Our fly-in lakes are so protected by their remote locations that they have little or no fishing pressure. The fishing our lakes experience is only from our fly-in customers. What 'Fly-in Fishing' means at Stanton Air, is fishing almost as good as 'virgin fishing'.

What does “Catch & Release” mean?

Catch and Release means only keeping the fish you intend to eat for one meal that day!

Because our guests have respected our 'Catch and Release' code, the fishing is fantastic and fun for everyone all season long. We will not fly any fish out of our camps.

In small lakes, bass populations could not withstand the ongoing harvest of big fish, but, as observed in recent years, keeping fish is the exception. Releasing large fish has protected our spawning productivity and improved the genes and numbers of our fish.

Catch and Release Rules

• Only keep enough fish for your shore lunch.
• Keep any fish that bleeds profusely as it is not a good candidate for 'Live Release'.
• Keep any fish that does not resuscitate immediate
• Release all larger bass.
• Limit your catch when fishing with live baits.
• Live-bait caught fish, when deeply (gut) hooked, do not make good release candidates.
• Switch over to artificial baits once you have caught enough for shore lunch or located an active school of fish.

Fish Handling Rules

• Wet your hands before handling a fish or you its protective slime. Don't touch the gills of any fish.
• Don' hold a fish be its eye sockets.
• Don't hold a fish to be released vertically as in the photo to the left. It can kill the fish.
• Hold a large fish horizontally giving support along its underside.
• Its best to attempt to remove hooks while the fish in in the water.
• Its a better practice not to lift any fish to be released out of the water.
• Most damage to fish occurs when you are trying to take its photo while its out of the water.
• Dispatch a fish you intend to keep quickly and don't let it suffer by expiring in the bottom of your boat.
• Dispatch your fish by giving its head a hard tap with a hard, heavy metal object like a small hammer or a foot of 1/2" iron pipe. Dispatch tools are available at tackle shops.
• Placing a fish on a stringer while still alive and leaving it in the water to keep it 'fresh' is cruel.
• Leaving a fish to suffocate in the warm oxygen depleted water of a fish well is cruel.

Its been proven to the satisfaction of some experts , but not widely accepted or even known by many, that fish experience pain, fear and shock.. Best practice is to treat your fish that is to be released as gently as you can giving respect to its need to live.

Barbless hooks are used by conscientious fishermen and they save the lives of thousands of fish every day. If you switch to barbless hooks, you will reduce your chance of killing a fish unnecessarily by over 100%. To make a hook 'barbless', take a pair of sharp side cutters and simply snip off the barbs then use a small file to smooth the cut line. It only takes seconds. If you keep your line tight when reeling in a fish, you won't loose it due to a barbless hook.

If you get a good photo of your fish and take its measurements, most taxidermists can create a lifelike replica fish for you to mount.

Be familiar with with and obey the fishing regulations. The Ministry of Natural Resources Ontario http://www.mnr.gov.on/ conservation officers have all the powers of police. They will sometimes check on fly in lakes. You will not see or hear them coming. There will be little or no warning. They will not hesitate to charge you if they find that you have broken the rules. Being charged with an offence will ruin your fishing trip and cost you time and money on court appearances. In the past they have sent news releases to media outlets listing the names and offences of persons charged.

Remember, “Limit your kill, don’t kill your limit”.