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Water
Bodies Services Interactive Misc.
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History of the Distribution of Small Mouth Bass in North Western Ontario.
- “Many lakes will shift from walleye to a bass-dominated community” - “Bass have yet to encounter their thermal barrier”, - “Walleye densities negatively related to bass densities” - “Bass exist in many water bodies” - “Higher bass densities in more clear lakes From the summary of Smallmouth Bass in North-Western Ontario: colonization, distribution and impacts by K.B. Armstrong & R. Mackereth Ont. MNR 2000.
Distribution of Small Mouth Bass in 1950
With the rise in popularity for bass fishing experienced in Eastern Ontario, smallmouth were rounded up in Lake Erie and loaded onto trains and transferred to North Western Ontario. Smallmouth was the fish of choice during the late 1800’s. The fish was loved so greatly that special “no commercial fishing for smallmouth” laws were put into place. This alone made it a good choice to transfer into the north where commercial fishing was much impacting the fish stocks for generations to come. This species would be safe from being targeted by the gill net. About four hundred adult fish first made it to Kenora around 1903 and were released into Longbow Lake. Soon they made their way into Lake of the Woods when the dam broke and were consequently swept downstream into the big lake. Once they were established in the big lake, more adult transfers were rapidly done from both the government and by private individuals. Smallmouth did quite well in their new environment. The experiment had paid off. Rainy lake was first stocked with smallmouth in the 1920’s. The first stocking was done on the United States side of the border waters. Quickly after, stocking along the Canadian National rail line was occurring on bodies of water that the railway ran next to. From Kenora and Fort Frances on the west, to Thunder bay on the east, the fish were planted from the tracks and trestles. Some planted lakes took off, and others did not succeed so well. Smallmouth only, was stocked on the Canadian side as opposed to both largemouth and smallmouth stocked on the southern US side of the lake. The Large mouth never really took in Rainy, although they exist in a few of the shallow oriented bays on the south side of the border lake today. Recently, one was weighed in at a tournament that fished in U.S. waters only. The Canadian local biologist Darrel McLeod has seen only one largemouth in Rainy Lake during his whole career of managing the Canadian side fishery. Strangely, other than the extreme south portion of Rainy Lake, the largemouth stocks remain mostly a mystery. The main band of planting occurs in an arc running from the north end of Rainy Lake and arching west and north towards Sioux Narrows. Rowan lake would be smack in the middle of it. There are some great new largemouth lakes in this area all created by our outfitters and a few individuals. Strong speculation has the fish coming from down south where the (big fish) live. A rich dude from California I know swears the new record largemouth for Ontario will soon come from a lake he knows very personally. Wink, wink. Makes me wonder where his stock came from and how? Another story has a few fish that apparently made their way up here from Florida and prospered well. These planted fish have now made it a reality for massive planting, as the stocked lakes are readily available and abundant with nice healthy largemouth. The gene stocks from the smallmouth are mainly direct descendants from the Lake Erie fish; in fact the genetics should be almost exact, just 100 years later vs. the largemouth, which is not documented at all because private individuals did the stocking. Largemouth appears to be the next species the tourist industry is expanding. Even with tighter home ranges than smallmouth the fish appear to be marching along. The best largemouth lakes I have found usually happen where the pike (and usually small pike) had previously proliferated. These lakes can be good largemouth lakes if they have been planted. Good three to five pound averages are possible in a few quiet locations. Some fish are now topping the biggest smallmouth I have seen ever. Largemouth like the wood up here too. Find a lake with lots of wood and it probably will have human transferred largemouth swimming in it. The largemouth boom is now upon us. What was at first baffling during the expansion of the smallmouth was the speed at which the smallmouth were (and are) showing up in new water. Right across North Western Ontario the spread continues. Soon the entire system will be impacted by the spread of the fish. It appears that most of the new smallmouth water is where lakes with outpost camps exist. First come the main lakes with lodges located on them and then the small lakes adjacent are further transferred. Smallmouth can be loaded into floatplanes for the quick jump to the new (frontier) water. Some outfitters constructed elaborate oxygenated barrel tank set-ups to move the fish. It really was no secret if you knew the right person to ask. It would seem Quetico Park would be a great comparison, one might think. No lodges or camps of the sort and it is known as “canoe country”. Not so! The border waters south along the park were stocked in the early twenties by MINN. And north of the park along the C.N. railway by ONT. They were on the fringe since then. What appeared to be a swift marching exotic species (smallmouth) through the park was in reality human transfers. By canoe? No way. Quetico is really not as remote as it is made out to be. Aircraft can and do reach deep into the park in minutes from their home bases. Boats and motors are allowed by the aboriginals and they can guide clients and fish from the watercraft. Outfitters have the right to fly in the guests, aboriginals, gas, and their gear. Planes are a common occurrence these days in the Park along with the boats and motors. What really happened was a massive stocking campaign by the tourist outfitters that stocked the park from floatplanes. The rate at which the smallmouth spread across the map every year was mind boggling to those that were keeping track of the situation. It was blatant illegal stocking. The