The lure of angling and hunting in Muskoka

[Spiel]

The lure of angling and hunting in Muskoka

 

 

September 16, 2009

Jake Good / www.muskokan.com

 

 

TAKING THE BAIT.

An exhibition on the history of hunting and fishing in

Muskoka at the Muskoka Lakes Museum in Port Carling

features a collection of vintage lures. / Photo by Brett Thompson

 

 

 

The importance of Muskoka’s fishing and hunting history has been unveiled at the Muskoka Lakes Museum in Port Carling.

 

The display focuses on the Sharon Club, a fishing and social club that dates back to 1891 in Milford Bay on Lake Muskoka.

 

“The crest of the Sharon Club represents fishing, friendship and Canada, and it says exactly what the club was and is about,” said Muskoka Lakes Museum curator Doug Smith. “A lot of wealthy Americans were coming up to Muskoka at the end of the nineteenth century and fishing was one of the reasons they came here. The water was pristine and the fish were very plentiful. These fishing trips also helped establish Muskoka as a tourist destination. People, including Civil War veterans, would arrive at their fishing camps but would need supplies or even accommodation. Farmers, who were struggling to make a living from Muskoka’s soil, found they could supplement their earnings catering to these first tourists.”

 

An early photo from the Sharon Club’s archives shows well-dressed individuals smiling around a long line of freshly caught fish.

 

“The club developed ways of getting bait down to the bottom to catch lake trout,” said Smith. “Their methods really revolutionized fishing in Muskoka and members were very successful.”

 

Part of the exhibition includes vintage lures. Patrick Daradick from Parry Sound, a writer for Bob Izumi’s Real Fishing magazine, has brought in his Busty Baits collection of fishing lures. The baits were created by William Flesher, who was born in Parry Sound in 1890 and was given the nickname Busty after being scouted by the Toronto Maple Leafs where fans liked his “bust-up” style of defence. The First World War put an end to his hockey career but Busty was a keen outdoorsman and a commercial fisherman on Georgian Bay. In 1947 he patented his Busty Baits and continued making his hand-made, hand-painted lures until shortly before he died in 1977.

 

“Lures are fascinating,” said Smith. “People soon realized the right twist in a shiny piece of metal or a carved wooden lure would work better than another in catching fish. Lure making became an art form with successful designs getting top dollar. Vintage lures are very collectable today.”

 

As with fishing, hunting has been important to the history of Muskoka.

 

“The area was known by the first nations as a valuable hunting ground,” explained Smith. “Today hunting season is marked on a lot of calendars and it even gets a light-hearted mention in James Bartleman’s book Raisin Wine.”