Spring update 2023

Hi folks,

Happy spring. I hope you’re enjoying the weather and making plans to spend some time on the water soon (either on Stoney Lake or elsewhere).

I have lots of updates but I’m going to just focus on a few things for this first post of the season and save the rest for later.

This winter, we received more generous support from the Szego and Ingleton families for the project, primarily to fund the purchase of acoustic transmitters to put into fish. Their generosity means the project will continue to grow this year as we had hoped.

We also received a donation from the Kawartha Lakes Chapter of Muskies Canada, and a small research grant from Muskies Canada. Those funds have been used to purchase transmitters to put into muskies, which was always our hope with this project. Muskies Canada has a strong history of supporting research. Fun fact: muskie anglers rarely harvest any of their fish (the release rates are ~100%), and the fish that are released have very high survival if best practices for angling are used (source).

In the end, because of the donations above, and because of further support from our DFO partner (Dr. Jake Brownscombe) and other grants I hold at Trent, we have 173 transmitters in hand for 2023. The plan is to allocate those tags for: walleye (60), smallmouth bass (44), muskellunge (20), yellow perch (24), and black crappie (25). We’ve already tagged 19 walleye this year (41 to go). Muskies (‘the fish of 10,000 casts’) will be a particular challenge, but we’re hoping our friends in the Kawartha Lakes Chapter of Muskies Canada will help a bit on that front.

To that end, we’ll be on the lake over the next couple weeks trying to capture and tag as many fish as possible before the water gets too warm (we tend to avoid doing surgeries on fish at about 21°C or higher). If you or anyone you know is going to be on the water fishing and would like to help catch fish for the project (especially on weekdays), get in touch with me. grahamraby@trentu.ca

Graham

The features of the lake that you can't see.

By Dr. Nolan Pearce, post-doctoral researcher in the Trent Aquatic Research Program (Xenopolous/Frost Lab)

The cove, the rock, the hole, the point; all popular names for fishing spots I have heard over the years. But what about the features of the lake you can't see?

This past summer, we spent a day mapping the water quality of Stoney Lake to better understand the 3D distribution of water quality variables across the lake. Unlike landscapes that can be imaged from above, mapping underwater features is inherently difficult. To map features like water quality that differ across the lake as well as with depth, we needed to rely on a geostatistical method called spatial interpolation. Spatial interpolation uses mathematical relationships and discrete measurements of the variable you would like to map to estimate its value at locations where we haven't actually sampled the water.

(Above) Dissolved oxygen (mg/L) from the surface (0 m) to the bottom of the lake. The animation shows that there are hypoxic zones near the bottom in the deepest parts of Lower Stoney, and in the depths of Clear Lake, but that the deep basin of Upper Stoney (~100 feet) maintains good oxygen saturation right to the bottom. The more real measurements you make the better, but there is a trade-off between sampling effort and interpolation accuracy. To map water quality, we went to 22 locations across Stoney Lake and used a vertical profiler to take measurements of chlorophyll-a (algae), dissolved oxygen, temperature, and many other variables every 5 cm from the surface of the water to the bottom of the lake. Back in the office, these data were compiled and imported into a geographic information system (GIS) to produce a three-dimensional map of water quality in Stoney Lake using spatial interpolation. As you can see by in the animations of chlorophyll-a and dissolved oxygen, there is a lot of variation in water quality across the system. We have more work to do in mapping the three-dimensional distribution of these variables out more frequently throughout the year. When complete, these maps will be used to help us understand the potential impacts of changing water quality on fish movement and behaviour.

(Above) An animation showing the chlorophyll-a concentration in Stoney Lake, from the surface to the lake bottom. Chlorophyll-a serves as a rough index of the amount of algae in the water.

More fishy friends join the project: fall 2022 update

I have a fall update to share.

Things are going well with the fish tracking work. In October, we spent more time on Stoney Lake trying to catch fish to tag. We were mostly catching fish by angling. When I say “we”, what I really mean is Dr. Jake Brownscombe and his crew from DFO. A few of my lab members and me were out to help on some days, but Jake and his crew continue to lead the field work and data management.

There’s a well-developed science of catch-and-release angling. Catch-and-release is stressful for fish, but when it’s done well, with minimal air exposure, most fish recover well. Water temperature plays a big part; if the water is cold, catch-and-release is usually benign, although what is defined as ‘cold’ is species-specific, and there are loads of other factors that can cause problems. Anyway, you may recall from an earlier post that we were out tagging fish (catching them and implanting transmitters) in early June (only 18 in total), but then stopped for the summer. We are avoiding warm water temperatures (20°C) when doing this work to maximize fish health and survival after they’re released. Fall weather (as warm as it’s been) has brought lower water temperatures, which is why we’ve been out again lately. We’re now done with catching and tagging fish for the season (I think). Here’s where we sit in terms of total numbers of fish we have swimming around in the lake with transmitters:

Walleye: 24

Smallmouth bass: 22

Yellow perch: 13

Muskellunge: 2

We’re still looking for donations to help bring these numbers up a lot, but we still have a few tags in hand and will now start preparing for a big spring tagging season. The muskellunge are big enough to handle larger tags: the transmitters we’ve put in them will last for 10 years! We’re excited about learning more about the lives of these fish, and the individual ‘personality’ of each animal.

While we were on the water in October, we caught up with Ed and Jackie from USLA, and Josh Feltham from Fleming College. Ed and Jackie have been helping develop a bioenvironmental monitoring plan for the lake, in partnership with the lake community including local First Nations. We spent some time checking out the long-term monitoring sites and continued our conversion about how we might add to what is up and running. It’s important that lake communities take environmental monitoring into their own hands, and we’re excited to (hopefully) help with developing that program. The information we’ll generate from the fish tracking work over the next several years will just be one part of how we can contribute to helping monitor ecosystem health.

(Above) En route to check out a long-term benthic biomonitoring site on Upper Stoney Lake.

Another fun update from today: one of the small walleye we tagged in late spring was captured and harvested this past weekend. Thanks to Trent U graduate Laura for getting in touch with me; I just picked up the tag (picture below), which I’ve now shut off so it can be re-used in a new fish next year. In the spring we’ll likely work on putting up notices around boat launches and post more info online to spread the word about what to do if you catch a tagged fish (i.e., how to get in touch).

(Above) The fish transmitter that was just recovered from one of our tagged walleye.

We’ll likely be out again once or twice between now and when the lake freezes. We need to check on our shallow water receiving stations once the water level drops, to make sure they’re not too shallow. Then we move into planning mode for a big 2023, with new students joining the project and (hopefully) a new research vessel we’ve ordered from Paris Marine.

Cheers,

Graham