For starters, it has to be remembered that the Ontario Steelheaders have been stocking adult rainbow trout into the Beatty Saugeen for what seems to be eons. Remember, the purpose of this project is to place adult steelhead into the prime nursery waters of the Beatty so they reproduce successfully and their protégé hatch, thrive, and grow 12 months or more in the cold waters, smolt down to the lake and then as adults, return to reproduce on their own in these same waters.
In recent years, the Ontario Steelheaders collected as many as 300 adults at Denny’s Dam. In the spring of 2011 we raised that bar, and attempted to collect 1,000 adult rainbow. I was hoping we would attain this goal in a little more than two weeks. Well, a small group of volunteers reached that that thousand fish target in 4 1⁄2 days!!!! On top of that amazing number we believe that just as many returning steelhead were lifted or passed through the fishway in that same period. Totally frigg’n amazing!
The volunteers that were part of this project were members of both the Ontario Steelheaders and the Lake Huron Fishing Club.
I always hate to name names, because you always forget someone, but I would like to personally thank Pete Gilles, Johnny Campbell, Brian Hambley, Grant McAlpine (and his group of tireless followers), and the two “lid losers” Mike McDonald and Kirk Lund. Once again I hate naming names but to everyone involved…a big thank you!
Remember please, we need your assistance to keep this great program rolling.
Now this has been one hell of year. Here’s what we have accomplished:
- -One great working relationship between the Ontario Steelheaders, Lake Huron Fishing Club and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources – 65,000 amazing steelhead smolt stocked again in the Saugeen River – 1,000 adult steelhead transferred to the Beatty
- – the new improved Walkerton Fishway completed – the all new Maple Hill Dam completed – 65,000 advanced fall fingerling steelhead to be stocked in November in the Beatty Saugeen River – 65,000 steelhead presently in the Kincardine Hatchery for spring yearling release in 2012 in the upper Saugeen -the transfer permit has been received for autumn adult steelhead to the Beatty – An all new MNR Chatsworth Complimentary stocking program for 2013-2016 of 50,000 yearlings annually
This joint program is more than just working. It’s really something that has never happened that I know of anywhere in Ontario.
That being said, the Ontario Steelheaders need more young members to help assist in these endeavours. Some of us may not admit it, but we need to refresh our membership with new members.
Please sign up some of those young guys that visit the river or troll the lake so they can enjoy the fruits of our labours and help carry some of the load.
Darryl Choronzey
Fisheries Liaison Officer
OntarioSteelheaders
By now, everyone should know that the Walkerton Fishway was given a major overhaul this past spring. Remember, the final goal is to get adult steelhead up and over the Walkerton dam and into the Beatty. The redesign meant a major overhaul. If you even think that getting the needed changes done was a simple matter, then you are dead wrong.
Shawn Carey and Jody Scheifley working out of the Owen Sound Ministry office deserve the lion’s share of the praise for getting this old fishway up and running.
We’ve installed a system of new stop logs at the top and bottom of the fishway’s piping interior, along with a large stainless steel control device that allows us to adjust water flow. Does it work? You bet your last fishing rod it does. Within a few hours of opening the redesigned passageway steelhead were moving through it.
There’s still a little bit of fine tuning to improve the fishway even more, but that will come next spring.
Okay, here‟s something that we can talk about now, but have been keeping under wraps until we got itdone. Again, special thanks again to Shawn Carey and Jody Schiefley for this magic act.
There‟s a brand new fishway now installed at the Maple Hill Power Dam and if that‟s not great news, then you don‟t know the Saugeen River or the steelhead that swim up it. For the past two months, it seems that I‟ve spent more time at Maple Hill than I have at home meeting with Schiefley, engineer Jeff Graham and a corps of dedicated contractors that have been installing forms, pouring cement and installing strategically placed steel guide racks and stop logs.
