Hamilton bay - Walleye Stocking

[OldTimer]

It is great to see that Hamilton's bay water quality has improved to the point where the MNR has initiated a new stocking program. They put 100,000 walleye fingerlings in the bay last week:

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/articl...itive-sign

GOOD STUFF!

Cheers,

OldTimer

[MichaelAngelo]

(07-24-2012 07:42 AM)OldTimer Wrote:  It is great to see that Hamilton's bay water quality has improved to the point where the MNR has initiated a new stocking program. They put 100,000 walleye fingerlings in the bay last week:

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/articl...itive-sign

GOOD STUFF!

Cheers,

OldTimer

That's fantastic. In a passing conversation with a fellow angler at Milne Dam Park in Markham, I learned that Walleye used to be abundant there as well.

Another angler told me that walleye used to outnumber bass in the Kawarthas.

I wonder which factor contributed more to their decline: not being as hardy as bass or people keeping every single walleye they caught.

I've yet to catch my first walleye!

[OldTimer]

Bass are not native to any Ontario inland lake - only the Great Lakes and St Lawrence systems originally had the species., yet walleye were native in many inland lakes.

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/...095205.pdf

No doubt - the decline of the walleye is due to competition from competing species, overfishing (both sport and commercial), and loss of suitable habitat and spawning areas (i.e pollution, silt, construction).

[woolyworm]

Awesome! It will be cool to add walleye to the list of species available in western Lake Ontario!!!!

[MichaelAngelo]

(07-24-2012 10:32 AM)OldTimer Wrote:  Bass are not native to any Ontario inland lake - only the Great Lakes and St Lawrence systems originally had the species., yet walleye were native in many inland lakes.

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/...095205.pdf

No doubt - the decline of the walleye is due to competition from competing species, overfishing (both sport and commercial), and loss of suitable habitat and spawning areas (i.e pollution, silt, construction).

When I was in Algonquin this past weekend, I read about the introduction of smallmouth bass to the area. When the ministry introduced smallmouth bass, they didn't realize that they would out-compete the native brookies.

And now the smallies are all over the park!

Who knows what the walleye will do . If we have any luck, they'll start learning how to crawl onto shore to eat Canada Goose eggs