OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a story, titled 'Perch festival organizers reeling in 'obstacles' in rebuilding year', published April 27.
I am writing today to express my deepest regrets that the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce (ODCC) let the Orillia Perch Festival (OPF) turn into a biggest catch-style fishing tournament once again. It is now concentrating on one big weekend of excitement instead of a three-week festival supporting conservation and focusing more on live release of the perch.
It is disheartening to see the ODCC give up a festival that brought so many people together in the Sunshine City from near and far to enjoy the three-week-long Perch Festival, as it also brought in many tourist dollars to local hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, convenience stores, bait shops ... the list goes on and on.
Selling or giving the rights to the Competitive Sports Fishing League (CSFL) was a huge mistake in my personal opinion as it states in the name “competitive”; this does not scream out family-friendly to me. I personally went down to see the weigh-in process. Most fish I saw being weighed were barely moving. I did try to keep an open mind these fish were going to become someone’s dinner tonight, which is just the circle of life.
I do commend the new organizers that the tournament was moved back later by one week as the perch are spawning this time of year, but I did notice some big females being weighed still contained eggs, so we’ve lost a healthy breeding fish or two or at least their eggs.
Along with this new format, people who have to fish from the shorelines — as not everyone is lucky to have a boat — will miss out on the possible opportunity to catch fish from shore, as once the perch spawn in the shallow areas where most people can access and fish from shore, the perch have now returned to deeper waters only accessible by boat.
The CSFL was kind enough to inform me that the chamber approached them in February of this year to take over the festival, so not giving them much time to put it all together.
Along with the biggest fish there are two other ways to win this year. You could also enter by taking a picture of you and your catch and tagging the OPF with a hashtag #2024orilliaperchfestival which I commend because this goes with the heart of the OPF conservation and family-friendly event.
There was also a chance to catch one of 100 tagged fish worth $200 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday until 4 p.m.. Then, after 4:01 p.m. Sunday until next Saturday the tag is worth $100 and the final week leading up to Saturday May 11 at 11:59 p.m. the tag is worth $50. Unlike the minimum award of $500 for a tagged fish for the complete three weeks of the old festival.
Now once again, with the short timeframe to try and get sponsors, I understand the need to prorate the tagged fish prize amounts. The most disappointing thing that happened for us personally as regular festival entrants was because the organizers had such little time to arrange this event, we did not register as we thought it was a one weekend event and were not going to be able to fish.
Once we found out it extended past this weekend, registration was already closed unlike the previous festival where you could register the day you come up to fish and fish as many days as you were available. Very little was known about this year’s festival until the last couple weeks as there was not the usual Perch Book, Perch Festival Date signs all over town and area, no talk of early bird registrations, needing help catching perch to tag, radio ads or Facebook updates.
Some other notable mentions on things that event-goers would miss out on seeing at this year’s event is the Orillia Fish and Game Club (OFGCC) or the "Red Shirt Guys" for live releasing drop off.
The opening ceremonies are always a fun night of prizes and a welcoming of guests to our fine city with dignitaries. But of course, most of us just wanted a look at the adult grand prize: a new fishing boat package that every angler, young and old, would be dreaming of fishing from.
The OPP Kids Day at Tudhope Park, a fun-filled morning of games and challenges with the local OPP and OFGCC.
Going forward I hope the CFSL will listen to the concerns of the Orillia citizens and build the Perch Festival back into something both sides of the fishing community can be happy with. One, with the excitement of big fish, but keeping in mind the future of the perch population and ensuring that those fish who are still full of eggs will not be eligible for a weight prize, to help keep the conservation side of the fishing community happy as well.
Now this is just my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I remember the early years of the OPF where there was a biggest fish award and they used to have a cook tent where you could have them fry your catch right in Tudhope Park.
Gladly, over the years, thanks mostly to the dedication of Doug Bunker from the ODCC, the OPF grew and evolved into a flourishing festival and a must-fish event. Then, the unthinkable happened: COVID-19, a worldwide pandemic, so the 2020 OPF had to be cancelled.
Once again, under the leadership of Bunker in 2021, we saw the birth of a new generation of the OPF with digital registration and reporting and awarding of the tagged fish prizes. Of course, this brought grumblings from the festival-goers, but the OPF seemed to be rebuilding slowly with the rest of the world coming out of the pandemic.
Now another unthinkable thing has happened, Bunker retiring from the ODCC. Although all good things must come to an end — like a beloved ODCC employee retiring — and then the ODCC part its ways with a festival that has been a big part of your life from your teens all the way into your forties, and then has seen your children grow over the years in a yearly family tradition entering and fishing the OPF.
Although in my humblest opinion the CFSL is not the best way to move the OPF forward and the ODCC has turned its back on one of North America’s greatest fishing festivals and its city. All I can do is hope going forward the Perch Festival/Tournament continues in some way or form. I may not be happy with how it turns out, but I can hope for the best.
Paul D. Peden
Orillia resident and avid perch fisherman
