Fishermen luxuriate in Ontario

Author: John Spehn

Date: June 22, 1988 Page: 130 Section: SPORTS

KENORA, Ontario- This is Sunset Country, edged by the sprawling Lake of the Woods. It's a fisherman's and vacationer's paradise that offers the ultimate in outdoor experience.

Jack Rezny, Chicago manager for Ontario's Ministry of Tourism, and I boarded an airplane and arrived in Winnipeg two hours later. We drove to Kenora and met Mark Duggan, executive director of Sunset Country. The next morning, we met district manager Gordon Pyzer, and Bruce Ranta, the district biologist for the Ministry of Natural Resources. We discussed Habitat Rehabilitation, Lake of the Woods assessment, trout management in Ontario waters and Kenora fisheries management plans.

Ranta and Pyzer, advocates of natural fish reproduction, explained Ontario's ideas for better fish management through the use of fish size and creel regulations. In one instance, a large lake was closed to walleye fishermen and Indian netters because fish populations had taken a drastic down trend. The lake will be closed until 1999.
Both are advocates of catch and release and I had the opportunity to see the results of a lake that was only "catch and release."

We overnighted at Minaki Lodge, a resort that offers the ultimate in vacation packages for honeymooners, fishermen and conventioneers.
The next morning, we boarded a River Air float plane for the 20-minute trip to Halley's Camp at Kettle Falls on the English River.

We rigged rods, changed clothes and were down on the dock in a half-hour. We met Dave, our guide, and headed downriver for lunker walleyes.

We rigged Lindy spinners (June Bug type) with a half-ounce, rubber-core sinker set about 30 inches above the spinner. I added a fat minnow and began trolling slowly in 10 feet of water.

It took two minutes for Rezny to connect with a 7 1/2-pound walleye. My spinner stopped dead and another fat fish of three pounds was saved for the shore lunch. Rezny's rod bent double as another walleye took his minnow. A six-pound fish was netted. We caught 40 walleye in two hours and headed for a shore lunch area where we met Mark Duggan and John Bucanon, editor of the Kenora Minor newspaper. Both had taken and released 45 fish.