How these cottagers are saving Lake St. Peter's fish population

When Watersheds Canada offered an opportunity to lake communities in North Hastings to participate in a fish habitat enhancement program, which includes plans for restocking the lake with fish, Lake St. Peter’s Teddy Windmoller was keen to sign up. Teddy and his wife, Diane, moved to Lake St. Peter permanently about six years ago. He’s the former vice-president of the lake’s property owners association and now volunteers at the North Hastings Community Fish Hatchery, in Bancroft, Ont. There are six lakes within Hastings Highlands, plus other area lakes, that are participating in this opportunity.

“The lakes in our area were struggling to repopulate themselves,” he says. The fish population in Lake St. Peter, in particular, had dropped because of overfishing. Plus, human activity and development had significantly reduced the amount of natural woody debris in lakes; this has resulted in “a lack of natural habitats where the fish could find safety from predators.”

Habitat enhancement is a multi-phase process. For Lake St. Peter, the first phase involved adding brush bundles (natural wood structures that protect the fish from predators) to the lakebed. Last July, a representative of Watersheds Canada mapped out the lake’s existing spawning beds and took underwater photos. “The GPS coordinates allowed us to see where the bundles would be best deployed,” says Teddy.

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Then, in September, Teddy, along with fellow lake residents, assembled the bundles and, with the help of four members of Watersheds Canada, placed them—approximately 20—in the lake.

The next phase of the project involves testing the oxygen levels in the water to make sure it’s suitable for restocking; Teddy hopes this will happen by early summer. For many years, the trout population has been experiencing struggles on the lake, with the once productive spawning bed being damaged by siltation. In late summer, there are plans in place to enhance the spawning beds with washed river stone.

The North Hastings hatchery currently has around 6,500 lake and brook trout ready for release. If all goes well, ideally Lake St. Peter could get 300 to 400 fish annually, for five to seven years, after which the fish will be able to replenish themselves, he says. The Ministry of Natural Resources makes the decision about which lakes receive the annual restocking; Watersheds Canada and the ministry believe that the enhanced habitat will enable the stocked fish to survive and naturalize.

It’s a long-term project, but well worth it: the program isn’t just good for the lake’s fish population. “It will benefit the community as a whole,” says Teddy. “With enhanced fishing on our lake, the next generation will be able to enjoy the beauty of what nature has to give.”

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This article is also published in the March/April 2025 issue of Cottage Life.

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