Remember also, there is already one fishway installed on the opposite side of the river near the power plant. Now the fish have a choice of moving up and over the dam at two separate locations.
Again, this latest project was imperative to getting the returning adult steelhead spawning in the Beatty Saugeen. Think about it. Less than a year ago we had two barriers on the Saugeen between Walkerton and Hanover preventing steelhead movement to our prime target waters.
I personally would like to once again thank Shawn Carey, Jody Schiefley and the crews and contractors that Jody has put in place to complete these manmade marvels.
Backgrounder: In 1996 The Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority announced that Denny’s Dam Conservation Area would be closed to the public due to financial constraints. The possibility existed that the property may even be sold.
The Ontario Steelheaders, consistent with its mandate, approached the Authority with an offer to lease the Park and co-manage it in order to ensure continuing access for all resource users. This resulted in a significant financial commitment to the Ontario Steelheaders. Monies generated by our activities at Denny’s Park, are from time to time earmarked for park improvements and fisheries enhancement projects. Our committee works diligently to collect funds, and to run the park efficiently, in order to make these ventures possible. The Ontario Steelheaders would like to thank everyone for their timely payments which make these and other improvements to our park and our fishery possible. Thank you! It’s your park! Use it, respect it, and support it!
Chairman’s Address:
Well here it is fall already, seems like just yesterday we were busting up ice bergs just to get into the park. The spring ice jam certainly created havoc with the camp but through efforts of a lot of people it was brought back into shape.
Some of the camp improvements this year are the placing of speed limit signs, a new collection box which is more secure to collect funds and a new portable toilet at the west end of the park. We would like to thank everyone who helped in any manner in maintaining and improving the park.
There are two projects that need to be singled out:
- First, is the placement of a concrete floor and eaves trough at the Rod Jones Pavilion; I know a number of people were involved in the labour portion of this project but special recognition is to be given to Derek Czarnota (Derek‟s Construction) for the donation of all materials required for this project.
- The other is the new roof for the washrooms. Bob Pfaff spent a large portion of his holidays installing the new roof with donated materials that he required. These materials were given to us by Mr. Tom Ware of Hy-Grade Steel Roofing in Guelph. Once again thanks to everyone for efforts that make our park what it is.
On a different note I would like to remind everyone that the use of abusive, insulting or threatening language, making excessive noise or disturbing other persons is forbidden in Denny‟s Park and on all SVCA properties. The vast majority of our users enjoy the park for what it is, and respect the regulations. The minority, I ask you to rethink why you are here and join with us to ensure that our park will be here for everyone‟s enjoyment far into the future. Please be mindful of your neighbours.
I do not want to leave you with the idea that the news is all bad because it is far from that. We hosted three youth groups this year at no charge that enjoyed our facility and were very thankful for our hospitality.
Through park revenues generated, we donated $100 to the Goderich Relief Fund, $2,000 to the Lake Huron Fishing Club for the rearing of smolts and transferred $4000 to the Ontario Steelheaders Fisheries Enhancement Team to help with their work.
The Saugeen Conservation Authority and its board members toured the park and were very impressed with the park and the work the Ontario Steelheaders do as a whole.
It has been a learning year for your committee and I would like to thank each of them for their efforts. I know there were times you felt like walking away but stayed. Through your hard work, take pride in the accomplishments of this year.
Like you (or like you should be!) I am an Ontario Steelheaders member. I put in my time to volunteer for the greater good of our steelhead fishery on the Saugeen River. Whether it’s helping out with fish lifts at Denny’s Dam or pulling a fish tanker full of yearling stockers, I take great pride in helping out. So, it was natural for me to accept the task put upon me from some of the Steelheader’s brass this past spring. My good friend and fellow member Dan Gravel and I were asked to verify the presence of beaver dams on the Beatty Saugeen River. This became an adventure we wouldn’t soon forget.
