FACT SHEET

Updated May, 2004

The Kawartha Lakes Competitive Fishing Events Committee (KLCFEC) was established in 1996 to try and deal with the concerns associated with competitive fishing events in this region. Today staff from tournament organizations, conservation groups and MNR continues to meet and work out solutions to the every-day challenges associated with the volume of competitive fishing events held in this part of Ontario .

The Kawartha Lakes , located in the Peterborough area of south central Ontario , are less than an hours drive from Canada 's largest city - Toronto , and the most populated area of the province. It is no wonder that these easily accessible, yet highly productive lakes receive substantial fishing pressure from both recreational anglers and from those fishing in organized competitive fishing events. This fact sheet has been put together to inform the angling public and others who enjoy visiting the Kawartha Lakes , about the KLCFEC.

History of KLCFEC

Early on, the KLCFEC determined that they would concentrate primarily on "Tournament" Fishing. So a definition of "Tournament" was agreed upon: "A competitive fishing event on designated waters, requiring pre-registration of limited participants, and in which all fish caught are intended to be returned alive to their originating waterbody." ' Derbies' or 'contests' that do not necessarily mandate live release nor follow many of the other stringent rules connected to tournaments would not be involved initially with the KLCFEC.

Following the first meetings in early 1996, the entire KLCFEC elected a sub-committee to develop a Standards Of Operation for tournaments in the Kawarthas. Representatives from tournament organizations, the OFAH, the Kawartha Fisheries Association (KFA), Ontario B.A.S.S. Federation (OBF) and MNR met regularly to come up with their own set of standards based on those in use by the OFAH at the time. All members of the KLCFEC approved the final version of the new standards in August 1997. Since 1997, KLCFEC members have met quarterly to discuss current issues, ways to improve their events, bass fisheries research and future tournament schedules.

Bass fishing tournaments are the most Walleye tournaments rank 2 nd in popularity popular competitive fishing events on in the Kawarthas, but are only offered during the Kawartha Lakes cool water periods such as spring and fall

Who Belongs To The KLCFEC?

Ontario B.A.S.S. Federation … www.ontariobass.com

Canadian Fishing Tour … Dan Carraro 519-641-3110 www.canadianfishingtour.com

Top Bass … Ted Gallone, 905-727-8496 www.topbass.ca

Competitive Sport Fishing League (Bassmania) …Andrew Pallotta 905-640-2277 www.csfl.ca

Several tournament organizations that originally belonged to the KLCFEC are no longer in operation .

Also active on the Committee are:

Chair:

Secretary: Jeff Wiltshire of MNR (705) 755-3295

Communications: Wil Wegman, Information Assistant, MNR, Aurora, OBF, 905-713-7730

Science: Mark Ridgway, Fisheries Scientist, MNR, Peterborough , 705-755-1550

Accomplishments of KLCFEC

The KLCFEC's Standards of Operation have helped tournament organizers follow a clear set of guidelines. Tournament associations in the past used many of the following 'rules', but now they are universal throughout the Kawartha Lakes :

• Functioning, recirculating livewells are mandatory and are checked each day by organizers. Fish cannot be kept on stringers. (Anglers are also encouraged to use ice in their livewells on hot days.)
• No live or preserved bait (other than pork rind) may be used
• To minimize fish mortality, walleye tournaments will only be conducted during the spring and fall when water temperatures are less than 15 C.
• All competitors must wear approved lifejackets or PFD's at all times when travelling at other than trolling or drifting speeds. Functional motor kill switches are mandatory for all outboards exceeding 50 HP and must be worn when travelling at greater than trolling speeds
• No alcoholic beverages, or other illegal stimulants or depressants may be on any competitor's boat, at the weigh-in site or consumed by any competitor during tournament hours
• Boat operators during tournaments must be a minimum of 16 years of age
• A maximum of 150 two-person teams will be accepted per tournament. If scheduling conflicts are unavoidable then only 200 boats will be permitted on the waterbody.
• A minimum size for all species shall be in effect: Bass 13 inches, walleye 14 inches
• The maximum number of bass weighed in per team shall not exceed five - one less than the individual legal catch limit. Teams may not have more than five bass in their possession at any one time
• No species other than the target species may be retained by any competitor
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• Most KLCFEC organizers not only run events in the Kawarthas but throughout the rest of the province as well. One of the spin-off benefits of the Committee has resulted in improved tournament operations across Ontario .
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• Regular meetings of KLCFEC have brought many of the provinces' major tournament organizers face to face to work out conflicts and improve their operations together. They continue to work with stakeholders such as cottage associations, recreational/non tournament anglers, tourism groups, local municipalities and interest groups.
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• Members have addressed many of the issues connected with tournaments on the Kawartha Lakes and come up with workable solutions:
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• Prior to the formation of the Committee, opening weekend tournaments were a concern among a few stakeholders. Some felt there were a number of non-conservation minded tournament competitors who fished for bass just prior to an opening (of bass season) weekend tournament. After much deliberation, the group agreed to put a hold on opening weekend major bass tournaments and therefore these have not taken place in the Kawarthas since 1997.

