Gananoque & 1000 Islands Chapter

Our Membership
Our chapter members include a range from novices to charter guides. Geographically our members have come from as far west as Stoney Point to as far east as Montreal on the Canadian side. On the United States side our membership extends from St. Vincent to the west and Ogdensburg to the east in New York State. We also have several American members from other U.S. states.

Meetings
Chapter meetings are held at 7 PM on the first Tuesday of each month at the Royal Canadian Legion, bottom floor, 55 King Street (just west of Stone Street), Gananoque. Come out and join us. MAP

2012 Events
The "Gananoque Gathering" September 14th-16th, 2012 at the Glen House Resort. See "Upcoming Events" below for more details.

2011 Events
The Gananoque & 1000 Islands Chapter of Muskies Canada Inc. held it's 9th annual outing this year. The Glen House Resort did a wonderful job of hosting the 30 members attending the dinner. 28 members fished both days in spite of the rain and high winds. Luke Waddell of the Gananoque Chapter registered the winning Muskie release at 54". Caught on Saturday fishing with Ben DeWolfe and Andrew Wagar. Congratulations Luke. Thanks to all who participated.

Community Support
Our chapter feels strongly about supporting the community we live in. Once again this year our chapter members raised money to support the Gananoque Food Bank. We raised $220.00 with our rod raffle this year and presented a check to them in December. Thanks to Big Jim McLaughlin and Shimano Canada for the generous donation of a Shimano Compre Rod and to all the members who bought tickets.

Chapter History
The Gananoque & 1000 Islands chapter was founded in 2002, under the interim sponsorship of the Montreal chapter, and the support of the Gananoque community. Several dedicated anglers came together with the goal of protecting the muskellunge population in the 1000 Islands area.

The 1000 Islands area of the St. Lawrence River is famous for its trophy muskie fishery, with muskies over 55" caught and released each season.

Our chapter actively promotes Catch & Release and promotes safe handling practices of muskellunge throughout the 1000 Islands region. We also actively support the identification and protection of critical muskellunge spawning and nursery habitat to ensure the future of the muskellunge population in our area.

Chapter Projects for 2012

Muskellunge Nursery Habitat Seining
Our chapter will again be seining on the St. Lawrence River this August to capture YOY (young of the year) muskellunge.

The goals of this project are to identify muskellunge nursery habitat sites in the 1000 Islands area of the St. Lawrence. We also gauge muskellunge year class strength by seining established muskellunge nursery sites each season. The main goal is to prevent the loss of crucial nursery habitat due to shoreline development in sensitive areas for muskellunge reproduction and recruitment. Results of the last 2 years seining efforts have been poor both on the Canadian side and the US side, where they carry out over 400 pulls in a season. These results may be attributed to the poor weather conditions in spring and summer over the last 2 years or might be a direct result of the VHS die-off affecting a majority of the spawining fish.





This project is carried out with support from our partners at St. Lawrence Islands National Park, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Kids Day Participation
Our chapter will again be financially supporting and participating in local Kids Day Outings in our region.

54" Size Limit Proposal
Our chapter will continue to lobby for a change in the legal size limit for muskellunge from the present 48" to 54" on the upper St. Lawrence River in 2012. We feel that it is crucial to protect large female brood stock muskellunge, especially after the loss of many large female muskellunge in the VHS die-off in 2005 and 2006.

Angler Log Program
Our chapter members will again be participating in this program to provide valuable information to our partners in this program, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Angler Log Program

Contact Us

If you are interested in attending a meeting or obtaining information on joining our chapter, please contact our Membership Director, Roy Brunner (613)-382-7377 or our Chapter Chair, Jim Hutchings (613) 342-2201