Later this afternoon I walked by a river and saw a whole bunch of dead salmon, mostly female and pretty much all around or above 20 lb. None was cut open for eggs or had hooks/fight marks on it so I do not think angling had much role in it. Could it be warm waters or a natural cause?
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Dead Salmon
Started by getin, Aug 15 2012 10:25 PM
32 replies to this topic
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#2
georgianbaydrifter
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Smallmouth Bass
Posted 15 August 2012 - 10:30 PM
did you take their eggs? i would have
#3
getin
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Posted 15 August 2012 - 10:40 PM
did you take their eggs? i would have
I did not have knife or a bag with me, but thought about it. One was massive, at least 4ft, I bet had 5 lb eggs in it
#4
CJR
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Posted 15 August 2012 - 10:42 PM
Possibly natural cause. I saw fish the other day beaching themselves when running through the shallows. If I didn't put them back in the water I garauntee they wouldn't of made it. I Found a few dead fish as well in the area and none were slit.
#5
salmotrutta
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Posted 15 August 2012 - 10:56 PM
Did you consider of the possibility that they were released and died thereafter?
It takes a lot out of them to be fought and landed. I saw many females washing up on Saturday, and brought them up to other anglers that were looking to get their full quota of females.
No such thing as a safe release of a salmon, IMO. Once you've fought out and landed a 25lb salmon, good chance that it's game over, especially in these water temps and after they've run in from possibly quite far out in the lake and battled a good portion of the creek.
It takes a lot out of them to be fought and landed. I saw many females washing up on Saturday, and brought them up to other anglers that were looking to get their full quota of females.
No such thing as a safe release of a salmon, IMO. Once you've fought out and landed a 25lb salmon, good chance that it's game over, especially in these water temps and after they've run in from possibly quite far out in the lake and battled a good portion of the creek.
#6
despotiko
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Posted 15 August 2012 - 11:18 PM
I think salmo has it right. They most probably died after being released. The water is warm, they're tired as it is and when people play them for to long with the wrong gear, death is inevitable. Another reason I stress getting them in quick, with stout gear and proper technique. They are making the run off their lives to die anyway and it should be our responsibility to insure we impact they're migration minimally.
#7
Rainbow
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Posted 15 August 2012 - 11:46 PM
I remembered something John Kendell said two years ago about salmon dying in tribs due to warm weather. And that was early september 
. Like Salmo said, they are under a lot of pressure with the water as warm as it is right now inside the tribs. In fact, the ones that are being caught aren't actually biting at all.
. Like Salmo said, they are under a lot of pressure with the water as warm as it is right now inside the tribs. In fact, the ones that are being caught aren't actually biting at all.
#8
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Posted 16 August 2012 - 06:42 AM
I remembered something John Kendell said two years ago about salmon dying in tribs due to warm weather. And that was early september
Sounds like a combinations of water temp, played out - (some would have to also be "natural" % - whatever that means)
Question: Rainbow, what do you mean: "In fact, the ones being caught arent actually biting at all"?
How does one "Catch" a Salmon that has no "Slits" no evidence of Trama ...no natural death - without bitting.
Interested to know how you think that occurs or Why or WTF?
???
#9
georgianbaydrifter
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Posted 16 August 2012 - 08:00 AM
I must be an accurate caster to put that cleo right in thier mouth
#10
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Posted 16 August 2012 - 08:41 AM
I must be an accurate caster to put that cleo right in thier mouth
You CERTAINLY ARE!
Not too Boast ...
But all during this past Steelhead Season I was doiing amazing at getting the bait right in their mouth.
Back Story: You may know that I "BOTTOM BOUNCE" ... which is of course a rather polite way of saying: "I FLOSS & LINE"
I have gotten SO GOOD at bottom bouncing ... I can get it in STEELIES MOUTH from almost 40 yds away!
I have gotten SO GOOD at bottom bouncing ... I can actually OPEN THEIR MOUTHS and put the bait in the Lower Cavity ... thus avoiding any potential "Embarrassing Situations" with MNR or Fellow Anglers!
That is how FK$^N GOOD I AM!
Anyone else?
