Ice fishing on the Bay of Quinte taking a hit from inconsistent weather

Canadian ice fishing season starts in late December, but warm weather has prevented the water from freezing over. Photo by Thomas Goyer, QNet News

By Thomas Goyer 

BELLEVILLE – Winter is off to a warm start in 2020, and its effects locally can be seen by the lack of ice on the Bay of Quinte.

Ice fishing on the bay is one the area’s biggest winter attractions. But with inconsistent weather so far this season, the bay has not stayed completely frozen.

According to Dug Stevenson, the executive director of the Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board, this not only affects local fishermen; it also affects winter tourism for the area.

“We have this reputation of being a winter wonderland, and that’s becoming harder to market because we’re getting less and less of it. So from an overall tourism perspective – not just ice fishing – erratic weather is making it harder to attract people not only to this region but to Canada in general,” Stevenson told QNet News this week.

The marketing board does not differentiate between regular fishing and ice fishing in its statistics, but fishing as whole accounts for 10 per cent of annual tourism to Quinte, Stevenson said.

“We usually get between three (and) four million tourists coming to the area annually, so we know ice fishing brings a lot of people,” he added.

“Our outdoors are a great asset to us, and having (fewer days of sub-zero temperatures) takes money out of the community. The average spender here on a day trip to fish spends $75. Someone who stays overnight will spend $200 on average.”

So far in January, temperatures have been below freezing only three out of 16 days. In 2019, nine of the first 16 days of January had below-freezing temperatures.

Bay of Quinte weather January 2019

Bay of Quinte weather January 2020

Nick Ogden, a special events co-ordinator for Quinte West, said no matter what the weather is, fishing is always happening.

“This (inconsistent weather) really doesn’t affect fisherman locally. If there is ice they will ice fish. If there isn’t, they will get in a boat and fish. Who it really affects is the people who travel up specifically to ice fish,” said Ogden.

Inconsistent winter weather seems to be becoming a pattern, he said: “This is the third or fourth year in a row that it’s this warm in early January.”

Despite the poor conditions, many local residents still go out onto the ice in hopes of catching fish.

Riley Deveau is one of them.

“As someone who doesn’t have a boat, ice fishing is great because you can just walk out to the best places to fish. So the slow start (to the season) has been unfortunate,” said Riley Deveau (left), seen here fishing with a friend on the Bay of Quinte this week. Photo by Thomas Goyer, QNet News

On Wednesday, Deveau and two of his friends had to drive 25 minutes from Trenton to find ice that could be walked on.

“It’s January, and I mean, you would expect that it would be cold enough for good ice. But the season seems to have totally shifted to February,” Deveau told QNet News as he fished on the bay off downtown Belleville.

He and his two friends were three of the 20 fisherman who were on the ice Wednesday afternoon.

“I don’t fully trust the ice right now, but we’re careful out here. We take it slow and check the thickness of the ice as we go. I mean, we love to fish, so we we’re willing to risk it coming out here,” he said.

Robert Gilbert was also fishing on the ice but said he wasn’t confident about its thickness.

“Early ice has changed big time. It’s pretty sketchy out here. But I have faith it will turn around,” he said.

The warm weather won’t ruin his fishing season, Gilbert added.

“If there is ice, I’ll ice fish. If it’s water, I’ll be on my boat.”