The Upper Grand River In Spring
Last Thursday turned into a gorgeous day with the sun shining brightly and the temperature hitting about 15 or 16C in Southern Ontario. Most of the snow had melted away, and it was one of those days that just shouldn’t be wasted indoors. Especially at this time of the year when such sunny warm days are still rare.
Colleen and I decided to take advantage of the weather and we hit the road in the Jeep Liberty with the sunroof open. It was wonderful to feel the sun shining down on our heads! I thought it would be interesting to take a drive up to Highway 89 and see what the Grand River looked like near its headwaters. Although in the summer months, one can often walk across the Grand at this point with barely getting their ankles wet, in spring the Grand can be ferocious with snow melt runoff and ice jams. It is not uncommon for Highway 25 through the town of Grand Valley to be closed due to the river flooding over it’s banks.
The Grand begins it’s long journey near Dundalk, Ontario which is north of Highway 89. It crosses 89 east of Mount Forest, at the Village of Keldon. On Thursday, the river was not as fast nor as high as many other previous springs, but considering it’s often not much more than a trickle here in the summer time, it was still impressive.
The Grand, looking upstream (north) at Highway 89.
Looking downstream at Highway 89
From Highway 89, the river flows through the Township of East Luther on its way to Grand Valley and the Village of Waldemar, picking up the flow of a number of tributary creeks and streams that drain the area. North west of Grand Valley is the “Luther Marsh Conservation Area,” where visitors can hike, canoe in Luther Lake (after July 31st), cross country ski and snowmobile in winter, and enjoy the wildlife. Often, bird watchers have sightings of nesting trumpeter swans, great blue herons, loons and bald eagles. Some years ago, while visiting the area in late summer or early autumn, I watched as conservation officers captured young trumpeter swans which were to be relocated to add to a population on James Bay (if I recall correctly).
I used to live in Waldemar and remember well the spring time ice break-up on the Upper Grand. Huge chunks of ice floating down the river and often, the ice chunks would jam up together, causing dams and flooding of the banks. In the summer, although the river is much lower, there are pockets where small smallmouth bass hang out and will take a variety of flies including small caddis floating on the surface. I’ve spent a number of enjoyable evenings wading the river in this area wearing shorts and using a light fly rod to trick the feeding bass before enjoying the lights of fireflies after dusk.
Upstream of Waldemar, near Grand Valley, a section of the river remains deep enough all summer for a population of pike to call home. Downstream of Waldemar, as the river approaches Lake Bellwood (an artificial lake formed by Shand Dam), larger size smallmouth bass can be caught, if you know where to find them. There are no trout in the upper reaches of the river. The water temperature is just far too warm in the summer with little overgrowth and few trees to provide shade.
Last Thursday, Colleen and I drove through Grand Valley and Waldemar and here’s what we saw:
Looking upstream from the bridge at Waldemar.
Looking downstream from the bridge at Waldemar.
After leaving Waldemar, we drove down towards Lake Bellwood, and then through Fergus on our way to Guelph. The river looked quite high downstream of the Shand Dam near Fergus – where many anglers will probably be lined up come Opening Day in pursuit of the Brown Trout that are stocked here.
On Friday, we visited the picturesque town of Elora, where the Grand flows through on it’s way south ultimately flowing into Lake Erie. The Elora area and south to Wilson’s Flats is also prime Brown Trout water for fly anglers. Here’s Colleen and I with the Grand flowing over the dam at Elora, behind us:
