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Proposed Fishing Rules Rock the Boat

The Sturgeon Bay council chambers were filled Sept. 28 when the Joint Parks and Recreation Committee/Board considered possible rule changes to fishing tournaments using city facilities, said municipal services director Mike Barker.

He said of the 19 people who spoke, only three supported the revisions, on which no action was taken at the meeting.

The two proposed changes state that: 

  • Due to the timing of the smallmouth bass spawn, no permits for bass tournaments will be issued prior to June 30 unless the tournament uses a “weigh-on-the-water” format. Scales are available at no cost through the Sturgeon Bay Bass Tournament. Contact the city’s Parks Department for a point of contact.
  • No permits will be issued for walleye tournaments prior to May 15 unless a weigh-on-the-water format is used.

If implemented, those changes would not allow fishing tournaments for those species during those times if the fish would be taken back to weigh on shore at a city-owned facility.

Barker said the rationale for the proposed rule changes involves weighing the fish where they are caught and releasing them in that area so they are not moved off their spawning beds, based on concerns about the fish possibly being negatively affected by moving them.

During catch-and-release tournaments involving fish being taken to a boat-landing ramp, he said bass that could be caught in Egg Harbor, for instance, might be released back into the water near Sunset Park when they are returned to the water en masse after being weighed on the shore.

Based on some comments of the speakers and social-media posts, Barker said some people were led to believe that the proposed rule changes would affect fishing tournaments year-round, not just during the spawning period.

In addition, he said the proposed revisions would not prevent tournaments that don’t use the weigh-on-the-water format from taking place in the Bay of Sturgeon Bay during the spawning period in the event those tournaments were headquartered outside the city limits, such as in Little Sturgeon.

Committee chair Helen Bacon said Monday that most people who contacted the committee prior to the Sept. 28 meeting were in favor of making the changes, unlike those who made comments at the meeting, so she plans to place the proposed rule changes back on the agenda when the committee meets again later this month.

Committee vice chair Gary Nault, who has been involved in various fishing tournaments, characterized the Sept. 28 meeting when people spoke against the proposed revisions as “pretty ugly.”

Nault concurred with Barker about misinformation being circulated on how the proposed rule changes might affect fishing tournaments in Sturgeon Bay.

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