Musky stocking in lake simcoe

[Roy]

I haven't seen any negative comments yet, Dax. Some don't agree with your opinion but it doesn't make them negative. They're just other peoples' opinions.

[mattyk]

I actually remember seeing a small musky about 30" in a tributary of Lake Simcoe several years ago.

Edited November 2, 2007 by mattyk

[lew]

My grandparents had a waterfront home on the west side of Simcoe, just south of the Narrows, from the late 50's up thru the early 70's and my grandfather used to get quite a few muskies up in that area. I don't recall him ever landing any monsters, but plenty of nice fish graced his boat.

 

It'd be nice to see the fishery come back to that some day.

[bigbuck]

I'd love to see a nice musky fishery on Simcoe. BUT, it would definitely have to be catch and release for at least the next 10 years or so for them to grow and spawn. Correct me if I'm wrong but it would take about 10-15 years for a musky to be fully mature (Musky Odessey - Dr. Casselman) and would keep growing till about 20 years of age as far south as Simcoe is.

[Chris Purdy]

Though I have not been a member of this Forum, I do occasionally read the posts to stay in touch with what's happening in the Ontario fishing community. As the current President of Muskies Canada Inc. (MCI), I am also interested in those threads that involve our club; good and bad alike. Normally, I avoid comment on threads that are critical of MCI - everyone is entitled to their opinion and, unfortunately, not everyone is a fan of our club, despite our good intentions for improving and protecting the fishery that all muskie anglers benefit from. However, the post by Mr Thorpe cannot be ignored for the simple reason that it is blatantly inaccurate.

 

The Lake Simcoe Muskie Restoration Project (LSMRP) is an initiative of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and MCI, to re-introduce muskie to a lake that was apparently an amazing fishery once upon a time. As Mr Thorpe correctly points out, MCI has raised tens of thousands of dollars through hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of volunteer work both in the form of fund raising and in direct hands on assistance to OMNR biologists. All of this money has been accounted for and any insinuation that money has been not been spent on the project is entirely untrue.

 

As for the "wasteful" nature of the stocking efforts so far - that is a matter of opinion. It is true that previous years efforts have been disappointing. However, the lessons learned from those efforts have been a big part of the reason that this year's work has been such a success. Well over 1,000 "fingerlings" (some 8" to 10" in length) have been stocked into the lake so far, with more to come. Critical to this success has been the role played by Sir Sanford Fleming College. Without doubt the professionalism and dedication of the folks at the college has been a huge factor in the success of their breeding program. The aspersions cast upon their work and their motives is completely uncalled for.

 

Mr Thorpe's tenure as President of Muskies Canada Inc, ended almost three years ago. His membership in the club ended shortly after that. Apparently, he no longer has a very high opinion of the club or it's work to preserve, protect and enhance the muskie fishery in Canada, but he would be well advised to get his facts straight before sharing his "opinion" in a public forum such as this. For those who are interested, I would invite you to visit the MCI website (www.muskiescanada.ca) and read about the project via the links and project updates on our home page.

 

Chris Purdy

President

Muskies Canada Inc.

[email protected]

[Musky or Specks]

Chris Im a former member and think MCI is a great organization. I just think the science on the Lake Simcoe project is all wrong. My opinion is that this project is being pushed by the MNR because of its high profile. MCI's eforts would be better spent elsewhere were they could have a real impact say reintro to the Grand River or Spanish Harbour/river area.

[misfish]

I did get to see my first musky this season on Couch during a tourney.It was pretty cool.

I also heard of some old time stories Lew, of the boys fishing a flat(upper Simcoe) for musky.Then again,I have also heard where they use too fly fish, right off the end of thier docks for Herring.

 

Boy,did I miss some great days back when.

 

 

Im not a musky fanatic like some,but it would be cool to see it happen,but EDUCATION,would be my first thing on the agenda.

[Terry]

I don't know if you did yourself a favor replying to this one

Marc is well respected here and as even you stated it was his opinion and when one gives an opinion they don't need exact facts and it's not surprising that they don't match your facts. I life people see things differently.......