#11
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Posted 16 August 2012 - 09:00 AM
Temp changes will cause the fish to die off.. This is not out of the ordinary and happens every season..
Some newbs may actually interpret what you typed as truth.. so I just wanted to add some clarity.
That's not boasting... Just nonsense..You CERTAINLY ARE!
Not too Boast ...
But all during this past Steelhead Season I was doiing amazing at getting the bait right in their mouth.
Back Story: You may know that I "BOTTOM BOUNCE" ... which is of course a rather polite way of saying: "I FLOSS & LINE"
I have gotten SO GOOD at bottom bouncing ... I can get it in STEELIES MOUTH form almost 40 yds away!
I have gotten SO GOOD at bottom bouncing ... I can actually OPEN THEIR MOUTHS and put the bait in the Lower Cavity ... thus avoiding any potential "Embarrassing Situations" with MNR or Fellow Anglers!
That is how FK$^N GOOD I AM!
Anyone else?
Some newbs may actually interpret what you typed as truth.. so I just wanted to add some clarity.
#12
salmotrutta
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Posted 16 August 2012 - 09:11 AM
Everyone knows that when there's a huge # of chinooks in a tiny creek, despite honest intentions, many will be flossed. I have used a bare hook in these circumstances, and hooked just as many or more in the mouth than with a roe bag. Were they attacking the hook or being lined/flossed? That's a discussion for the salmonid insanity section.
My go to bait for creeks, when I want to have chinooks hammering my presentation, is skein. Still, there is a right way and a wrong way to fish it, and it's not as simple as skein being a salmon magnet.
Skein, roe, and casting lures off piers is a legitimate form of getting salmon to strike. In vast bodies of water, lining may occur, but it's the exception, not the rule, especially when casting into wide open water.
Steelhead are not big enough to be flossed, and they gobble up roe and worms. They are there to spawn but they live afterwards, so they continue to actively eat while spawning. Of course, they take flies and lures too.
Let's leave the lining/flossing discussion for where it's intended to be, the salmonid insanity section.
My go to bait for creeks, when I want to have chinooks hammering my presentation, is skein. Still, there is a right way and a wrong way to fish it, and it's not as simple as skein being a salmon magnet.
Skein, roe, and casting lures off piers is a legitimate form of getting salmon to strike. In vast bodies of water, lining may occur, but it's the exception, not the rule, especially when casting into wide open water.
Steelhead are not big enough to be flossed, and they gobble up roe and worms. They are there to spawn but they live afterwards, so they continue to actively eat while spawning. Of course, they take flies and lures too.
Let's leave the lining/flossing discussion for where it's intended to be, the salmonid insanity section.
#13
FishingNoob
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Posted 16 August 2012 - 09:25 AM
Temp changes will cause the fish to die off.. This is not out of the ordinary and happens every season..
That's not boasting... Just nonsense..
Some newbs may actually interpret what you typed as truth.. so I just wanted to add some clarity.
HEY! I am not that stupid! (kidding)
#14
Rainbow
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Posted 16 August 2012 - 11:24 AM
Salmo is right 
. Once they are in rivers, it becomes a bit of a challenge getting them to hit. I've witnessed all kinds of hits from chinooks from skein under a float at the bluffs to crankbaits in rivers. Two years ago I flossed them like crazy and I witnessed how others on the river did as well this time of year. Bottom bouncing isn't necessarily flossing but when it's being run through a large pod of salmon at the bottom the chance is extremely high. I want to give the fish a fair chance so I won't use any tactic that I know could line them. It's totally a personal preference though. it's not illegal to line them.
