In a stunning turn of events, the fish won the Ryan Savary Memorial Fishing Derby last weekend at the Michichi Dam.
The 18th annual Ryan Savary Fishing Derby was held last Saturday, and much to the chagrin of the anglers, not a bite was given on this day. Instead organizers were forced to give away prizes simply by draw.
The irony was not lost on the fishermen. In fact, about 60 had their lines cast all day, without a nibble.
“There was not one bite. There was nothing jumping and nobody in the boats even caught anything,” chuckles avid fisherman and regular participant of the derby Blaine Zacharuk. “If I don’t catch a fish or if Larry (Deleeuw) doesn’t catch a fish there’s something wrong.”
He said his fishing buddy had caught a few big ones a few weeks ago at Michichi Dam. The local knowledge has also said that McLaren Dam has had some great fishing this year. He has never seen Michichi so dead.
“I don’t know if they went over the dam, or what happened. What I couldn’t figure out was there was not that many weeds, and no algae,’ said Zacharuk.
Glen Riep, manager of municipal services for Starland County has no answer for the mystery of the missing fish.
“They still stock it. I haven’t heard a lot about the catches in Michichi, although they were catching them earlier this year,” said Riep. “A far as the stocking goes, the province puts in their regular batch in the spring, usually in April after the ice is off.”
He said it could be a couple a factors. The recent heat and the rainstorms could have an effect.. He said also often if fresh water shrimp is plentiful, the fish are less likely to bite.
“If there is lots of shrimp in the water, there is so much food for them, they are not that hungry,” said Riep.
Despite this, the credo “A bad day’s fishing is better than a good day’s work” proved true. Many went home with draw prizes from the organizers as well as gifts donated by Starland County and Randy and Sharon Hardy.
