I am an avid fisherman. The…

I am an avid fisherman. The vast majority of my fishing is done on Long Lake (Robillard, Kinogami and Kushog Lakes) which is classified as a Waterway Provincial Park. As part of the bait fish and leech management proposal, all live bait will be banned. The issue with this is that the lake itself is bigger than the provincial park borders. Would this mean that live bait would be allowed outside the park borders? If this is the case it makes no sense. I know that there are regulations on bait shops governing where they get bait from, so as long as people buy bait locally this should be a relative non-issue. As far as angler's bringing live bait in from other parts of the province/country, I do think that implementing a receipt system would benefit Dumping left over bait and water into a body of water, regardless of where it comes from, is the individual's choice. There is no way of regulating this unless seen or reported, which is the same issue we have with poaching. I understand that these proposals are for the ecological benefit of these specific bodies of water, however, when that body of water is segmented into provincial park/non-provincial park it doesn't make sense. Angler's will use live bait on one side of the boundary and dead bait on the other side? Who is to say that these guidelines will be followed? If I have live bait and dead bait on my boat and I get searched by a Warden, will I be charged on suspicion of using live bait because I have it? Will it even be acceptable to have it in the boat while travelling to an area outside of the Provincial Park boundary to use it? In my opinion a waterway that is shared should have one set of rules and regulations.

I disagree with banning live bait, but as with most good things in life, it is the ignorant few that ruin it for the rest of us.

[Original Comment ID: 209361]