Steelhead are a different story, they are very good at avoiding fishing lines and will go for the bait
. Once they are in rivers, it becomes a bit of a challenge getting them to hit. I've witnessed all kinds of hits from chinooks from skein under a float at the bluffs to crankbaits in rivers. Two years ago I flossed them like crazy and I witnessed how others on the river did as well this time of year. Bottom bouncing isn't necessarily flossing but when it's being run through a large pod of salmon at the bottom the chance is extremely high. I want to give the fish a fair chance so I won't use any tactic that I know could line them. It's totally a personal preference though. it's not illegal to line them. Steelhead are a different story, they are very good at avoiding fishing lines and will go for the bait
#15
John from CRAA
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Posted 16 August 2012 - 06:40 PM
Temperature and shortage of disolved oxygen is the most likely cause. There could be some post release mortality due to these afformentioned items too. Goes to basic ethics if you plan to C&R, check the temp. If fish stress...stop fishing. 22C is a general cut off for all salmon/trout, but 20 for brookies...and that is the max. Maritimes (DFO) uses 20C and 22C as cut of for river temps to fly fish for Atlantic salmon. Many maritime rivers have been closed for weeks/months due to the hot, dry summer.
Steelhead can be flossed and snagged
and salmon can and do hit in the river 
. And spooked fish will avoid line and be hard to catch legally. But fresh or unpressured fish (this includes chinook and coho) will willingly chase flies, bait and lures. I have seen dark chinooks swim 50 feet to slam a flatfish or spinner, even chase a swung fly and hit floats. I have underwater video from my friend Rick showing them actively feeding on salmon eggs washed down from other salmon spawning. He also has video of them feeding on insects...yes adult, dark chinooks in Ontario tribs. Just like unpressured steelies will attack a bait or fly. Spooked bows and salmon will avoid line and bait and floats like the plauge.
Bottom line is don't generalize that salmon don't bite and trout do...every scenario is unique. And I have watched 10 guys drift though pods of chinook and not hook a thing (as long as they are careful not to snag them), only to change to a different fly/bait/egg/bead/lure and have them crush it.
Sort of reminds me of an Atlantic from the Gaspe I once hooked. The guide pointed to 'salmon'. I could make out a shape that maybe was a salmon. I ran a bomber over this fish and on cast 800 and something he rose...I was so shocked I of course lost it.
Today was 28C, 33 with the humidex. Nobody should have been fishing for salmon if they plan to release them.
Did you guys happen to notice they almost all have their adipose fin too! 100% of stocked chinook have clipped adipose fins this year so if the adipose is there, it's WILD.
John
Steelhead can be flossed and snagged
and salmon can and do hit in the river . And spooked fish will avoid line and be hard to catch legally. But fresh or unpressured fish (this includes chinook and coho) will willingly chase flies, bait and lures. I have seen dark chinooks swim 50 feet to slam a flatfish or spinner, even chase a swung fly and hit floats. I have underwater video from my friend Rick showing them actively feeding on salmon eggs washed down from other salmon spawning. He also has video of them feeding on insects...yes adult, dark chinooks in Ontario tribs. Just like unpressured steelies will attack a bait or fly. Spooked bows and salmon will avoid line and bait and floats like the plauge.Bottom line is don't generalize that salmon don't bite and trout do...every scenario is unique. And I have watched 10 guys drift though pods of chinook and not hook a thing (as long as they are careful not to snag them), only to change to a different fly/bait/egg/bead/lure and have them crush it.
Sort of reminds me of an Atlantic from the Gaspe I once hooked. The guide pointed to 'salmon'. I could make out a shape that maybe was a salmon. I ran a bomber over this fish and on cast 800 and something he rose...I was so shocked I of course lost it.
Today was 28C, 33 with the humidex. Nobody should have been fishing for salmon if they plan to release them.
Did you guys happen to notice they almost all have their adipose fin too! 100% of stocked chinook have clipped adipose fins this year so if the adipose is there, it's WILD.
John
#16
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Posted 16 August 2012 - 07:03 PM
Well Said John!
Internet Forums... Have their mix of:
- Facts vs Fiction
- Humour & Sarcasm
- Opinions
- Inuendos
- Points of View: Challenges / Counter points
- Clashes / Agreements
- Assumptions
- Positive & Negetive Feedback
- Oddities / Generalizations
- Misconceptions
- Statements
- Attitudes
- Ego's
- Introverts , Extroverts
- Arrogance/ Humility
etc. etc. (The whole spectrum of Human Communication) ..... done through an electronic medium lol
Always a pleasure to have another well spoken POST.
