Sitting on Ian Martin’s deck watching the Grand River flow by like chocolate soup on a Friday after a major rainfall, Larry McGratton, Terry Ryckman, and Martin were discussing things like “CMS” and a recent call for less water taking.
The weather this spring has been as chaotic as the spring flows in the Grand River. The day of their discussion, the Wellington Advertiser published a Grand River Conservation Authority water taking advisory because the river had been so low its flows were equivalent to mid-July instead of spring.
The trio was aware over 160 cubic metres per second of water was coming into the reservoir at Lake Belwood, where previously there had been lower than two cubic metres per second (that’s the CMS) referred to above) they had been discussing. Martin mentioned 80mm of rain had fallen overnight at Luther Marsh and 120 cubic metres per second of rain was coming in – and only 65 going out – which means the lake would soon be full.
They are familiar with what goes on in the river – far more than the average person. McGratton is the president of Friends of the Grand River (FOGR) and a fishing guide, Martin is the vice-president and a biologist who has written a book, Fly Fishing the Grand River: The Angler’s Vest Pocket Guide, about the insect life on the river.
Ryckman sees water from several perspectives. He is the treasurer of FOGR and works at the Centre Wellington sewage treatment plant. Together they have formally been working to improve the river since FOGR was founded in the 1990s.
They are the first to give credit to the 160 family and individual members who volunteer for projects ranging from collecting garbage along a stretch of road near the river, placing and emptying garbage kiosks during the summer at key entry points along the river, building many new parking areas and entrances for anglers and others who want river access, as well as stocking fish and supporting all kinds of studies that will enable them to give the Grand old lady a helping hand when she needs it.
“Most of us like the river,” said Ryckman in an mater-of-fact way of explaining why the FOGR has been such a success for nearly 20 years. “It’s the fish, wildlife, nature.”
McGratton said the board needs to meet only nine times a year and, “We have projects that are easy to coordinate.”
It wasn’t always that way, and there were times there was a painful learning curve for projects. Years ago they spent an entire spring planting 22,000 trees at Wilson’s Flats near Inverhaugh. The next year they planted another 20,000. The mice ate them, and if a dozen survived it was pure luck. This year, they had another planting, but used larger trees instead of seedlings and those are better able to withstand some of nature’s curve balls. Their work on Swan Creek is a visible symbol of that success.
“We’ve been planting more cedar so the beavers don’t get them,” Martin added of another tree killer the group has to deal with.
As the chat continued, Martin casually snatched a bug out of the air and said, “Just a midge.” He can not only identify most of the Grand’s insect life, but duplicate it for tying flies to catch brown trout that eat the bugs on the river.
Like any organization, there is turnover in the membership, and the trio does not consider that a bad thing because there are always new members coming. The FOGR has lasted a long time, and it has many predecessors. Records indicate stocking of fish in the Grand go back as far as 1903, when a group of Fergus anglers placed bass in the river. Descendents remain to this day.
McGratton admits, “Our base is fly fishermen,” but all of them noted the club is not about fly fishing per se.
“A lot of it is environmental,” said Ryckman.
Martin added, “Our hardest working members just happen to be fishermen.”
One thing the club is proud of achieving is its political influence. Perhaps it formed at the right time – when environmental issues were coming to the fore.
“This organization has had direct influence on what was put in at the Fergus sewage treatment plant,” Ryckman said.
Whether it was astute politicians or an ability to persuade them, the FOGR has found local councils willing to work on issues that leave other river clubs across Ontario green with envy. The FOGR has partnerships with the Grand River Conservation Authority that is a real, working relationship, and it had local influence back as far as pre-amalgamation times in Wellington County, not to mention a working partnership with the county itself.
It has working and workable agreements with groups like the Wellington County Stewardship Council and the Ministry of Natural Resources. The FOGR even expanded to include another group, the Conestogo River Enhancement Workgroup (CREW) that looks after that tributary of the Grand River from Drayton to the confluence of the Grand.
McGratton said, “The town realizes the economic impact the river can have on the community.” One early study demonstrated that $1 million in economic activity was being generated annually because the Grand was a prime fly fishing destination from Lake Belwood to West Montrose.
In one case, Centre Wellington changed its sewage pumping plan near Scotland Street in Fergus at the group’s behest.
Ryckman said the change meant sewage was pumped out and is taken to the Fergus sewage treatment plant instead of being diverted into the river. The result is a better river and better sewage treatment system.
The group has also worked with the county for parking access on a number of roads in Centre Wellington. Everyone agreed access points to the river were desirable because some anglers, likely from outside the area, were trespassing to reach the river. Now they don’t have to.
Major project
Martin said, “Everything we do is based on science” when it comes to the river.
That is the way to get the best results. But science also means experimentation. Their work on the river has demonstrated there are a lot of places where water flows directly over bedrock for many hundreds of yards. There is no cover, no spawning potential, and fish tend to avoid the area.
So, the FOGR, along with the Wellington County Stewardship Council and the MNR, is undertaking a study to start to change that.
Steve May of the Ministry of Natural Resources is involved. Basically, there will be some digging and blasting in the bedrock to create holes where gravel and other materials can collect. Those places can eventually sustain plant life which, in turn, will attract insects and smaller water life which, in turn, can attract big fish.
May said, “We’re still investigating a concept that we think will work. The engineers are involved. The FOGR is involved as a partner.”
He said the goal is simply to create “more fish habitat, especially in low water.” He doubts there will be much in the way of spawning activity in the new holes and said it is doubtful there will ever be sustainable spawning in the river, with stocking being the major way of replenishing the fishery each year.
The river still has special regulations on it, though, and fish cannot be killed in most of the areas from the Shand Dam to below Inverhaugh.
Larry Halyk, a biologist and one of the people who initially got the brown trout fishery started on the Grand River, is now the head of the Wellington County Stewardship Council. He said besides the new structures, there will likely be large boulders placed in the river, along with vortex weirs plus the removal of bedrock in some places.
“Right now, much of it is featureless,” he said of the riverbed. “It’s over wide. Some of it will be narrowed and create more capacity for the fish to hold. It will spread out the fishing pressure.”
In the future
McGratton said he believes the fishery is a great one, but Ryckman said, “It’s always going to need help.”
Martin added, “The water quality is holding its own – but there’s always more development coming.”
McGratton added the downstream demand for water is “high and growing” and he said, “The Conestogo is in trouble and it’s worse than the Grand.”
Ryckman said water meters being installed will help curb water use, and he pointed out how much things have changed.
“Years ago, we weren’t worried about that,” he said.
Things have really changed, and Martin said it is the group’s biggest dream to be able to some day have the river water cold enough to sustain brook trout, its natural fish – but he admits that might be simply a dream.
On the other hand, the river has improved. When Martin published his book in 1995, he received a call from California from a man who used to live in Fergus.
Martin said, “He said he couldn’t believe there were trout back in the Grand.”
For more information about the club, visit www.friendsofthegrandriver.com.
