Fish tales

As walleye season opens this weekend in Kawartha Lakes, it’s clear this popular fish is responsible for much of the draw for eager anglers.

Of course, we’re known for bass, muskie and panfish, too. But the most popular species by far remains the walleye, despite being the last one to show up in our lakes.

Both bass and muskellunge are native species, but most walleye were introduced through government stocking in the1920s.

Walleye were introduced in Kawartha Lakes for the first time in 1882, with an unknown number released into Sturgeon Lake. It was 100 years ago that large scale walleye stocking programs began in Pigeon Lake. Two hundred thousand walleye were introduced in 1922, and half a million were released in 1923. Only 100,000 were planted in the next two years.

Walleye were not stocked again until 1940, which is unusual considering that in the late 1930s it was estimated that the province of Ontario introduced more fish than all the other provinces and the federal government combined.

That year saw one million walleye placed in Pigeon Lake, with more than three million added over the next seven years. No further stocking has happened since 1948.

Walleye gradually took to their new homes and by the 1950s and 1960s word was out that great opening night fishing for Ontario’s most popular gamefish could be found at any of the fast water areas in Kawartha Lakes. In particular, the dam in Bobcaygeon and the docks downstream of the falls in Fenelon Falls were lined with anglers on opening night.

Brian Ellery was one of those anglers. Though he lived in Toronto, he was already aware of walleye fishing since his father grew up in Fenelon Falls, and as a teenager ran a specially rigged boat that he used to sell bait – worms, frogs, minnows – to fishermen on the river and Sturgeon Lake.

The younger Ellery says, “We would come and camp here, and sometimes there’d be snow drifts, but the fishing was great. It would be shoulder to shoulder at the falls. You could go home with half a pickup (truck) full if you wanted to. The fishing is good in the river as long as there is water going over the falls. If there’s current, they are in the river.”

Ellery recalls sometimes needing two 10-inch concrete blocks to hold the boat in place because the current would be so strong. “I would usually fish alone and one night I went crashing, pin balling between four boats when I lifted the anchor and couldn’t get the motor started right away.”

Once the dams were closed (restricting water flow) the fish would drop out to the lake. Ellery said, “some years you could get five weeks of fishing before they dropped the water. But it was over as soon as they did. I’d go down with six minnows and if I didn’t get a fish on the first one, I’d just dump the rest because the walleye were done.”

The area was so popular on opening night that the local Lion’s Club would sell soup and coffee from a travel trailer to anglers that lined the shorelines.

Dean Junkin also has a historical family connection to the walleye fishery since his grandfather, Stan Nichols worked as a guide in Bobcaygeon.

Like Fenelon Falls, the opening night was a big deal in ‘Hip Town.’ Junkin said his grandfather would tell him that the dam and the bridges were lined with fishermen, and while the season technically opened at midnight, they used a shotgun start.

“Dar Kimble Sr. had a bait shop that stayed open all night and he would fire off the shotgun. Sometimes it was at 10 o’clock instead of midnight.”

Fishing was so popular that at one time there were four bait shops around Big Bob Channel. You could find a board near the end of the swing bridge listing the guides and their availability for the day.

The day was broken up by the traditional shore lunch where the guide pulled ashore and cooked the morning’s catch, something that is unimaginable on our lakes today. The fish finder was an anchor on 10 feet of rope. When the anchor hit rock as they trolled, they knew a change in depth and structure worth exploring had occurred.

By the 1970s, in response to concerns regarding the decline of walleye in Kawartha Lakes, the Ontario MNRF shortened the open season on walleye by two weeks, and established sanctuaries where fishing was prohibited at many fast water spawning locations.

In 1993, when walleye had still not rebounded to the way things were in the 1960s, the MNRF initiated the Kawartha Lakes Walleye Review to determine if restocking would improve the quality of the fishery. The study found that stocking would not be an appropriate management action because walleye age and size in Kawartha Lakes were found to be stable, which suggests acceptable levels of natural reproduction.

Anglers familiar with fishing 50 years ago might not agree with that assessment but it is not unusual for the population of a newly introduced fish to skyrocket before settling into a stable size. We have seen that in the last 25 years the black crappie got a toehold in area lakes. They were abundant in the late 1990s to the point where it seemed they would take over the lakes but have since levelled off.

Like crappie, the walleye do not fight with the pugnacity of a smallmouth or grow to the sizes that muskellunge do. Its main appeal only becomes apparent once it is on the dinner plate. So, while you can enjoy the most appealing quality of a smallmouth (the Marvin Hagler-like fighting ability) and live release it afterwards or catch a trophy muskie and get a replica mount done after you photograph it and let it go, there’s only one way to enjoy the best thing a walleye has to offer. It’s a quality that makes their very existence more challenging and concern for their survival and significance to the local tourism industry is nothing new.

In fact, an editorial from the March 17, 1899 Bobcaygeon Independent states, “The entire control of the Inland Fisheries is now in the hands of the Provincial Government. It is most important to the summer businesses that the fish should be preserved. What action is to be taken this year protecting the fish during the spawning season? Something should be done and done quickly.”