Denny's Cam - Likely finished for good

[darryl choronzey]

My opinion

When the Ministry first approached the Steelheaders on the camera I commented on what just about everyone knew in advance...the vast majority of spring and fall runs take place when the water is high and off coloured and that type of camera in the location at denny's would be a bust.

To me personally, my opinion is the entire set-up is a piece of crap. We can literally handle 3,000 fish in a day if we have the manpower when the run is on. We drop the trap for less than an hour, lift it and count more than 300 fish, sometimes as high as 400 hundred or more fish...that's in an hour and only done twice a day for a total of between 600 to 800 fish and some days even more...the trap is out of the water and the fishway is wide open for an additional 22 hours a day, every day of the spring and fall...thousands of fish daily. Yet, that piece of junk (in my opinion) has never eve given a real count when the water murkies up.

The Ontario Steelheaders have approached the MNR and talked with private engineers already about installing an underground viewing room for the public to actually see the fish run under all conditions... The station would be located down from the trap and cage and above the lower entrance. Even under murky conditions fish would visible. These viewing stations are found up and down the west coast and are real attention grabbers for both anglers and the general public. The window would be about 20 - 30 feet in length and 4 - 6 feet high. We shall see what happens...it's really a no-brainer.

But as for the camera, junk it and any other cameras on the river as well. The best use would be as a part of river bottom structure.

In my opinion that thing is useless when the run is on and gives a very bad impression of what is really going on at the Sagueen