Hungry patrons Roy Welk of Eganville and former member of the Golden Lake Property Owners Association Fish Committee, Joey Shay, enjoyed their fish and chips while listening to the performance by Spare Change.

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Golden Lake – The annual Golden Lake Property Owners Association (GLPOA) fish fry served about 200 meals in support of its Walleye Rehabilitation Program last Sunday.

The afternoon of fun took over the United Church Camp on June 8th. Featuring the Whitewater Brewing Co. and a live performance from the band Spare Change, it also offered kids activities including a special visit from a Bluey mascot as well as a minnow race and the North Algona Wilberforce Fire Department’s Touch-a-Truck.

Fish Committee Chair Don Bishop told the Leader the group had held its annual smelt fry for the past several years before expanding its offerings. Now supporting a project with over 50 other volunteers, the event was bigger and better than ever.

“We decided that we needed to be a little bit more dynamic and we brought walleye into the menu, and it was very successful,” he explained.

Mr. Bishop said the fish fry was previously held at Red Pine Camp in an effort to get word out of the Walleye Rehabilitation Program, secure it some funding and host a social gathering. He said it caught them off guard to see just how many people got together and enjoyed themselves, adding the event saw
visitors from as far as Quebec and Deep River.

“To come down, just to have a lovely afternoon being outside and having great food,” Mr. Bishop remarked. “We had a similar result this year. People are already saying they’re looking forward to next year.”

With all proceeds going towards the GLPOA’s Fish Committee, he said the 200 or so meals served equates to roughly $1,600 in funding for the project after recouping expenses. The event went off without a hitch thanks to assistance from a group of about 30 volunteer helpers. Mr. Bishop noted the Walleye Rehabilitation Program was formed a few years ago in response to the species’ declining population, which dates back at least 75 years ago.

“Golden Lake used to be, back in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s and up until the mid-80s, known as the premier walleye lake in Eastern Ontario,” he continued. “And it was so good that if I had visitors, I could say, ‘Would you like to have fresh walleye for dinner?’”

He said the abundance of walleye was a given seeing how “bountiful” they were. This trend continued up until the mid-80s, when local fishers started to notice the population begin to decline. He said by the 1990s, it got to the point where you could fish like your life depended on it and were lucky to catch one or two every year.

The realization led Mr. Bishop and other local volunteers to kick-start the Walleye Rehabilitation Program nearly three years ago. And it’s come a long way since then.

He started working with Dr. Peter Heineman, a retired fish biologist from the University of Ottawa who has been coming to Golden Lake for the past 33 years.

“He doesn’t have any property here. He comes as a tourist to Red Pine Camp,” Mr. Bishop added. “He and I started working and doing the research on it.”

He said they kept uncovering more and more with each deep dive before ultimately reaching the point where they now have about 120 scientific and industry documents supporting their findings and a potential solution.

“About four, five years ago the Ministry (of Natural Resources) did what is called a ‘hydroacoustic survey’ of the smelt population in the lake, and through their estimation there was between six and seven million of them,” he said, “by far the largest species in the lake.”

Mr. Bishop said a more recent follow-up report revealed the figure is now closer to 13 million, and not only are they eating walleye fingerlings, but all the other species in the lake as well.

Addressing the Issue

Despite the situation worsening, Mr. Bishop said there’s a clear cut method of things returning to the way they were. The Walleye Rehabilitation Program plans to reintroduce the population strategically and reestablish the species as Golden Lake’s top predator yet again.

“We created a nursery system that’s in the water for 120 days, and that allows us to put in summer fingerlings, and then in November we’re able to release them.”

He said by the time the fingerlings have aged into the fall, they’re large enough to not be eaten by the dominant Rainbow Smelt. He said the change bumps their survival rate from a range of about zero to 3 percent to anywhere between 60 and 70 percent. But even with the several thousand fingerlings they put in the lake every year, it pales in comparison to the millions of smelt.

“What we have to do is accelerate the walleye population and get it back up to the numbers that were originally done back in the 40s when the Pembroke District Office released 200,000 yearlings (one-year-old baby walleye) into the lake,” he explained. “We know the methodology, we have the science behind us. We know what we can get done.”

Mr. Bishop said between bureaucracy and red tape, the past 35 months have not been easy. But he and the large team of volunteer support are proud to be making a difference regardless.