Pickerel Opener

Yup that be the walleye poachers fishing at night on the spawning grounds under the guise of we are fishing for perch. These lakes need to be closed to all fishing during these times and thats the only way to save the fishery. but that will never happen MNR will just put a moratorium on walleye like Suckbog once they are extinct. JOKE and end ice fishing. the fishing was 100x better before they opened ice fishing on kawarthas. dumb dumb and dumber

I rarely fish the kawarthas anymore.........quite a bit further north, but I agree with you spooner as we have witnessed a severe increase in poaching unfortunately

I have seen some poaching over the years at night because I am out there. I can tell you that the MNR COs are doing their job There is not enough of them that's for sure. It's also up to us to get a boat number or license plate if you can do it keeping yourself safe please. Then call the number and hopefully they are in the area. Hard to be in many places at the same time. Still disgusts me to see this. A real angler has respect and cares about the fish and the regulations of fishing.

Oh I wish they were just fishing, but they are netting. I had a brand new seine net float wash up on my shore last year.

I wish they'd at least strip the eggs and milk and give them a chance.

That is sad to hear if someone was netting. There could be another explanation, the float could have come from a lake sampling fish study. Or from a crayfish net etc. or just fell off a boat. Some people buy those floats for other purposes, there are dozens of sizes, shapes and colours. Did you happen to report finding such a float. Small piece of a puzzle but someone else might have reported the same thing. This could give the MNR an idea of what may or may not be going on in your area.

That is sad to hear if someone was netting. There could be another explanation, the float could have come from a lake sampling fish study. Or from a crayfish net etc. or just fell off a boat. Some people buy those floats for other purposes, there are dozens of sizes, shapes and colours. Did you happen to report finding such a float. Small piece of a puzzle but someone else might have reported the same thing. This could give the MNR an idea of what may or may not be going on in your area.

This was about 2 years ago and it was in early spring so probably not crayfish nets. I don't think anyone nets crayfish on Upper Buckhorn.

I will say though the boat traffic at night is quite significant once ice goes out till the end of April.
All 12-14 aluminum boats coming from the same area.

Well if you can prove these bad things are happening, you can always call the number.

Hate to see it , is there a lot of natives that fish that area though ? I know up on gbay they fish / net before the season opens for us.