Quinte Fishing

From my dock I see them each night.
Night before last I was paddling my slow troll as my old 18hp evinrude doesnt like going slow..it's quieter also and I see this same boat again with about 3-4 guys on it throwing small spinner and crankbaits...They were fishing the weeds and I hollered out .."Hows the Fishing"...they yelled back..'Got about a dozen smallies so far very excitedly........
I told them they were way out of season and these guys got angry real quick. They fired up their boat, then went out of their way to swamp me as they made a final turn heading north..to home I persume.
Well, last night I was out doing the slow troll (for lunge)with my wife and there are these guys again.....I didnt want another swamping with my wife in the boat...and I most certainly wasnt going to get into a discussion about OOS fish while my wife was in the boat........sure enuff though, once they recognized me..they headed out right away.
Between you an I, I dont get into arguments while the wife is around...but if they were to turn ugly ....Im a pretty good shot with a bucktail on the end of my line and pretty confident I nail at least one between the eyes if theyu were going to try and swamp me with my better half in the boat until I could fire up the ole 18hp and head out of harms way.
I did write down a description of their craft and one also of those I saw fishing from it.......I must report this and put a stop to it.
Yeah Im PO'd that they swamped me.....but more, this is my waterway, its also yours, my childrens and yours. If theyre nailing OOS smallies protecting their fry...it'll do nothing but weaken the population and hurt the location I call home.
Am I overreacting..????.....Ive never stood by and just watched anyone bully or mistreat anything in my life.
We just moved here..I dont wish to be known as trouble...but more as someone who does give a shite.
My Rant......

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Let me catch a musky so big that even I wont have any reason to lie about it!

are you over reacting?, abolutely not. Fishing out of season hurts everyone and especially the fish that are protecting their beds.
Bass fishing is only a week away and yes I love to fish them as much as anyone else but I can wait a week like most others do. Its too bad that a few bad apples spoil things for everyone else.
As for trying to swamp you thats ridiculous, and a very dangerous game to play. Although nothing bad happened the consequences could have been very bad. Its too bad all the fishermen and ladies couldn't be as safe and courtious as most of us on here are.

brix
There needs to be more guys like you out there. I know what you mean, you don't like to cause trouble but it just has to be done for some people to get it!! Seeing people fish out of season aspecialy when you know they are targeting a species out of season gives me great rage and it is absolutely WRONG there is absolutely no excuse or justification. The laws are there for a reason, to protect the future of our great sport and it is hard for MNR to be everywhere at once so more people need to speek up and get these rapist off our waters. This may sound harsh but I am very tired of seeing it also, maybe I am over reacting also?

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Family, Friends, Fish'n & Hunt'n! ;)

[quote="Fishn-Hunter"]brix
There needs to be more guys like you out there. quote]

I too have seen wholesale disregard for the bass closed season over the past 4 days or so. Up and down the shorelines they go deliberatly targetting bass...it's not rocket science, worms and jigs...small spinner baits etc. right in the weedlines. They were all over the place, Hay Bay, the Reach, Thomsons etc. I reacted on one occasion when I saw two bass come out withing 30 seconds of one another and gently reminded the guys involved that bass did not open till next weekend. Well, I was told to mind my own business in so many words and the anger and agression directed at us was pretty powerful. Another thing was that most of the boats I saw involved in this were unmarked...no numbers at all. Well on this occasion it became obvious they did not care (as they opened another beer) and both my buddy and I getting on in years, discretion was the better part of valour.

The guys I spoke to were from down south I suspect (accents ) and did not give a damn for the Regs. Who can blame them when enforcement is virtually non existent for the most part.

Regulations are only effective as long as they are enforced and the sad fact is they are treated with contempt by many due to the lack of enforcement. For them the Regulations might as well not exist..and the deterent factor re enforcement like wise!

I am not sure I would put myself at risk again...and why should I. The MNR have the responsibility of enforcing the Regs and if they need more resources to do it, then so be it!

Thats my 10 cents worth...

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Remember, the best weather to catch fish in, is the weather prevailing when you do!

Be happy, take care, enjoy!

