I am writing this on behalf of the Salmon Arm Fish & Game Club in response to the latest series of letters in the paper which address a perceived problem with the painted turtles and the children’s fishery located at McGuire Lake.
We would like to thank the City of Salmon Arm and the councillors who voted in favour of the restocking program, which gives our children the chance to experience the excitement of catching their very first fish.
This is an excellent opportunity for everyone and serves to educate youngsters in a fun way, the basics of how to fish, before they go out onto the big lake. Like anything we do in life, we have to start out small and perfect our abilities before taking on larger challenges.
We have discussed this issue at our monthly meeting and have agreed that our club is very interested in helping where we can, to keep this program in place. We offered to provide logs that could be installed in the lake, away from the fishing docks, for the turtles to rest and sun themselves.
We have older members of the club that remember this lake as a fishing pond and not a turtle pond. Many have very fond memories of their fathers taking them down to McGuire Lake fishing back in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Carl Sundmark remembers when A. D. Meek, who lived in a brick house at the north end of the lake, had stocked the lake with 5,000 trout for people to fish for, back in the early 1940s.
We would imagine that there were always painted turtles in the lake at that time, as well, and they survived quite well. We believe there is room for both the fishing and the turtles and we just need to make some adjustments to protect them both. The latest steps taken to protect the turtles are a step in the right direction and we will work with the city and others to help keep this going for all to enjoy.
Ron Pederson,
President, Salmon Arm
Fish & Game Club
