Healthy fishery in South Nation River region

It may be narrow, shallow and turbid over most of its length, but the South Nation River is a haven for anglers with a wide variety of finned species populating its waters.

The South Nation Conservation Authority (SNC) conducts annual fish habitat studies of the 120-kilometre stretch of the river as it winds through the watershed. The end-ofsummer assessment reconfirms the South Nation River as a “vibrant fishery” and a sports angler’s paradise.

The South Nation River stretches from its headwaters, north of Brockville, to its mouth in the Ottawa River near Plantagenet. Every year SNC technicians do test netting in one of the six reaches of the river: Plantagenet, Lemieux, St-Albert, Berwick, Hyndman, or Spencerville. Sampling is done using hoop nets. After a 24-hour period, the nets are retrieved and the number, weight, measurement and age of species caught are recorded.

This summer the St. Albert reach was sampled, with a total of 228 fish caught, logged and released. Results mirrored samples taken in 2011. Of the total, 81 were brown bullhead, with yellow perch, northern pike, and walleye also filling the nets, along with several other species. The largest fish caught was a 555mm-long greater redhorse that weighed in at 1.92 kg; the smallest fish was a 25-gram pumpkinseed.

While the South Nation River isn’t widely recognized as a fishing haunt, licensed anglers in the know frequent the St. Albert reach for smallmouth bass and crappie, which are abundant and well fed. Each reach provides different fishing opportunities. South Nation Conservation Authority wildlife and water resources staff have enjoyed a good summer of fishing as part of ongoing studies on the health of the local fisheries.