Outdoors

Groups band together to promote Lake Simcoe fishery

During the days of the gold rush, there was an expression optimistic prospectors used to utter: "There's gold sitting in them hills".
These days around Lake Simcoe, it's been suggested there's gold in the waters.
Not of the hard rock variety though.
But rather, dollars and cents that could be generated through increased angler-related tourism.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of Tourism feel the potential is definitely there.
As a means of confirming their suspicions, the two ministries recently joined forces to conduct a meeting at the Ministry of Natural Resources' Aurora District office. Joining them in a one-day think tank session were tourism representatives from various municipalities and towns around Lake Simcoe along with a cross-section of representatives from local fishing-related businesses that included ice hut operators, tackle shops, resort and hotel owners and bass tournament organizers.
The meeting was long overdue, said Wil Wegman, a Ministry of Natural Resrouces spokesperson.
The group agreed the optimal approach to maximizing angler-related tourism in the area is to look at Lake Simcoe as a whole and not just from each municipality that borders on it.
"I believe what benefits the whole lake will benefit all of the communities. Everyone at the meeting realized this," Mr. Wegman said.
During the meeting, the group heard from various speakers who cited examples of what has or can be done to enhance angler-related tourism.
Christine Anderson, a Ministry of Tourism spokesperson, cited co-operation among the communities of Kenora, Sioux Narrows and Morson in the Lake of the Woods area in promoting angling. She was quick to point out local businesses such as gas stations, hotels and restaurants, as well as municipal councils, realize the economic benefits of fishing as a tourism market.
In comparing this situation to what presently exists on Lake Simcoe, the group was quick to agree there is presently limited understanding of the economic impact sport fishing can create in the communities that border Lake Simcoe.
The Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corp. spoke on how it targets domestic and U.S. markets with a fishing strategy through TV campaigns in partnership with various fishing-related personalities, publications and in attending trade shows.
Citing there's good opportunity to promote angling-related tourism to recreational anglers in the Greater Toronto Area, the governmental group suggested one means to do so is to place contact listings and a link to their Ontario Travel website.
At the present time, most promotion on the Lake Simcoe sport fishery is carried out on a small scale through local sources. These include Sibbald Point Provincial Park, which hosts bass tournaments for interested parties and a boat launch during the open water season, the Barrie Ontario Travel Centre, which compiles weekly ice fishing reports and a Ministry of Natural Resources' Fishing Lake Simcoe Newsletter produced by the Aurora District office.
Other local initiatives include websites such as www.luresandtours.com, the Town of Georgina's two annual publications to promote the sport on Lake Simcoe and the businesses in Georgina catering to the angler clientele.
At one time, York Region promoted fishing in Ontario publications and representatives said they would be interested in doing this again if there was participation by the industry.
Wegman said another meeting will be held April 19 in the Georgina Civic Centre board room (26557 Civic Centre Road, north of Keswick off Woodbine Ave. in Georgina) starting at 1 p.m.
The purpose of the meeting will be to identify markets or stakeholders; determine what's required to attract this market; possible marketing strategies and receiving feedback from anglers and tourism-related businesses.
"Our goal for the meeting will continue to be to move forward with ways to promote fishing-related tourism around Lake Simcoe," Wegman said.

Makers aim to lure in anglers

Tom Cheng senses a good thing when he sees it.
Especially a fishing lure that will catch the attention of any angler searching for a bait that will help haul in more fish.
Catching the Richmond Hill resident's attention was a prototype crank bait that his friend, Bernard Yong-Set of Scarborough, had manufactured to catch walleyes on Lake Scugog.
Watching the lure's action in the water and hearing how it could attract fish to strike, Cheng was hooked into forming a business partnership with Yong-Set to distribute their new product.
Cheng and Yong-Set unveiled the B.T. Dancer crankbait at this year's annual spring fishing show in Mississauga.
Measuring 3 5/8-inches in length, the lure resembles a small baitfish.
While a number of crank baits currently saturate fishing store shelves, Cheng says their lure can be more enticing to walleyes, northern pike, muskellunge and deep-water salmon and steelhead.
It's primarily because of its design, he said. Most noteably, the bait's tail resembles the one on a Sassy Shad plastic body. When the lure moves through the water, the tail has an erratic action and emits a sound via a rattle that's enclosed within it.
The B.T. Dancer possesses other unique features as well.
"There's also a weight in the lip of the lure and it's made of true wire construction and it has two VMC red blood hooks that won't get caught up together like other crank baits do," Cheng said.
The lure comes in three styles. There's one that floats, another that sinks and a suspending model. Each is distinct as the floating model has silver eyes while the sinking variety has gold eyes and the suspending model red eyes. As well, the lure comes in six basic colour patterns.
Calling their Richmond Hill company Bentail Tackle Inc., Cheng said the lure's beginnings began four years ago when Yong-Set designed a wooden prototype model. After experimenting with it during the past four years and catching a good number of walleyes on Lake Scugog, Yong-Set approached Cheng with the idea of forming their own lure company.
Having known Yong-Set for many years, Cheng, who owns Concord fishing store Angling Specialties, agreed with his proposition.
Launching their business, Cheng said their first hurdle was to find a company that could mass produce the lure. With manufacturing costs high in Canada, Cheng was fortunate to have a neighbour in Richmond Hill who had connections in Taiwan where the lures could be produced at a reasonable cost.
"They said they could do anything we wanted," Cheng said.
Their first shipment is expected to bring in 10,000 lures to sell to the angling market.
The pair received plenty of favourable feedback while displaying their new lures at the recent spring fishing show. It's even reached the point where there's interest from European buyers, Cheng added.
And he's optimistic it will be a lures anglers will want to have in their tackle arsenal.
"I'm pretty excited with this lure," Cheng said. "I dream that within two years we can sell one million pieces around the world."
Down the road, Cheng said they hope to expand by making other sizes of the B.T. Dancer.