Sight Fishing Holes

[FishingPole]

Been watching a lot of Aaron Weibe videos lately anticipating some safer ice. One thing I've been curious about is cutting large squares in the ice to sight fish like he does in this video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gyYFnWVyT0E

Is this legal in Alberta? And if so I'd hate to try it and have a sled/quad drive by and fall through before it freezes back over. I'm guessing you'd want to be on a large body of water to lower the chances of someone driving by. If you do do it what do you do to mark when you leave to warn people about the large hole in the ice?

[35 whelen]

YES all these internet icefishing shows are doing this now ,not sure if it is legal on not in alberta but bring some sticks and marking tape with you ,mark hole after pull tape after it refreezes.

[HuyFishin]

larger or smaller body of water i doubt its gonna make a difference,

Just gonna mark and branch up the hole

[ghostguy6]

Yes it is in fact illegal.

Duty to safeguard opening in ice

263 (1) Every one who makes or causes to be made an opening in ice that is open to or frequented by the public is under a legal duty to guard it in a manner that is adequate to prevent persons from falling in by accident and is adequate to warn them that the opening exists.

Marginal note:Excavation on land

(2) Every one who leaves an excavation on land that he owns or of which he has charge or supervision is under a legal duty to guard it in a manner that is adequate to prevent persons from falling in by accident and is adequate to warn them that the excavation exists.

Marginal note:Offences

(3) Every one who fails to perform a duty imposed by subsection (1) or (2) is guilty of

(a) manslaughter, if the death of any person results therefrom;

(b) an offence under section 269, if bodily harm to any person results therefrom; or

(c) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

[35 whelen]

Originally Posted by ghostguy6

Yes it is in fact illegal.

Duty to safeguard opening in ice

263 (1) Every one who makes or causes to be made an opening in ice that is open to or frequented by the public is under a legal duty to guard it in a manner that is adequate to prevent persons from falling in by accident and is adequate to warn them that the opening exists.

Marginal note:Excavation on land

(2) Every one who leaves an excavation on land that he owns or of which he has charge or supervision is under a legal duty to guard it in a manner that is adequate to prevent persons from falling in by accident and is adequate to warn them that the excavation exists.

Marginal note:Offences

(3) Every one who fails to perform a duty imposed by subsection (1) or (2) is guilty of

(a) manslaughter, if the death of any person results therefrom;

(b) an offence under section 269, if bodily harm to any person results therefrom; or

(c) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

So as long as you mark it adequately it is not illegal

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[ghostguy6]

That would be up to the judge to decide should something happen. As soon as someone falls in one could argue that is was not adequately marked of guarded regardless of how well it was actually marked.

Personally I have been fishing with F&W officers at public events where we leave 50 or more holes in the ice unmarked and they have been fine with it. Of course you could get that one officer who feels otherwise and decides to press charges. On the other hand anything you leave to make the holes could be considered littering.

[HuyFishin]

As long as they do there due diligence and mark it so nobody would fall in i'm sure its fine. if they can see it then they should have been paying attention haha.

I cant see how this person would get charged if they already drove 300km home from the fishing trip lol with no contact details. Rules in books are just to keep the law abiding sheep in line.

[stubblejumper01]

Originally Posted by ghostguy6

Yes it is in fact illegal.

Duty to safeguard opening in ice

263 (1) Every one who makes or causes to be made an opening in ice that is open to or frequented by the public is under a legal duty to guard it in a manner that is adequate to prevent persons from falling in by accident and is adequate to warn them that the opening exists.

Marginal note:Excavation on land

(2) Every one who leaves an excavation on land that he owns or of which he has charge or supervision is under a legal duty to guard it in a manner that is adequate to prevent persons from falling in by accident and is adequate to warn them that the excavation exists.

Marginal note:Offences

(3) Every one who fails to perform a duty imposed by subsection (1) or (2) is guilty of

(a) manslaughter, if the death of any person results therefrom;

(b) an offence under section 269, if bodily harm to any person results therefrom; or

(c) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

I believe that's why they shut down the aerators on all those trout lakes a couple of years ago. There was one guy at Beaver Lake that was rescued more than once as he always got too close to the open water

[Wes_G]

The way I interpret it is that you have to mark that it is there AND protect someone from falling into it. So my interpretation is that marking it with some branches would not be enough as that would not stop someone from falling in but what I do I know......

[kingrat]

Originally Posted by stubblejumper01

I believe that's why they shut down the aerators on all those trout lakes a couple of years ago. There was one guy at Beaver Lake that was rescued more than once as he always got too close to the open water

Stop saving him. That's called natural selection.