In late 2014, The SVCA was approved for funding up to $125,000 to support its project that involves the removal of the Lockerby Dam, which is locat- ed in the Municipality of Arran Elderslie between Chesley and Paisley. Additionally, Bruce Power aided with support for the dam removal.
The removal of the dam was considered by SVCA for a number of years since a report was completed in 2006 that recommended the removal of the dam and the rehabilitation of the reservoir.
The removal of the aging concrete dam, a current barrier for upstream fish migration, improves the fish habitat both upstream and downstream with key improvements to water quality in the North Saugeen River.
On August 21, 2015 the Lockerby Dam was removed and a natural, unobtrusive, natural waterway was left in place.
Until we get better access around and over Maple Hill dam, the great Saugeen fishery is dependent on much of the success of the Lake Huron Fishing Club’s Kincardine Hatchery. I’ve been around the CFIP hatchery game from the start and never witnessed another facility that can compare to this fish production factory.
From the start the man behind the facility has been Al Wilkins and trust me, he knows his stuff. One hundred thousand eggs and sperm are collected by the volunteer members of the Steelheaders and LHFC at Denny’s Dam and transported directly to the hatchery, where they are fertilized, hatched and raised for 12 months.
A hell of a lot of work and patience is involved in producing what I believe are the best steelhead smolt to be found anywhere on the Great Lakes. There’s fertilizing, picking eggs, teaching them how to feed, removing the misfits, cleaning the tanks and just straight 12 months of baby sitting.
Before they are released, every one of these 50,000 plus little guys have their adipose fins removed for later identification when caught or transferred as adults. This is cold tedious work.
At the end of the 12 months all 50,000 plus steelhead smolt have grown to larger than 8 inches and are stocked at Walkerton, Ontario 50 miles upriver from Lake Huron for perfect imprinting and maximum returns as adults back to the river and waiting anglers.
Getting a little old for this game, but believe me please, I’ve never witnessed anything over years, like I’ve seen with the success of this program. One hell of a hatchery. One hell of success story.
As a collective effort between the two clubs and working with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources an amazing success story.
The membership roster keeps growing and we are just over 275 members strong. Keep in mind that many memberships have expired this May so it would be nice to see those who have been supporting us to recommit and renew their memberships again. We can’t thank you enough for the support.
The new website still has some issues periodically but for the most part, I have received positive feedback. Our website continues to expand and word continues to get out about the work that we are doing. Please keep the articles, reports, and pictures, coming as this enables us to generate a newsletter collectively without placing the entire onus on one individual.
I want to express our thanks to all the members who continue to offer their services to volunteer and who are out their promoting the benefits of membership to others in hopes of soliciting new members – YOUR efforts are recognized and they DO make a difference.
I continue to view my role as Membership Director as being an interactive role. I have the responsibility to ensure that our members receive the information, handouts, memos, updates etc. that our directors prepare for us. I hate to sound like a broken record but…………………………
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE – MAKE SURE THAT I HAVE YOUR CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS AND ALL CONTACT INFORMATION. We have received returned mail and email’s stating incorrect addresses and if I don’t have your phone number, I have no way of making sure that you receive the information that we are disbursing. As such if you haven’t been receiving any communications then you may want to check in with me to ensure that I have all your accurate information.
I continue to ask for any and all of your input regarding any suggestions that you may have, as this is YOUR organization and your input is valued. Please send your comments to: membership@steelheaders.ca, or include them with your membership renewal.
I would like to thank everyone for their ongoing support and I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead of us in the coming year. Please feel free to contact me with any concerns or questions regarding your membership or club communications, and I would be only too happy to assist.
Madeline Walker
Membership Director
membership@steelheaders.ca
Well it’s that time of the year again to let you all know what has and will take place within the OSS. Firstly, hopefully you all survived another long and cold Canadian winter our second in two years.
Although these are hard on us Humans it is good for the water table and therefore for all the creatures that inhabit them. The Great lakes freeze almost solid across their surface area and this stops evaporation and keeps the levels of the systems up, which is good for everything that depends on them.
As of February 2015 the OSS is now Incorporated only took 30 plus years but we got there, so now the club has a constitution and Inc status.
Adult Steelhead Transfer Ends 2016We got some disturbing news recently from the MNRF that as of 2016 it will be the last year that the OSS and LHFC will be allowed to transfer adult Steelhead in both spring and fall as we have done for many years. The MNRF has decided to do a study for a number of years to see the effects of not transferring the adults, they will however still allow the OSS and LHFC to continue the raising and release of 50,000 yearlings into the Saugeen system. The MNRF however will stop raising the additional 35,000 yearlings at Chatsworth after this year.
Big thanks you again goes out the guys of the OSS and LHFC for another successful spring transfer of the adults to the upper Beatty and we hit the magic 1000 again so wish them a well and thank them for a hard week of work.
The smolts from Kincardine have all been released as of May 30 and the few remaining smolts at Port Elgin will be released June 4 so again a big thank you to the very dedicated guys of both clubs for getting this done also.
After 2016, the OSS will need to come up with other projects for our club to focus so lets hear from you our membership on ideas that you feel may be good for the Saugeen and it’s area.
