Ice fishing season closed for all fish species on Lake Nipissing effective midnight March 15.
For the rest of Fisheries Management Zone 11, which stretches from North Bay to Temagami, the season is closed to most, but not all species.
Ice hut owners are taking advantage of the cooler temperatures to take their shack off the ice before the March 31 deadline.
Missing the deadline is a ticketable offence.
“The registering and removal dates for ice huts are regulated under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act regulations. Anglers or individuals who fail to remove their ice huts by the 31st of March can be charged under the Act,” said Micah Plourde, Conservation Officer with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
“If an individual fails to remove their ice hut, it is a $150 fine. And obviously the more serious offences can escalate and result in court appearances,” said Plourde who reminded ice hut owners not to leave any garbage or debris behind.
“Leaving debris frozen in the ice becomes both an environmental hazard and a public safety concern. Once we get into the open water season, there is always the risk of boaters colliding with wooden blocks, skids, tarps, ice hut parts, that sort of thing.”
Plourde advises getting the huts off the ice before conditions deteriorate.
“There are roughly two weeks left for anglers to remove their ice huts, so it is important not to wait until the last minute. They should at least establish a plan and have an idea how they are going to remove their ice hut from the lake and to implement that plan so they are not caught at the last minute to deal with potentially unsafe ice or potentially more difficult situations or just running out of time.”
Linda Turcotte was one of a number of hut owners heading out onto Callander Bay to get the job done ahead of the deadline.
“Seeing as fishing is done, it is a good thing to do when it is still cold, so you don’t get into too much trouble out there when it turns to slush. There were a few nice days last week when a few trucks got stuck on the ice,” said Turcotte.
“I’m heading out now to bring my hut in off the ice with my truck, and then we’ll probably get a tow truck to take it to our house.”
As for the actual season, Turcotte found it challenging catching fish that fell within the legal slot size.
“We did much better in regard to catching some pickerel. Trying to catch the slot size is really difficult though. It has to be 18 inches, and of course, we had a lot of 17.5s which we cried about when we had to put them back in the hole. They will be the right size next year,” laughed Turcotte.
“On weekends it is a little community out there. All kinds of pop-up tents come out and there’s kids running around and dogs. It just a really nice little community environment out there.”
Kathy Rowe has been fishing since the first week of January.
“The weather has been good. The conditions have been good. We would have liked a few more keepers but maybe next year. But overall, it has been really good this year,” said Rowe.
“But again, it tends to vary depending on where you are on the lake, whether you’re in Callander Bay or out towards Sturgeon Falls or the South Shore. There are different reports from different areas.”
Like Turcotte, Jeff Warner decided not to wait until the last minute to take his hut off the ice.
“I tried to get out the first thing in the morning after the ice had a chance to harden up overnight and get it done,” said Warner.
“It was good to get out this season, get some fresh air, bring the kids out. But we haven’t had a lot of success. We stay in Callander Bay and it just hasn’t been a lucky year for us. As for the number of huts, there seems to be more this year. And I think a lot more people are coming to Callander Bay because it is easily accessible. It just makes it easy to drive down after work.”
Daughter Katelyn enjoyed the time spent on the ice with family.
“We didn’t catch a lot, but it was still fun to just be out there, just to have the chance to be outside on the ice,” said the younger Warner.
“We had family from Orillia who was out there with us, and we had my great grandpa up from Niagara Falls and he really enjoyed it.”
In Callander, the deadline for removing ice huts off the municipal property is on or before April 7.
Any huts left on municipal property after that date will be removed, and the cost will be passed on to the owner when claiming the hut.
FMZ 11 regulations, are available online by going to Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary/ Ontario.ca
