2014 regulations, posession limit

[ingee44]

anybody have an idea if the mnr is going to change the posession limit for walleye for the 2014 season on lake nippissing

[nsfisher]

That's a great question ingee44,
I doubt it will go up, if so they would increase the commercial harvest first. I am sure a couple of our members will have some incite. Even better check with a couple of our sponsor outfitters at the top. They would know as they have a vested business interest.

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[SRR]

I highly doubt it and we wouldn't find out ahead of anyone else anyway. I wouldn't expect to see any changes until 2015 when they have assessed whether the 2013 change has had an impact on the population.

In my opinion, there wasn't a problem to begin with. I won't quote any catch numbers here but let's just say the walleye fishing has been crazy good. I've spoken with a lot of long time Nipissing anglers and the general consensus is that the fishing has never been better.

[NipNish]

I don't expect any changes until 2015, and by then it will be to late.

My prediction is the fishing willbe amazing this winter for anglers, due to the large population of the same year classes (not enough feed) then next summer the commercial fishery will be good and by winter everyone will see how bad shape this lake is in. It all depends on this years young of the year, i am getting the sense that there aren't very many considering lake nipissing has had 4 record year spawns in a row.

Anyhow I hope politicians on both sides get past the pointing fingers and do what needs to be done. There is going to be pain on both sides either now or when it collapses. Knowing politicians the easy thing to do is nothing, which is to bad because once a shift in the population occurs it maybe hard to get it to swing back. Personally I feel the perch have already filled the gap that walleye once filled.

Just a side note I am an angler and personally do not blame either side, all of the worlds fish populations are not sustainable. There is simply just to many of us. (humans) I truely hope i am wrong, but the data doesn't lie.

[appleseed]

I agree with SRR, fishing walleye for me on nipissing has never been better. typically limiting out in half an hour and then perch fishing and usually bumping the limits on those.
Lots of year classes of walleye from 6 inchers to over the slot.
large numbers of jumbo perch caught as well.
Should be an interesting winter!!

[Grumpa]

Ignore the over harvesting angle for just a moment..............Every recent study ever completed in the US has concluded that stocking programs can supplement and in certain conditions completely replace natural spawning as a means of sustaining fish populations....even under extreme over harvesting conditions. And for the most part, every level of government (local, State, Federal) in the US contribute financial resources to the sportfishing industry based on the economic and employment/labour returns that are garnered from public expenditures in the sport.
The Americans get it....despite their fiscal problems..........sportfishing isn't a drag on government finances...it's a massive contributor.
Yet the MNR (read Ontario Government) continues to contend that resources dedicated to sportfishing (and stocking programs in particular), for the most part, are a huge waste.............results primarily supported by old, inconsistent and irregular studies done here in this province. In fact the Ontario government behaves like the sportfishing industry, as a whole, is nothing but a drag on the economy. Just check out the numbers of fish stocked in both L. Ontario and Erie by American governments on the other side of the border, compared to numbers now supplied from the Ontario side. The continued success of the sportfishing and commercial fishing industry on both those lakes has everything to do with the overwhelming support of (and investment in) stocking programs by various levels of US governments.
With Ontario governments pilfering money from the MNR portfolio to subsidize other government departments and wasted initiatives...........the option of stocking as a supplemental means of restoring pressured fish populations moves further and further away from a workable reality. The public is doing everything they can on Nipissing to help turn the tide..............but without government support at least in principle if not financial....the walleye population may in fact be doomed to collapse.
The stocking angle needs to be completely re-addressed during the next review of the lake (by the various partners involved) in 2015. It could be one of the available solutions that changes the final outcome on Nip.

Let further discussion begin............anyone personally involved in the private stocking initiatives on the lake........I'd be very interested in your perspective on the subject.

[Longshank]

Well said ........

Ontario used to be a "destination area for fishing"

Now it's 7th provincially.

We have the worst track record for sustaning our fisheries, even tho on the surface they appear ok or even good.

