Feeling the heat, Obama comes good on Asian Carp.

But, is it enough and is it already too late??


Chicago Suntimes

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obam...-carp09.article

The Obama administration said Monday it will spend $78.5 million to help keep giant Asian carp out of the Great Lakes as the ravenous species of fish threatens the water's ecosystems as well as nearby home values.

The U.S. seeks to reduce the number of times Chicago's waterway navigational locks are opened to slow carp movement into the Great Lakes, the White House Council on Environmental Quality said in a statement. The U.S. also will use sonar, electrical shocks, netting and expedited carp DNA testing to control the population of the fish.

DNA from Asian carp was found in Lake Michigan for the first time last month, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to order the closing of locks and dams on rivers in the Chicago area. States including Michigan and New York have said immediate action is needed to keep the fish from hurting commercial fishing.

The White House plan includes 25 short- and long-term actions, including the expedited testing of environmental DNA and doubling the testing samples to 120 per week.

Also, the federal government will award a $13.2 million contract in March to build barriers between the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Des Plaines River.

And it will award a $10.5 million contract to build a third electric barrier.

Canada's best year round multi-species fishery?

The answer rolls off my tongue with ease and not second thought.  The Niagara River of course!
What, an Ontario river you say?  Not a BC river, you must be joking?
Quite the contrary actually, and it is likely the best fishery in North America.  Although Chinook Salmon runs are down in all the Great Lakes, the other opportunities just keep on improving.  This is thanks in large part to established, long term stocking intiatives by both the US and Canada.
The Brown Trout returns this past season has got to be as good as anywhere and has definitely bested any year the river has ever seen.

So you are a die hard Trout fisherman and Ontario is currently in the grips of winter, so what do you do?  Head to the Niagara of course!

Winter tends to a bit slower than say Nov/Dec but there can always be a few fish willing to take a well presented offer.  An average winter day can easily have you battling three fish over a half day of fishing.

So get out there and good fishing!

The Credit River - politicians playing God

Here's a recent report of the goings-on of the Credit and how the government plans to dump wild Steelhead into one of the last and best Brook and Brown Trout fisheries left in Southern Ontario.
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/621082

As if the Atlantic Salmon fiasco isn't enough!!

Great Lakes Asian Carp Invasion

If you fish any waterbody that has connections to the Great Lakes, then you need to know how the future of this fishery is being severely threatened!!



There is new DNA evidence, as early as last week, that the carp has now breached the Chicago barrier.
For those of you who don't know what that means, then you need to watch these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS7zkTnQVaM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ChwJiKKBdA

Lets hope for swift and immediate action to save our $7 billion/year fishery!!

The Steelhead Gods are smiling again!

It was long time coming, but we finally got out again for some winter steelhead fishing on the Niagara.  The day was beautiful, +3C with sun all day.  There was a bitter E wind just to remind us that it was still winter but the sun made it feel more like +10C.  The morning was slow and we never saw any fish where we started out at Pebbley.  Around noon we decided to make our way upriver toward the Glen, and it was at this point that I noticed the fish had begun to get slightly active around the surface.  We fished the tailout section of a long 17' deep run, and on the second drift my partner hooked up with the smallest steelie I'd ever seen pulled from the mighty Niagara River.  But hey, it's a start!!  We kept moving upstream fishing all the pockets and deeper runs as we came upon them.  I spotted a real slow run of about a 50 metres in length and decided to set up shop there.  On the third drift my float did the super slow sink as it does on all telltale snags, so I gave it a quick rip back in the direction it had drift from.  Oh what is this, the snag fought back!!
I landed this hearty buck after a very lacklustre battle.

The drift kept changing speeds from very slow, to dead stopped but we persisted.  Two drifts after my fish, Ben nails another buck just slighty larger than the one I caught.

We fished for about another hour and I lost one fish about the same as these two.  The sun had now left our side of the river and the temps started to drop quickly, so we decided to weave our way back up and out of the Gorge.
Not a stellar day by any means but hey, it was great just to be out on a gorgeous winters day and catch fish.

til next time, Good Fishing!