For those of you that don’t know the Beatty, it is a major spawning tributary to the Saugeen proper. The Beatty is born in the wooded wetlands of Southgate, east of highway 6. This cold water stream becomes a small river over the course of its 46km stretch before entering the South Saugeen in the town of Hanover. The cold, spring fed Beatty is a fish producing “super trib”, rich with invertebrates, forest covered banks and pristine spawning gravel; it is also the major destination for adult steelhead that are transported by the Ontario Steelheaders “Steelhead Express” tankers some 60km from Denny’s Dam during the spring fish transfers. Here, in this beautiful creek, these steelhead (as well as many others who made the journey the hard way past the man-made dams) pair-up, and lay the seeds for future generations of Saugeen River steelhead. Without a doubt, the Beatty is the major contributor to wild produced steelhead throughout the entire Saugeen system.
Our adventure started in April 2011, when Rod Jones and my father were discussing the rumour of multiple beaver dams in the lower Beatty which would impede steelhead migration. This became a great concern, since ease of access to spawning water is important. These two fine men suggested they send me and Dan down river in a canoe the following week to explore these beaver dams. Not wanting to disappoint, we eagerly agreed. Although the Beatty has an extended spring closure (no fishing till the end of May), we thought it would be a great idea to bring our shotguns along and possibly harvest a turkey or two on the stretches of Conservation Lands that border the river. My father offered us his finest fiberglass canoe and a free ride to Concession 16 where he would drop us off. We neglected his choice of watercraft and brought Dan’s rugged aluminum canoe knowing full well that the journey may be rough. We met Mr. Choronzey in Hanover with canoe in tow and reached the drop off at Concession 16 at 10:30am. He informed us that the trip would only take a few hours and we would be in Hanover no later than 4pm. A quick look at Dan’s handheld GPS told us a different story and we launched the canoe and turkey gear with some doubt in our senior members’ assurance of a quick and easy trip.
The first concession of our paddle turned out to be hell. We never found a beaver dam here. However, we found eight giant log jams that required us to portage the canoe around the masses of lumber. This took considerable amounts of time, not to mention the river had more bends and winding than a coil of garter snakes in a hibernation den. We did however; see dozens of large steelhead hiding in the log jams, obviously not impeded from beaver dams down river! Concession #1 took 2.5hrs to paddle, with no turkeys to be seen or heard.
Dan and I were happy to be out of the slow oxbow section of river we experienced in the first concession of our trip. The second concession was more exciting. Some areas of faster water made for a quicker ride down river. Here we found beautiful sections of spawning water that were occupied by steelhead paired up and making aquatic nookie. We also slammed the canoe into a few logs and boulders, but we were no worse for wear. NO BEAVER DAMS again in this stretch, but we still had to portage around 3 large log jams. Concession #2 took 2hrs to paddle.Now, at 3pm we are at Grey Road 3 bridge, still 2 concessions from our destination with about 4.5hrs of good daylight ahead of us. This next stretch of the Beatty proved to be a wicked adventure. For the next 2 hours we pounded the canoe around and into sweepers and through rapids (yes RAPIDS), slammed into boulders, nearly flipped, took on water, and managed to explode our carefully packaged soft cooler of silver beverages. My shotgun was sitting in 3in of cold stream water in the bottom of the canoe and any thought of killing a turkey was gone. Finally after nearly 3 hours, we completed the 3rd concession, soaked and bruised, but still paddling. The only benefit to this stretch of the trip was being able to witness the most intense mayfly and then caddis hatch I have seen on the Saugeen. Juvenile steelhead and resident browns were lighting up the surface, filling their guts with these flies. It was like something from a western fly fishing movie, surreal to say the least.