MNR has been decimated and my prediction is it will be absorbed by MOE withing 1-2 decades..........that is not good.

However, it cannot fulfill its mandate now, so there may be no option.
I suppose this dicsussion should appear on it's own thread as well.

I'll have more to say on the Great lake s forum about this soon enough.

[Grumpa]

I understand there was a meeting of the LNSA (Lake Nip Stakeholders Assoc.) Wednesday night.
Can any members that possibly attended that meeting brief the rest of us on the discussions from the meeting?.......particularly for those of us that can't attend the meetings.
Word is............the tone of the meeting was not very positive.

We all need to know.............via what-ever small contributions each of us are capable of.......how we can help/improve the state of the walleye fishery on the lake.

[Caldan]

Hey Grumpa,
I'm glad you asked and are showing an interest in the state of Nipissing's walleye fishery. Yes, you might say the tone of the meeting was not very positive. If that was the perception, it's probably because the state of affairs regarding the management of our fisheries is a mess. I am on the board of The Lake Nipissing Stakeholder's Association and a concerned fishing guide on the lake. Besides having zero turn out from 6 invited fisheries biologists, we had a turn out of a mere 30+ attendees to represent collective interests on the topic. That being said, I blame our lack of an effective marketing strategy for the poor turn out even though we posted flyers 2 weeks ago in The Canadian Tire stores in both Sturgeon and North Bay, in various grocery stores in both Sturgeon and North Bay, at a few tackle shops including Chez Michaud and North Bay Outfitters, in the Callander post office, a paid ad in the Oct. 19th Nugget, an article in the Nipissing Reader, and a blog on my guiding Facebook page 'Nipissing Muskies', not to mention a mass emailing to our existing members and politicians. The LNSA is a small handful of people that, through concern, are trying to bring everyone together and start a collective dialogue on the issues pertaining to the lake. We scratched and clawed our way last year with the result of being issued the same old license to harvest 2 million walleye eggs for restocking. Out ambition was/is to erect several of these hatcheries around the lake and operate them with trained volunteers as well as up the number of processed eggs in the existing hatchery. The MNR simply does not believe that restocking is the solution and won't grant us any more than our 2 million eggs.
The other issue is as follows: There are two interests on the lake in the walleye fishery- sport fishing and commercial fishing. Sport fishing is regulated by the MNR......commercial fishing is NOT because of NFN treaty rights issues.
The NFN are also concerned and are pouring in way more money into research and management than our own government will even consider but also feel through their efforts and their rights that we, the sportsfishermen, are the last priority. It's a huge issue that even our best politicians are finding extremely challenging. The MNR is of course attached to that chain of command. However, that all being taken into consideration, the LNSA was formed by a few lodge owners who did not want to sit back and wait for the answer that never comes while they watch their livelihoods go down the drain! They became proactive and did something! They continued to restock the Callander Bay area to what ever level they were granted by the MNR. The MNR biologists argument is that they believe restocking is not the answer and, under the present circumstances, a possible detriment to the self-sustaining population of walleye that still exist in the lake, however small or large that number may be. The MNR is not seeing the recruitment of spawning size walleye making it to spawning age or size because they are being removed before they can get there. And of course, anecdotal evidence strongly suggests where the missing slot sized walleyes have disappeared to.
In my estimation, the LNSA meeting yesterday was a success. Why? Because we didn't sugar coat it this time. We told it like it is....with hope through our own dogmatic perseverance and collective voice. We need numbers to start voicing our opinions. Feel free to email me your concerns, opinions, solutions, and we will collect and post them where they'll be heard. My name is Dan and I'm on the executive board of the LNSA representing everyone of you who are concerned. My email is dcolomby@gmail.com. Please let me know if you want to be put on our emailing list for future info on meetings and breaking news. We NEED membership!
I'd like to end this email by answering your question, Grumpa, on what we can do to help save this fishery now. There are those who are disgruntled at the inequity in treatment between we the sportfishery and the commercial netters. To those disgruntled individuals, let me say that I understand your frustration completely! But over fishing by keeping slot sized fish or more than our allotted 2 fish per person only hurts the fish even more. The fish are the big losers in this battle. If you are lucky enough to catch a spawning sized walleye (over the slot) please return it unharmed back into the lake to spawn. Then come out to our annual restocking event at the end of April at Wasi Falls and witness these big fish coming back to spawn. Although their research methods seem to us to be sketchy, the MNR biologists are thoroughly convinced the situation is dire, especially watching the trends in recent history. We're still not convinced that restocking isn't the way to go but we are listening to reason. In the mean time we'll continue to restock 2 million at a time. It's really all we can do along with your understanding and self regulation out on the water. Yes, we've experienced some good numbers of smaller walleye during the past few years. But don't let that fool you into thinking there are a lot of fish to go around. The science, which I don't have the space to explain here, gives reasons for these numbers and cautions us not to run away with our assumptions. Sportfishing numbers are on the rise because of the 'success' reports. Until we absolutely understand the situation we need to be cautious. I plan on getting published answers from the biologists, with whom I've been talking. Stay tuned and please sign up. We ARE you. Let's be heard!