Thanks
Internet Forums... Have their mix of:
- Facts vs Fiction
- Humour & Sarcasm
- Opinions
- Inuendos
- Points of View: Challenges / Counter points
- Clashes / Agreements
- Assumptions
- Positive & Negetive Feedback
- Oddities / Generalizations
- Misconceptions
- Statements
- Attitudes
- Ego's
- Introverts , Extroverts
- Arrogance/ Humility
etc. etc. (The whole spectrum of Human Communication) ..... done through an electronic medium lol
Always a pleasure to have another well spoken POST.
Thanks
#17
Rainbow
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Posted 17 August 2012 - 04:01 PM
Temperature and shortage of disolved oxygen is the most likely cause. There could be some post release mortality due to these afformentioned items too. Goes to basic ethics if you plan to C&R, check the temp. If fish stress...stop fishing. 22C is a general cut off for all salmon/trout, but 20 for brookies...and that is the max. Maritimes (DFO) uses 20C and 22C as cut of for river temps to fly fish for Atlantic salmon. Many maritime rivers have been closed for weeks/months due to the hot, dry summer.
Steelhead can be flossed and snagged
Bottom line is don't generalize that salmon don't bite and trout do...every scenario is unique. And I have watched 10 guys drift though pods of chinook and not hook a thing (as long as they are careful not to snag them), only to change to a different fly/bait/egg/bead/lure and have them crush it.
Sort of reminds me of an Atlantic from the Gaspe I once hooked. The guide pointed to 'salmon'. I could make out a shape that maybe was a salmon. I ran a bomber over this fish and on cast 800 and something he rose...I was so shocked I of course lost it.
Today was 28C, 33 with the humidex. Nobody should have been fishing for salmon if they plan to release them.
Did you guys happen to notice they almost all have their adipose fin too! 100% of stocked chinook have clipped adipose fins this year so if the adipose is there, it's WILD.
John
I highly recommend reading what John has to say. He knows more about these fish than anyone I know
#18
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Posted 17 August 2012 - 05:03 PM
Excellent Study of Mortality Rates (Tempertures) - Catch & Release
Effects of Catch-and-Release Angling on Salmonids at Elevated Water Temperatures
http://www.flyfishin...ets/cnr_afs.pdf
ps: Kinda "long Winded" like all tech reports are, but worth the read if you have the time. lol
Effects of Catch-and-Release Angling on Salmonids at Elevated Water Temperatures
http://www.flyfishin...ets/cnr_afs.pdf
ps: Kinda "long Winded" like all tech reports are, but worth the read if you have the time. lol
#19
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Posted 17 August 2012 - 05:54 PM
stocking program
After more than a century, Atlantic salmon return to Credit River
IAN MERRINGER
The Globe and Mail
Last updated Tuesday, Aug. 02 2011, 10:19 AM EDT
John Kendell opens his car door and slips on a pair of Rapala sunglasses. Since only anglers buy eyewear from a company better known for making fish hooks, it’s no surprise when he opens the back hatch to reveal a car full of fishing gear. A crumpled pair of chest waders lie below half a dozen rods suspended near the ceiling by a tidy strap system.
He shows off some weightless fly rods and a new centre-pin float reel with a bearing so smooth it seems a gentle breeze could spin out some line. But these trout and salmon outfits won’t get wet today. Instead, he grabs a simple spinner reel and a thermometer and walks down to where the Credit River flows underneath the Eglinton Avenue bridge in Mississauga.
The water temperature is 25 degrees. Too hot to risk catching a salmon today, says Mr. Kendell. As the president of the Credit River Anglers Association (CRAA) and head marshal for its corps of conservationist volunteers, he takes fish health seriously. The cold-loving salmon would already be under stress and might suffer from being caught and released. Of course, Mr. Kendell wouldn’t actually have been targeting salmon – that’s illegal right now – but you can’t always dictate what fish takes the bait. While bass fishing two weeks earlier he caught two salmon in the first pool below the bridge.
That might not seem like a big deal to casual observers of the Credit. Anglers come from all over to fish for salmon in the fall. Except these salmon weren’t Pacific salmon, artificially stocked for Lake Ontario’s commercial fishery. These were Atlantic salmon, a species that hadn’t spawned in the Credit for 150 years.
