Spiel

A real fish story He catches record muskie -- and then leaves it for somebody else Wednesday, March 18, 2009 BILL LANKHOF / TORONTO SUN When Dale MacNair hooked a muskie that had a bigger belly than many people, he knew he had a "dream" catch. What the 45-year-old Ottawa fisherman didn't realize is that he'd get more attention for letting the fish go than for actually catching it. "It is a very impressive fish. There hasn't been anything this big caught since 1949," MacNair said of the 145-centimetre muskie he caught in the chill and gloaming on the St. Lawrence River, Nov. 28. "Kids are amazed when they see this fish, a 33-inch (84 cm) girth -- that's bigger than a lot of men's pants size," said McNair, who will bring a replica to the Toronto Sportsman's Show on Saturday. The actual fish he can't show anyone. It's back out bellying up somewhere to a perch dinner. There was never a doubt that fish was going back into the water, said McNair, even though photos of him holding the fish show it to be a world record candidate. Muskie Canada's formula puts the size at 30 kilos; the U.S. formula makes it 34.9 kilos. Muskie Canada says the last official Canadian catch- and-release record close to MacNair's catch dates back to 1988, when a Toronto man caught a 29.5-kilo muskie in Georgian Bay. "I'm still getting calls every day ... but the bigger buzz is that I didn't kill the fish. I let 'er go. If I would've killed the fish, there's no question it would've been a world record," said MacNair. "It's recognized as the world's biggest catch-and-release muskie which means more to me than having a dead fish." McNair grew up fishing Atlantic salmon in New Brunswick and about 18 months ago caught the muskie bug. "I relive it every time I tell it," he says of the day he came face to fin with history. He, girlfriend Julie Cashaback and fishing buddy Sal Rotolo fished uneventfully until late afternoon and decided to move to an area known as the 40-Acre Shoal. "It's -4 (degrees) before the wind chill, 25 mile an hour winds from the west, three-foot waves, five o'clock, pitch black ... my rod gave a tick, tick and I picked it up." Seconds later, MacNair knew he'd scored big. The fish screamed line off his reel, then reversed direction. Rotolo turned on his boat lights. When the fish was nine metres off stern, "she launches out of the water. It's a sight the three of us won't ever forget," said MacNair. Nobody, will let him forget. He was invited to the Chicago Muskie show in January, then the Milwaukee Muskie show and another in Columbus. He appeared at the Ottawa Sportsman show. This weekend it's Toronto. He's been invited to the St. Catharines Muskie Odyssey and the Ottawa Carp Show. "It's been insane," MacNair said from his Ottawa custom glass shop. "Larry Ramsell, he's a muskie historian and author in Hayward, Wisc., drove 16 hours to Ottawa to meet me, shake my hand and look at pictures. He slept on the floor in my condo, got up at 5 a.m., and drove all the way back." The Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward recognizes a 31.6 kilo (69-pound, 11-ounce) muskie caught by Louis Spray in 1949 as the record. The International Game Fish Association in Florida, recognizes a 31.7 kilo (69-pound, 15-ounce) fish caught on the St. Lawrence by Marv Lawton in 1959. "Ninety-nine percent of muskie anglers don't believe either," according to Ramsell. "Many would like to see a clear and clean record caught to settle the issue." But MacNair has no regrets. The St. Lawrence lost 70% of its muskie population to a virus in 2004. "I know guys with over 400 hours fishing on the St. Lawrence without a single fish," said MacNair, adding, "a fish with this strain of genes will produce a lot more muskie. This will help the population come back."

