A suggestion to restock McGuire Lake with rainbow trout for fishing did not catch on at city council.
Mayor Alan Harrison took it upon himself to respond to a letter from a past student of his received at the Aug. 26 council meeting.
The letter's writer suggests council reconsider the restocking of McGuire Lake, noting in 2012, when fishing was still prohibited at McGuire, "one turtle was caught and fishing was never allowed again."
"To this day fish have survived and are still jumping in the lake…," comments the writer, arguing the restocking of McGuire would benefit the community in many ways. "Kids nowadays don't have many options for entertainment other than cellphones and fishing is a great opportunity to bring new anglers to the sport and get new generations outside more."
As it happens, Harrison recently had a conversation with longtime Salmon Arm resident John Pottie about the history of the McGuire Lake fountain. Pottie explained the lake had algae on it and a game warden suggested trout could go in the lake if it was aerated, "so the idea came to putting in a fountain." The Kinsmen Club took on the project of installing the fountain, which Pottie guessed occurred in 1965.
"We were going to put trout in here and put little wharfs out into the lake so the kids could go fishing," said Pottie in a video shared by the City of Salmon Arm. "Well, a skindiver went out, he came back and said… 'there's sure lots of goldfish in here.' That's a no-no."
Harrison referred to this exchange and then a May 2011 decision of council to support a one-year trial to stock McGuire with 600 sterile rainbow trout.
"Mayor Bootsma really led that idea in about 2012, but the community spoke quite loudly about the nature and the importance of keeping that a natural space," said Harrison, who was a city councillor at that time.
In May 2012, changes were brought to the family fishing program at McGuire to protect the painted turtles that share the habitat. This was in response to charges that a number of the resident painted turtles had been hooked. In June 2012, the program was shut down after a hired lake monitor witnessed a child hook a painted turtle.
Harrison urged the letter writer to use the city wharf for fishing.
"There seems to be a number of people using that," said Harrison, "But I don’t think there’s appetite to open up McGuire Lake to any type of fishing at this time."
Coun. Debbie Cannon, who was on council through the short-lived fishing program, recalled the related public outcry, noting "our emails kind of got inundated with emails from all over the world if I remember correctly."
"It’s interesting because my husband and I walk that often and there are some big rainbow trout in there right now…," said Cannon, suggesting the letter writer "must be thinking he’d like to get his line wet and catch one of those big ones."
