Finally safe ice

[FreshwaterPhil]

Found 3 to 3.5 inches of safe ice today. With no snow cover, bite was tough on shallow clear lake. Avoided the skunk though.



That zone closes for winter tomorrow night, so likely going to be 2-3 weeks until I may be able to find safe ice again. Glad I got this one in

[SLAYERFISH]

Heck yeah!  Always good to get that 1st one

[Raquettedacker]

Nice perch Phil.  👍👍

[Whopper Stopper]

Nice!

  WS

[ICEOHIO22]

How far are you up there Phil? Looks like a decent perch.

[FreshwaterPhil]

How far are you up there Phil? Looks like a decent perch.

About 65 miles North of Montreal, maybe a couple thousand feet elevation.

[pmaloney86]

Out of curiosity why do they close zones in winter?  I understand some ponds like NY does with the adirondack brookie lakes but a shallow clear perch lake doesn't make practical sense.

[FreshwaterPhil]

Likely different reasons for different zones. We have a few hundred thousand lakes and rivers, pretty much all wild trout and char species are closed in winter, with very few exceptions. Guessing too much to monitor. 

In the regions I fish outside Montreal, the majority of populated lakes in cottage country are closed. Maybe a combination of protecting fish, and locals not wanting their lakes to turn into sh*t shows. Almost all of them have rules prohibiting visitor boats in summer as well, been a big fiasco with govt since the 1980's.

Further away, there are some open zones in less populated areas, but most of wildlife parks close in winter as well. Rules from zone to zone are extremely incoherent, they switch from entire zones being closed with a few open exceptions, to zones being open with hundreds of lakes closed by exception.

In a nutshell, better have a really good idea of where you are going before heading out.

[pmaloney86]

Likely different reasons for different zones. We have a few hundred thousand lakes and rivers, pretty much all wild trout and char species are closed in winter, with very few exceptions. Guessing too much to monitor. 

In the regions I fish outside Montreal, the majority of populated lakes in cottage country are closed. Maybe a combination of protecting fish, and locals not wanting their lakes to turn into sh*t shows. Almost all of them have rules prohibiting visitor boats in summer as well, been a big fiasco with govt since the 1980's.

Further away, there are some open zones in less populated areas, but most of wildlife parks close in winter as well. Rules from zone to zone are extremely incoherent, they switch from entire zones being closed with a few open exceptions, to zones being open with hundreds of lakes closed by exception.

In a nutshell, better have a really good idea of where you are going before heading out.

Thanks that seems unnecessarily complicated but the provinces are much larger than most states so i'm sure it is hard to manage.  Heck I can drive 3 minutes, end up in a new state and need to pay another $55 in license fees to be able access that water and that state comes with its totally own regulations.  Drive an hour west another $50 and same with an hour+ north.

[FreshwaterPhil]

Thanks that seems unnecessarily complicated but the provinces are much larger than most states so i'm sure it is hard to manage.  Heck I can drive 3 minutes, end up in a new state and need to pay another $55 in license fees to be able access that water and that state comes with its totally own regulations.  Drive an hour west another $50 and same with an hour+ north.

I have about 10-12 waterbodies that I like to fish at least once every winter, and try to mix in 1 or 2 new ones as well. Mainly within a 2 hour drive from my house, which encompasses 6 possible zones in Quebec, and 2 in Ontario. Have season licenses in both provinces. Usually stick with daily or weekly license when I'm visiting the US, though I currently have a yearly Florida as well, as my daughter and family live there now. Have done NY, VT, VA, TX and CO too. So I've read quite a few rulebooks.

Sadly, Quebec is the most archaic, incoherent, and poorly managed of them all, by far.

[fishsluggos]

I love that brookie. Absolute beast.

[FreshwaterPhil]

I love that brookie. Absolute beast.

Ditto

 

[reddog11]

Nice perch.