Finally, we had one more concession to traverse before we reached the take out point. The final leg of our journey proved to be the worst few hours in a watercraft I have ever experienced, and I have seen a lot! We passed some beautiful riverside homes, whose resident’s proclaimed we were crazy idiots for canoeing the Beatty. One lady even offered to help us off the river and back to town. We neglected the offer and tried to explain we were in search of BEAVER DAMS. About half way through the final concession we met our match. Here, the river split into a section of 3 braids. Dan (in the rear) suggested we go left, I however paddled us to the right and off we went tumbling down a whitewater staircase, putting the canoe on its side and taking on water fast. Dan managed to jam his paddle down into the riverbed to prevent a total capsizing. We immediately pulled up on shore and proceeded to walk the canoe down the remaining 400yrds of whitewater, inadvertently spooking adult steelhead everywhere throughout the stretch. It was nearly dark and we had no idea how much further the pick-up destination was. We managed to paddle down river for about 5 minutes before we were greeted to fast water again and more hair pin turns. We repeated the above scenario two more times. Yes, I said two more times… ughhh! Not taking any more chances, we walked the canoe through the final bit of nastiness and found our take out point within eyesight. Mr. Choronzey was not there (of course). He had dropped the vehicle off for us at the bridge (thanks Dad!) and returned to his trailer at Denny’s Park where he was in the company of the Steelheaders’ brass who brainstormed this idiotic adventure, laughing I am sure.
We left the Beatty at 9 pm that evening. Sore, bruised, broken and bug bit. The canoe looked like a car hood from a demolition derby. It leaked, severely by the time we pulled out. Our guns, soaked. We had managed to spot more than a hundred adult steelhead, and probably floated over 100’s more. The amount of juvenile trout was astonishing, as was the mayfly hatch. We never saw or heard a turkey. And last but not least, we NEVER FOUND A SINGLE BEAVER DAM. I would like to thank those who made a point to bringing the existence of these imaginary BEAVER DAMS to attention of the Ontario Steelheaders, you owe these two members a new canoe and a beer! I do not promote the Beatty as a canoe trip for anyone. It is not listed as a paddle route and should not be used as one.
If you want to access the Beatty, do it from shore!
It takes eggs to get a hatchery program going and again, in my opinion no one club raises steelhead smolt like the Lake Huron Fishing Club at both their Kincardine and Port Elgin hatcheries, but someone has to collect those eggs and milt.
LHFC Trout Hatchery, Kincardine On.
Grant McAlpine and your crew, thank you very much! Along with assistance from the Ontario Steelheaders, more than 200,000 eggs were collected, fertilized and hatched once again this year. The babies are now feeding and putting on the muscle in both hatcheries.
It should be noted that eggs were also collected for one other club and some fingerlings were also donated to a second club that had trouble getting their own eggs this past spring.
Stripping eggs and milt may sound like fun to some, but trust me; it involves a lot of tedious work. Once again, hats off to Grant and his crew of volunteers from both clubs.
I received a phone call a few months back from the Georgian Triangle Anglers Association over on Georgian Bay to come and speak to their membership on just exactly what has made the Saugeen River an overnight sensation. They wanted to know why returning trout numbers were exploding and how we did it.
When we met I explained to them that the answers were simple. Raise quality fish to the proper size and stock them far up the river for maximum imprinting. I emphasized the fact that we were collecting quality wild eggs and milt from quality wild fish. I also explained that the Lake Huron Fishing Club was rearing quality yearling smolt to the proper size. I noted that our stocking sites were many miles upriver on the Saugeen, as matter of fact more than 50 miles from the river mouth.
I also compared our success to failures with other clubs that failed to raise fish to the proper size and simply dumped their fish near river mouths. It came as a surprise that the MNR’s Jody Schiefley had passed the same message on to the membership a few weeks before.
It did not surprise me that starting this past spring the Georgian Triangle Anglers Association have reduced the number of eggs they take from returning wild fish, and are raising their trout to yearling smolt. They have also been given approval to stock their yearlings farther up the Beaver River for better imprinting. Needless to say their rainbow trout fishery is about to improve substantially in the years down the road. Congratulations to the members of the Georgian Triangle Anglers Association.