Father-son quest: 50 trophy waters in 50 states in 50 days SUN., MAR 15, 2009 - 12:59 PM BRAD DOKKEN / madison.com GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Jeff Turner has never fished Devils Lake; or anywhere else in North Dakota, for that matter. That will all change July 10, when Turner, 47, and his son Taylor, 17, spend a day on Devils Lake with Grand Forks fishing guide Mark Bry as part of an epic angling adventure they’ve dubbed “50 Trophy Waters in 50 States in 50 Days.” The marathon fishing trip begins June 13 — the day after Taylor finishes his junior year of high school — on the Susquehannah River in Pennsylvania and concludes July 30 on Hawaii’s Kona Coast. In between, they’ll fish some of the best water the United States has to offer for everything from steelhead and sturgeon to bass and blue marlin. According to Turner, who lives in Warrenton, Va., the trip is part charity, part adventure and all about promoting father-son relationships. Call it a “Bucket List” item, of sorts. “I’ve been asked numerous times in life, ’What would you do if you had no real limits? If you could take a summer without any consequences, what would it be?’ “ Turner said this week in a telephone interview. “My response was always fishing.” Turner said the inspiration for the upcoming trip came from the John Eldredge book “Wild at Heart,” which he’d read in 2002. The book, he says, challenges men to rediscover their passions in life and not shy away from adventure. The point hit home last June, Turner said, when a friend who’d founded a men’s ministry called “Band of Brothers” died suddenly of a heart attack. Sitting at the funeral, Turner says he was touched by the number of people whose lives his friend had touched. Turner said he realized then that he and his son had only one summer left to do something really special. That something, the pair decided, would be a fishing adventure. An expert in satellite and aerial mapping, Turner was partner in a company that developed 3D mapping technology that’s gained wide use in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A contractor purchased the company, Turner says, which gave him the time and the resources to take a marathon fishing trip. And when his wife, whom Turner calls a realist, agreed they should make the trip, the seeds of this father-son adventure were officially planted. “I often tell people that, as men, we have this desire for adventure, but we also have this desire to create what I like to call a ’Remember When’ moment,” Turner said. “It’s kind of like the guys sitting around the boat in the movie ’Jaws’ and talking about their shark bites. “It’s neat to think about what this summer will mean in that respect.” Turner and his son started planning for the trip by poring over every magazine, book or Web site they could find to lock in their list of trophy waters. Trophy, by Turner’s definition, didn’t necessarily mean big fish. He says he chose the Androscoggin River in New Hampshire, for example, because the stream, once badly polluted, inspired Congress to pass the Clean Water Act of 1974. “I very purposely avoided any aspect of geography,” Turner said. “I didn’t want to know how I was going to get there; I just wanted to say, ’This is a reasonable, defendable trophy water area.’ “ Once they’d nailed down their list of fishing destinations, Turner said he broke out a map to see how grueling the route would be. It’s possible to cover the Lower 48 states in about 7,200 miles, Turner says, but he and his son will cover about 15,000 miles in a used compact RV he bought just for the occasion. Flights to Alaska and Hawaii — their last two stops — will put the total trip at about 21,000 miles, he says. Next up, Turner started contacting guides across the country. He also set up a Web site to help publicize the trip. Many of the guides offered their services for free, or at a reduced rate, once he told them more about the trip. In Florida, for example, Turner says a tarpon guide who commands $1,000 a day in mid-June initially offered a discount. The next day, Turner says, the guide called back and said he’d do the trip for free. And in Alaska, a bush pilot offered to fly Turner and his son anywhere they wanted to fish and set them up with a guide — no charge. “He said, ’I don’t know exactly what this is, but I want to be a part of it,’ ” Turner said. “That’s been the response so often.” A native of Wichita, Kan., Turner says he almost attended graduate school at the University of North Dakota in 1984, but a geology and petroleum project he was set to work on in the Williston Basin fell through when the funding was canceled. As a result, his North Dakota travel experience is limited to passing through the state en route to fishing destinations in Manitoba and Ontario. Turner and his son will travel to Devils Lake from a fishing stop in the Black Hills of South Dakota before heading to east to fish muskies on Lake Vermilion near Tower, Minn. In researching North Dakota fishing, Turner said Devils Lake kept coming to the forefront as a prime destination. He found Bry’s name on the Internet and contacted the guide about six months ago. Bry, who also teaches at South Middle School in Grand Forks, says the concept behind the trip immediately caught his attention. “When he called me, I was thinking 50 states in 50 days, how is that going to happen?” Bry said. “Then I went and looked online and I could tell right away he was a very organized guy. He had everything lined up. Just to get his son involved — I think that’s so important. I thought it was really cool how he wanted to do that and publicize it all.” Bry recalls Turner saying not to worry about catching fish. But like any guide, Bry’s hoping to put some fish in the boat. “I don’t want to blow my own horn, but I think we can catch a few fish,” Bry said. “I’m looking forward to it.” Turner says about a dozen companies and organizations have gifted equipment for the trip. The donations and reduced guide fees will cover about 25 percent of the trip’s cost, Turner says. “That leaves me with about the cost of a car to get the rest of the things done,” he said. Some days, Turner says they’ll be able to fish two states in a single day. That will allow them to fish 48 states in 46 days. Other times, Turner says, they’ll have to drive 10 to 12 hours to get from one state to the next. He says the logistics, including the purchase of two fishing licenses from each of the 50 states, are almost in place. He also has a Plan B for nearly every aspect of the trip. As always in fishing, weather is the wildcard, and there might be days when they can’t get on the water. “If the guide won’t go out, do we just fish from shore and check the box? For some, we might have to do that,” Turner said. “The weather is the one thing we’re really going to have to make some concessions on with the quality.” Worst-case scenario, Turner said they’ll make up any states they might lose by adding them at the end of the trip. Turner said he’ll update his Web site daily throughout the trip with videos and journal entries. People also will be able to track their whereabouts in real-time through GPS technology called Live View. In the end, though, the reason for the trip is simple: to encourage fathers and sons to connect. “It’s so easy for us to let time get away and not take advantage of the opportunities we do have,” Turner said. “We do have a special relationship and should cultivate it.” Not everyone, he says, has the resources to embark on such a lofty undertaking. “By no means do I expect people to go off and do what we’re doing, but I’ve had guys come up and say, ’Because of what you’re doing, I called up my dad and went on a fishing trip — or camping,”’ Turner said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

