Quinte Fishing

This happened to me last Sunday, I got big shoulders so give me your honest opinion and tell me what you think.

It was a beautiful day last Sunday with little winds, my wife and I went out on the bay to enjoy the weather and do a little fishing. Fishing for eyes has been tough the last couple of days but I was still getting the odd one on a jerkbait/crank bait. I was going down the shore on the east side just north of shermans positioning the boat in 15 -12 fow throwing jerkbait and sometimes a shad rap. Tossing towards the deep side of the weeds in anywhere from 10 to 15 feet of water, something I normally do at this time of year with great success for eyes. I had previously caught 2, lost one and had 5 follow my bait to the boat.

My wife was reading/sunning in the back of the boat. I sat down on the front deck, taking a break from standing and chatting with the better half. I throw out my shad rap while I m sitting and happen to hook a maybe 12 inch bass. I kinda chuckle, and toss him back quickly, throw the shad rap back out, and yes to the weed edge in 12 feet of water. Bang another fish, the line rises (now I m still sitting and chatting with my wife,) and another bass hit my shadrap... I let it go slack and it easily comes off when it tries to jump.
Then I get some chick on shore with her boyfriend/husband yelling at me that bass is out of season, I lose it...I snap... I head faker with a left and giver a shot to the solar plexes....Just kidding!! But yeah I got peaved off that someone would immediately accuse an angler for fishing out of season. So I was pretty snarky back and the dude wouldnt say a word.

She doesnt know me!!! I take great pride in staying away from bass when its not open, even when I pike fish I stay out of shallow water. I wasnt guilty of anything so I kept going down the bank for 10 or so minutes while it looked like she got her camera/phone out to take pictures. What a joke!!! If I was targeting bass...it wouldnt of been there!!

I am an avid angler that abides by all the rules, and take great pride in our sport!!!
Needless to say I let a person make me crusty for the rest of the day... my poor wife. lol

So what do you board members think? does that constitute fishing out of season? Because in my opinion, ah no. If you know the Bay the bass population has had quite an explosion over the last few years and its almost impossible to fish a deep weedline with out getting one or two incidently.
teppy

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O2BFSHIN

Im on your side on this one Teppy. I had a similar story that happened to me 2 years ago fishing the same style for the june walters.

I had one in the box and i was enjoying my time on the water with very little luck. And then in front of a house i had a guy (trying to impress the crowd) yell at me to stop fishing for bass as the season isn’t open. I also had a little loss of character after being accused of such a crime and quickly responded with "im fishing for walleye". As i said this i walked back and opened up the live well and pulled out my beautiful eater that i had plans for later and showed him as i gently tossed it in the water. I gathered my composure and realized that i wasn’t going to catch anything more so i packed up and went home.

When im out for walleyes in may june and im fishing that weed line/ shallow pattern i always keep a fish on board just encase the MNR stops me or the curious person on shore questions by actions. I figure they can accuse all they want but if i have one or two of my target species on board there is no arguing with who is right.


Cheers!
Driven to Fish.

i see nothing wrong here except there was no fakin her with the jerk bait and the idiot goes for for it! and besides think of all the people that probably do fish bass out of season if she wants to be a fish cop go find them you cant always help what what ya catch

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FISHING'S NOT A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH,ITS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT

Certainly not a spot I would think to fish for bass, I'm sure the guy probably wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. but I guess he figured if he ever wanted to have sex again he best keep his mouth shut LOL. I certainly would not call that targeting out of season bass

I wouldn't worry about it too much if I was you. It happens all the time. If it makes you feel any better, I landed a 4 pound Smallie 2 weeks ago on Rice Lake trolling a worm harness/bottom bouncer on a weedline. My PB smallie. What a blast!!!! I was also stopped by the MNR on the water that day, and they asked me if I had caught any bass, (or other species) They also know it happens all the time.

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There's something wrong with that rod.
It has a bend in it!!!

Wherever the walleye are , the bass are too. I have caught 30+ bass fishing weed lines for walleye this year. The bay is plugged full of bass, so its pretty much impossible to not catch one. Personally, i would like to see less bass and an open season. The bay is being overun by sheep and bass.

other than that, nosey people. What they were really trying to say to you was, "i wish that it was me catching that fish".

I fish annually with a good friend who hapens to be an enforcement officer with MNR Prosecution office and thought I would pose that question with him.
His response somewhat paraphrased...
Firstly, Incidentals will happen as these fish sometimes target the same bait. From what he has told me MNR understands that. Secondly an immediate release needs to happen. If anyone is unlawful enough to keep something out of season they deserve to be prosecuted.

Lastly is what I see as a grey area...if you catch 1, then 2, and keep at it with a 3rd one could attempt to make the argument that the species is being targeted. If an effort is made to change baits or even move along to another spot the argument is clear that you caught an incidental and to avoid a repeat you moved along or switched baits to avoid it happening again.

Hope this is of some help.