The fish Mr. Kendell caught were probably graduates of a stocking program that has seen the Ministry of Natural Resources release close to a million Atlantic salmon fry in the Credit since 2007. Then again, they may have been native. Last fall, biologists found a dark green fry nosing around a narrow tributary in the Credit’s headwaters. DNA tests showed it was the offspring of one of the released fish. Atlantic salmon have returned to the Credit River.
The town nearest that fry’s gravel nest is called Terra Cotta. It used to be called Salmonville, but that point of civic pride went belly up in the 19th century. Chris Robinson of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters says tens of thousands of salmon used to climb the Credit annually to spawn. Archives show contracts for local farm labourers that limited how often employers could feed their boarders the apparently too plentiful pink flesh. It was said you couldn’t ride a horse through the Credit River without fear of it getting tripped up by salmon.
The bounty didn’t last, however. A combination of overfishing, dam construction and deforestation left the river degraded and the salmon a figment of fishermen’s tales. Now, more than a century after Atlantic salmon last migrated up the Credit, John Kendell thinks the pieces are in place for their return.
Fisheries are now studied and regulated. Up and down the watershed, dams are being decommissioned to keep water temperatures down and allow fish mobility. Though less than half of the watershed is forested, there are more trees now than there were a century ago. Forest cover is critical to a healthy river because it helps a watershed absorb rainwater into the ground where it is cooled and cleaned before entering a stream through a spring.
As a river that receives large volumes of cool and clean groundwater from the Oak Ridges Moraine and Niagara Escarpment, the MNR judged the Credit to be a good candidate for salmon reintroduction. However, a 10-year water quality study that will soon be released by the Credit Valley Conservation Authority tells its natural heritage manager Bob Morris that there are limits to its natural resiliency.
While Georgetown and Orangeville are discharging less pollution and sewage into the river, urban development continues to fill in the gaps not protected by Ontario’s Greenbelt. Establishing lasting improvements is like swimming upstream.
“The subdivisions in Brampton keep marching on,” says Mr. Morris. “Our job is never done.”
Fortunately, that job is being tackled not just by government oversight, but also by volunteer stewardship.
Mr. Kendall says on any day of the year his organization has up to 10 members out volunteering at a field project, fish ladder or hatchery. He says they’ve planted more than 400,000 trees, as he points downstream into Erindale Park and describes what the view was like before being obscured by the trees that stabilize the banks and shade the water.
“Our guys put 2,000 trees in a canoe and go out where the Boy Scouts can’t get to.”
Since he joined CRAA in the early 1990s, the group has helped decommission 23 dams. Twenty years ago the water on Rogers Creek, where the native-born salmon was spotted last year, reached more than 30 degrees—far too warm for Atlantic salmon to survive. After CRAA helped remove two dams on the creek the average temperature dropped nine degrees.
Later this summer a fish ladder will open around a dam in Norval that is currently the river’s biggest barrier. CRAA raised $130,000 for the planning of the fish ladder and engaged in years of mediation between the MNR and a landowner who has been steadfast in not allowing a portage around the dam for canoeists. As of this fall, fish will have a concrete conduit.
Mr. Kendell says the work is paying off. Fish counts have recorded more Atlantic salmon coming up through the Streetsville fish ladder to spawn every year, starting with 49 in 2008, 80 in 2009 and an estimated 200 last year. He’s predicting between 500 and 800 spawners this year, and is optimistic that there might be a catch-and-release sport fishery for Credit River Atlantic salmon within five years.
If so, the Atlantic salmon season, which is perfectly offset from that of rainbow trout, will fill a summertime void, allowing for year-round salmon and trout fishing. He says the Credit fishery is already worth more than a million dollars annually to the Mississauga economy and points across the lake to Pulaski, N.Y., where he says salmon fishing supports 50 tackle shops and the same number of guides.
“You can’t get a hotel room there in September or October,” says Mr. Kendell.
