Our beautiful 2019-2020 season of small channel fish fishing on the Ste-Anne River in Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade has been over for almost three weeks and my balance sheet, I assure you, is very positive. Apart from a few days where Mother Nature was a little naughty, we had a winter with ideal temperatures. As much from the point of view of the mercury as from that of the precipitations. On the fishing side, I can tell you that our small tomcod was there and that in very great number. In my 43 years of experience as an outfitter on the Ste-Anne River, I don’t remember having experienced such a constant abundance of small channel fish. As soon as the opening day of the cod fishery, there was fishing that I would qualify as phenomenal for the beginning of the season. Our winter sportsmen left happy I can tell you. It’s a shame and so mysterious that in the end the catches dropped so dramatically. This is really one of the things we have no control over. Our wish would be that the customers of the last day would experience the same pleasure of the numerous catches as the customers of the rest of the season but we don’t know that and it’s like this every year. Another very interesting fact is the studies of biologists as to the origin of our dear little tomcod. As I mentioned in a previous article, I was mandated as an outfitter to collect tomcod specimens in a very precise manner. Every week, we had to collect female and male fish, some spawned and some not. The exercise consisted of tagging them as such and keeping them frozen until the biologists took possession of them. I enlisted two other outfitters to help me with this task. It’s always encouraging to know that the small fish in the channels are being researched by the biologists. It means that people are still very interested in the species. It was Mr. Yves Mailhot, a retired biologist, who approached me and put me in contact with student biologists who had to explain to me the task at hand to help them in their research. In the end, what interests channel fish biologists so much is a very small bone on the top of its head called an “otolith”. Through analysis, this small bone could reveal the secrets of the origin of the tomcod. As an outfitter fishing for small channel fish on the Ste-Anne River, you will understand my great interest in knowing the results of this analysis. In any case, the small channel fish fishery in Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade is far from over and I give you my word that even if last weekend, the catches were less numerous, our business was maintained with the same attention and professionalism as during the whole season. We respect our customers too much to neglect them. Thank you for choosing the Mario Leduc Fishing Center and it is thanks to you that our business is in such a good position and this for more than 40 years.
My end of season report!