The Craziest part is all these guys call themselves "sportsmen". What they don't seem to understand is the season is imposed for a good reason. The bass are still on their nests and fishing for them and taking them off their nests impacts the population a lot more then they realize.

If you take a bass off a nest and the nest is lost how many fish are lost?

If you enjoy bass fishing and you call yourself a sportsmen then respect the sport and realize that seasons are imposed for an ecological reason to protect the future of the species. Its such a short term ignorant act that makes your blood boil, and its not only bass. Morons poaching deer, taking hen turkeys in the spring (off of nests), spoearing walleye during the spawn (not refering to natives).... it makes me so mad not because of the law they are breaking but what it is doing to the populations of our sportfish and wild animals.

If you travel then you realize that we are very very lucky here to have such abundant species of fish and animals as well as an abundance of water and land to fish and hunt on. This is NOT the case in most of the world so we should feel honoured to have the opportunites we do and respect it so our children can also have the honour and joy of fishing and hunting. I guess I'm preaching to the converted but atleast I feel better having ranted for a bit on the subject.

It's not worth getting hurt over but sure is hard to stand by and watch it happen. Perhaps the best thing to do is bring a cell phone with you and make it obvious that you're reporting them. Not likely anyone will show up to charge them but it beats an altercation. They're already proving they're full of ignorance.

My 2 cents. I have seen the same thing many times guys fishing for muskie out of season pretending to fish for pike, fishing for walleye along shallow weedy shorlines and catching bass after bass. What i do now is take a digital picture showing of the side of their boat and faces then hold up my phone and tell them I'm calling the tip(turn in a poacher) hotline.

Did it tonght folks.......did it tonight.
I was out in the water for the most part today..digging up rocks that interfere with my concrete launch and making a better breakwall at the shoreline...........Shure enuff these guys came back again..(The OOS smallie fisherman), they saw me but i wasnt in my boat.
I called the MNR and reported them.
Poor SOB's...(The MNR), they dont have the resources.......they'll be sending someone to my house tommorrow...funny/weird thing, they wanted my full name/address.tele, #/ and drivers licence.......what the f65*???????
I dont mind and have nothing to hide But??????????
They made me feel like I'll be investigated...I tell you what...when Im doing the slow troll this week...I'll make dang sure I'll have a musky lure on.
I'll not keep my mouth shut next time...and I'd do it again.in a heart beat.
Enjoy your smallie season folks..it's comming soon.

-brix

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Let me catch a musky so big that even I wont have any reason to lie about it!

Good for you!!! you are not over reacting. It seems to me with the little enforcement from the Ministry we have to try to take it upon ourselves to try to stop it. I ve been on both sides of the coin myself. Where people have accused me of poaching bass on Scugug and me poitning the finger at someone else. First when I was accused on Scugog its because I was throwing a spinnerbait for walleye in early June. But that evening I caught 4 walleye on it and one was 7 lbs and never caught a bass. I`m not defending these guys as some target oos fish obviously, and some might have a few tricks up there sleeve to catch fish that traditionally we don`t use or never thought of. Theres no harm in saying something and if they leave the area I guess they are guilty.
Heres an experience I had on Hay Bay just east of Thompson`s cove in front of the row of cottages there.
It was a beautiful July evening and I took my Son who was 11 at the time and his little buddy out for some bass fishing. (In season) We had caght numerous fish in the area and I was standing on the front deck unhooking a largemouth my son had caught. This a$$***e come straight at my boat full out with 35hp starcraft oldie full bore. He passed by full throttle doing circles and figure eighs with this grin on his face. I was in such disbelief that this idiot would do this when I got 2 kids in the boat. 4 and 5 times around and now my blood was really boiling so I pointed to shore after yelling at him and just missing him with my spinnerbait. He went to his dock so I immediately pulled the trolling motor and headed for shore cause I wanted to rip this guys head off for endangering the boys. Turns out he picked up a teenage kid and was heading back at us full throttle again, I couldn`t believe my eyes as the kid was now driving like this old fart was. So I chased him and with me having a 100 I was right on his a$$. This went on for about 7 minutes and there was other boats out there fishing walleye that probably heard me yelling at him and chasing this boat. I wanted to well you know what to this guy Trying to regain my composure I pulled up to thompsons pt to calm down as this boat headed towards the cement plant. I tryed to explain this guys action but none of us could really understand why he would do this. We were fishing maybe 75 yards from shore so its not like we were on his dock.
I could hear him coming back are way and he got closer, and slowed as he went by, I asked him what his problem was and he said in broken English " all day you catch undersized pickeral and keep em" " you fish to close my cottage" I told him to come over and check my livewell and asked him why he was being such an a$^*^*% and he took off. Too bad for him I way pointed his cottage and I will get the last laugh
If I had my cell phone which this was the only time out I didn`t I should of called the cops and had him charged. I did talk to the cops later and they said I should of reported it earlier. Sometime I think vigilante justice is the only way it gets through to some people.
I`m eagerly waiting this year cause I`m going to fish right in front of his place this time for days.
Some people have no respect for others or the outdoors,
Thanks for reading about my experience and if it was you who I chased well we will meet again......... I will get the last laugh
teppy