Of course, it’s not just anglers and the economy that will benefit from the salmon’s return, but the Credit River itself. Mr. Kendell says as the river becomes healthier people treat it better. Twenty-five years ago they used to truck bags of garbage out of riverside parks. Today, they don’t even hold annual cleanup days.
“When people see we’ve brought this river back to the point that it supports a species we once wiped out, they might think twice about dumping fertilizer on their lawn or salt on their driveway,” says Mr. Kendell. “Maybe fish can help people care more.”
There’s little doubt Mr. Kendell cares, and not just about fish. “I don’t even need a rod,” he says. “Standing in the shade and looking at the river for an hour can be enough for me.” Presumably his heart rate would quicken at least a little if he glimpsed a flash of silver heading back upstream.
Special to The Globe and Mail
___________________________________________
I am very INTERESTED in UNDERSTANDING this:
Why have no "Large Atlantic Salmon " been caught?
*Well aware of the Regulations etc. ... just have not personally seen or caught a SINGLE ATLANTIC of any substantial size (Only fingelings at Duffins Creek)
They have been stocking them for more than 4-5 years now.
I have never seen, heard or read a post that shows any ATLANTIC SALMON being caught in the TRIBS or LAKE that was big. (Even medium size)
WHY NOT?
After more than a century, Atlantic salmon return to Credit River
IAN MERRINGER
The Globe and Mail
Last updated Tuesday, Aug. 02 2011, 10:19 AM EDT
John Kendell opens his car door and slips on a pair of Rapala sunglasses. Since only anglers buy eyewear from a company better known for making fish hooks, it’s no surprise when he opens the back hatch to reveal a car full of fishing gear. A crumpled pair of chest waders lie below half a dozen rods suspended near the ceiling by a tidy strap system.
He shows off some weightless fly rods and a new centre-pin float reel with a bearing so smooth it seems a gentle breeze could spin out some line. But these trout and salmon outfits won’t get wet today. Instead, he grabs a simple spinner reel and a thermometer and walks down to where the Credit River flows underneath the Eglinton Avenue bridge in Mississauga.
The water temperature is 25 degrees. Too hot to risk catching a salmon today, says Mr. Kendell. As the president of the Credit River Anglers Association (CRAA) and head marshal for its corps of conservationist volunteers, he takes fish health seriously. The cold-loving salmon would already be under stress and might suffer from being caught and released. Of course, Mr. Kendell wouldn’t actually have been targeting salmon – that’s illegal right now – but you can’t always dictate what fish takes the bait. While bass fishing two weeks earlier he caught two salmon in the first pool below the bridge.
That might not seem like a big deal to casual observers of the Credit. Anglers come from all over to fish for salmon in the fall. Except these salmon weren’t Pacific salmon, artificially stocked for Lake Ontario’s commercial fishery. These were Atlantic salmon, a species that hadn’t spawned in the Credit for 150 years.
The fish Mr. Kendell caught were probably graduates of a stocking program that has seen the Ministry of Natural Resources release close to a million Atlantic salmon fry in the Credit since 2007. Then again, they may have been native. Last fall, biologists found a dark green fry nosing around a narrow tributary in the Credit’s headwaters. DNA tests showed it was the offspring of one of the released fish. Atlantic salmon have returned to the Credit River.
The town nearest that fry’s gravel nest is called Terra Cotta. It used to be called Salmonville, but that point of civic pride went belly up in the 19th century. Chris Robinson of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters says tens of thousands of salmon used to climb the Credit annually to spawn. Archives show contracts for local farm labourers that limited how often employers could feed their boarders the apparently too plentiful pink flesh. It was said you couldn’t ride a horse through the Credit River without fear of it getting tripped up by salmon.
The bounty didn’t last, however. A combination of overfishing, dam construction and deforestation left the river degraded and the salmon a figment of fishermen’s tales. Now, more than a century after Atlantic salmon last migrated up the Credit, John Kendell thinks the pieces are in place for their return.
Fisheries are now studied and regulated. Up and down the watershed, dams are being decommissioned to keep water temperatures down and allow fish mobility. Though less than half of the watershed is forested, there are more trees now than there were a century ago. Forest cover is critical to a healthy river because it helps a watershed absorb rainwater into the ground where it is cooled and cleaned before entering a stream through a spring.
