Put and Take Fisheries a Success

The put and take fisheries is a success in Ontario. I recently ice fished a stocked lake for Splake. A hybrid cross between a Brook Trout and a Lake trout. These fish have similar markings to a lake trout with a shallow forked tail almost square like a brook trout. This species of fish along with brook trout and rainbow trout are heavily stocked in many small lakes throughout Ontario. Some of these lakes are open to angling year round. They are called put and take lakes because of their ease of accessability for anglers to fish them and take home their catch. They are usually stocked with anywhere between 2000-7500 fish yearly. This depends on the lake size and pressure it gets from fishermen. On this recent outing a freind and I caught over 20 splake and succefully released most of them in a 3 hour period. They were not overly large fish but deffinitely pan size. We did keep enough for a feed. Larger size fish are in these lakes and from time to time 3 to 7lb splake are caught. We were amazed how healthy these fish were. It is a testament on how well the stocking of fish is working. This angling opportunity is something more people should take advantage of. Kids would have a ball fishing theses lakes. There are plenty of fish and you can literally watch fish 3 feet below the ice grab your bait, This would get any anglers heart pumping.During summer months, you can drive to most of these lakes and fish from shore or a small aluminum or canoe. These lakes are usuallly listed on stocking reports at the local Ontario Ministry Of Natural Resources offices. There are also lakes listed for angling opportunities in the MNR Ontario Fishing Regulations. Next time you want to go out and have some fun, give one of the Put and Take fisheries a try. You will be pleasantly surprised.