{"id":1262,"date":"2018-06-25T16:22:16","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T20:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1262"},"modified":"2018-10-28T13:55:34","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T17:55:34","slug":"port-credit-fish-derby-jun-24-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1262","title":{"rendered":"PORT CREDIT FISH DERBY JUN 24, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
PORT CREDIT FISHING DERBY<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
JUNE 24, 2018<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
June 24, 2018<\/div>\n
(Excuse the mention of Skeoch family in story\u2026too many of<\/div>\n
them, \u00a0I \u00a0know that\u2026including \u00a0dog Woody. \u00a0There are people<\/div>\n
here whose names \u00a0I \u00a0could \u00a0not record\u2026particularly the two<\/div>\n
young boys who caught the big fish.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The \u00a0best fishing in Ontario is not located in some \u00a0pristine lake hidden away in the dense coniferous \u00a0forests \u00a0of Ontario. \u00a0Nope! \u00a0Not there! The best<\/div>\n
fishing is \u00a0just a \u00a0couple of \u00a0kilometres out from Port Credit in Lake Ontario. \u00a0Deep down, 200 feet or more, there is \u00a0a large school of \u00a0salmon feasting on<\/div>\n
alewives and \u00a0others. \u00a0Salmon that grow to be huge. \u00a0Salmon that a few fishermen compete each year to see who can catch the biggest of these<\/div>\n
predators.<\/div>\n
\n

<\/p>\n

The rebirth of the Credit River did not occur overnight. \u00a0For decades the River went into a sad \u00a0decline until the Atlantic salmon disappeared \u00a0from the river<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

