Walleye fishery on Shoal Lake should re-open

Over the past weekend, I was invited out to Shoal Lake #39 to participate in its second-annual fisheries conference.
Headed by band councillor Karen Kejick, there’s a push being made by Shoal Lake #39 to open the walleye fishery on Shoal Lake for both sport-fishing and commercial fishing activities to start taking place after being closed for more than 30 years.
Shoal Lake is located about 40 km west of Kenora and is connected to Lake of the Woods through blown-out Ash Rapids. A large body of water that you cannot see across the middle of, Shoal Lake is a great place to go fishing.
The deep, clear water is home to excellent populations of bass, pike, whitefish, and, more recently, walleye.
The walleye fishery on Shoal Lake was closed back in 1983 because of overharvest. The once-plentiful fish nearly were wiped out of the lake due to both commercial and sport-fishing so our natural resources folks completely closed walleye fishing on the lake.
Over the years as the recovery slowly took place, bass and pike evidently filled the walleye gap and we experienced some of the best smallmouth bass and pike fishing available in Canada for many years.
The decision to close the walleye fishery at the time was the right one. The fish that people were catching and killing was out of hand. A lot of times on these big fisheries, and even on the ocean, the attitude that some folks have is that the fish always will be there and they abuse the fishery by harvesting obscene numbers of fish.
The reality is any body of water can be overharvested—even the ocean.
Today, from an angling point of view, the walleye fishery on Shoal Lake appears to be back on track and healthy. My friends and I spend a lot of time bass fishing on Shoal Lake and we catch walleyes all season long, including many in very shallow, weedy areas where we target largemouth bass.
The reason I mention this is that there are some issues on the lake with the forage available to its fish, so what we’re seeing is walleyes showing up in unusual places because that is where they are finding food.
There used to be an enormous population of smelt in the lake, which exploded in the early 2000s, and that certainly helped in the walleye recovery. All of the fish in the lake prospered from the abundant smelt but as is often the case with smelt and other invasive species, their numbers explode in the beginning and then taper off.
Theoretically, you would think the smelt would rebound and become plentiful again, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.
The other negative that has evolved from the smelt in the lake is that they are hard on other preyfish forage species like cisco and whitefish because they prey on the fry of these species so their populations have been depleted, as well.
The other thing we’re noticing now is that the once-healthy bass and pike populations have suffered to the point where the fishing is not nearly as good as it used to be. This is evident in the weights that anglers are bringing in at the bass tournaments held on the lake.
I feel strongly that there are too many walleyes competing for food and the whole lake is suffering from it, so some harvest may be good for all fish species in the lake.
I’m not a biologist but I certainly respect the science behind what the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources people are finding in their research out there. But from an angling perspective, I’m not sure you could find better walleye fishing at a fly-in lake just based on what I see out there when I’m bass fishing with artificial lures.
Maybe it’s just the places that I’m fishing, but it feels like there is a healthy population widespread throughout the lake.
My feeling is that an open walleye fishery can be created on Shoal Lake. But as it has been proven, the walleyes in this lake can be depleted so there’s a strong need for everyone from the OMNRF to the sport anglers to the commercial anglers who are using the lake to work together and come up with a strategy that’s not going to result in an abused fishery.
I’m supportive of that and hopeful that some kind of conservative regulation can be put in place.
The economic impact that sport-fishing and tourism could have on the lake, and the people who live on the lake, is huge. We have this massive, beautiful body of water and excellent fishing available, which is exactly what folks that visit Northwest Ontario often are looking for.
It was interesting to hear the views of those who spoke at the conference on the weekend, with most people in agreement that they would like to see an open walleye season on the lake.
We’ll see what happens out there.