The Great Lakes on the great big screen March 14th, 2009 John Law / Niagara Falls Review Growing up near the Great Lakes, director David Lickley thought he knew plenty about the massive freshwater system. Then he started filming his IMAX movie Mysteries of the Great Lakes, and discovered he’s a novice like everyone else. “I realized I really didn’t know very much at all,” says the filmmaker, whose big screen nature flick opened Friday at the Niagara IMAX Theatre. “Some of the issues, the events, the critters … most of it I learned on the way through this film. And I’m a biologist, so I kind of prided myself on being fairly knowledgeable. “But I think most people - even if they live on the Great Lakes -will find about 90 per cent of the things in the film will be new to them.” Six years in the making (four of them just securing financing), the 45-minute, $6-million production offers one spectacular visual after another, including a majestic shot of the Horseshoe Falls in the opening moments. Lickley calls it the “icon” of the Great Lakes, and an appropriate place to start the story. From there, the film examines how the falls went dry for 3,000 years, how nature has adapted to the 16,000 kilometres of Great Lakes coastline, and how one man -biologist Ron Bruch -is trying to reintegrate the world’s oldest and largest freshwater fish into the system. The narrative connecting the film follows Bruch and his love of the sturgeon, which once thrived in the lakes but was decimated in recent decades by overfishing and polluted waters. Dating back 130 million years, the prehistoric giants can grow to 200 pounds and live for more than a century. But as the film’s narrator Gordon Pinsent explains, “to the newly arrived Europeans, the sturgeon was nothing but an ugly nuisance. “A fish that once dominated the Great Lakes declined by 99 per cent.” Lickley also got fascinating footage of bald eagles raising their young. It required hiding a huge IMAX camera in a tree, 24 metres off the ground. “That’s never been done before in our format,” he says. “They’re difficult birds to get access to, and they spook very easily.” The film has been leased to 11 IMAX theatres across North America, and has been playing at Toronto’s Ontario Science Centre since May. Niagara IMAX Theatre spokesman Murray Mold says a recent screening for educators resulted in several schools booking matinee performances. It will screen at noon and 6 p. m. daily through the summer, alongside the theatre’s flagship movie, Niagara: Miracles, Myths & Magic, which has been shown continuously for 23 years. “We feel the two movies really complement each other,” says Mold. Tickets cost $12.50 adults, $9.50 children.

Fishing for ways to protect Lake Michigan Friday March 06, 2009 / mlive.com Asian carp will remain a pervasive threat to the Great Lakes until there is a reliable system to keep them out. To date, there is no fail-safe barrier. These formidable fish escaped from Arkansas catfish farms in the 1990s. Now, they are the dominant species in much of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. And they aren't far from Lake Michigan. We can't let them in. They have the potential to damage or destroy the habitat for other fish, ruin the big lake's ecology, find their way into the other Great Lakes and eventually devastate our multibillion-dollar fishing industry. "The worst-case scenario for the Great Lakes, if you compare it to what's happened in the Mississippi River, is pretty frightening," Marc Gaden, a spokesman for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, told Gazette News Service reporter Jeff Alexander more than a year ago. "This is a species that spreads quickly and is a feeding machine at the lower end of the food web. They take out all the things other fish eat. "When you start mucking around with the fundamental aspects of the food web, you're playing with fire." But we're not playing with fire here. We're playing with the world's largest surface freshwater system. Where is the sense of urgency on the part of our federal legislators? Are they actively working to find a fail-safe protection? Right now, the only structure keeping this invasive species from entering Lake Michigan is a small, six-year-old experimental barrier that delivers a non-lethal jolt to the fish. A permanent electric barrier, built in the Illinois River in 2006, will be turned on at partial strength this summer. Even though the U.S. Coast Guard OK'd its operation, there are concerns. Would its use at full strength pose a risk to any boater who fell overboard near the barrier? Would it threaten the safety of cargo ships transporting flammable substances? These are valid questions. But there also are questions about its effectiveness if it operates at a low level. Would such a low level render it useless against this aggressive fish? So what's to be done? We think any electric barrier strategy also requires sufficient backup, some reliable redundancy, to allow for possible power failure. Consider the fact that these fish originally escaped from containment ponds and have traveled farther and faster than anyone ever expected. Let's not make the mistake of underestimating this species again. Now here's an idea we find intriguing -- and it comes from private industry: A company, Heartland Processing, intends to operate a rendering plant in Havana, Ill., starting April 1, to process Asian carp. They certainly will have a nearly limitless supply of the fish. The Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star opined, "While we'd take a car plant, too, a carp plant will do what it can't: take on a non-native pest that the Illinois River's ecosystem can do without." The plant would heat whole carp until most of the liquid content is steamed away, leaving only fish meal, for animal feed, and Omega-3 fish oil, for pharmaceutical uses. Now there's a clever way to fight back -- a carp plant. This may help reduce the burgeoning number of fish, but it won't eliminate the threat they pose to Lake Michigan. The Alliance for the Great Lakes says the most effective way to stop the Asian carp would be to remove their pathway. Perhaps that would be most effective, but how quickly could this happen? And where would the money come from to pay as much as $15 million to erect concrete walls and construct more shipping locks in up to six areas? More studies would need to be done, taking more time that we just can't afford. The best option, at this point, is getting the new electric barrier operational as soon as possible and developing a fail-safe system to back it up. Speed is imperative.

