Bellwood lake

[gimby]

Hey guys does anyone know if bellwood is open yet me and my uncle are hopeing to get out this weekend

 

thanks

gimbz

[capt bruce]

http://www.grandriver.ca/NewsRoom/News.cfm

[grt1]

When I was a kid, my dad was going to take me up north fishing. We lived in Brantford and his idea of up north was Bellwood Lake. So one day we drove up there and he rented a boat for us to fish from. To me this was a big deal since all the fishing I had ever done to that time was from shore on the banks of the Grand River. Anyway, we got in this boat and he started rowing, yup, rowing across the lake. I spent most of my time bailing the water that was seeping in this old boat . We got partway across to a fishing spot when a storm rolled in and the lake started to churn so we turned back and never did wet a line.

 

I have always wondered what kind of fish live in Bellwood Lake and what did I miss out on catching.

 

Anyone out there able to fill me in on the fishing species for this lake.

[Marko]

I tought about going myself but looks like its closed due to high water levels.

As of species there are pike, bass, trout, some bullheads and i am prety sure there is some pan fish in there too.

 

Hope it helped

[bramptonjerry]

I heard that bellwood was closed to ice fishing this year because of low water conditions...could be wrong...thru the ice they have lots of small pike and perch...in the summer the bass fishing is pretty good...there's a launch run by the conservation authority that you cvan phone for conditions but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they've closed it to ice fishing this year

[KyleM]

It is indeed closed to icefishing.

 

Good luck catching a Trout in Belwood lake.

I can almost promise you they are non-existant.

Below the dam there are tons.

 

They have started catching pickeral in there the past few years though.

[fishing n autograph]

lol...like kyle said, you have to go below the Shand Dam to find any trout....

[bassmaster4]

its a great place to catch lots of 20 and under 20 inch pike but the bass fishing is better than the pike if you like quality over quantity

[Marko]

yea i meant bellow the dam, i havent seen any in the lake,I apologize for not being clear on it.

But there is usually 20 people fishing on each side of the river just bellow the dam.

[panfisherboy]

i fish belwood every summer i've caught tons of pike, perch small mouth, and bullhead, here's a pic of the average pike size.

good luck belwood is open and they are not selling minnows this year or renting huts.

[waterwolf]

i don't mean to make my ignorance so obvious but why the heck do you build dams ? water and flood control right ?

 

she's closed , no water .

 

she's gonna open soon 'cause of the big melt.

 

oh, oh too much water , closed again .

 

it's 12 km 's long , that's a fair size to fill and empty over night, no?

 

i've watched this lake off and on over the winter .

 

it's weird. guelph has been closed all season due to low water .

 

a dam regulates water levels according to safe guidelines previously determined.

 

speed up the response times . keep a closer eye on things guys....

 

probably not that simple,,,,,,,,,,,, but i feel better.

[fishing n autograph]

yeah, the dam is there to control the flood plain below the lake after the spring thaw....there's a good article on that part of the river in the Canadian Fly Fisher Mag.....plus the water is used as part of the water supple further down the river

[waterwolf]

i think we both understand the function of how a dam manipulates the outflow out a chosen river system.

 

point at hand here is the reason a lake's water level cannot be properly sustained .

 

similarly sized lakes in the vicinity maintain constant water levels throughout the winter months .

 

lower than normal but stable. why?

[KyleM]

Waterwolf, if the dam wasnt there........thered be no lake.

It was built because that river has a massive flood plain.

If you look back over the years, its not always this dry...5 years ago that dam came 1/4 inch from flooding over.

 

There are no lakes even close to the size within about an hour and a half.

If you count Conestoga, its dam controlled aswell.

[boatman]

speed up the response times . keep a closer eye on things guys....

 

The problem is that there are so many variables that must be estimated in order to determine how much water to hold back or release. Since its impossible to know or measure exactly how much precipitation will fall or when it will come it is pretty much impossible to maintain waterlevels at the perfect level. Its much like weather forecasting. Even with 200 years of serious research and technology its still anyones guess.

 

Response times are as fast as they can be if you consider that there are people watching the waterlevels and weather every day and balancing that information against all the other important variables such as watershed landuse, recreational needs, legal and illegal water taking, ecological and biological concerns and recalculating how much water to hold/release everyday. And as soon as a large discharge event (rain or melt water) is expected workers rush out and take physical measurements, which I might add is often dangerous work. At this point only better water monitoring technology will speed use flood forecasting.

 

Also, Belwood is not truly a lake, but a riverine reservoir. There is a certain amount of water that must be discharged everyday to meets all the other needs of the river system and its users. Maintaining lake water levels for recreation is only the smallest aspect of this and in my opinion the least important. You can't compare water levels in a reservoir to other natural lakes. Its apples to oranges.

[Cookslav]

its a great place to catch lots of 20 and under 20 inch pike but the bass fishing is better than the pike if you like quality over quantity

 

That "can" be true, but there are some real bruiser Pike in there as well..you just gotta sort through the hammerhandles to get 'em.

Try a bigger bait, I like (large offset spinner in strait white), and maybe work out a bit deeper on the weed beds, you may get lucky with something bigger.

 

Nice healthy Bass population fer sure,, and lots of heavy weed to work plastics.

I know Pickeral are in there, And I keep hearing the Pickeral are gaining some share of the water but I've been hearing that for atleast the last 6-7 years

We'll see this summer I s'pose if I get a chance to get out.

 

Trout fishing below the dam IMO is great....starting 2 miles down the river were your not squeezed shoulder to shoulder.

I'm yet to break 18 inches though

 

I've seen some real beauties 20+ in some of the holes, and Know a guy through another guy....But I've seen the pics of a beautifull 24 inch hen

Keep in mind its a single Barbless hook/No Kill Zone.

 

Last couple years I've been working the lower section of the zone cause I tend to see less people...smaller trout it seems are plentifull Getting over 12 inches is a chor LOL!

But their in there...got my 18 incher in the lower.

 

Im not a huge Ice fisherman, don't mind it though....Can't say the closure bothers me.

I'll just enjoy the surplus in the spring