[ThorahGuy]

Welcome aboard Caldan.... You came to the right place.

Thank you for taking the time to give us that thoroughly excellent report, both detailed and balanced. I'm sure our members, and guests as well, will find it very informative. Good luck in all that you do.
There are many great people here, I'm sure you'll make friends fast....
Please acquaint yourself with the board rules and most of all enjoy our forums....

[Caldan]

Thank you Thorah Guy,

will do.

[Grumpa]

Absolutely.....Thanks Caldan for that important up date.

For all of us interested......How can those currently not members, join the LNSA? .....Is there a membership fee to join and how do we get added to the membership mailing list?

I think it's paramount that all of the users of the lake need, in some capacity or another, to be active stewards of the resource as well.

What each of us takes out.....we need to find ways to put back in.

Thanks again for taking the time to join the message board and provide everyone with the important information.

[Caldan]

Yes, anyone wishing to join the LNSA can first visit www.LNSA.net to see what we're about. Use the contact info on that site to reach one of us on the executive board and we'll fill you in on how to become a member, or you can reach me (Dan) at dcolomby@gmail.com. Thanks for your interest!

[nsfisher]

Hey Caldan,
Welcome to the board, great to see a new member who has such passion and concern for our fishery and the environment. Just remember a large wave can start from a small ripple so keep on throwing those rocks in the pond.

[phd1970]

Hey Caldan nice to see and read your report thanks!!! But again the meeting was just another concern meeting with no results! If the walleye population is down and yes there are some fishermen that keep over slot walleye which is not helping, but the commercial fishing is absolutely killing the population of walleye on Nipissing! Commercial fishing or netting is still using gill nets then the walleye population is going to disappear very shortly! At least when fishing there is a choice for the walleye but with the slot its an easy choice, but with gill netting any fish species that get caught in the nets have no choice they eventually all die , Not Fair!!! The only way that Nipissing will flourish again with walleye is stop the netting or change to different nets and put regulations on for netting to. Why punish the fisherman? When the fishermen stay at the lodges on Nipissing spend money to keep the outfitters going NOT FAIR!!!!

On a side note: My family has been going up to Nipissing for the past 40 years but with all of this political garbage that is happening at Nipissing, well they are going to different lakes now! I just recently talk to my uncle about Lake Nipissing, after he rolled his eyes and said" that is not a fun fishing lake anymore" go I'm going else where!!! Tried to convince him and the other fishing relatives to give Nipissing one more shot but they didn't want to hear it anymore. So what I'm trying to say is look at what is happening generations that use to always make plans for their annual fishing trips to Nipissing are leaving because of this political or could be that they know when the commercial fishing continues that Lake Nipissing is only going to be noted as a sheephead lake not a walleye lake!!!!!!