The Bluewater Anglers of Sarnia-Point Edward recently made their trek to near north streams in order to collect ripe Salmon eggs for their hatchery in Point Edward. Mid October found two teams of Anglers near Georgian Bay tribs… one team on the Sydenham River in Owen Sound and another team on the Beaver River at Thornbury.

To give you a quick idea of the process of collection, the fish are enticed into an area of the river via a small channel where the water flow is manually regulated. Increased water flow brings the fish in and decreased water flows drop the level so that collectors can get in the waters and net the Salmon with huge landing nets. The fish are quickly assessed for ripeness and if acceptable they are quickly and humanely killed. The eggs are then removed from the hens and the milt from the males by applying pressure to the abdomen of the fish. Collected eggs and milt are kept separate in small jars and kept in dark coolers. When the Anglers have their quota of eggs and enough milt to fertilize them, they pack up and head for home.

At the hatchery in Point Edward, the egg trays have been previously sterilized and filled with oxygenated water. The eggs are mixed with the milt and placed in the egg trays where they immediately begin to grow. Dead eggs are obvious in a short couple days and are removed individually with large tweezers.

I had the honor of being present with the Owen Sound team as they attempted to gather their remaining allocation of salmon eggs. A team from the Anglers spend a few hours on the Beaver the week prior and collected about 100,000 eggs. The group is licensed for double that.

On this day, about 18 Anglers pitched in on the Sydenham and collected about 40,000 more eggs. The other group on the Beaver nearly filled the remaining quota. “Time and timing is of the essence,” said Sydenham team leader Don Cox. “We have to be here when the river has mature salmon in it, the hens have to be (egg) ripe, the weather has to co-operate and we have to get the eggs and milt from the males as quickly as possible and get back to the hatchery to immediately start the next process before eggs start to die”.

The round trip to Owen Sound and back is about 6 and a half hours. The Anglers have been collecting eggs for two decades now and certain members of the Club are very well versed in the proper technique of collection and the proper handling of eggs and milt. Initial training in the collection, preservation and growing of Salmon eggs came from some of Ontario’s top Ministry of Natural Resources biologists.

In addition to the expertise within the Anglers, the Club is often assisted by members of the Port Huron based BlueWater Sport Fishing Club in America. And when organizations venture to fabled Salmon rivers in the near north such as the Sydenham and Beaver, they are often assisted by members of the local Sydenham Sportsman Association.

More clubs than just the Bluewater Anglers use these waters to collect Salmon eggs. The Sydenham Sportsman also collect 200,000 Salmon eggs for their local hatchery in Owen Sound, a Port Elgin group collects eggs for a hatchery in Port Elgin, and a club from Thunder Bay charters a plane to fly them to the Sydenham River each fall in order to collect 200,000 Salmon eggs and return them to their hatchery north of Superior. The area is quite famous for its Salmon and its synthetic structures built by local clubs to more easily facilitate the collection of Salmon eggs.

Clubs across North America are working very well together to maintain a high quality of fishing in the Great Lakes regions. Everyone benefits from the fishing and tourism that is attracted to the area because of the presence of Salmon.

It would be nice to see a younger influence start to build within these clubs. By my observations at the Sydenham that day, it appears that the group is aging and a new generation of up and coming egg collectors and self taught biologists are not existent. Their lack of presence may have been due to the fact that the collection took place mid week when most folks are at work. Regardless, watch for announcements of upcoming Angler meetings in your area. Plan to attend a meeting and pay tribute to such an honorable and very unselfish group.