meeting regarding the Kipawa Lake Trout fishery

[limacharley]

I received an email from this group. Thought I'd pass it along as they do not appear to be members of this wonderful forum.

Hello everyone,

It has been a long time since I communicated with you.

Mrs. Claire Bolduc, prefect for our MRC, continues to support us in our efforts to having some form of ice fishing on Lake Kipawa. After several meetings over the past 18 months, the Ministry of Forest, Fauna and Parks (MFFP) has given us updates on the status of the trout in Lake Kipawa. The Ministry has now agreed to come to Temiscaming to give an overview of the activities undertaken since 2015, future plans and the current status of the trout population to all of those interested.

I believe that you will find the information interesting, but do not expect an announcement that would change the current restrictions concerning ice fishing.

A week after the meeting, I will look forward to receiving your comments, suggestions and ideas to decide on our next steps in negotiating a compromise that would have minimum effect on the trout population while allowing us to enjoy some days of ice fishing.

PLEASE ATTEND and encourage others to attend with you. We need a lot of people to participate at this meeting to send a clear message to the Ministry.  If we do not have your support, the ice fishing will definitely remain closed for many more years.

Please refer to the attached meeting notice for date, time and location.

PLEASE  ATTEND and bring a friend with you.

Paul Berube.   paulberube55@gmail.com

[limacharley]

Meeting is May 12th @ 7 pm

Salle Dottori in the Temiscamingue arena.

For more information contact:

Paul 819.627.6360 or
Sebastian 819.627.9432

[limacharley]

Hello Everyone,

Please find a copy of the presentations (French & English) of the May 12, 2022, meeting updating the status of the trout in Lake Kipawa. SORRY THE FILE IS TOO LARGE TO ATTACH

We would like to thank all of you that attended the meeting. Your support is appreciated and needed if we are ever going to bring changes to the current fishing regulations. Since the meeting, I have had the opportunity to talk with many of you that attended.  Although we knew that no new announcements regarding the regulations would be forthcoming, most were disappointed that the topic was not addressed.

Some of the general comments and understanding amongst the meeting participants:

-The trout population continues to be under stress.

-The time line to reach a trout population to acceptable levels is years away.

-Regulations that were imposed since the mid-90’s and with the new regulations introduced in 2014, fishing has little impact on the trout population.

-Non-residents catch the majority of the fish on Lake Kipawa.

-Lowering of the water levels is the main cause to the low trout population (not fishing).

-Lowering of the water levels has been occurring for decades and kills 70% of the eggs.  There is no disputing this fact.

-Lowering the water levels does not benefit the local population. It benefits the people downstream and they don’t care about our local needs.

-Complete closure of ice fishing has a high impact on the local residents.

We believe that (partial list):

-There can be some form of ice fishing.

- A compromise from a full open season to a partial season (1 month/several weekends/specific days) for ice fishing is negotiable.

-Any form of fishing does have some effect on the recovery period of the trout, but NO Ice Fishing has a significant impact on those of us that live here .

-The problem is caused by the lowering of the water level and local residents should not be punished by the benefit it brings to others that do not live here.

The list is much longer, but we will stop here for now.  It has been recommended that we petition the Minister for a change in the rules to allow some form of ice fishing.  We will prepare a petition along with a detailed letter explaining our position in the coming weeks. We are not sure if the petition should be on a local level only since the government representatives are only interested in our votes. We will need some volunteers to collect signatures. Will you volunteer?

All suggestions, comments and ideas are welcomed.

Paul

[Fort Wisers]

The document @limacharley is mentioned is now attached to this post.
Thanks Luc for all this great information.....

(Note: the attachment only seems to show up in Google Chrome, but not MS Edge, I'll investigate this asap)


Edit:
Here also is a link that will open the pdf directly in your browser:
http://www.fort-wisers.ca/Albums/Kipawa%20Pics%20for%20Forum%20Use/Presentation%20Trout%20Lake%20Kipawa%205-12-22.pdf

[RHYBAK]

Last week we went out twice to Jig for Lake Trout.
One hour per outing.
Five Lake Trout caught per outing.
Only one keeper out of ten fish.
One was a few pounds heavier than the keeper but was one inch smaller.

[limacharley]

To All,
The meeting was mostly local people who were trying to convince the biologist that opening up the winter fishery will not harm the lake trout.
There was a lot of bickering back and forth. I left half way through...wasn't interested in listening to arguments.

Will ice fishing affect the lake trout population?? I suppose it could if the trout is very deep and not released properly.

I'd be open to have a  winter season for a couple of weekends per winter.

btw-A mature fish that measures 65 cm is an 18 year old lake trout. As per the biologist.
I did not know they stock upwards of 40,000 fish per year.

to discuss...

[JigginFool]

@RHYBAK - Do you mind me asking what you use for jigging them with up there? 

[Chazz]

Wow only jigging for an hour and averaging 5 lakers per outing, incredible.  If you dont mind sharing some of your knowledge and techniques I too would be interested.   Heading up to Sasseginaga this weekend and sure would like to target some lake trout along with the walleye and pike.

[RHYBAK]

First of all, I have a minnkota I-Pilot so no 100 foot anchor lines.

we cruised the deep water (65-110 FOW) looking for fish.
Anchored

Vertical jigged anywhere from bottom to 20 feet off bottom.

We used white Swammers  and Vibrato's

If we saw chasers on the Swammers, we started to reel up to get them chasing until they hit.
Vibrato's , we just jigged and the trout slammed them.

[JigginFool]

Thanks for sharing!

[limacharley]

Hi John,

From that deep surely the trout have their bladders in their throat. How do you release them?

[RHYBAK]

We had no problems
We are not using 30 pound line and horsing them to the surface.
A slow fight ensures that they adjust their bladder.

Seeing a big burp help