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Thoughts On Lake Gibson?


Bryan

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I heard a rumor once that you can get fined fishing in this lake because its were St.Catharines gets its drinking water from.

Is this true?

I see people Fishing the Beaver Dams side, so i didn't think it was true..

Can anyone shed some light on this? or if there is anything special i should know about this area before venturing into it?

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Shore fishing Lake Gibson is fine. I think the issue is with having any sort of personal watercraft on the water (motor boat, canoe, kayak, etc). I'm not sure if Lake Gibson is the source of the town's drinking water....I believe it's used as a reservoir for hydroelectric power production...possibly both though?

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due to the pulllution that sits in the sediment in lake gibson i highly doubt its a drinking water resevoir.

as for fines, i believe if they did get fines it would be for trespassing, as a general rule of thumb for myself, if u have to climb a fence ur not supposed to be there, or if its right behind someones house.

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if you look on a map you will see that a small canal was dug all way around the side of Lake Gibson to bring cleaner water to the drinking water plant. It's the one that starts at the Allanburg bridge.

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There is the "reservoir" which is all fenced ,and that is our drinking water . We fished it many years ago and caught mostly pan fish , small mouth bass , and the odd pike . The SCGFA held derbies there at one time .......it would be great to have a kids derby there again ! Lake Gibson has many access spots to fish from the shore but boating is a no no I have heard ( but have seen canoes in there )

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I used to know a gal who lived back in marlatts, she had a canoe and we used to go out on the water all the time, was never hassled, and the security would see us. I know someone in there that will rent canoes n row boats as well. They're actually pretty friendly people in there. no complaints

BUT there are signs now everywhere that say no boating, wading, as well as staying off ice. There are also signs that say fishing is permitted, but recommended not to be eaten. Like Smerch had said, down Decew rd there is a resevoir all fenced in, highly off limits, as well as another little "lake" just before the fence, which is off limits, (where the small canal falls down a lil waterfall) you will see no Tresspassing signs everywhere. Basically the only area off limits is down DQ rd Past the bridge. everything from the bridge including the water beneath towards niagara falls is fishing permitted.

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I have fished the lake a few times. Seen all the signs about the contamination and not to eat the fish. I even had a gentleman come up to me and ask me to fill a survey about if I have seen the signs, know that the fish is possibly contaminated, if I have seen the mnr fishing site etc...

The reason for no boating or fishing if I remember was because of the chance of disturbing the sediment at the bottom. I don't know about Gibson but I do know that beaverdams ,at least of the body of water which connects by HWY 20, is all owned by OPG and they have a dam and a couple small water falls in that section. This would pose a safety liability for them if there were boats on the water. I know security drives around there once in a while and have seen them call the police on a few highschool kids jumping into one of the waterfalls.

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I have fished the lake a few times. Seen all the signs about the contamination and not to eat the fish. I even had a gentleman come up to me and ask me to fill a survey about if I have seen the signs, know that the fish is possibly contaminated, if I have seen the mnr fishing site etc...

The reason for no boating or fishing if I remember was because of the chance of disturbing the sediment at the bottom. I don't know about Gibson but I do know that beaverdams ,at least of the body of water which connects by HWY 20, is all owned by OPG and they have a dam and a couple small water falls in that section. This would pose a safety liability for them if there were boats on the water. I know security drives around there once in a while and have seen them call the police on a few highschool kids jumping into one of the waterfalls.

are u say theres actually an area that OPG own that they havent fence off?
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Not lake gibson but at the connected body of water by the large dam connecting the canal to beaverdams I spied a very interesting activity. Theres a large cell tower and I watch a couple guys base jump off of it. Just got to the shoreline for my first cast around 615pm and watched the first guy open his parachute. Then a minute later a second guy jumped as well. Watched both guys safely walk away.

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All of the water in lakes gibson/beaverdams (geographically the same body of water, different only in name), \\

Anyways, all of the water comes from the Canal, which comes from Lake Erie.

Every species of fish in Lake Erie is found in Gibson.

Rainbows, Muskie, Pike. Walleye are hit and miss, so are the trout for that matter.

Any number of coarse and less desireable fish as well.. Perch, Gar Pike, Carp, Sheepshead, Rock Bass, Bass, Sunfish etc.

FInd a deep spot with flowing water, fish chicken livers off the bottom and you'll get into monster channel cats.

St. Catharines' drinking water is routed around the lake.

Enjoy. As far as eating it, follow the regulations published by the ontario government.. See Below for screen shots pertaining to you.

To read this table, read the horizontal bars as indicating the size of the fish you are eating. The clear bars are for general population, based upon a 154 pound (70 kg) adult. Shaded bars are for vulnerable population - Women bearing children and those under 15. The number in the bars indicates the number of meals per month. The definition of meal for this guide is 227 grams or 8 ounces.

Given this information, if an individual weighs 275 pounds, they should be able to double all of these numbers.

The superscripted (smaller and raised) numbers at the end of the species' names indicates the contaminants they were tested for:

2- Mercury, PCB's, Mirex, Photomirex and Pesticides (only Redhorse sucker were tested for this in Gibson)

5- Mercury, Other Metals, PCB's, Mirex, Photomirex, and Pesticides. (All fish were tested for this)

10 - Dioxins, Furans, and Dioxin-like PCB's (only carp were tested for this in Gibson)

Now remember, This is just what they were tested for - It does not mean Gibson fish are contaminated with all of the above! Follow the hyperlink above and read the entire guide. Educate yourself on safe sportfish consumption. Every angler who is truly dedicated to consuming their catch should take the time to look at this guide, and look at all of the lakes they've ever fished in.

So basically don't eat carp from Gibson. Everything else, you're in the clear on.

Cleo

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