Doc Talks Fishing Podcast

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Twice a year—spring and fall—lake turnover disrupts the waters and drives anglers crazy. To help us make sense of this phenomenon, we’re joined by Dr. Heidi Swanson, a distinguished fisheries scientist and the inaugural Jarislowsky Chair at Wilfrid Laurier University. Heidi is also the adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo, Dr. Swanson’s work with cold-water fish is legendary.

In this episode, she’ll explain how, in lakes that stratify, the thermocline acts as a ‘glass floor’ for warm-water species like bass and walleye, while it’s a ‘glass ceiling’ for cold-water fish like trout, whitefish, burbot, and ciscoes. So if you’re tired of scratching your head over turnover—what it is, how it forms, and why it matters—this episode is your chance to get the answers you need to become a more informed angler.

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Dr. Bruce Tufts is a comparative fish physiologist at Queen’s University where he specializes in fish olfactory senses. On this week’s podcast, Bruce explains how fish use their keen senses of smell and taste. Using hundreds of captive fish, Bruce and his team undertook countless feeding trials to isolate the specific molecules that flip the switch and convince them that your bait is real.  And what about garlic and coffee, do fish really find them attractive?  Does gasoline and oil on your hands repel fish?  Tune into this week’s podcast and get the answer to the question you’ve always wondered about: Do fish scents really work?

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Dr. David Philipp is renowned for his work with smallmouth bass - especially their reproductive ecology. But the Director of the Fisheries Genetics Lab at the Illinois Natural History Society, adjunct professor at the University of Illinois and Chair of the Fisheries Conservation Foundation encountered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on Opinicon Lake, in southeastern Ontario, when Covid rules closed access to the fish during the spawning season. How the bass responded has not only shocked the science community, it has led to an experimental management project that may show us how to manage for more and bigger bass in the future. Listen in, as David explains to Gord and Liam, how the good old days may be right around the corner.

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Biologist Danny Swainson says steelhead on the west coast have so many nutrients available to them once they hit the ocean that they can grow to 15 pounds in three or four years. But something is happening to them once they enter salt water and it is frightening. Are steelhead different from the rainbow trout in the rivers? What are the survival bottlenecks they are encountering in the ocean? How many adults are returning these days to spawn? What are tracking studies telling us? And how bleak is the future of the fishery? Hold onto your hats folks as British Columbia Conservation Foundation steelhead specialist, Danny Swainson explains if we'll be fishing for steelhead in the years to come.

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Renown biologist, Brian Chan has spent years managing the trout fisheries in British Columbia. You'll be amazed listening to Brian explain how the province produces triploid female rainbow and brook trout that grow twice as large and live twice as long as diploids. There is a reason the trout fishing spotlight is shining so brightly on British Columbia these days. Brian even shares some of his stillwater trout fishing secrets with us. Hold onto your hats, folks, this one is amazing.

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Biologist Steve Quinn has a foot in the world of fisheries science and fishing itself. The longtime bass editor of In-Fisherman Magazine has authored numerous research reports and served in various capacities for the American Fisheries Society. Steve joins Liam and Gord on this week's podcast to reveal how fish use their lateral lines to communicate with each other, hunt and capture prey. They can even detect the vortex left in the water by a fleeing baitfish (or your lure) and follow it straight to the item. You will be intrigued listening to this week's podcast —and add a trick or two to your game plan - thanks to Bass Fishing Hall of Fame inductee, Steve Quinn.

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Ciscoes —also known as lake herring and tulibees— are so favoured by walleye, lake trout, northern pike, bass and muskies that they seem to have a target painted on their backs. Absolutely every predator fish devours them every opportunity they get. Dr. Chris Therrien —who is known as The Cisco Kid— sits down with Gord and Liam on this week’s podcast to explain how ciscoes can totally change the lake dynamics and life history of predators. Prepare to be dazzled as Chris explains how to find ciscoes and the biggest fish in your favourite lake. 

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Renowned muskie scientist, Dr. Sean Landsman tells Liam and Gord on this week's podcast that he has observed muskies doing some mighty strange things. Using bio-loggers equipped with pressure sensors, Landsman says he is surprised at the number of muskies that frequent deeper water, lay on the bottom of the lake and suspend in the water column? Do muskies have different personalities? Do they learn? And do they adjust their behaviour based on fishing pressure? The author of Project Noble Beast has tracked and studied muskies like few others and you'll come away after listening to him with a newfound respect for the magnificent, mysterious, magical muskie.

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Few fish baffle anglers more than lake whitefish. They're found in countless numbers of lakes, often offering up staggering populations of big hard fighting delicious fish. But in other than a few well-known lakes in the winter, whitefish remain an enigma. Rebecca Perry is an instructor at Saskatchewan Polytechnic, who has studied lake whitefish extensively. She talks with Gord and Liam on this week's podcast and helps us unravel the secrets to locating and catching whitefish throughout the open water season.

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Imagine surgically implanting radio tags inside 38 smallmouth bass and then tracking them on a daily basis for up to five years. The details you would learn about their habits and habitats would astound you. Well, that is what OMNR biologist Barry Corbett did on one million acre Lake of the Woods, in one of the most monumental bass tracking studies in fisheries science history. Barry shares what he learned with Liam and Gord on today's podcast and it will take your breath away.