Page 9 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 123

www.sportsenergynews.com Issue #123 April 2023 9

Wishin’ I was Fishin’...

19442 Hwy. 2, SUMMERSTOWN Tel. 613-931-1443 • www.rogersmarina.ca

with John Sliter

By: Molly Kett of spawning walleyes on the gravel
spawning beds.”
f you spot someone fishing on According to Sliter, things
IHoople Creek and Bay area in deteriorated in this area shortly after
Pleasant Valley, it’s likely 65-year- the turn of the century, to the point
old fisherman John Sliter, who spent where very few walleyes make it back
all his summers and weekends on his up the creek to spawn. So, he formed
grandparents farm next to Hoople the not-for-profit corporation with a
Creek, growing up. group of like-minded fishers to try and
“I knew every square inch of the address the concerns for extremely
creek and used to catch spawning low water levels in Hoople Bay
pike when they got trapped in our and Creek, harvesting of spawning
fields during the spring flood. I moved walleye by First Nations people, and
away when I became a member of the the pollution from nitrogen draining
Royal Canadian Mounted Police and from farmers fields. They called this
I served most of my career in British new group ‘Friends of Hoople Creek’
Columbia. I moved my family back to and they have been working diligently
this area in the summer of 1996 in a to raise awareness of these key issues
new posting to our HQ in Ottawa. I ever since.
then purchased a home close to Hoople Sliter has had a passion for fish and
Bay, where my two children and I the environments they live in since
spent a great amount of time fishing he was 11 years old. He would take
and playing on the ice in the winter,” an old dust mop at home and place a
said Sliter. “In the first decade or so, string of large staples along its length
there were some good trails managed to make his first fishing rod. Photo Submitted
by the Ministry of Natural Resources,
and we often went further up the creek “I caught what I considered to be
in the evenings in the spring to view a gigantic, small mouth bass off a
the spawning walleye. We knew to causeway in the Long Sault Parkway
wait for the water temperature to get and paraded it around for all of the in his boat, just off Lookout Point on upstream and allowed my boat to drift
over 5 degrees Celsius (42 ̊F), and to other campers to see,” said Sliter. the Long Sault Parkway. over the area I wanted to fish. I was
bring a strong flashlight and rubber His favourite memory is a specific “It was calm, and the morning using a heavy white jig tipped with a
boots. There were tens of thousands warm summer morning spent fishing mist was just starting to lift. I drove Continued on page 11

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