Hamilton Harbour Perch Addiction

[CLofchik]

Lake Erie isn't the only place you can find the tasty succulent perch fillet.

Just sayin'

[Fish Farmer]

Yes for the catchin, but for the eatin, I worked at Stelco for 38 years and see what's dumped at Windamier.. Catch and release for me.

Just sayin

[CamG14]

Lake Erie isn't the only place you can find the tasty succulent perch fillet.

Just sayin'

Hi CLofchik,

Are you catching them from a boat or on shore ?

Thanks

Cam

[hammercarp]

Those perch are from Lake Ontario. When the shiners come into the harbour in the fall the perch follow them in. They feed almost exclusively on shiners and small gobies.Then I think more come in late winter early spring prior to spawning. They go back out into the lake in the spring.The harbour has cleaned up tremendously in the last twenty years.

[CLofchik]

Hi CLofchik,

Are you catching them from a boat or on shore ?

Thanks

Cam

Both, any point where there is 20FOW you'll catch perch with small shiners, Lot's of guys will group up off one corner but pretty much anywhere that has deep water has produced for me over the last two weeks. You won't put up Erie numbers but an average morning or afternoon will get a dozen jumbo's. Atleast another week of decent fishing before they start spawning and then move out.

Those perch are from Lake Ontario. When the shiners come into the harbour in the fall the perch follow them in. They feed almost exclusively on shiners and small gobies.Then I think more come in late winter early spring prior to spawning. They go back out into the lake in the spring.The harbour has cleaned up tremendously in the last twenty years.

Bingo.

Everybody talks about how great Erie fish are, but I'm old enough to remember when it was called the Dead Sea. Got another dozen today and just finished frying them up, stupid tasty fish.

[daysoff]

Both, any point where there is 20FOW you'll catch perch with small shiners, Lot's of guys will group up off one corner but pretty much anywhere that has deep water has produced for me over the last two weeks. You won't put up Erie numbers but an average morning or afternoon will get a dozen jumbo's. Atleast another week of decent fishing before they start spawning and then move out.

Bingo.

Everybody talks about how great Erie fish are, but I'm old enough to remember when it was called the Dead Sea. Got another dozen today and just finished frying them up, stupid tasty fish.

You may want to read this dated March 14 2012 before eating fish out of the bay!

Thursday, March, 15, 2012 - 1:01:45 PM

Photo by Richard Leitner

This Chedoke Creek outfall by the escarpment stairs is one of four found to have 'nasty' levels of fecal contamination.

Chedoke Creek fecal counts a foul surprise

By Richard Leitner, News Staff

The installation of sewer overflow tanks is doing little to improve the quality of Chedoke Creek, described as “far and away” the most contaminated waterway running into Hamilton Harbour.

Tys Theysmeyer, an ecologist with the Royal Botanical Gardens and Bay Area Restoration Council director, said testing conducted in 2011 as part of efforts to clean up the harbour found “nasty” fecal contamination by the creek’s escarpment waterfalls.

Coliform counts per 100 millilitres of water ranged from 5,000 to as high as 150,000, he said. By comparison, the provincial guideline for swimming water is 100.

“It’s more like sewage,” Theysmeyer said of the branches of creek that spill over the escarpment by the rail trail, often giving off a telltale stench on their way to the harbour via Cootes Paradise.

“I think it will emerge as the next real challenge” for cleaning up the bay, he said. “First you take off the obvious nasty things, and then where do you stand? I think we’re going to find there’s some second level of nasty things that maybe weren’t expected.”

Theysmeyer said he’s not sure what is causing the contamination, but he’s heard some Mountain subdivisions may have inadvertently hooked their sewage into stormwater lines.

Determining if that’s the case is up to the city or Ministry of the Environment, he said.

“As you build sewer overflow tanks, if the river concentrations that you measure actually are still nasty, then there must be something else,” Theysmeyer said. “We’re up to the ‘What’s going on?’ question stage.”

Mountain Councillor Terry Whitehead, whose Ward 8 is home to the creek’s upper reaches, said he’s not surprised to hear Chedoke Creek is contaminated but is “a little shocked by the extent of the problem.”

“Obviously we’re going to have to embark on experts to go in there and do the full-fledged analysis and hopefully determine the best they can the contributors to those readings and then put an action plan in place to address it,” he said.

Whitehead said the city has already done some smoke testing in the wake of flooding problems on the Mountain and determined there are illegal hookups.

He said council is studying whether to offer financial incentives to homeowners to fix the problem because many of the hookups passed city inspections.

“They bought their house in good faith and all of a sudden they find themselves in a situation where they have a financial liability,” Whitehead said.

“That is a very complex matter that has to be resolved. In my opinion, you can’t penalize the homeowners because in most cases the homeowners wouldn’t have known that that was the case. It was the builder.”

Councillor Brian McHattie, whose Ward 1 stretch of Chedoke Creek receives the upper-city runoff, said illegal hookups in older Mountain subdivisions seem like the obvious source of the “massive” contamination.

He agrees the city needs to consider helping unsuspecting homeowners fix the hookups.

“It’s not their fault. The contractor did it,” he said. “I think we really probably need to come up with a program, like with the lead pipe program, to assist people to do the right thing because the ramifications on E. coli numbers downstream are highly significant.”

