All the fish they are allowed to have are already in the freezer. They cannot keep any more unless they want to first take some out of the freezer and eat them.
We've also had people who want to replace some of the fish in the freezer with bigger ones. For example, they saved a 22-inch walleye and then later caught a 24-inch walleye. When they do this they are, again, over-limit, now both for numbers of fish and also fish over 18 inches.
Incidentally, if you are a conservationist, you would never keep ANY walleyes over 18 inches. Ditto for big northern pike.
You would only use your legal right to keep that big walleye or pike over 35.5 inches in the instances where you accidentally killed the fish. Big fish are poor eating choices and are the major reproducers. Walleyes under 18 inches and pike under the slot size are the ones you want to keep.
We have had people who knew they were maxed out on their limits bring in fish anyway, saying it was for "the camp limit." There is no such thing! Fish for yourself. Believe it or not, everyone is capable of providing his own fish.
The sensible thing to do if you want to take fish home, is to eat fish at camp early in the week and save fish to take home near the end of the week.
Lots of people choose to eat fish fresh at camp and take no fish home with them. Some just save suitable fish the last day. If they don't take home "THE LIMIT" so what? They just wanted some fish for a fish fry for the family. A couple of 22-26 inch northern pike and a walleye or two will do the trick.

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