Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Fish Watching in Lasalle

Who remembers the   aquarium almost at the end of LaSalle Blvd. in Ville LaSalle? They had about 6 to 8 cement pools about 3 feet deep outside and inside there were more pools but I can’t remember how big it was inside. The outside pools from what I can remember were approximately 8ft W x15 ft L   they were loaded and I mean loaded with big Black Fish maybe carp? They must have weighted 30 plus lbs. and about 4feet plus long. I wish I asked questions back then but we were just interested in watching these big fish swim around in their crowed space. We always went on a hot summer night. I guess by the time we came back  the house had cooled down enough to sleep.Does anyone know why they were there and what did the do with all those fish.It must have been very expensive to keep all those fish. Pauline

13 comments:

john allison said...

I remember them. I thought there were sturgeons, or muskies....

pauline garneau said...

Hi winnie3rdavenueYou are most likely right. I wouldn't know the diffrence from a sturgeon or muskie or carp all I know is they were big and black. Do you know why they were there.

Ron Spain said...

Hi. I always remember that place as the Lachine Fish Hatchery. Whenever I pass that area I still get a laugh. We went on a trip there with the YMCA and one of the kids fell into one of the pools.When a large fish came over to investigate he let out one of the most terible screams I have ever heard I can still hear it today. I don't think the water was up to his waist. I have a picture somewhere in my computer of a truck from there restocking the river.

pauline garneau said...

That must have been hilarious, but I would have done the same thing .They were really big ugly scary fish. Hope you can find that picture.

Sandy Walsh said...

Pauline - I used to leave Verdun in the morning on my bike and be gone all day. I'd go through Lasalle and stop at the apple orchard in the country club, and then my next stop would be that fish place. The water had a cooling effect after a lot of peddling. Those fish were nasty looking. Than I'd go on through Lachine, Dorval, Pointe Claire, Beaconsfield, Baie D'urfe to St. Anne de Bellevue. Somewhere along the way, I'd have lunch beside the lake. I'd then return via the inland route and get home at dinner time. No one ever knew where I had been for the day and no one ever asked. They probably thought I was just hanging out at some friend's house. Quite different from these days when I knew where my kids were every second. But back to the subject - the fish were weird and why were they there? I guess they had to be somewhere - lol.

pauline garneau said...

WoW !!!!Sandy What an adventurous person you were. I remember going on my bike to that apple orchard and removing a few apples and I thought that was far. I guess I was about seven maybe eight. I know what you mean about not letting the kids out of sight today. Back them it was not an issue.I was allowed to go to Belmont Park from Verdun with my sister and she usually dumped me somewhere and found me when it was time to go home.

John O said...

WOW! Pauline. Your last two posts the "lLachine Aquarium" as we knew it was a regular visiting spot. It had all kinds of fish from the river as I recall. The big black ones were sturgeon.

The other post Verdun gardens.. the gardens as we knew it as kids was an incredible find the first time we walked all the way up allard Ave, the street I lived on at the time. What an adventure. Up till that point our neighborhood gang only knew of the small vacant "field" at the corner of Allard and Lasalle as that was part of our local playing area.

Keep them coming.

Johnny O

pauline garneau said...

Hi Johnny O I lived at 1219 Allard so it wasn't far for my mother to go with her garden tools and play in the dirt.I guess she had fun.

robert jomphe said...

I used to bike there also and often walked.The place was national lampray center it moved later to the end of the great lakes. The fish in the big tubular tanks at the entrance were big catfish that came from the south. The first tank had bass that you could feed popcorn to or pieces of bread from your lunch if you had one. The cement pools at the back had fish from whatever studies they were involved with.And the stone house had a little display of stuffed canadian animals at the back. The main house was the Robert Cavalier de Lasalle museum. It's been a few years since I've stopped there, because the many new stops and speed limits make it a very tedious drive along the lakeshore.

Diane Roberts said...

Hey Pauline...Great Posts...keep them coming! Love to hear everyone remembering the gardens and the fish ponds etc. Makes me wish I was more adventurous and knew about them, but it's probably because my summers were spent in Rawdon and I didn't have the summer days to explore all those wonderful places. I do remember regularly going fishing with my Dad in the spring, somewhere past Lasalle and we'd stop off at the Verdun Asylum (so named in those days) and I'd have to help him look for worms in the big pile of compost at the back of the place near the veggie patch...Yuk! My rubber boots sure came in handy!

pauline garneau said...

Hi Diane I never fished in Lasalle. My mother brought us fishing off Torchy Wharf at the top of Allard so it wasn't far to go, we lived on Allard.I think every kid in Verdun fished off Torchy Wharf.

Diane Roberts said...

I think my dad took me fishing around the Lachine Rapids. I was quite young, but I remember the water was very rough and fast running. Thanks for setting off my memory banks with your informative posts....Diane

pauline garneau said...

With all the fishing that went on in that water I wonder how many people ate their catch and lived to talk about it.