One Response to “Chedoke Creek fecal counts a foul surprise”

1. 
   » Celebrating Easter With All Creation at A Rocha - Inspiring Change. Caring for Creation. says:
   March 23, 2012 at 3:07 pm
   [...] When we live in Hamilton, it’s easy to see and smell the injustice. The industrial areas in the north end are built on former wetlands that have been filled in. The air in the north end of the city is charged with the smells of industry. Migrating and resident waterfowl and wading birds feed in sediment that is polluted with toxins. Streams flowing into the harbour and Cootes Paradise are contaminated with sewage. [...]
   Like or Dislike: 1 0
   

[hammercarp]

The ducks and geese add a lot more fecal matter than that little flow.Also it has to go through the Cootes marsh before it even gets to the harbour. But it seems that Theysmeyer is finally on the right track to help improve the harbour.

[CLofchik]

They're still here, and I'm still addicted.

Wanted to go fishing on this fine spring Sunday but didn't have the energy to pack up the boat or travel too far, so a morning of perch fishing at a spot that's a fifteen minute walk out my front door was in order. Mostly small dinks fishing from shore that went back in the lake but in a couple of hours I had enough decent ones for lunch. Walking back home I checked out a small woodlot by the water and grabbed a big mittful of Mustard Garlic, an invasive pernicious weed it might be, but it has a very savoury unique flavour that is indeed a cross between mustard seeds & garlic.

The mornings bounty.

Filleted the fish, patted dry and put aside. I only use the leaves from the Mustard Garlic and decided to whip up a quick pesto, plucked the leaves, zested & juiced a lime, and hiding behind the juicer is a diced shallot.

Throw it all in the food processor (really load up the leaves, cram them in there) and pulse with a healthy multitude of olive oil glugs and adjust amounts to taste, too oily add more lime juice, too much bite from the raw shallot add more leaves. In a couple of minutes you'll have a nice paste. This is one of those times you wish comps had Smell-O-Vision.

Just to finish it off I did a scour of the kitchen and couldn't come up with pine nuts or blanched walnuts, so I toasted some sesame in a cast iron pan and gently pulsed them into the pesto. They really did the trick.

The fish got a quick dust, wash and dredge in Panko and into a quick fry. While the fish was frying I boiled up some penne pasta, and melted some butter & cheese (reggiano FTW!) once it was drained.

Plate the fish, load up the pasta and spoon some of the Mustard Garlic on, bingo bango a quick lunch that's about as local as you can get!

[bigugli]

Looks absolutely delectable

[Brian_b]

that looks pretty good...

nice job...

[jackz905]

in want that meal now tit lokks tasty

[kevin]

Should have dipped a nice glass of cold pristine water from the bay to top it off. Keep it local.

[hammercarp]

Great looking meal. Thanks for the great post. Dam that looks good.

[mmucciarelli]

beautful post

[smerchly]

That is a mouth watering meal , you seem to enjoy cooking and know a few nice tricks to use local food & spices . I wouldn't hesitate to eat those perch from Ham. harbour ,,,,,we should be more concerned with store bought meats , veggies & fruits that are a long way from being local . .....like imported fish from the Pacific Rim countries. Now you have got me in the mood to go perching tomorrow .....waiting for some to follow the minnows in from the lake .......I have the Panko in the cupboard !

[CLofchik]

This is my first year really going after the perch, and after being burnt out fishing for salmon & trout all through August & Sept. spending a day drop shotting minnows off a pier wall is a relaxing way to get out fishing.

The Fall is turning out better than the Spring, one days haul, two dozen eaters.

The big mama is a 14" pig!

[mazz]

beauty perch cant wait to get some of those myself but construction near my spot has really slowed it down

[joe]

Yes sir ..............this cold weather has turned the Perchies on BIG time ! and the big females arent full of eggs yet so nice pieces of meat in those fillets

a few of us have been enjoying spending our time down there, I think we are fishing on the other side from you bud. Its great to see someone else partaking of the local fishery. Maybe run into you down there some time .......always good to chat fish with fellow perch fans.

Joe

[Bryan]

This was a Pier in Hamilton Harbour? Nice Catch by the way..

[chasin_musky]

Looks tasty, that being said there isn't a chance I would eat a fish out of there. I know people catch perch in there all summer long. So are they really from the lake. Probably a fair share but I am sure and large number aren't.

[Stevep]

Im heading down there in an hour, I will be wearing a stealers hoodie.

[CLofchik]

Heh, it' raining here now.

[northernpike56]

I caught a 22 inch brown trout in the harbor from shore this spring, and ate it. Again, they are migratory, so it had to have come from the main lake which is fine to keep fish from. When I gutted it though, it had 9 small gobbys in it's stomach, so I wonder if these migratory fish pick up some contaminents from the harbor when they eat any of the gobys there.

And when he says the pier, I'm assuming he's dropping minnows off from the fishermans (skyway) pier.

[CLofchik]

And when he says the pier, I'm assuming he's dropping minnows off from the fishermans (skyway) pier.

Fisherman's, Discovery Center, Lasalle...they've all been coughing up the jumbo's for the last week.

Where I go on a particular day depends on the wind more than anything.

[northernpike56]

Fisherman's, Discovery Center, Lasalle...they've all been coughing up the jumbo's for the last week.

Where I go on a particular day depends on the wind more than anything.

jeez, I live less than 5 minutes away from lasalle and never knew they were in yet. I guess I'll have to go down sometime... If you ever see a kid that looks about 17, american eagle hoodie, fishing with a st croix avid and shimano saros, drop by and say hi!