Simcoe's muskie population continues to grow

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day. The same thing can be applied to a provincial government project on Lake Simcoe. After launching in the mid 1990s, the Natural Resources Ministry, Muskies Canada and Fleming College in Lindsay have gone full bore re-introducing the muskellunge, once native to the Simcoe, to this province’s sixth-largest lake. Jason Borwick, a biologist from the ministry’s Aurora office, believes the project has gone extremely well. Part of the proof can be found in the stocking numbers this year; close to 1,600 fall fingerlings were seeded into four or five sites. Among those were areas near Pefferlaw, the Talbot River, southeast shoreline of Georgina Island, west shoreline of Cook’s Bay and Barnstable Bay. This greatly exceeds 86 fall fingerlings injected in 2005 and 62 summer fry last year. The reason for the small start was difficulties involved in breeding and rearing captured adult fish. With the adult pool originating from Georgian Bay and the Gloucester Pool, Borwick noted they had difficulty adapting to the artificial breeding environment at a Fleming College hatchery. “It’s not like raising rainbow trout. These (muskellinge) aren’t fish people can culture in their backyard,” he said. “People need to understand that.” As for the fish planted in the project’s first two seedings, Borwick acknowledged it’s difficult to determine if they’ve taken to Lake Simcoe, since they are rarely seen in juvenile stages of growth. “They’re a hard fish to target or find in trap nets,” he said. About the only time they can be found is during spring when they spawn in shallow areas. For the first groups, this won’t take place until four to five years down the road. While this year’s stocking is completed, Borwick said more is coming. Also included in the project, Borwick said, is improving muskellunge spawning areas, work that began two years ago. There are marginal spawning areas that requires enhancement, he said. Among them are Cook’s Bay which has monocultures of cattail beds. Adding soft stem bullrushes or wild rice beds could enhance them, he suggested. To date, Borwick is quite happy with what’s transpired. “Every indication is that it’s been a success so far,” he said. “But time will tell.” Bass champs declared The wind and rain that invaded Simcoe Oct. 27 did not deter 59 two-member angling teams from competing in the 2007 Bass Pro Shops Lake Simcoe Open. Robert Formosa and Jason Saliba pocketed $8,500 as they brought in their five smallmouth bass liveweight limit of 29.22 pounds. Peter Savoia and Gaspare Costibile finished second with 28.60 lbs. and Mark Moran and Joe Muszynski third 27.66 lbs. The heaviest smallmouth of the day was one hauled in by Mark Kulik and Dave Kennedy; it tipped the scales at 7.02 lbs. That fish enabled the pair to earn $2,400. Tournament organizers deemed the event, staged out of Sibbald Point Provincial Park, a success from an angling and economic point of view as many anglers prefished for several days.