If you didn’t have any luck on your last local fishing trip, then it might be time to try again.
Brown trout fishing season opened April 22.
This week, the Grand and Conestogo rivers are seeing their brown trout populations swell – thanks in large part to dozens of volunteers.
Retirees, people taking time off work, elementary school students and other volunteers set up along the Conestogo to release thousands of fish into the water.
By Thursday afternoon, they expect to have added 14,750 trout downstream of the dam at Conestogo Lake. Some of the fish are being introduced to the water as far down as Hawkesville.
“It’s part of giving back to the community that you live in,” said Paul Melanson, a volunteer who brought his grandchildren to help.
“If you like to fish, you take fish and you give back.”
The group Friends of the Grand River plays a large role in organizing the annual trout release, with help from organizations like the Grand River Conservation Authority and Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
”We’re creating a better fishery for the public to enjoy,” said Brad Knarr of Friends of the Grand River.
Wednesday’s fish came from a hatchery in Chatsworth. Thursday’s will come from the Peterborough area.
On Friday and Monday, attention will turn to the Grand River. About 23,000 trout will be added to that river, downstream of the Shand Dam at Belwood Lake.
Volunteers started stocking the Grand River with brown trout in 1989. Unlike rainbow trout, which would migrate away, brown trout are happy to remain in the watershed.
With reporting by Stu Gooden