 

I didn't read into Marc post the animosity that I read in your post

you could have given your facts and opinions without the attack on Marc

[PAZE]

Hey Chris need more bait I'll be calling you sone.

 

Paul

Edited November 2, 2007 by PAZE

[irishfield]

I don't know if you did yourself a favor replying to this one

Marc is well respected here and as even you stated it was his opinion and when one gives an opinion they don't need exact facts and it's not surprising that they don't match your facts. I life people see things differently.......

 

I didn't read into Marc post the animosity that I read in your post

you could have given your facts and opinions without the attack on Marc

 

Why I've never joined MCI in the last 22 or 23 years that I've known of it's existance. Seems to be too much testosterone and pissin into the wind, when it comes to the top of the fresh water food chain.

Edited November 2, 2007 by irishfield

[steverowbotham]

A female may lay hundreds of thousands of eggs, but how many make it to fingerling size ??

 

These fish when stocked are between 8 and 10 inches, and 2000 of them will go a long way if done year after year. We're not stocking perch here.

 

As far as the atlantics mentioned earlier, We wont know their success rate for another two years when we get the first returns. I did electrofishing in a few creeks in the east last month and one day we had almost 400 yearling atlantics in a 50 m sample site.

[Pigeontroller]

I don't know if you did yourself a favor replying to this one

Marc is well respected here and as even you stated it was his opinion and when one gives an opinion they don't need exact facts and it's not surprising that they don't match your facts. I life people see things differently.......

 

I didn't read into Marc post the animosity that I read in your post

you could have given your facts and opinions without the attack on Marc

 

Yes, Marc is a well respected member of OFC. But he has been highly critical of MCI on here in the past, I see nothing wrong with the current President standing up for MCI's main project. I'm sure Marc is man enough to take it.

[Pigeontroller]

Why I've never joined MCI in the last 22 or 23 years that I've known of it's existance. Seems to be too much testosterone and pissin into the wind, when it comes to the top of the fresh water food chain.

 

 

Unfortunately there's always egos and political Bull when it comes to clubs. I steer clear of it as a member of MCI. I go to meetings, drink a few cold ones, talk Muskies, win a lure or two occasionally on the prize table, help raise money for the fishery by working my donkey off all day so many others can enjoy the Muskie Odyssey, make lifelong friends...Why would anyone want to be part of that?

[irishfield]

I hear ya Dax! I did my part this year...I was the MCI website beta tester !

 

 

..and I missed this one

Instead of voicing negative opinions why not join a club or conservation group and get involved with giving back to the fisheries we all love

 

I'm not gonna disclose how many thousands of dollars I've put into some Ontario hatchery programs that I believe in.

Edited November 4, 2007 by irishfield

[muskymatt]

I don't know if you did yourself a favor replying to this one

Marc is well respected here and as even you stated it was his opinion and when one gives an opinion they don't need exact facts and it's not surprising that they don't match your facts. I life people see things differently.......

 

I didn't read into Marc post the animosity that I read in your post

you could have given your facts and opinions without the attack on Marc

 

 

What a ridiculous statement!!

 

It's attitudes like this , and failure to recognize fact here on the Marc Thorp fan club that lead me to stop posting here....

 

All hail MT

[Roy]

Well then I'm certainly glad you stopped posting. This might be a very enlightening thread...If there is no flaming, it'll stay up.

 

ps. I'll let your flame stay as it's not really a post ...you don't post here anymore right?

[mattyk]

The stocking programs down here in the states work really well. They stock musky at at a rate of 1 fish per acre and they usually stock 12 inch fish every year. They have found that anything smaller and they don't really make it. Stocking does work. But i think there also needs to be an effort to improve habitat especially around the Holland river, and other major tribs.

[lunkerbasshunter]

if it ever gets up and running the only way it will survive is if its a strictly catch and release lake.

 

There is way to much fishing pressure on that lake for muskie to survive anything but c and r.

 

My 2 cents anyway.

 

CHeers!

