Ontario ice fishing anglers reminded to remove huts as season nears end

Ontario anglers are reminded to have their fish huts removed in March as the ice fishing season nears its end.

The Ontario Conservation Officers Association says huts are required to be removed from Ontario’s frozen waterbodies in March. The non-profit association consists of active and retired Ontario conservation officers and other natural resources law enforcement officers.

The province notes it is an offence under the Public Lands Act to leave an ice hut out after ice breakup, regardless of whether registration and removal dates apply.

Anglers may continue to fish without an ice hut or can use a portable fish hut made of cloth or synthetic fabric that is seven square metres in size or less. Cloth huts under the size limit do not require a registration.

“While some lakes in the province are just starting to form safe ice, anglers need to remember that ice huts must be removed from the ice by the prescribed deadlines,” OCOA president Derek Hebner said.

The ice hut removal dates for most of Ontario’s Fisheries Management Zones are:

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• March 1: FMZ 17 (Peterborough and the Kawartha Lakes) and FMZ 20 (Lake Ontario)
• March 15: FMZ 14 (Georgian Bay and the North Channel of Lake Huron); FMZ 16 (southwestern Ontario and Lake Simcoe); FMZ 18 (eastern Ontario); FMZ 19 (Lake Erie) and below the Lake Timiskaming dam in FMZ 12 (Ottawa River)
• March 31: FMZ 9 (Lake Superior); FMZ 10 (Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury); FMZ 11 (North Bay and Nipissing) FMZ 15 (Parry Sound, Bancroft, Pembroke and Algonquin Park) and above the Lake Timiskaming dam in FMZ 12.

Removal dates are not in effect for zones 1-7 (northwest Ontario) and zone 8 (Hearst, Chapleau, Cochrane, Timmins, Kirkland Lake).

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Hebner says anyone with an ice hut on a lake should closely monitor the weather conditions.

“The ice hut removal deadline are set in legislation but they do not take into account the different ice conditions each year,” he said. “Many lakes in the province will be ice-free before the hut removal deadlines and any huts that fall through the ice are a danger to anyone who has to remove them or to boaters in the summer if the huts are not removed prior to ice out.”