Yesterday, I read in the local weekly newspaper that the Medway River is closed to all angling from the Greenfield Bridge to the Hwy 103 bridge from July 11 to August 15, 2011. This is in response to complaints about people catching and releasing salmon under the guise of trout angling, the article explains.
Oops! Yesterday was July 19 and I have fished almost everyday - sometimes twice a day - in the Medway River in front of my house for months now. I take our two dogs with me in the canoe and troll a fly behind us as we paddle along. Sometimes I catch a White Perch, but usually it's a Smallmouth Bass that grabs the fly. I catch Gaspereau too, when they are traveling through, but I haven't caught a trout since the end of June.
I don't mind. Actually, I enjoy the daily ritual. I like the scenery and the wildlife on the river, I like my canine companions, I like the physical challenge of handling the canoe despite my advancing years. I've learned it's the fishing, not the fish that matters - so everything gets released back into the river.
According to the article, I have been violating the law without knowing it for 8 days now. Now that I am informed, however, I am obliged to lay down my rod. This doesn't sit well with me and here is why...
Having been a teacher for many years, I have seen some "knee jerk" reactions from administrators in response to student behavior. The classic "rookie" mistake is to cancel the school dance because a few students misbehaved. This is exactly what has happened on the Medway River.
A few anglers, evidently, have been blatantly ignoring a moratorium on salmon fishing that has been in place on the Medway for fifteen years. I don't mean that they sneak up to a salmon pool with a net in the darkness. No, these fishermen cast in broad daylight at a known salmon pool and do their best to hook a salmon, then release it. When confronted, they claim that their trout license gives them every right to be there.
So, are they poachers? Not by the traditional definition (doesn't there have to be a dead salmon in someone's possession?). No, what they are is opportunists - fellow anglers who can't resist the temptation to have a few flicks over the king of all sport fish. I'd do it myself, except for one simple thing...
I fish for enjoyment, and to relax. I couldn't enjoy myself, nor would I be very relaxed if I was worried that, at any moment, a fisheries officer might step up and relieve me of my rod and reel and the hundreds of flies I tote with me, not to mention confiscating my vehicle and leaving me to hitchhike or swim home. No, thanks, I think I'll save my salmon fishing for a river where it can be lawfully enjoyed.
That doesn't mean I agree with the river closure. Some of my neighbors are Smallmouth Bass enthusiasts. Finally, they are beginning to enjoy some exciting flyfishing action in their own front yards. It had to happen. Once the bass were illegally introduced into the lakes it took less than ten years for them to become a force to be reckoned with in the Medway River.
I wish I had been able to capture a video of what I have seen happening in front of my house this summer. The schools of newly-hatched Gaspereaux descending from the brooks met a cruel surprise in the Medway as the bass gorged on them. It was unlike anything I have ever seen except in the movies. Actually, it reminded me of piranhas in a feeding frenzy, except that the water didn't turn blood red. I didn't know that Gaspereaux could fly until I saw them leaping several feet clear of the water trying to escape their fates.
I love Atlantic Salmon as much as any man, but it is becoming clear what will happen on the Medway. Despite the efforts of special interest groups to restore the river to her former glory as an Atlantic Salmon sport fishery, the momentum of forces that are bent on eradicating these noble fish is reaching the point of no return.
Acid rain, Nova Scotia's dependence on coal-fired power plants, the expansion of caged aquaculture operations, and now, an unstoppable predatory threat to parr and smolts from invasive species like Smallmouth Bass and, soon-to-arrive, Chain Pickerel spell doom for the king of fish.
In the face of this, to see prominent members of these special interest groups lined up on the bank, hoping to catch one of the few remaining salmon is pathetic. And to see the federal Department of Fisheries and the provincial Department of Natural Resources close the Medway to all angling, instead of prosecuting these "poachers" is inexcusable.
Good Luck and Good Fishin' (but not on the Medway)
RP