[musky66]

What a topic! I certainly hope the stocking is sucessful as I think we could someday see very large fish in Simcoe- who cares if they are hard to find...that is the nature of Musky fishing. It took me four years to get my first 'ski from Georgian Bay- a memory that will last forever! Keep up the great work boys, learn from your mistakes and carry on. My son and I will be out again in the spring to help with the nets.

[Ron]

Well, Muskies Canada is working on the RESTORATION of Muskies in Lake Simcoe, not restocking of Simcoe.

 

There was a time when Muskie flourished very well in Simcoe but to over harvest and habitat loss the population has declined.

 

MCI along with several other clubs, organizations, Colleges and government have been working together to reconstruct the sustainable population.

 

 

 

In order to have a project like this get approved, there is protocol which has to be followed, I am sure Marc would know about this as he was one of the guys who first started this Simcoe Project. I am just glad he was involved in such an early stage with his knowledge, chances are the project wouldn’t be where it is today.

 

Yes, I agree the project has been in the working for several years now. If this project was strictly a stocking project, it would have been successful long ago. MCI and others are interested in restoring with a strain of muskie that are not genetically altered. We are interested in seeing a viable population that will end up being a self sustaining population. Some of the stocking programs in other areas are just that, a stocking program for PUT GROW and TAKE.

 

But this project is a restoration project, hence there has been some habitat restoration in some areas . There will be more habitat restoration to come. MCI is taking this project as one of it’s largest projects ever. There is a lot at stake here. Reintroduction of close to or probably over 2000 (the actual numbers have not been released at this time) muskie is just a start. There has been a moratorium on fishing for muskie on Simcoe and Couch until the year 2010 where a futher extension may be applied if deems necessary. This will reduce the angling pressure until such a time where this project is either a success or a downfall. We are hoping to start our habitat restoration in other various areas of Simcoe starting in the Spring of 08, any volunteers who wish to help out?

 

Perhaps this FACT SHEET will help everyone understand more of this project as well.

 

http://www.muskiescanada.ca/articles/lake_...ion_project.htm

 

An update of the project.

 

http://www.muskiescanada.ca/articles/lsmrp_oct292007.doc

 

 

As for the MNR using these funds to to pay for gas in their trucks, it is not their money. This is not what the money was raised for. This is a separate entity from which people like yourself have helped raise funds for. (Remember the St. Croix rod I won from Mr. JR? Then in turn I raffled it back off to raise funds for the LSMRP, (Joey won the rod btw).

 

I am certain there will be comments like “why don’t they spend the money on the walleye fisheries or why not contribute the money towards the Whitefish and Lake Trout PGT?” Well if I was a member of their club and that is what the funds were set out to be used for, I would support it 100 percent as well. This money was raised for the interest of Muskie in all of Canada, which I am proud to be a member of.

 

 

There are many different types of people in life, some have opinions and do nothing, some have opinions and talk about doing something, some have opinions and say “we” yet they are never around when the work needs to be done. Then there are the others who have opinions and get involved.

[irishfield]

Thanks for a clear and concise response Ron with some useful details. Too bad your MCI president doesn't have the grace you do. Elections coming up soon... LOL !!

[mattyk]

thanks Ron for the report on whats going on.

[Roy]

Thanks for posting that Ron. It'll clear up a lot of questions that had been up to this point, unanswered.

[Terry]

now that was good response from muskiescanada...thanks Ron

 

where can I find info on volunteering in the spring

[Pigeontroller]

Thanks for a clear and concise response Ron with some useful details. Too bad your MCI president doesn't have the grace you do. Elections coming up soon... LOL !!

 

 

Actually Wayne, we are quite happy with our current president! He is usually the voice of moderation, perhaps he like many others has gotten tired of hearing the same from the same source. MCI is certainly not a perfect organization, I'm sure there have been many problems over the years, but as with any volunteer group, you have people in it for both good and bad reasons, and you have doers and people who do nothing. Luckily for us we have guys like Chris who step up and help keep a good club moving forward.