2nd walleye won.
(i wrote the same thing, but clicked post and you had just posted it)

Teppy i think there was nothing done wrong by you, but its a gray area, and we could
argue all day long if a shad rap is a better walleye or bass bait.
The bass fishing has been good in the bay since at least the 90's. just alot more profiled now, then it was then, and lots of sheep back then too..

Thats real funny, last monday morning I went down to the dock to catch a couple of perch for dinner later in the day. I tipped the 1/8 oz jig head with a wax worm and dropped it off the end of the dock. SMACK 4lb ish Largie inhales it. As I pick it up to remove the hook I get yelled at from a guy in a boat...'Not in season, got to throw it back' had a good chuckle to myself about that guy. I am right in the area you described, just east of the boat launch..

There are all kinds, eh?

RED

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RED

teach a man to fish, feed him for life. Show him a fishing show, bore him to death...

crappie fishing a few years ago....i had this spot infront of a house..it was primetime...weeds, a huge log with stick all around it...i could see the crappie just under the surface...i was inthe money...toss my bobber and 1/16 jig into the pile...WACKKK.....largie hits it, jumps, tail walks the works...get into the boat, tap her on the head, and send it swimming. guy on the dock reading the saturday sports drinking his coffee folds the paper and says
"the MNR would love to meet you"
i said "sure, tell him to meet me down at the boat ramp and we can have a chat"
"well what do you mean'
i say "listen, i know bass season isnt until june, i fish torunaemnts i want to see the population of bass continue to grow the last thing i want is to ruin the species" i start to troll the boat closer to the dock, he stands up
"well just we get guys into t his place all the time, mostly yankees and they keep them all"
i get to the dock and say "okay, we are gonna start this conversation over again, my name is Marco, im a local, and im crappie fishing, your name is..."
"oh he said, Dave is the name, nice to meet you, i appologise for that just it pisses me off...blah blah"

me and dave now have an understanding as i explained my story and case and now we wave to another when i come and fish that same spot year after year and ask how things are

poeple are ignorant and dont know that MOST of us know the rules, again this isnt a shot at the Yanks that fish up here, but again its a stereotype, as like with spearing eyes and such...its a touchy touchy subject that no one wants to get into a pissing match with. take the ignaorance and disrespect with respect and sometiems you can get along with these people

tight lines, and be nice to one another, life is too short to wreck fishing and its waterways

There are a lot of people who are just ignorant when it comes to understanding the regs. If you fish as much as most of us do then you have run into these people more then a few times. I personally avoid the waters for the last few weeks before the opener because I fish out of a "Bass Boat" there for I must be targeting Bass! My friend is a Marine Biologist and he tells me that ruffly only 33% of the bass population will spawn on any given year, and that in reality more harm is done in the late fall when Bass are targeted as they get stressed from being caught or put in a livewell and will then fail to spawn the following spring as their body will absorb their egg sacks as a result of this! His concern is the extending of the season that is being proposed.MMMMM I honestly think by the second week of June all Bass have spawned and the only fish up shallow are males guarding the fry, any fish you are catching in 8-12 feet of water are most likely bass that never spawned in the first place!

You would be correct . I was asked last year in point Anne by MNR what I was fishing for and I said walleye but it was obvious because I was in 17 FOW 2 weeks before bass opener. He just said just don't be taking pictures of Bass or be using surface lures.

Thanks for your opinions, just wanted to see what other people think. It is entertaining to hear that almost everyone has had some sort of experience like that. I agree about the bassboat stereotype even though I run an aluminum. Redmandant, thats funny the same thing but oposite, you on the dock and him in the boat. The bright side is we all seem to police each other...but I guess that could be bad too! Jimmy... I generally keep the target species in the well too, this day we were leaving in the next 40 or so minutes because the wife had a hockey game to play so I let em go right away. (God love her....she comes fishing and plays hockey) lol

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O2BFSHIN

I was fishing a couple weeks ago on steenburg with a buddy and we had my 2 kids and his 2 kids. All under 6 years old. We were fishing a weed bed in about 8 fow and were catching a tonne of perch. using worms and bobbers. An old guy on shore came out and started to yell at us and tell us the MNR was going to take our boat as we were bass fishing. We had caught a couple, that quickly went back, but also had a livewell full of perch. It was obvious we were fishing in his bay and he wasnt very happy. We didnt say to much back as we had ther kids but did tell him we were perch fishing.

Hey all, Happy fishing. I'm sure we have all been accused of fishing something out of season. There are a lot of people out there that actually target those Bass when they are not open. So for everytime those people from shore are yelling at us, think of how often they save bass by yelling at people who don't know or understand the rules. These people from shore probably don't understand how walleye fishing is changing. I have watched fishing shows where Dave Mercer flips stumps and fallin trees for eyes. I watched Linder's edge about a week ago trolling spinnerbaits for eyes in trees and weed beds.
I understand its frustrating when you get accused of doing something you shouldn't but just remember those people are trying to help us protect our fishery because the MNR seem to be few and far between anymore.
I hope everyone understands what I am trying to say. I'm not always good with words.
PB seeker