Catch and Release

Thunderbird Lodge & Outposts is proud to fully adopt catch and release fishing for 2005. This is vital to ensure future generations the same great angling experience you'll enjoy. Eat all the fish you want for shore lunches (Walleye under 18"/45cm) but please leave your 'take home' limit in the lake. All trophy-sized Walleye and Northern Pike must be carefully released. Record your memories on film, or opt for a replica mount.

Manitoba regulations call for barbless hooks. This means that any hooks attached to your line must either have no barb or have the barb pinched against the shaft of the hook. Barbed hooks may be kept in the tackle box.

Barbless hooks allows for easier removal and thus less stress on fish. In turn, this increases the odds that a fish will survive when returned to the water.

Always handle a fish carefully and never insert your hands into the gills. Rather pull the fish from the water under the jaw bone. The best way to hold your fish for photos is to use gloves and place one hand in front of the tail and the other carefully under its belly. When returning the fish to the water, please be careful and not throw it in. Hold the tail and slowly move the fish side-to-side in an 's' patten until it regains strength and swims away. Never pull towards you or push away.

If a hook is caught in the fish's throat, do not forcefully pull. This can cause massive bleeding and death. Carefully try to remove the hook and if unable, cut the line at the hook and leave it there. The fish's digestive enzymes will corrode the hook and it will work its way out.

In order to manage the resource, no fish will be allowed from any of our camps with the exception of shore lunches. The one natural resource that keeps guests coming back each year is the fish in the lakes. We want to establish a resource that will last for generations to come, so possibly your children and grandchildren can enjoy them as well. C.P.R. (Catch, Photograph, Release) over the next few years will provide even a greater number of trophies caught each year.