The club still plans on expanding our Rod Jones pavilion and hope to have it done this year this will make for better Derbies and use as we all know the Derbies have been getting bigger and if the weather is bad there’s always some people getting wet so by expanding we’ll all benefit from it. Keep an eye on the website as we may need some bodies to help with the expansion.
Speaking of Rod Jones it gives me great pleasure to advise you all the Rod will be receiving the National Recreational Fisheries Award from Ocean and Fisheries for all his dedication and commitment for many years to the Saugeen River and it’s surrounding area.
Rod received the award Friday May 8 so please, along with the Directors of the OSS and myself, wish him a great WAY TO GO Rod thank you. For those of you who may not know Rod here’s a little history Rod is one of the founding members of OSS and was instrumental in the building and taking care of the up welling boxes where our first Steelhead eggs were incubated to fry and then released into the Beatty back in 1977. After the boxes were discovered to not be the most successful Rod was the driving for to get things moving at the Mildmay Hatchery. When Mildmay was shut down Rod and some other key members of the OSS brokered a deal with the MNR and LHFC to start raising yearlings at the Kincardine hatchery were our yearlings are still raised. Rod also was the founder of the current Park on the bank of the Saugeen, as when he heard that the SVCA was going to close the site therefore lessening the access to the river he approached the SVCA and leased the property to keep this open for members and the public.
So closing on that note please feel free to contact myself or any Director of the OSS with any comments or questions.
The Lake Huron Fishing Club (LHFC) Annual Club Fish Fry will be held at the Baie Du Dore Quonset near the Bruce Nuclear Station outside of Kincardine on Saturday June 13th. That is this Saturday Folks!!!!
Dinner at 6pm sharp.
All in attendance please bring enough salad or dessert to feed 8 people.
Those with last names starting with A – M bring a dessert, and those with last names starting with N – Z please bring a salad.
Cost is $15.00/adult – $10.00 for children 5 to 16 years old. Children under 5 eat free.
Our raw materials are at an all-time high so please come out and support the Club to help cover our costs. All sister Club members are welcome.
As global climate change, droughts and hot summers continue, many streams and headwaters will flow with low water, which could put fish into a more vulnerable situation when being preyed on by birds such as hawks and eagles.
A new study has found that adequate shade and cover in streams could reduce bird consumption of trout by as much as 12 percent, from only one species of bird – the kingfisher. This study originated from the Oregon Hatchery Research Center in the Alsea River basin, and published in the journal Ecology of Freshwater Fish.
Using coastal cutthroat trout and suggested individual fish sought cover at least as large as their own bodies. The addition of in-stream cover reduced the rate of predation from kingfishers by 12 percent and maintained better survival in areas with greater shade.
Jason Dunham, an aquatic ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and co-author on the study stated, “It is generally assumed that shade is good for fish solely because of temperature.
This study shows shade can make it more difficult for kingfishers to spot and catch fish. Kingfishers are the number one predators of small trout.” said Penaluna, who led the research as a doctoral student in the Department of Fisheries and Wild- life at Oregon State University . She said, “We’re able to tell fisheries managers that they may be able to increase their trout population by 12 percent – and it may be higher. It is possible that adding shade and cover to small streams may help protect trout against other predators as well.”
With that said, would improving shade and natural cover to the Saugeen River headwaters and streams help boost steelhead populations?
Well the fall 2014 derby was a soaker but that is to be expected, at least since I have taken over running the show. All of the winners and weights have already been posted on our website, so to keep this short winded I won’t get into those details.
The 2015 spring derby was delightfully the best derby I have run weather wise. Fishing was a little tougher the normal, but still produced some nice fish. We had 80 Sr. anglers and 8 juniors this derby. 1st place went to Greg Allen with a wild female weighing 7.4lbs, 2nd place was our first female to make the podium Deb Zetler with a stocked OS fish at 7.1lbs and last but not least in 3rd was Mike Sousa also with a stock OS fish at 6.9lbs & the live release caught by Steven Lombard was a wild fish 28.5” Great job guys and gal.
Now, I would like to thank our amazing sponsors and food suppliers. The club is most gracious for our continued support from Angling Outfitters in Woodstock, Hammond Power Solutions, Black Bird Tackle Pure Fishing Canada in Brantford, Ron Plasket – (with some of the best gag prizes ever, can believe buddie took the gag over the FWF Custom 13’ float rod), Sauble Area Mens Club, Pete Barber & many others. Now to the food! Once again Q BBQ Eatery did a top notch job on the brisket, Carls Custom Meats nailed the burgers and dogs and all the park patrons that donated salads and side dishes. Our hats are off to you, thanks so much and I couldn’t put on this great event without you all.
I would also like to give a big shout out to Carlo, Paul & Jake for helping with the cooking & Erica King and Carol Tuner for the awesome job they did hustling all those raffle tickets, this raises a great deal of money for the club and our project such as our stocking project on the Suageen river. I hope to see you all the weekend after Canadian thanksgiving for our annual fall derby.
I was happy to be a part of the celebration this week with Ontario Steelheaders president Karl Redin when Rod Jones was presented with the Canadian Recreational Fisheries Award for his long time commitment to the Ontario sport fishery. Rod has been dedicated to the game for more than 40 years. Congratulations Rod! You are joining a small elite group of conservation minded individuals. You definitely deserve the recognition. Way to go.
