ABOUT FISHING by Ralph Bice

From April 27, 1977

It is just about that time when many are getting ready for the fishing season. Now there are some hardy souls who have braved the elements and spent a good deal of time on the ice and I know some have had a bit of luck. For many years it was almost as much a thrill to get out ice fishing as it was to get out on the water as soon as the ice went out. Those were the days when fishing was good, both winter and summer, and seldom did one return without fish.

Winter fishing was just for lake trout, as speckled trout were not permitted to be caught during the winter season.  The last few years it has been legal to fish for a few months in the winter for speckled trout and there still is an argument both pro and con whether it was a wise move. One thing, there are a number of lakes back in the woods that seldom or ever get fished during the summer season and with snowmobiles these lakes have been fished. It is thought that many of the larger speckled trout would be taken by winter fishing and since these fish turn cannibals when they are three or four years old many of the smaller fish would be saved.

Too, speckled trout do not live as long as lake trout. Years ago, at a meeting in North Bay, we were told by one of the top biologists that speckled trout seldom live longer than seven years and many of them die at the age of six. Since then, when the fishing was still good, I sent scales of many speckled trout to be examined and aged. These would be good sized fish and I was hoping to get some more than seven years old. But I never had one that showed up at six years of age. Nearly all were five years old. I sent in two sets one spring, each from a different lake. The one was a large fish weighing a bit over five pounds. The other was not quite a pound, a little less than 16 inches in length. The scales of each trout showed the fish to be five years old. The difference was in the feed. The fact that few speckled trout live longer than five or six years no doubt explains why fishing will be good in certain lakes and then for some reason appear to be barren on the next trip.

Then there is the argument as to whether speckled trout will spawn in lakes. Mostly we have been told they spawn only in running streams but a book on speckled trout that I read tells that they do spawn at times in lakes. The book also told of a speckled trout that proved to be 10 years old. (Note: A Park biologist told me that stocked speckles do not spawn but something unusual occurred in one stocked Park lake. It seems that following many years, after the stocked speckles would have died a fisherman, to his surprise, caught some young speckles. –Ed.)

The last few years there have been reports of a number of lakes that once produced good catches of speckled trout that now seem to have only perch. Some lakes in our section that I know very well are little fished but totally barren. The reason given, at least in press releases from biologists, was that fishermen had released minnows in the lakes and that they had taken over. Trouble is some of these lakes seldom saw fishermen and doubtful if anyone would carry minnows that far. So it must be just another part of the cycle, which no one can explain, but it does at times put a crimp in fishing.

Far too many fishermen have had the idea that the lakes back in the woods had a boundless supply of lake trout. Indeed the first fishing did not even take enough fish to keep up the increase in most of the lakes. But the many roads into the woods and the heavy increase in the number of fishermen have changed all that and many of the lakes are simply overfished.

Years ago when the hotels near headquarters in Algonquin Park were having such good summers some of the smaller lakes showed the effect of heavy fishing. A few guides suggested there might be some sort of curb put on the fishing in these lakes, but were told by the powers that be that it was not possible to fish out a lake. But the fish were gone. These lakes were left alone for a few seasons and they recovered all by themselves.

Some lakes have more feed for game fish than others, but we have many times been told that one acre of water will only support three game fish. I know of many small lakes that at one time produced many more than that. Even some of the larger lakes a few years back would have been fished out if that was a hard and fast rule.

What has hurt Algonquin Park was the rather pointless ruling about 10 years back when licenses were discontinued in Algonquin Park and anybody could bring out a day’s catch. Previous to that children could fish on their parent’s license but could not bring out any. But after that ruling was in effect it no doubt doubled the number of fish being taken out of the park each summer. Now some of the lakes that were considered tops a few years back are just ordinary lakes and luck is away down.

So, like the hunting, the good years are gone and the coming generation will not see the fishing that we did. There will be new rules, and lets hope they will help, but it is something like the old saying of locking the barn door after the horses were stolen.

Twenty years ago a few of us led a crusade to have winter fishing stopped in the park. So many winter roads and so many lakes that were easy to reach. I made some bad friends, fishing wise, as many thought that they should not be deprived of their winter sport. But with the lake trout fishing as poor as it is, just think what it would have been like if winter fishing had not been discontinued.