as the twin damages of \u00a0timbering and damming in the 19th and 20th centuries removed the shade of overhanging trees which provided cool water that<\/div>\n
salmon loved to lay \u00a0their eggs and the dams for power mills \u2026 lumber, grist, wool \u2026slowed the river down \u00a0so much that the white \u00a0water rushes were<\/div>\n
eliminated \u00a0and \u00a0the river became a lazy watercourse unappealing to the adventurous \u00a0Atlantic salmon. \u00a0The dumping of \u00a0sewage and sawdust into the<\/div>\n
Credit River did \u00a0not help \u00a0much either. \u00a0 Brian Lambie, President of the Port Credit Salmon and Trout Association put the matter bluntly. \u00a0\u201cPeople of Ontario tended to think of rivers<\/div>\n
as a place where sewers \u00a0go.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But all that has changed. The Credit River has \u00a0been reborn helped by many \u00a0midwives \u00a0some of whom \u00a0planted \u00a0400,000 trees along the banks of the river as it winds its \u00a0way down<\/div>\n
to Port Credit from its \u00a0headwaters near Erin and Orangeville. \u00a0Tress shade \u00a0salmon \u00a0eggs.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Even now, Brian Lambie, the president of the Port Credit Salmon and Trout Association, said most people in Toronto don\u2019t even know you can catch big salmon in Lake Ontario. \u201cThey tend to think of Lake Ontario as a place where our sewers go,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But there were no Atlantic Salmon in the Credit River. \u00a0And the comeback of those beauties was unlikely. \u00a0In the 1970\u2019s enlightened \u00a0conservationists (including<\/div>\n
many fishermen) came up with a \u00a0solution. \u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s try Pacific salmon, they are tougher.\u201d \u00a0And so chinook and coho salmon were \u2018seeded\u201d \u00a0in the upper \u00a0Credit<\/div>\n
River. \u00a0 They \u00a0loved the new home it seems. \u00a0800,000 salmon eggs were introduced and 90,000 Pacific \u00a0salmon fingerlings began to run the new rapids down \u00a0the<\/div>\n
Credit to Lake Ontario. \u00a0Today, 2018, the Pacific \u00a0salmon are established as \u00a0between 5,000 and 10,000 return to run up the river every \u00a0fall to get back to what they<\/div>\n
thought (first run) was their place \u00a0of birth. \u00a0 Nowadays the headwaters \u00a0of the Credit \u2026 there river is \u00a0some \u00a0100 km long\u2026has \u00a0become their place of birth. \u00a0They<\/div>\n
are the Credit River salmon, no longer Pacific \u00a0Salmon.<\/div>\n
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\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Brian Lambie\u2019s leadership with fishermen has helped to make the Credit River into a $180 million industry where huge salmon like the one pictured here (caught June 25,2018) are<\/div>\n
common enough to support a Port Credit Fish Derby where fishermen and a few fisherwomen haul their caches to a \u00a0weigh station on the banks of the river and the top catch<\/div>\n
gets a $2,000 cash \u00a0prize. \u00a0This \u00a0year the top catch weighed 22 pounds and \u00a0is pictured just below the smiling face of Brian Lambie who acted as spokesman for the Salmon Derby.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Andrew Skeoch supervised the weighing competition. \u00a0Competing fishermen who caught more than one big salmon had to choose which \u00a0of their catch<\/div>\n
would \u00a0be \u00a0weighing in. \u00a0 Of these which would you select?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
These boys were professional s at catching salmon. \u00a0The huge fish on the right was \u00a0a top contender that just barely missed qualifying for<\/div>\n
one of the big cash prizes.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Some caught big ones. \u00a0 some caught little ones. \u00a0One boat caught that big orange stuffed toy floating in the morning mist.<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
Some of The Port Credit Fish \u00a0Derby contestants are returning to the Port Credit harbour with huge fish in their lockers. \u00a0Some returned \u00a0with nothing. In the distance<\/div>\n
is \u00a0the hulk of the old Ridgetown, a \u00a0Laker that was filled with cement year \u00a0ago to act as a breakwater at the mouth of the Credit River.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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The winning team brought in a 22 pound salmon. \u00a0Here they are pictured with Brian Lambie.<\/div>\n
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One man whose name I need to find, had the job of determining the biggest fish. \u00a0His word was \u00a0not up for debate.<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
Brian Lambie, centre, with \u00a0two of his many assistants. \u00a0These assistants had to slip their fingers \u00a0through the gills of these huge fish, careful not<\/div>\n
to slice fingers on the serrated teeth of the salmon. \u00a0Remember salmon are predators … \u00a0helped \u00a0to clean<\/div>\n
up the Credit River by gobbling up as many of the alewife fish as they could \u00a0find. \u00a0The alewife replaced the Atlantic salmon<\/div>\n
and had to be reduced if a \u00a0salmon stock could be re-established. \u00a0Take a look at the teeth on the salmon held by<\/div>\n
Andrew Skeoch on the right below.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0This \u00a0salmon is preparing to get even with this fisherman on the right. \u00a0Salmon \u00a0and fishermen should be \u00a0friends but they are not. \u00a0 The salmon<\/div>\n
compete to catch and consume smaller fish. \u00a0The fishermen are after the prize money in the Port Credit Derby. \u00a0 Enemies.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I counted \u00a0three women among the fishers. It was \u00a0a \u00a0male crowd \u00a0of 60 to 70 men.<\/div>\n
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These guys got the third prize of $750 cash.<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In spite of the pouring rain, Bib Cutmore, Marjorie Skeoch and dog Woody enjoyed \u00a0the merriment of the competition. \u00a0Woody<\/div>\n
showed no interest in eating a \u00a0salmon. \u00a0\u201cToo big\u2026too many teeth\u2026,\u201d he growled.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Someone, likely Brian Lambie pictured above, fired \u00a0a shotgun at 6 a.m. on June 24th to start the Derby. \u00a0A flotilla of motorized fish<\/div>\n
boats festooned \u00a0with long fish rods raced out into lake Ontario for the six hour Fish Derby. \u00a0Two hundred \u00a0feet beneath these boats those big coho and chinook salmon<\/div>\n
slid silently in the dark looking for unwary alewives \u00a0or any other edible thing that moved\u2026some were no doubt surprised<\/div>\n
to find the moving lure had a nest of lethal fish hooks.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere have all these fishermen come from? \u00a0Several came from Georgian Bay but the person who came the farthest was \u00a0Kevin Skeoch<\/div>\n
who flew to Port Credit from South Korea just to join his brother. \u00a0The Skeoch brothers \u00a0failed to catch a \u00a0big fish but that \u00a0did \u00a0not matter.<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the chase that really matters.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
2013 article \u00a0Toronto Star<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PORT CREDIT FISHING DERBY JUNE 24, 2018 alan skeoch June 24, 2018 (Excuse the mention of Skeoch family in story\u2026too many of them, \u00a0I \u00a0know that\u2026including \u00a0dog Woody. \u00a0There are people here whose names \u00a0I \u00a0could \u00a0not record\u2026particularly the two young boys who caught the big fish.) The \u00a0best fishing in Ontario is not located […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1262"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1639,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions\/1639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}