Scenario 1: Mike (Persona: Outdoorsy)

Mike’s fishing license was up for renewal. He decided to renew his license after work before Canadian Tire closes because he wanted to get out on the water and do some ice fishing this weekend. Mike dropped in and headed to customer service (the only place you can purchase the licence), but had to wait because there were two people in front of him doing returns. Once those customers were served, he was able to give his information, tell the staff member he wanted a sport license for three years (instead of one, or two), because he doesn't want the hassle of going through the purchasing process each year and potentially miss his renewal date, causing him to fish without a license unknowingly (which is common). While he is there, he grabs a copy of this year’s Fishing Regulations Summary Guide (a magazine-sized paper booklet), so he has all the information he needs about fishing regulations in specific areas. 

Mike thinks he will head to Haliburton and try Loon Lake, then Maybe Head Lake for some fishing. These are two lakes he’s never been to. After dinner, he opens the book, looks at the table of contents and flips to the Fisheries Management Zones map page. Because the map of Ontario on this page is very general and has only segmented areas with large numbers and no specific detail (see figure 1), he pulls up a Google Map on his laptop to cross reference and make his best estimation of which zone Loon Lake falls into. He determines it is Zone 11. He then goes back to the table of contents to locate the Zone 11 regulations page. Once there, he determines he was incorrect and goes back to the map and makes another estimated guess of Zone 15. This time, after navigating to the Zone 15 regulations page, Mike determines he is correct and can proceed to read the relevant information. 

He is interested in fishing for lake trout, so he runs down the list. He flips through the pages until he sees lake trout. He reads the season for lake trout is January 1 to September 30 and the limits are two fish per day for his sport license. He is disappointed because it is December but then sees the “Exceptions” area and starts looking down the list of lakes that are open for lake trout year round. He sees Bark Lake has lake trout open all year and decides that is where he will go in the morning.

The next day he heads off to Bark lake augers a hole in the ice and catches one lake trout in the morning. Then no bites for four hours. He wants to make the most of his journey, so he decides to head north to try his luck at a different lake nearby. He drives for about 40 minutes to a lake north of Burks Falls. He augers a new hole, throws his line in and catches fish immediately, and its a lake trout. He is thrilled, but decides to double check his book. Oh no! He just realized he was fishing in Zone 11. He can’t keep the trout. He releases the fish and heads home. The distance was so close on the map last he looked, he assumed he was in the same zone. Mike packs up and heads home with his one lake trout.

Nikki just got back from teaching her Friday night yoga session in Mississauga and got a surprise call from some friends who rented a cottage on Sawyers Lake. They wondered if Nikki would join them for a weekend of fishing. They tell her she doesn't need to bring anything, and that they have all the gear. Nikki says “yes” because she likes new adventures, especially if they are outdoors and in a natural setting. The next morning she heads up to the cottage using the Google Maps address her friends gave her. Her friends had just eaten breakfast and were getting ready to head to the boat. Nikki asked if she needed a license. Her friends told her not to worry, it’s only for two days so the chances of her getting caught without one were slim. Nikki was not comfortable about this. 

She decided to use her data to google where to get a fishing license. She learned they could be purchased at Canadian Tire stores, but the nearest one was 38 minutes away. Her friends were going to leave soon and she didn’t want to make them wait, but she knew she wasn’t going to enjoy herself if she was going to be constantly worrying she might get in trouble. She noticed there was an option to purchase online! She filled out the forms and got out her credit card. Although it took 20 minutes and the site wasn't perfectly optimized for mobile, she got her license and it was emailed directly to her. Now she could relax and know she was going to be fishing with a license. She had 80% battery life left on her phone so she turned it off and put it in a ziplock bag she found in the cottage kitchen drawer. In a total of 25 minutes she was ready and didn't keep her friends waiting too long. 

She was out in the boat (wearing a life jacket of course) with her friends and they were enjoying the nice sunny weather. Nikki got a bite on her line! She reeled in the really big fish excitedly. “What kind of fish is it?” she asked her friends. “It's a small mouth bass,” said one friend. “No,” said another friend, “It’s a large mouth.” Her friends wanted to keep it and cook it up for dinner to celebrate this special occasion, but no one was sure what kind of fish it was and if it was ok to keep it. 

Nikki pulled out her phone, turned it on and googled “Ontario fish ID” and began looking through images. After reviewing images for a few minutes, she was pretty sure, but not certain that her fish was a large mouth. She was really worried about the fish being out of water. She wanted to just throw it back. She wasn't confident in her fish identification and also didn't want to make a mistake. She released the fish and decided to just enjoy the scenery the remainder of the boat ride, but when she got back to the cottage she downloaded a fish ID PDF from the ministry (see figure 2) and was better prepared for the second day of fishing.