Saskatchewan fishing break upcoming as ice fishing season nearing close

Anglers will have to put their rods up for a bit as March is getting close to closing out, with ice fishing season stopping and the season resuming in May.

That generally changes depending on how far up the province you go, but beneath Highway 16 the ice fishing season closes March 1st and fishing reopens May 5th.

Sport Fishing Specialist with the Ministry of Environment Murray Koob explains just why they take that break.

"That's to allow for spring spawning fish such as walleye, pike, and perch, which account for the majority of our use in angling. I think 96% of all fish taken are comprised of those three species, and so there's spring spawner and it allows them the opportunity to go out and spawn and reproduce for future generations of fish."

The fixed dates don't tend to be a problem when it comes to spawning and were adopted after discussion with anglers in the province.

"The reason we went to fixed dates is it's something that was produced out of the 2010 fish plan. We heard some feedback from the angler public in general and just to have a static date that was a lot easier to remember was requested, so we ended up with that."

For a look ahead at the fishing population once anglers can get back out Koob says that everything's looking normal so far.

"There's nothing in terms of population that stands out, everything's holding its own relatively well. You know, if there are issues we had last year's angler guide, I believe there was maybe 4 specific waters in the province where they were going to have reduced limits to deal with some concerns with populations on those waters, but in general, things are holding out fairly well."

For those who can't wait during April, they have the option of looking for another species that won't be spawning in Saskatchewan's lakes.

"But we do also provide year-round angling for stock trout species on most stock trout waters. You know species like rainbow, Brook, Brown, Splake, and tiger trout. Because they can't reproduce in a lot of our lakes, you know, they can reproduce in some of the streams, but we only provide year-round angling in a lot of the lakes that have stock trout. So they rely on stocking and because they don't need that protection for spawning.