About the Salmon

You may wonder how the fish you see on the Owen Sound Salmon Tour came to thrive in Georgian Bay, Ontario. Native to the Pacific Ocean, the Chinook salmon were introduced to the Great Lakes in the 1960s to control the invasive Alewife fish population. The salmon adapted to their new environment remarkably well, thriving in the cool waters of Georgian Bay. This created a brand new industry -- world-class salmon fishing in Ontario - and fishing clubs have been stocking the lakes with Chinook salmon ever since.

The Sydenham Sportsmen, a non-profit conservation group, maintains the salmon fishery in Owen Sound, hatching, growing and releasing up to 500,000 salmon and trout each year into the Sydenham River. The group operates a hatchery at Weaver's Creek, a spring-fed waterway that stays cool enough year-round for the fish to hatch and grow. (You can visit Weaver's Creek Falls, downstream from the hatchery, on the salmon tour). According to the Sportsmen, salmon raised in hatcheries have a much better chance of survival than those reproducing on their own.

Timing is everything for the salmon. When they reach the "smolt" stage, ready to bolt in spring, they are released into the Sydenham River and head towards the open water of Georgian Bay, where they will live for the next three to four years, until fully mature.

Then nature lures them back to the river they came from, to spawn and end their quixotic journey, dying in the process of creating new life. Salmon in the wild behave the same.

Salmon in Owen Sound

Heading upstream on the Sydenham, the salmon encounter a former mill dam that would be impossible to scale were it not for a special fishway, or fish ladder alongside it. Built by the Sydenham Sportsmen in 1967, it was the first fish ladder in Ontario! The mill dam and fish ladder are cooperatively run by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Sydenham Sportsmen and the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority.

The Sportsmen and Conservation Authority have also created spawning channels for the fish at various points along the river - gravelly, protected areas where they can lay their eggs in the shallows. The salmon breeding and stocking program is closely monitored each year by the Ministry of Natural Resources. University researchers also often study the salmon in Owen Sound.

If you happen to arrive at the Mill Dam when there is a lot of activity going on, it may be the sportsmen collecting eggs and milt (semen) from the fish for their hatchery program. Feel free to stop by and watch or ask questions.