• There was some preliminary evidence that the Pigeon Lake Loon population was suffering due to wave action and presence of boats in prime nesting areas during late spring/early summer. Although it was felt that other boaters may also be responsible, organizers took it upon themselves to adhere to a self-imposed moratorium and since 1997 have not hosted any major tournaments on Pigeon Lake during the first two weeks of bass season.
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• Scheduling of tournaments prior to the formation of the Committee was usually done with little consultation from other organizations. Naturally conflicts such as two, three or sometimes even four tournaments on the same lake, on the same day, arose. Today, schedules are coordinated a full year in advance to try and avoid these problems.
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• Numbers of tournaments in the Kawartha's prior to formation of the Committee were not known. Today we know how many, where and when they will be, and who is hosting them.
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• Before the Committee, bass and walleye tournaments were the only ones available for competitive anglers. The KLCFEC organizers researched the possibility of creating additional competitive fishing opportunities that would be available during a less busy time of year. Today, several yellow perch and black crappie events are hosted in the Kawarthas each spring when far fewer cottagers and tourists are in the area.
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• Since 1997, there are on average, 52 tournaments held annually throughout all of the Kawartha Lakes . These include bass as the most popular followed by walleye, yellow perch and black crappie.
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• Prior to the Committee, the majority of tournaments were often concentrated on such waters as Rice Lake and the Tri-Lakes. Today, thanks to the cooperation of Committee members, the number of tournaments on these lakes has been reduced.
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• Prior to the Committee, any new tournament organizer could begin running a major tournament series in the Kawarthas without any advance notice or following any guidelines. Today, organizers are asked for a year's prior notice of an event and then to follow the Standards of Operation practiced by the KLCFEC.
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• Prior to the Committee, the MNR had little if any of the data routinely collected by tournament organizers. Today, a reporting system is in place which supplies MNR with such details as number of fish caught, species type and so on. This information can now be used to assist with fisheries management in coming years.

Live release rates in these tournaments average well over 95%. Anglers not only do everything possible to keep bass alive in their wells because they know they will be penalized for bringing in dead fish, but because they care about the future of the fishery. Tournament organizers utilize state of the art live release boats that oxygenate and control water temperatures, plus provide an excellent means of distributing the released fish throughout the lake. Although some people believe that tournament bass are released near the weigh-in, these release boats distribute the fish as evenly as possible throughout the waterbody. In fact, many are even equipped with hidden trap doors that secretly disperse the live fish back into the lake without onlookers ever even knowing where they were let go!

Bass Research Project Involvement

In 1999, in cooperation with the MNR, KFA and Tournament Organizers, the KLCFEC helped initiate and promote "The Kawartha Bass Project" in the Tri-Lakes of Pigeon, Buckhorn and Chemung. Part of the project involved double tagging bass after weigh-ins at tournaments. Survival was then estimated from tagged bass that were observed in the following three years of the study. To date thousands of bass have been tagged. Results of this study have helped to verify the long-term survival of tournament caught bass and have also provided data on growth and productivity of bass from the Tri-Lakes. This project was the first in the Kawarthas to use tournament anglers to help bass management. Projects such as this can be an example of how fisheries managers and tournament organizers across the province can benefit by working together at local competitive fishing events. Below are more details from MNR’s chief bass research scientist Dr Mark Ridgway:

Tri-Lakes Bass Research Project

A total of 4,422 largemouth bass and 610 smallmouth bass were tagged from 1999 to 2002 as part of the Tri-Lake Bass Tournament Study. It represents the largest fisheries science project on largemouth bass undertaken in Ontario . This project provides an opportunity to collect stock assessment information in a unique way, using the tournament fishery to collect fishery and biological data, and to assess the scale of the tournament fishery relative to the overall fishery.

In 2001, this comparison between the tournament fishery and the wider recreational fishery for bass was possible. The Kawartha Fisheries Assessment Unit of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources conducted a roving survey of anglers. They did not interview tournament anglers in their survey. As part of the Tri-Lakes study in 2001, a sample of tournament anglers were interviewed prior to weigh-in to estimate catch and effort. Below are the results of the two surveys:

The total hours spent fishing for either species of bass is the sum of both recreational and tournament anglers...60,637 hours! The bass tournament fishery therefore represented 19% of the effort directed at bass in the Tri-Lakes with the rest (81%) represented by non-tournament anglers.

