Quinte Fishing

I read an interesting article today, on the web, from the Kingston Whig Standard. Dr. Bruce Tufts, from Queens was featured, speaking about the removal of the slot limit and questioning the wisdom. All folks connected with this fishery that observe this board would find this to be a "must read".
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First I cannot write at length about this as I am about to go on a trip to Prince Ruptert/Van. Island in BC.

My hat is off to Bruce Tufts. It is about time that someone in the field has the courage to speak. Removing the slot is a nice sounding idea, but preservation of the prime breeding stock needs to be assured....and protected. Seeing a trophy fishery mangled in so many ways is sickening, with MNR management failing to stand up and lead in any way that can be respected.

So much more could be done to assure the Bay of Quinte fishery, be it trophy designation, or beginning to take some MNR staff time away from the desk. Getting bio's and techs sized up for waders would be a start, as would developing a legitimate rapport with various community groups in the area. As it stands, "the MNR art of fence sitting" continues to be refined........

Regards
Don Stokes

A ten year moritorium on keeping any fish whatsoever should be in place. Regardless what species it is. We don't need to fish to eat in this day of age. Same goes for hunting. Hunt with a camera only. Watched a huge bear on my rural property near Peterborough a couple of weeks ago. It was just outside my home for about 10 minutes. What a marvelous animal to watch from the safety of my home. Anyone who would hunt and shoot such a beautiful animal belongs back in the stone age. I say return all fish to the water and let them multiply for a period of time such that the quality of fishing parallels that in the northmost parts of this country.

How would you feel if that bear was in your garage trying to get into the house.We had a bear drag off someones pony a couple weeks ago,would of made nice family shots. roughrider

stanley20footer, I agree, I am a 100% catch and release guy, I'm tired of hearing people complain about the diminishing stock in the bay yet these same guys are taking fish home every weekend, I say put them back no matter what size they are. If you want fish to eat, go to the grocery store. I love to fish yet I don't even like to eat them. people keep asking me "did you catch anything???" if I say no, they shake their heads and say "that sucks". I just enjoy getting outside and doing something. It's become an ego boosting brag sport where bigger and more is better. Some guy might act like he should have his own fishing show because he bought a $20000 boat to catch a 14lbs walleye, but I'll tell you, nothing feels better, than finding a creek after a 20min walk in the woods, and catching an 8 inch brown trout on a dry fly you tied yourself, taking a quick pic and letting him go. that's what memories are made of.

So when you buy your fish at a store, what other lake are you reducing it's resource??? Honestly, I don't travel to Quinte to catch fish to eat, but if you follow the DNR rules, anybody should should be able to keep their fish. If the DNR rules are out of whack, fix them, but don't bash fisherman for following them.

I'm not condemning anyone who takes a few fish here and there, but the ones who "fill their limit" every weekend and then cry and complain about it when there are fewer and smaller fish. If you want to take fish, well that's your legal right. just know, that these fish ARE polluted, and the more you eat, it will cause health problems for you later in life. most of the fish in the grocery store are farmed, and even that's not a safe bet, they are held in overcrowded stagnant ponds.

In reply to the post by Stanley
Everyone does have their opinion on hunting/fishing, and catch and release................BUT, by saying that if you keep any game you catch/shoot you are not civilized then you have shown tunnel-vision in trying to push your very narrow point of view onto a larger audience.
I don't bear hunt(yet), but I have been lucky enough to have had a few feeds of this game animal and would love to load my freezer up sometime in the future with this tasty and nutricious beast. Still haven't seen it at Loblaws or Loebs, but I'll keep checking the flyers. Same goes for venison, partridge, and rabbit(that isn't grain-fed and pen-raised).
If you want to just watch, that's fine with me, but don't crap on my legal choices of what I can harvest.
Thanks, John

Boy, Stanley, you change quick. May 27th this year you were talking about eating stringers full of fish in the 70's in Montreal. Even rock bass, which are awful boney. Also pike, bass, + perch. What changed you into "mister catch + release"?

Stanley unless you are a vegan then you are nothing but a hypocrite, just because the bear was all pretty looking to you doesn’t mean that it can’t be dinner. I hunt deer, ducks, grouse, and eat every bit of it. Humans are on top of the food chain and it’s up to us to manage populations such as deer which are out of control in many places in eastern Ontario. So tell me Stanley, do you find chickens ugly therefore it’s OK for someone else to kill them and you to eat them? I know this is a fishing forum but some peoples beliefs are out of whack!

wish they WOULD bring back the spring bear hunt, too dangerous to go out fishing in the woods when I visit sudbury now.