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Soldier Lake

14K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  OleNewfieDog 
#1 ·
does anyone have any idea what NS power is doing at the dam there and also where does everyone fish at. the few times i been in there the lake has been very choppy and windy. Also what kind of fish are in this lake
 
#4 ·
One of my good friends & fishing buddy is working on the construction crew with NSPI, they are repairing the old dam and building a hydro station at the mouth of the river. We have gone fishing up on the lake a fair bit this year, about a dozen times. We usually fish from the shore, but have been out in our canoe a couple of times. We have next to no luck there. It always seems to be really windy and hard to manage a canoe and cast with the winds. All we ever caught were a couple of smallies. All in all, my least favorite lake of the year.
 
#5 ·
Hi;

I saw my first smallie, sunbathing in the shallows in front of the dam, some 11 years ago. From what I'm hearing, I guess they've settled in.

Since Soldier Lake is a reservoir, apparently there are no brookie spawning tributaries, so most fish were hatchery, and could only be caught after they were stocked. I don't think they have stocked that lake for a long time.

Just a guess, but if the hydro guys are going to erect a power plant there then they are going to have increase pressure, i.e., increase water depth, i.e, raise the dam height at least 20 ft., i.e., build a much longer dam. If so, that would take years. Best find another lake to fish.

chuck
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi;

I saw my first smallie, sunbathing in the shallows in front of the dam, some 11 years ago. From what I'm hearing, I guess they've settled in.

Since Soldier Lake is a reservoir, apparently there are no brookie spawning tributaries, so most fish were hatchery, and could only be caught after they were stocked. I don't think they have stocked that lake for a long time.

Just a guess, but if the hydro guys are going to erect a power plant there then they are going to have increase pressure, i.e., increase water depth, i.e, raise the dam height at least 20 ft., i.e., build a much longer dam. If so, that would take years. Best find another lake to fish.

chuck
A few thoughts:
  1. I doubt if Soldier was ever stocked with brook trout;
  2. There are brooks/streams flowing into Soldier Lake that could potentially be (or have been) good spawning habitat; and
  3. I'll bet dollars to donuts that they're just repairing the dam and not building an additional power plant there.
Soldier Lake is the reservoir and Miller Lake is the headpond for the power plant located near Inn on the Lake on Lake Thomas. I'll hazard a guess that the difference in elevation between Soldier and Miller is not significant enough to warrant another plant.

I could be wrong...

Paul
 
#7 ·
Almost positive it was stocked many yrs ago...we fished one back cove n caught fifteen clones..not all lakes r on the stockin list..for obvious reasons..and sum get stocked after season..to give em a chance..
Good points, Tony. How many years ago was that? I know that Soldier took an environmental butt-kicking from the creation, expansion, and operation of the airport (e.g., mishandling of de-icing products) over the decades. Perhaps discreet stocking might have been done as a remediation measure.

Paul
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
The way time flies Paul..coulda easily been 20 yrs or more...ive always heard of sum nice trout bein caught there..and marked alot on the finder..but its one lake that basically eats me up...serious structure..n im sure before the hiway was built moons ago..it was most likely an awesome lake..my buddy caught sum nice ones three yrs ago from shore...like most trout lakes..its hit or miss..theres millions of minnows there..so the food source is there..
I attended a Nova Scotia Power stakeholders' meeting about Soldier and Miller Lakes in the spring of 2005 or 2006 as a Scouts Canada representative. Scouts Canada owns the large island in Miller Lake on which Camp Lone Cloud is situated and also leases a huge chunk of the mainland between the east side of Miller Lake and the west side of Soldier Lake. In any case, I was intrigued by the comments made by the NSPI biologist about the Soldier Lake environment. In his opinion, it was rebounding from years of abuse after the airport finally installed a system to manage the run-off of de-icing chemicals (presumably ethylene glycol and God knows what else). He noted how the cranberry bogs were healthy and that electro-fishing was producing better results than it had for a long time, too. Perhaps there's some hope, although the extended draw down can't be good for water temps and the fish habitat.

Incidentally, my Dad talks of nice trout being caught "back in the day" at Granite Lake, the smaller lake parallel to Soldier to the east. I always wanted to hike back there and through the gullies back to the coast, but it hasn't passed the "dreaming" phase yet...

Paul
 
#13 ·
Well I have tried it twice, and not even one bite. My fadder-in-law was with me once, he got nudding, and I saw two other folks there and they got nudding. I'll check back in once in a while, but this pond seems dead. I noticed its not on the stock list, any idea why not?
 
#15 ·
Yeah I reliaze that, I guess I should have mentioned that I would have thought they would given that pond was negatively affected by runoff from the airport. Now that the enviroment is returning to normal I figured they would add some fish. Maybe they want to wait a few more years yet.
 
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