Every year there is a special event at the Spring Fishing and Boat Show (SFBS). We call it MUSKIE SUNDAY.
This year it happened on February 19. The doors opened at 7.30 am and we started at 8.00. We had over 300 people come in early to be part of the action. Big Jim McLaughlan was the host and MC for the event.
Great Speakers:
The folks that organize the overall Show are very good to Muskies Canada. They bring in top-notch speakers and group them together in one powerhouse session.
This year we had US experts James Linder and Jeremy Smith who gave a terrific presentation about using in-line spinners; the bait that has revolutionized muskie fishing. They fish hard in highly pressured waters in Minnesota and Lake of the Woods and shared some tactics that work well for them.
John Anderson gave us a rousing presentation called “Ontario Muskies Rock!”. He let everyone know that Eastern Ontario 
and Western Québec make up one of the best but often overlooked muskie hotspots in the world. He identified 5 zones that provide world-class muskie fishing: The Lower Ottawa River; Lake of Two Mountains, Lake St. Louis (Montreal); Lake St. Francis, and The Upper St. Lawrence between Cornwall and Kingston. John is sure that the next world record will come from these waters.
Gord Pyzer brought us the NW Ontario perspective and told us many stories about some of the bai
ts he uses. He challenged us to break out of our ordinary approach to find and work current breaks, to use the surface (topwater), and especially to consider fishing the bottom with jigs and soft plastics. He suggested that we use something that the fish may not have seen before or to fish an area in a way that is slightly different.
Arunas Liskauskas is probably the most knowledgeable person in the world about Georgian Bay muskies, having worked for almost 30 years with Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. 
Arunas talked about the distribution and characteristics of the muskie populations in and around Georgian Bay. He shared some valuable information that has come from research and tracking done by the Ministry in association with McMaster University. Doctoral candidate Dan Weller of McMaster was the recipient of Muskies Canada’s Ed Crossman Research Education award, which helped with the work he’s been doing on “The Bay” with Arunas and MNRF.
Marc Thorpe talked about the important work that has been going on the Ottawa River in association with the Québec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife & Parks. This tagging and sampling study is gathering DNA for detailed genomic analysis at Université Laval. It is also using a non-lethal aging technique using the ray of a caudal fin. These sampled fish are tagged and released so they can be monitored. About 10 volunteers from the Ottawa chapter participated in 2016 and sampled over 100 fish.
This data will give the Québec ministry much more information about how to manage this unique population of muskies. Marc also reminded us of the importance of fish handling. His own approach is to never even take the fish out of the water and he showed us some great examples of spectacular photos, above and below the water, of fish in the cradle. His concern about not over-stressing fish that are caught and released was evident throughout the presentation.
Muskie Sunday as a Fundraiser for Muskies Canada Projects
Not only were the speakers great but also we had tremendous support from the angling industry to help us put some great prizes out on the prize tables and into the silent auction. The big crowd was eager to bid for some hot stuff. Shimano graciously donated a brand-new Tranx 400 reel, one of only a handful that have arrived in Canada. Shimano launched these new 300 and 400 series Tranx at the show and it was a very hot item. Abu Garcia helped with lots of unique items; Hose Baits had some fantastic lures on the table. We had great products from St. Croix rods, Handlebarz lures, Figure Ate guiding service, Waterwolf, Beaver baits, Sandy Haven Lodge (Nipissing), Scotsman Point Lodge (Lower Buckhorn), and many, many more.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the terrific enthusiasm of participants, Muskies Canada was able to raise over $6000 to go to our important projects. This will help us greatly in our work to ensure the sustainability and success of Canada’s muskies for generations to come.
Thank you to the Spring Fishing and Boat Show, Muskies Canada’s tireless volunteers and to everyone who came out to Muskie Sunday. It was a huge success. For Muskies Canada members, if you missed it, we have filmed the all of the sessions and will put them up on-line Members Area in the video section.