As a river that receives large volumes of cool and clean groundwater from the Oak Ridges Moraine and Niagara Escarpment, the MNR judged the Credit to be a good candidate for salmon reintroduction. However, a 10-year water quality study that will soon be released by the Credit Valley Conservation Authority tells its natural heritage manager Bob Morris that there are limits to its natural resiliency.
While Georgetown and Orangeville are discharging less pollution and sewage into the river, urban development continues to fill in the gaps not protected by Ontario’s Greenbelt. Establishing lasting improvements is like swimming upstream.
“The subdivisions in Brampton keep marching on,” says Mr. Morris. “Our job is never done.”
Fortunately, that job is being tackled not just by government oversight, but also by volunteer stewardship.
Mr. Kendall says on any day of the year his organization has up to 10 members out volunteering at a field project, fish ladder or hatchery. He says they’ve planted more than 400,000 trees, as he points downstream into Erindale Park and describes what the view was like before being obscured by the trees that stabilize the banks and shade the water.
“Our guys put 2,000 trees in a canoe and go out where the Boy Scouts can’t get to.”
Since he joined CRAA in the early 1990s, the group has helped decommission 23 dams. Twenty years ago the water on Rogers Creek, where the native-born salmon was spotted last year, reached more than 30 degrees—far too warm for Atlantic salmon to survive. After CRAA helped remove two dams on the creek the average temperature dropped nine degrees.
Later this summer a fish ladder will open around a dam in Norval that is currently the river’s biggest barrier. CRAA raised $130,000 for the planning of the fish ladder and engaged in years of mediation between the MNR and a landowner who has been steadfast in not allowing a portage around the dam for canoeists. As of this fall, fish will have a concrete conduit.
Mr. Kendell says the work is paying off. Fish counts have recorded more Atlantic salmon coming up through the Streetsville fish ladder to spawn every year, starting with 49 in 2008, 80 in 2009 and an estimated 200 last year. He’s predicting between 500 and 800 spawners this year, and is optimistic that there might be a catch-and-release sport fishery for Credit River Atlantic salmon within five years.
If so, the Atlantic salmon season, which is perfectly offset from that of rainbow trout, will fill a summertime void, allowing for year-round salmon and trout fishing. He says the Credit fishery is already worth more than a million dollars annually to the Mississauga economy and points across the lake to Pulaski, N.Y., where he says salmon fishing supports 50 tackle shops and the same number of guides.
“You can’t get a hotel room there in September or October,” says Mr. Kendell.
Of course, it’s not just anglers and the economy that will benefit from the salmon’s return, but the Credit River itself. Mr. Kendell says as the river becomes healthier people treat it better. Twenty-five years ago they used to truck bags of garbage out of riverside parks. Today, they don’t even hold annual cleanup days.
“When people see we’ve brought this river back to the point that it supports a species we once wiped out, they might think twice about dumping fertilizer on their lawn or salt on their driveway,” says Mr. Kendell. “Maybe fish can help people care more.”
There’s little doubt Mr. Kendell cares, and not just about fish. “I don’t even need a rod,” he says. “Standing in the shade and looking at the river for an hour can be enough for me.” Presumably his heart rate would quicken at least a little if he glimpsed a flash of silver heading back upstream.
Special to The Globe and Mail
___________________________________________
I am very INTERESTED in UNDERSTANDING this:
Why have no "Large Atlantic Salmon " been caught?
*Well aware of the Regulations etc. ... just have not personally seen or caught a SINGLE ATLANTIC of any substantial size (Only fingelings at Duffins Creek)
They have been stocking them for more than 4-5 years now.
I have never seen, heard or read a post that shows any ATLANTIC SALMON being caught in the TRIBS or LAKE that was big. (Even medium size)
WHY NOT?
#20
staffman
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Smallmouth Bass
Posted 17 August 2012 - 06:48 PM
If my old memory is still working I think that a few pictures of Atlantics have been posted on this site, but I wouldn't bet my rod on it.
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