To protect the environment and ensure safety, anglers must register new or previously unregistered ice-fishing huts on area lakes.
Registration is free and helps discourage anglers from abandoning their huts, which can end up in waterways and washed up on shorelines when the ice thaws.
- Huts must be registered for Lake Simcoe and for other lakes in Fisheries Management Zone (FMZ) 16 within Aurora District. To register your ice hut, visit ca/icefishing and register your hut electronically. Once registered, an ice-fishing hut can be used anywhere in Ontario.
- Registration numbers on ice huts must be at least 6.3 centimetres (2.5 inches) in height and clearly displayed on the outside of the hut.
- Tent-style ice huts made of cloth or synthetic fabric that have a base area of seven square metres (75.4 square feet) or less when erected do not need to be registered.
- It’s a good idea to place huts on 15-centimetre (six-inch) high wooden blocks to make it easier to remove them at the end of the season. Ice hut owners must keep the area around their huts clear of garbage.
- Anglers must remove their ice huts from the waters of Lake Simcoe and the rest of FMZ by March 15, 2016.
- Ice huts must be removed from lakes before ice break-up, even if it is before the specified removal date. It is an offence under the Public Lands Act to leave an ice hut after ice break-up.
- Additional permits or authorizations may be required for those planning to use an ice fishing hut in a provincial park.
Learn More
- Learn about ice fishing and ice hut removal at ca/icefishing.
- Learn more about ice fishing hut online registration and whether this change affects you. For assistance with paper registration, call 1-855-613-4256 or email [email protected]
Source: MNRF
