Studying from Portage Creek – Ontario OUT of DOORS

I knew little or no about steelhead angling when I first hiked into Portage Creek at age 18 along-aspect household buddy and then-Ministry of Pure Assets (MNR) worker Jon George, who was engaged on a key analysis mission. Quick ahead 20 some years, and I’m nonetheless making the hike.

This necessary tributary flows into Lake Superior’s Black Bay some 40 kilometres east of Thunder Bay. In 1994, when the realm’s steelhead fishery was exhibiting indicators of overharvest, a landowner posted a one-kilometre stretch of land under a small waterfall on Portage as personal property, stopping angling. This created a chance for the ministry to conduct a analysis research with the first focus of monitoring the steelhead population submit exploitation.

The North Shore Steelhead Affiliation (NSSA) and the ministry labored collectively on this long-term mission which created an “index stream” for steelhead monitoring on Portage and different Black Bay tributaries.

Portage Creek fish inform a story

To conduct this research, volunteer anglers and ministry workers caught steelhead utilizing conventional angling strategies. Fish had been sampled, intercourse and size documented, scale samples taken, and colour-coded tags had been sewn onto the dorsal fins. Fin clips distinctive to the yr had been additionally utilized.

What the analysis reveals is that the steelhead inhabitants has shifted dramatically over time. The 1992 inhabitants was 500, spiking to a excessive of two,000 in 2004. Then, issues began to say no sharply, and in 2013 the inhabitants estimate dropped to 400. With nothing altering so far as angling harvest goes, this was an fascinating and regarding shift. Anglers in all Black Bay tributaries, rivers that had been historically glorious steelhead fisheries, began to see a pointy decline in fish numbers.

Anglers knew populations had dropped, and the fishery was altering, however the information from Portage confirmed the development.

By 2018, there have been fewer than 150 grownup steelhead remaining within the spring spawning inhabitants. Since then, the inhabitants has remained low. There’s little or no recruitment, and the inhabitants is weighted in the direction of older fish. Steelhead spend one to 2 years within the stream earlier than migrating (smolting) out into Black Bay. After a yr or two, fish mature and return to spawn in Portage for the primary time. The research confirmed poor survival of immature steelhead in Black Bay over the previous 15 years. This decline wasn’t skilled in close by Nipigon Bay and Thunder Bay, and was seemingly remoted to Black Bay.

The rise of perch and walleye

Across the time of the steelhead decline, perch and walleye populations rose. Walleye and perch in Black Bay had suffered considerably over the years, primarily attributable to industrial harvest, however have made a major comeback for the reason that mid 2000s.

The information confirmed that steelhead that spent two years within the stream earlier than transferring into Superior (versus fish that solely stayed for one yr) stood a greater probability of surviving. These fish are larger. Black Bay produced monumental perch, and repeatedly coughs up big walleye. Navigating these predator-filled waters is difficult for steelhead smolts, and is the doubtless purpose many one-stream-year fish aren’t surviving.

Portage hosts a wholesome inhabitants of brook trout, and lately we appear to catch extra. The largest brook trout that was tagged was later caught a outstanding distance away, in a tributary north of Sault Ste Marie.

Portage Creek holds a particular place in my coronary heart, and even with restricted fish numbers, it is a journey I attempt to do annually. It’s an journey, with the added bonus of spending the day on the water with a long-time buddy, absorbing a few of his metalhead information.

Collaborating on this research was drastically different previous to the decline; a day within the early 2000s could have yielded 50 fish (a enjoyable however tiring day). In latest years, we had been completely happy to catch two or three a day. If we received 5, it was practically trigger for celebration.

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