Just wanted to make everyone aware of the new rules for Canada.

1. No live Bait
2. Barbless hooks
3. No lead sinkers

Confirmed these changes with my outfitter. (Williams and Hall)

I'm not sure you have the lead sinker issue correct.....I believe they suggest use of lead sinkers be curtailed....but lead is not banned.

I wonder if you have to have every lure in your tackle box barbless.I wouldn't have a problem pinching the barbs down on a lure that I'm going to fish with at the time. But I would hate to have to pinch barbs on every lure in the box and not end up using half of them. Might have to be carrying alot less tackle next time into Quetico.

I am not sure this applies to all of Canada. I think this is a Quetico specific rule.

I believe the interpretation of the barbless hook issue boils down to "No fishing except with Barbless Hooks"....not no possession of barbed hooks.

I was told that you can have barbed hooks in your possession, but the one on your line needs to be barbless.

Taking a lot less gear - in my case - will be a good thing.

Interesting experiment, especially that my informal portage polls seem to indicate that 90% of the people in the Q are Americans. Are the other Canadian wilderness areas using the same rules and regs?

I get the lead weight thing, the other stuff has me a bit baffled...what problems are they trying to solve? Overfishing? I can go for days up there without seeing anyone fishing.

I really don't have any answers to the new rules. I am like you, I guess I get the no lead sinkers, but I really do not understand the other two. I know there are alot of groups (boy scouts etc.) that would use worms 99% of the time. Personally I may use 6 in a week, but I know it will hurt the hook and worm people. I am hoping to get some better answers to these in this forum. Maybe they could kill the worm before they put it on the (barbless) hook. Only the worm on your hook has to be dead..... :)

I know some of you are non fisherman or at least not that concerned about fishing on your trips. I am really bummed about the no live bait deal in the Q. Barbles hooks, no lead I don't have a problem with but no crawlers I do. I am not taking my annual July 4th Q trip this year for the first time in 10 years. I don't care what people say about Gulp baits doing better than live bait its just not true and it does effect the quality of your fishing experience. I may eat one walleye a day for four days and thats it, all the other fish are released with care after a quick photo. I rarely see another canoe let alone another canoe fishing so I just don't get. If the # of groups going into the Q drops in the next few years I can see the canadian Gov changing these rules for the $$$

I agree with everything you said. I have been going there since "89", but this is the first year were looking to fish on the US side...We are looking into Ensign and the surrounding lakes. I have read Ensign is a busy lake, but were going in September so I am hoping for less traffic. I have another post about info in that area but not having any luck yet.

I'm thinking the bait ban is to help prevent the spread of invasive species, which makes sense to me. The lead ban's goal is obvious since lead is poisonous and has shown up in dead loons and bald eagles.

The barbless hooks??? The only thing I can think of is decreased fish mortality - easier to practice catch and release?

Snakecharmer

Snake I just have a hard time figuring out what invasive species has anything to do with nightcrawlers????? Are they afraid that a red worm may sneak into your dozen?? I believe they are still native to North America. Its the same deal with leeches, I see more leeches in Kawnipi than I do in Alice. There is another agenda here and I am just not sure what it is.

What many people don't realize, is that nightcrawlers are not native to the area. Check out this link:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialanimals/earthworms/index.html

Snakecharmer

It could be worse. Ever see the fishing regs for Sylvania Wilderness (UP of Michigan)?
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/ottawa/recreation/wilderness/syvlania_fishregs.html
Take particular note of the "Live Bait" rule --
"Live bait, dead or preserved bait, organic or processed food or scented material may not be used or possessed at any time on the waters or shore of special provision Sylvania lakes"
Not only can't you use live bait but you can't use, nor even have in your possession, scented artificial baits. I think too many fish are gut hooked and mortally wounded with organic baits.

I think by enlarge we in the U.S. are more concerned with maintaining the BWCA for its recreational use, whereas the Canadians are more concerned with keeping Quetico as wilderness. I've always felt that the "titles" of the areas should be switched -- Quetico should be called the "Wilderness" and the BW a "Park".

As for now lead can still be used in Quetico, though I wouldn't mind if it was banned. Also, I'll echo snakecharmer's invasive species comment. I don't think Canadians mind one bit that fewer Americans go to the Q, especially those that enter from the BW rather than at a border crossing.

Another note. It sounds like they may not get the "barbless hook" regulation through before the 2007 regs are published. The results would be that "barbless" may not be a regulation until 2008.

Be sure to check the 2007 Ontario Fishing regs once they are published.

Last spring when our group went to Quetico we bought Canadian leeches (they say "eh" alot) and we brought with Gulp with to. The Canadian leeches cost about $45 a pound and we ended up using Gulp the majority of the time anyway. We caught tons of fish by the way. We've never really brought night crawlers with us on BWCA trips. I have brought minnows, but they're a delicate hassle.Too much babysitting. I like live leaches in the BWCA, but I have found that Gulp is pretty close in performance except when still fishing and you need the live bait action. I can see the lead issue, but I don't quite get the barbless deal.

brian4iu

Sounds to me that Williams and Hall seem to have given you some misinterpretations of the new Quetico regs......after re reading this thread it seems they were wrong about the barbless hooks and wrong about the lead ......looks like the only thing they had right was the NO Live Bait thing.....???

what are you reading that tells you that? "the barbless may not be until 08" ? I hope they are wrong, but this has not convinced me otherwise.... do you have any contacts that would know? they sounded pretty sure of themselves.

I guess I can understand the no live bait rule. But I think it should have some sort of exception that you can use live bait you catch in or around the lake you are living in (that is, seined minnows or crayfish).

brian4iu,

Check out this site....has all sorts of background on the new regs.

http://www.quietjourney.com/community/YaBB.cgi?num=1144556153

I was just looking at that! A had the link copied ready to paste in here. It is interesting. But, I never have figured out if all three are going to be enforced. Lots of different opinions.

Unfortunately, only Canadian citizens can harvest live bait in Canada.

I have been going through the Cache Bay ranger station for a long time and this past year Janice the Ranger was going through her little speech she has to give everyone who crosses the border and when she got to the fishing regs she mentioned the new rules for next year and was somewhat embarrassed by them. She knows us and how important fishing is to our group and said I hope this doesn't affect your future use of the park. We had a discussion about it and she is concerned that it will affect the amount of visitors. If a park ranger is concerned it is definately an issue. There was no talk of so called invasive species being introduced at all. The reason she gave was purely fisheries mgmt related. I am not the only person that is not happy. The Quiet Journey forum says it all.