I support the recommended…

I support the recommended changes for the following reasons:

i. removing the seasonal restriction on Grouse and Watershed Lakes has the secondary benefit of creating a winter fishing opportunity for pike. Pike, some of trophy quality, are present in both lakes, but anglers are not currently able to target them in the winter months.

ii. Generally speaking, less people now target lake trout in the winter than had done so historically. This means if seasonal restrictions are removed as recommended, the lakes will not face angling pressure at historic levels. Moreover, by increasing the available opportunities, anglers will disperse their efforts rather than congregate in known, desired locations. Removing seasonal restrictions as recommended will potentially reduce angling effort on surrounding water bodies.

iii. In my opinion, the fishery can withstand the recommended increased season. I say this for three reasons. First, historically angler success has been calculated by doing angler surveys and assuming all anglers harvested the legal sporting license limit of two fish. This logic overestimates angler harvest. Many anglers do not catch their limit, many do not keep a limit, some have conservation licences, some of the anglers considered in the angler count may not have been targeting lake trout, and some anglers catch no fish. When considering the factors mentioned above, the recommended increase in season of one month would not, in my opinion, put the potential actual harvest near the current estimated level of harvest.

Secondly, with the changing weather patterns and late freeze ups experienced in the last decade have made access during January either not possible, or very difficult in many cases. Deep slush has become the norm during early winter, as well have treacherous ice conditions, making large trout lakes unsafe. Because of this, many anglers will not pursue trout in January. However, the recommendation would create further opportunity for angling that would benefit some anglers.

Lastly, some anglers are traveling to the adjacent FMZ to fish lake trout in January because the opportunity is not available in FMZ 6. The fishery in FMZ 5 has shown it can withstand the angling pressure resulting from the recommendations proposed for FMZ 6. This illustrates that it is a sound management strategy for this species in the region. Moreover, the recommendations have the potential to reduce effort on fisheries on the Eastern side of FMZ 5.

iv. I propose including Squeers lake in the recommendation to remove angling restrictions as well. Currently, this lake is no longer being used for scientific data gathering, and there is no plan to do in the future. Therefore, closure of this resource for this reason is no longer valid reasoning. If ease of access or protection of MNRF assets are a concern, which they rightfully should be, access to the lake from the Burchell Lake Road could be restricted.