smallmouth moved with lightning speed and sadly now they are virtually everywhere you go in Quetico. Wow! They spread quicker in an environment where we tried to keep it as untouched by man as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I like smallmouth but not in every lake there is around here. The density of lakes with smallmouth in the park is the greatest of all N.W.Ont. Smallmouth now rule Quetico Park. Largemouth has been hardly noticed in the confines of Quetico. That may change soon as the speed of the largemouth spread is gaining momentum. Remember those southern stocks are ripe for massive transfers. When I hit a new lake that has the first fishable smallmouth it can be a wicked experience. If your timing is right, there seems to be a nice window where the planted fish get really big or maybe its the first good generation of successful spawners that get so big. I have no real way of knowing when the fish arrived and how many. I just know there are giant fish caught in the beginning. Maybe the food competition is at the extreme advantage for only a few smallmouth using the locations preferred. One thing is certain, if there is a good food source about, smallmouth will find it. True monster fish are there during the initial phases of populating a lake. I follow the sightings regularly and have kept track of when and where. Usually it starts like this: “ The wife and I were trolling that boulder shore over there” pointing to the shore opposite from his cabin. “It was a five pounder”, biggest bass he ever caught and the first in this lake. That is until two years later when two large smallmouth were nesting close to his dock. This time he took a photo and a measurement due to my requests before he filleted it and showed me a 22-inch fish. He landed some giants over the next few years. With three more years added to the situation small fry would be abundant in the shallows and hanging around his dock, “just like in Rainy Lake” he say, “little 5 inch bass attacking any bait fish that moved near his dock”. When the massive wave of fry reached its teenage years there were small “grunt” fish everywhere along the shorelines. Walleye stocks usually took a dive in these situations as the smallmouth bloom happened. It can take Mother Nature many years to rebalance the equation once again. The lakes with lake trout in them have been affected too. When ciscoes are available, smallmouth will find them and lower the over all bait fish numbers down in small lakes. This same baitfish was the lake trout’s staple diet. An unbalance occurs. I am actively fishing a lake that meets this criterion right now. Lake trout are few and far now a days, but unreal hog smallmouth have taken over. An unbalance for sure and it will be interesting as I follow the lakes progression. I miss the trout, but man, the wicked smallmouth! Back years ago, there was a period of time when the locals were hardly impressed with these new-planted bass. Many blamed poor walleye fishing after the bass arrival and rightly so. Most lakes seem to be stabilize from the exotic smallmouth transfers but not all of them. Walleye and smallmouth can do quite well cohabitating with most other species especially on the bigger lakes that have a larger diversified food system. The small fragile lakes are harmed the most in situations that the bass can dominate. “Many lakes will shift from walleye to a bass-dominated community” and “walleye densities negatively related to bass densities” were given from the summary of Smallmouth Bass in North-western Ontario: colonization, distribution and impacts by K.B. Armstrong & R. Mackereth Ont. MNR 2000. The study also suggests that: “bass have yet to encounter their thermal barrier”, “bass exist in many water bodies”, and “higher bass densities in more clear lakes”. So what appeared to be a mass migration of the smallmouth at lightning speed were in fact just human transfers. Eight kilometres is the figure given for the maximum range a small mouth can identify with. As Gord has written, the smallmouth know where they come from and they know where they live quite well. In my experience some fish have adapted long-range tendencies and these fish do it for spawning reasons. Some extended shallow water bays on Rainy Lake that can almost be classified as an “enclosed lake” exist off the main lake basins. Big shallow water bays with warm dark water. The can be eight to ten miles deep with smallmouth right in the back of bay come early spring. A week earlier the fish were deep along the main lake basin. You can literally chase the fish all the way in if your timing and locations are right. These fish travel fast and from point A to B to C kind of a thing. The fish vacate the warm shallow water bays as summer progresses. In the fall some migrating sections of the lake (back bays which are “enclosed lake” type) have a mass spill of big migrating smallies into the main lake basin and out to the wintering areas. It would be entirely correct that this is my assumption and I have no true way to verify that the fish migrate further distances than normally assumed. It is just from my observations. The current smallmouth situation suggests smallmouth that are transferred as adults into entirely new water also must have a high rate of success at proliferating in the new and most likely under utilized water. The human transferred fish by the tourist industry are proof enough. These fish have a strong will to live and to prosper the species. Far exceeding the natural fish that they have displaced. These fish want to rule! The proliferation of the species has created the information of “where and how big” to be an ever changing item. A new big fish bite has materialized all throughout the area. Old news is well, Old News. Soon we may learn just how north this species and its cousin the largemouth can exist in. Right now we know they can live quite far north. Time will tell us how far north its range really is. Man’s tentacles are long and wide. It is nice that it was only bass and not some snakefish kind of thing. Many new exotics are appearing on a more regular basis. Crappie, blue gill, brown bull head, smelt, etc. Hopefully we will be a little more diligent with these. Distribution of Small Mouth Bass in 2000
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