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O2BFSHIN

Never take the law into your own hands or confront people directly for doing something you know is against the law. They know it is against the law too and if they are not afraid of being caught why would they be afraid or listen to you? Don't play fish cop on your own and snitch to crime stoppers. Let the professionals do their job. As far as fishing near someone's dock, don't go anywhere near it. Stay at least 500 meters away from a residence. Rule of thumb is if you can speak to each other you are too close. My personal beleif is that the government should never have allowed lakefront property to be developed along any body of water. The only exception to this would be a marina or launch ramp. Even fishing lodges should have to be situated away from the shore and only have docking facilities. Once someone moves onto a waterfront property they may as well own rights to the lake too. They think this because they pay about triple the property tax. I say there should be no development between a road and the shore.

I, understand totally how you and the others are feeling, as I posted a while ago, my son and myself were out fishing for walleyes, we counted 23 died beautiful bass. We also stopped and questioned an anglar if he knew bass fishing didn't open for a couple weeks? His comment was he was," per fishing",for bass as he's in bass tournament and derby's threw out the summer. I, let him "KNOW", you "aren't" allowed to "per fish", for anything if it's not in season. Again he was pissed off as well. I was hoping he was going to try something, as it's not fair to the rest of us anglers, or our fish. This area is so well known, for our waters and fishing. We have to protect our beautiful waters and fish. I don't think you were over reacting at all. GREAT JOB!!
Dew Drop In
Greg Brooks

It will be pretty hard to fish for bass if you are staying 500 metres away from all the dwellings. That means you can't fish within a half kilometre from any houses or cottages???

I'll fish the shorelines, docks, trees and anything else I feel like. Just because someone own's waterfront property doesn't give them the right to dictate what you can and can't fish from your boat. I will however move past a dock if there are people usng it, or I am asked nicely not to fish it. I'm not going to get into a pi$$ing match over a fish. But I am also not going to be bullied by a landowner either.

I have no problems calling the Police if somone is acting dangerously, or threatening me or my personal property. Believe me, the Police will respond if you are persistent enough or say the right things, ie. I believe they were drunk, they appeared to be under the influence etc. etc.

Find out where the boats are from you know cottages/homes and get a 911 number and call the Police. You can press charges yourself, you had witnesses. Get their phone numbers and names. If you hammer these idiots they will learn. Or maybe with some luck, they will just leave, if you know what I mean!!!! Fat chance I know, but I can dream can't I?? I love being yelled at by someone who can barely speak english, it makes me want to scream.

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Hooksets are free, so when in doubt, hit 'em hard!

Colin Friel

I didn't hear anyone of you guys calling police or MNR.
They have a hot line !!!!!!!!! Most people have cell phones. Call right away, don't wait

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Live to fish

the mnr wont do a damn thing....

but at least you can put the rod down for a minute during the call, and 'feel' like your making a difference!

I agree with Steve. But hey at least your making an effort! PROPS!
Mike