September, extensive creel censuses were operated in the 

 North and South Arms and Redgut Bay. The best fishing for 

 yellow pickerel was in Redgut Bay, for northern pike and 

 bass in the South Arm, and for black crappie in the North 

 Arm. The abundance of fingerling yellow pickerel in 1969 

 approximated 650 per acre, an increase over 400 per acre 

 in 1968 and 330 per acre in 1967. Lake-spawning yellow 

 pickerel appear to be maintaining the population, whereas 

 the stream-spawning contribution is low. If they are to sur- 

 vive, newly-emerged pickerel fry require large quantities of 

 plankton, and streams are not great producers of this neces- 

 sary food. Five sites were sampled regularly in 1969 to 

 monitor water quality during the open-water season. 



Lake of the Woods. Studies of the movements of yellow 

 pickerel continued in 1969 with tagging of 1,000 fish in 

 approximately equal numbers in Sabaskong Bay and the 

 Keewatin Channel. Tag returns indicated fish from Sabas- 

 kong Bay do not travel very far; 75 per cent were caught 

 within five miles of the tagging site. However, two were 

 taken 22 miles northwest. Fish tagged in Keewatin Channel 

 appeared more nomadic, some travelling in excess of 50 

 miles after tagging. Routine sampling of the commercial and 

 angling catches continued to provide comparative data of 

 the harvest of species for which these interests might com- 

 pete. Estimates of the production of fingerling yellow pick- 

 erel were made by seine hauls during August. 



Timagami-Nlplssing. An intensive creel winter census on 

 Lake Timagami indicated a yield to fishermen of 4,382 fish, 

 of which 2,498 were lake trout and 1,581 were whitefish, 

 for an estimated fishing pressure of 24,913 man-hours. 

 Week-end fishing was 90 per cent of the total fishing pres- 

 sure. Although very few planted lake trout have been re- 

 covered since plantings began in 1961, the majority of the 

 fin-clipped fish would not be large enough to enter the 

 fishery, so evaluation of this program must continue. Fish 

 sampling for information on population dynamics was con- 

 tinued in Lake Nipissing with a yellow pickerel tagging proj- 

 ect at Wasi Falls in Callander Bay. Serial sampling to monitor 

 water quality continued. 



Lake Simcoe. Investigations of populations of lake trout, 

 yellow pickerel, smallmouth bass and whitefish continued 

 in 1969. Smallmouth bass studies, in co-operation with the 

 University of Cuelph, were continued at a weir on the Pef- 

 ferlaw River. Spawning adults were measured and tagged 

 during their upstream migration, and numbers of resultant 

 young were estimated during their downstream migration. 

 Over 30 million yellow pickerel eggs were collected by 

 artificial spawning of adult fish in the Talbot River. The sex 

 ratio among approximately 500 fish was 6:1. This species 



seems to be underexploited in Lake Simcoe, and efforts are 

 underway to interest more fishermen in exploiting yellow 

 pickerel. Lake whitefish were tagged during the netting 

 operations for spawning lake trout in the fall. Comprehen- 

 sive summer and winter creel censuses were continued. 



Kawartha Lakes. Netting operations continued in these lakes 

 during 1969. Came fish were tagged to obtain information 

 on movements and mortalities. Creel censuses were used 

 to make a special effort at retrieving data on tagged fish. 

 Information to date indicate most game fish sampled range 

 within small areas and are not highly nomadic. 



Bay of Quinte and Eastern Lake Ontario. Creel censusing 

 and monitoring of the commercial fishery continued in 

 1969. Investigations of the declining fishery in some areas 

 of the Bay have not, as yet, determined the causes, although 

 the declining water quality with consequent eutrophication 

 and algae growth are suspect. 



SPECIAL PROJECTS 



Georgian Bay. This study on yellow pickerel was continued 

 in the Moon River area throughout 1969. Trap netting was 

 carried out during two periods, April 24 to May 20, and 

 August 5 to September 5. A total of 6,862 pickerel was cap- 

 tured of which 4,806 were tagged with monel metal jaw 

 tags and released. Population estimates indicate a spawn- 

 ing population of approximately 22,500 in 1969 as com- 

 pared to 21 ,000 in 1968. 



Tag returns from all sources (excluding spring trap net- 

 ting) totalled 612 and indicated that the pickerel popula- 



Jaklng spawn from a brook trout at Dorion tiatchery. Photo 

 by A. H. Berst. 



22 



