Good fishing practices
Fishing is an activity that arouses passions from generation to generation. To ensure that this fine tradition continues for many years to come, it's vital to adopt good practices on our bodies of water.
How can I be a responsible angler?
As an angler, you have an important role to play in protecting wildlife resources and waterway quality. By adopting the right behaviour patterns, you’re actively participating in harmony with other land users, protecting the environment and ensuring the sustainability of the resource for future generations.
Let's take a closer look at the best practices that will make you a responsible angler:
Complying with regulations and declaring your catch
A friendly but important reminder: In Québec, all anglers must have a licence to fish. You can obtain your fishing licence online. Also note that some people can fish under your license. Find out more
Fishing activities are governed by rules. You can consult the fishing plans of each establishment to find out about any special conditions that may apply to your fishing destination. These are available in the Information tab of each destination page.
A fishing right of access or an autorisation to fish is required to fish in a wildlife reserve or national park.
The importance of declaring your catch
Declarations of anglers' catches provide essential data for monitoring fishing trends and ensuring that a species is not overexploited. Here's why you need to declare your catch:
- Sustainable management: Accurate data help the resource managers involved to monitor the status of fish populations and implement appropriate management measures.
- Resource conservation: Fishing is controlled by annual quotas to prevent overexploitation of lakes. These restrictions are a strong point of Québec's wildlife reserves and national parks.
- Legal obligation: Declaring fishing results is a legal obligation. If you fail to declare a result, you’re committing an offence.
- Participation in scientific research: Fishing data provide scientists with important information for studying and better understanding fish populations and their habitats.
How to declare your catch
At the end of your fishing day, for each waterway on which you have fished, you must indicate
- the number of anglers.
- the number of fishing days and hours.
- the number of fish kept per species.
- the number of fish released per species.
- the total mass of kept fish.
Most of the time, it's possible to declare your catch in the various service buildings. You must, however, follow the guidelines in place for the establishment you’re visiting.
Important! You have to declare your fishing results even if you haven’t caught a thing. Declaring your fishing results is a legal obligation, so it’s an offence to fail to declare a result of any kind.
The particularities of salmon fishing
Our rivers are renowned habitats for salmon with legendary fighting spirit. To ensure conservation, rigorous monitoring of this species and additional regulations are required. Salmon is caught by fly fishing in several Sépaq destinations. Remember, to fish for salmon, you need a salmon fishing licence and a right of access.
Also worth knowing:
- A limit for this species (large and small salmon) is applicable.
- Catched salmon must be tagged and registered.
Limiting catch and release
Fish may be released by choice or in accordance with regulations. However, catch and release, although often perceived as a beneficial action, can have harmful consequences:
- Stress and injury: Struggling to shake free from an angler’s hook, being wrenched from their natural environment, and being handled can cause significant stress to the fish and internal or external injury, making them more vulnerable to predators and disease.
- Mortality: Even if a fish appears to swim vigorously after release, it may have suffer internal damage that compromises its long-term survival, even if all precautionary measures are taken. For more fragile species (e.g. salmonids), it’s often preferable to keep them rather than release them.
- Impact on populations: Fish that don't survive release are added to those kept by the angler in the statistics, leading to a bias and increasing exploitation pressure on the waterway.
Did you know? Speckled trout is a fragile species: studies have estimated catch and release mortality at 35% and even higher when conditions are unfavorable (high temperature, poor handling, difficult unhooking, etc.).
Release techniques
For a successful release, there are a few techniques to consider:
- Use artificial lures and circle hooks.
- Wet your hands before handling your catch, and keep the fish in the water as much as possible.
- Avoid catch and release when the water temperature is too warm, and don't be afraid to cut the line; this even increases the fish's chances of survival.
(Video in French only)
Never forget!
Because every fish counts, it's essential to limit the number of fish caught and the number released. Also, some species can be caught accidentally and are considered undesirable by anglers. These must be returned to the water in the same way as sport fish.
Helping protect our bodies of water
Sépaq puts of lot of efforts to further protect the bodies of water under its management. This work requires a great deal of cooperation from anglers and other users.
The biggest challenge is undoubtedly the fight against aquatic invasive species (AIS). These species have a considerable impact on ecosystems, often resulting in a loss of biodiversity, habitat quality, and fishing quality. In some cases, they can even eliminate naturally occurring species. Once introduced, invasive species are generally impossible to eliminate.
The movement of personal watercraft between bodies of water is considered a major vector for aquatic invasive species. To reduce the risk of these species spreading to our lakes, we have implemented certain measures concerning the use of towed personal watercraft at our fishing destinations.