The total number of largemouth bass caught by all anglers was 47,530 and the total number of smallmouth bass caught was 27,890 (sum of the catches). Tournament anglers caught approximately 19% of the total number of largemouth caught in the Tri-Lakes and about 19% of all smallmouth bass caught in the Tri-Lakes. The catch per unit effort (that is, the number of fish caught per hour fishing) was different between the two angler groups. Tournament anglers showed a strong preference for largemouth bass with a CUE (0.77) 1.5 times greater than the non-tournament recreational angler (0.51) but substantially lower CUE for smallmouth bass (tournament angler CUE for SMB = 0.13; non-tournament angler CUE for SMB = 0.81). The two angler groups are targeting the two species of bass in different ways. That is to say relatively few tournament anglers in Tri Lake focus on catching smallmouth – preferring the largemouth instead.

One of the key findings is the relative scale of the two bass fisheries. The total tournament catch of both largemouth and smallmouth bass was lower than the harvest of either species by the non-tournament angler. The total number of all bass weighed-in in 2001 was 3,502. Assuming a 10% handling mortality of these fish then approximately 350 bass of both species would have been 'harvested' by the tournament. Assuming a 20% handling mortality would result in a loss of 700 bass from tournaments, an estimate that is less than 10% of the known harvest of all bass by non-tournament recreational anglers (total harvest = 13,465). Did this level of handling mortality occur in the Tri-Lakes? Tournament-related mortality of bass is a function of water temperature. Warmer temperatures result in higher mortality. At this latitude, given our summer water temperatures, it would be reasonable to expect some loss in the range of 10%. Certainly, a target of 10% mortality for bass tournaments in Ontario is achievable and in many cases tournament mortality may in fact be significantly lower than 10%. So, the tournaments are likely 'harvesting' only a small fraction of the bass harvested in the Tri-Lakes. And the other good news is that even with the harvest of all the bass from recreational anglers, population estimates suggest that the heath of the Tri Lakes bass fishery remains strong.

These results are just the preliminary findings of this large science project. Even more exciting details on this project will be published in the near future.

Mark Ridgway

Harkness Laboratory of Fisheries Research

Aquatic Research and Development Section

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

Third Floor North

300 Water Street, Peterborough , Ontario , Canada

K9J 8M5

mailto:mark.ridgway@mnr.gov.on.ca

Tel: 705-755-1550

Fax: 705-755-1559

For those catching a tagged bass from the Kawarthas, please call (705-340-5551) and report with the following information: Tag number(s) of the fish; the name of the lake in which the fish was caught; the fork length; whether or not both tags were still in place and report whether the fish was released back into the lake with its tags in place.

What's In Store for the Future of the KLCFEC?

The Kawartha Lakes are Ontario 's favorite destination for tournament anglers to visit and spend their money. Many will visit the area several times each season - often bringing their families and friends. It is already known that the economic impact of these tournaments to the local communities is significant - however previous surveys no longer accurately reflect just how significant. An economic impact survey needs to be conducted to help determine the dollar amounts these competitive fishing events bring into local communities.

The KLCFEC has also agreed to play a positive role in working with the newly formed Ontario Completive Fishing Council. Spearheaded by the Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association, the Council will not just be comprised of tournament associations from across the province but will also be open to derby and contest organizers. It is a natural extension of the KLCFEC that will serve Ontario ’s competitive fishing industry as a whole. For more information on the Council please visit: www.ontariocompetitivefishingcouncil.com

Summary

MNR Fisheries experts agree that there are little or no biological concerns associated with fishing tournaments in the Kawartha Lakes . There is no evidence that live release tournaments pose any threat to these fisheries. Having said that, not all Kawartha anglers are interested in entering a competitive fishing event there and not all visitors who enjoy the region even consider themselves as anglers.

Some people feel there are social issues that need to be addressed by tournament associations. The KLCFEC respects these concerns and therefore continually strives to find workable solutions.

The pro-active approach of the KLCFEC has been a positive step to help ensure that tournament fishing in the Kawarthas continues to be a popular and sustainable outdoor recreational activity. With the cooperation of stakeholders, government agencies, conservation groups, and other recreational anglers, we hope to continue to move forward and improve the operations of competitive fishing events across the region.

For more information please contact any one of the KLCFEC members listed on this fact sheet.

Fact Sheet Prepared By:

Wil Wegman , Information Assistant

MNR, Aurora District ,

& OBF Conservation and Media Director

905-713-7730 wil.wegman@mnr.gov.on.ca

Kawartha Lakes Map

Ministry of Natural Resources, Ontario B.A.S.S. Federation, Kawartha Fisheries Association, Canadian Fishing Tour, Cnd Sportfishing League (Bassmania) and Top Bass