Thornbury Fishermen

Catching up on the distant past, even longer ago than my last harbour visit, we headed for Thornbury one day at the very beginning of October.  There are a lot of very dedicated fishermen in the fall on the lower Beaver River.  Mrs. F.G. went off to her dentist (yuck!), but I was turned loose to take in the Georgian Trail bridge over the river, and look down on the fishing action. 

You may remember that this is an old railway bridge, repurposed for the Georgian Trail which goes straight through Thornbury.  It's easily wheelchair accessible, though the trails down below aren't.  As you can see, it was built to hold trains, not just a few lightweight people, or even 300 lb. wheelchairs!

Below the mill pond dam the river flows very quickly for a few hundred yards before reaching the level of Georgian Bay.  Those waters would be fun to run in a canoe!

Through the trees you can see two of the gates in the dam, one open and one closed, just below the traffic on the bridge.  And of course the fishermen.

Can you imagine swimming against that current?  Yet the migrating fish do every year.  There is a splendid fish ladder built into the dam, designed to look natural, and it's amazing to see how salmon can fight their way up there through a current much stronger than this.

Looking the other direction from the bridge, you can see downstream toward the bay, an apartment building on the right hand side.

There's a pedestrian bridge down there, and a very narrow island with steps down to it - and of course more fishermen.  Throughout the fall the Salmon, Rainbow and Steelhead all migrate up this river and through the millpond before spawning in the shallows upstream.  Fishermen wait in line, all hoping to capture the big one!

Here's a picture of that pedestrian bridge from earlier in the season - unfortunately not in the least bit wheelchair accessible.

Rest assured there will still be fishermen down by the harbour, fishing their time away, both here in Meaford and east of here in Thornbury all winter long - though not perhaps as many as there were during the spawning run that these pictures reflect.