Professor December 7, 2010 at 9:36 pm Reply Hi Gord/Keith…That nice bunch of trout materialized because you tried something unusual and outside the boundary of where the fish "should be". Congratulations for being willing to think differently. This is a good reminder for all of us. With respect to the issue of young beavers tasting the best…I think this is a matter of personal preference acquired through meaningful sampling. I have found that the age of the beaver is far less important than how the beaver is prepared and how hungry I am.
Gord December 7, 2010 at 11:39 pm Reply Perhaps Keith will chime in as to how he came up with "his theory"!! By the way, when cleaning these fish half were males and half were just spawned out females……so no mystery what they were up to.
Andy December 15, 2010 at 3:50 am Reply Really nice post! Gord, I have a question. If the females were spawned out, shouldn't the season close before the spawn rather than after? Was this year really that unusual? Here in Wisconsin we are experiencing below zero temperatures and I can only imagine what you are getting at VBL. Keith and Lovita are fixtures at VBL and its great to see Keith's smiling face on the blog. I will stay away from the beaver discussion only because I have never been that particular. Andy
Gord December 17, 2010 at 2:00 pm Reply Andy, I believe the fish were actively spawning when we caught them…the females had a handful of eggs left. On different years the timing could be days later or earlier, but in general most of the spawn occurs after the closing date. I know that a lot of the spawning activity usually occurs at night in the shallows (reefs, shorelines). I will stay away from your comment to stay away from the beaver discussion!
Professor December 19, 2010 at 4:12 pm Reply Hi Gord…I understand that there are two varieties of beaver in NW Ontario, the common fur-bearing and the rare hairless or so-called "Brazilian" beaver. Do you know if the Brazilian migrates south for the winter?
Gord December 19, 2010 at 11:24 pm Reply You are correct professor. The fur-bearing beaver "Castor Hispida" spends it's winters here in NW Ontario. The hairless "Glaber Castor", also referred to as the "Brazilian" migrates to sunny beach areas in the winter. Perhaps you have spotted them on their migrations?
Professor December 22, 2010 at 2:56 am Reply Hi Gord…I've lived in beautiful Edgerton, WI for over twenty years now. Unfortunately, I never have I spotted a Brazilian here. However, I spoke to an Edgerton old-timer who claimed to have seen several, years back. But then he admitted that these may have been from photos in a nature magazine.
Gord December 22, 2010 at 6:31 pm Reply Professor, at the Blue Lantern Hunt Camp there is an extensive collection of those vintage nature magazines. I must say that in all my research into those archives, the "Glabor Castor" variety was not observed. Perhaps it was colder back in "the day"?
