Published by the Bradford Times: There are records of fishing on Lake Simcoe that date to the earliest European contact. When Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1615, he found aboriginal people fishing with nets at the fish weirs of the Narrows, between lakes Simcoe and Couchiching. In 1815, early settlers observed First Nations fishing with spears, through holes cut in the ice.
In fact, spear-fishing was once huge on Lake Simcoe: Between 1907 and 1941, when spear-fishing licences were cancelled, an estimated 500,000 pounds of lake trout was taken by spear-fishermen.
But it wasn’t the historic record angler Wil Wegman came to discuss at a recent meeting of the Innisfil Historical Society. It was the “how-to” of ice fishing, the rules and regulations and the best strategies for catching fish.
Wegman, a champion ice angler, also talked about the evolution of fishing on one of Canada’s largest inland lakes — changes driven, in large part, by invasive species.
In the decade since zebra mussels, and now quagga mussels, were introduced into the lake, the filter-feeders have made the water clearer, if not cleaner, by filtering out zooplankton. As a result, fish are relying more on their sense of sight.
Then there’s the round goby. “Their populations are just out of control,” Wegman said. The invasive species reproduces three or four times per year and consumes the eggs and fry of other species. While there is now some predation of gobies, “it remains to be seen if that will control populations,” Wegman said. One issue: Round gobies feed on zebra mussels, concentrating the botulism toxin that can be found in the mussels – which may kill larger fish that feed on them.
VHS and KHV viruses, introduced to the lake presumably through the dumping of baitfish, have also led to fish die-offs.
“Lake Simcoe is the most intensively fished inland lake,” especially during the ice-fishing season, Wegman said. But the changes in food availability, and greater clarity of the water column, have led to changes in the observed habits of some trophy species, especially whitefish, trout and yellow perch. Continue reading – http://www.orilliapacket.com/2016/01/19/fishing-in-lake-simcoe-then-and-now