The native range of this southern cousin of the Northern Pike is expanding into Ontario. On September 16, 2009, a MNR field crew identified a Chain Pickerel (Esox niger) captured during routine gill-netting operations in the Thousand Islands area of the upper St. Lawrence River. The fish was 58 cm long and weighed approximately 1.4 kg. This was the second documented occurrence of Chain Pickerel in this area in the last year and a half. A commercial fisherman turned in the first in April 2008. These two specimens represent possibly the first documented Chain Pickerel in the province. Read more

It has recently been confirmed that “an unusual fish” caught by commercial fisherman David Baverstock in the Fairfields Cove (Cove Beach) area of East Lake, Prince Edward County  (Lake Ontario, Bay of Quinte area) in 2008, was a Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus). This species is designated as “Threatened” by both the Federal and Provincial Species at Risk lists. Mr. Baverstock, whose family have held commercial fishing rights since 1898, had the foresight to take the fish to the Glenora Fisheries Station where it was photographed, and a tissue sample taken. Subsequently the fish was returned to East Lake. Read more

No one thought that in its first year of production, a tiny 6-tank Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) research facility would produce more than 200 fall fingerlings for reintroduction into Lake Simcoe, located in southern Ontario. The research facility, which was converted from a college classroom into a hatchery, is located at Sir Sandford Fleming College (SSFC) in Lindsay, Ontario. Read more