A hole in Huron Newly discovered sinkholes sustain unusual bacteria at the bottom of the Great Lake Tuesday, March 10, 2009 Kevin Mayhood / THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Tiny, ancient life forms that thrive in ice-covered lakes in Antarctica and at thermal vents deep on the ocean floor have been discovered in saltwater percolating through the floor of Lake Huron. Mats of bright white and purple algae abound in sinkholes close to the freshwater plants and fish that teem through much of the lake. "We're seeing organisms and biochemical processes we're not supposed to be seeing in the Great Lakes," said Bopaiah Biddanda, an aquatic microbial ecologist at the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. His colleague, Stephen Nold, a biology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, said scientists are getting their first glances at this discovery. "It's like a rain forest on the bottom of Lake Huron; we don't know what species are there." Or, for that matter, what might lurk at the bottom of Erie and the other Great Lakes. "It's strange that salt-savoring bacteria from deep in the ocean would be in the lake," said Eugene Braig, assistant director of the Ohio Sea Grant program. "It certainly is of interest to me." Scientists from several Wisconsin and Michigan universities and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently made the discoveries and plan to look for the sinkholes and unique ecosystems in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan in the next couple of years. But first things first. How in the world do salt-tolerant species exist in a freshwater lake? To crack this mystery, you have to go back hundreds of millions of years, when an ocean covered the area. Eventually, the ocean dried up. Later, the Great Lakes formed. Today, there are freshwater aquifers beneath the lakes. In Huron, water bubbles from such an aquifer rise through the old sea floor, eroding and absorbing minerals left behind in the ancient limestone and dolomite, said Steve Ruberg, an observing systems researcher at NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. This denser water pools in the sinkholes there, creating the right environment for the microbes. The sinkholes, which are about a yard deep and stretch in length from a few yards to 100 yards, were discovered in 2001 by scientists looking for shipwrecks. After several years of preparation, the team of researchers began exploring with both divers and submersibles. Two weeks ago, the team announced that it had found unique ecosystems that include species normally found half a world away. "It looks like the bacteria have mechanisms to distribute themselves worldwide," Nold said. "They find a niche -- a spot where they can grow." After examining the DNA of one of the finds, cyanobacteria, researchers found that it is a close cousin of genus Oscillatoria, bacteria found at the bottom of clear, frozen lakes in Antarctica and at the bottom of a lake in Switzerland that is fed by sulfur springs. The purple microbes can feed through standard photosynthesis and anoxygenic photosynthesis. In the absence of oxygen, the microbes use hydrogen sulfide instead of water as a source of electrons for the process. The researchers found mats of white bacteria in deep, dark sinkholes where oxygenated lake water meets the high-sulfur water. The bacteria appear to be related to Beggiatoa, which live deep in the ocean near geothermal vents and cold seeps. These microbes feed off hydrogen sulfide through chemosynthesis, a lightless process akin to photosynthesis. The bacteria make carbohydrates from the oxidation of sulfur compounds. "In a true sense, this is a look at ancient times," Biddanda said. "Only microbes existed at the beginning of the Earth. "The conditions are similar: shallow seas, water very rich in sulfate and carbonate and chloride and almost depleted of oxygen." Monitors set up in two of the sinkholes will run through the summer to determine whether the flow of water through the floor is constant and how much it contributes to the water in the lake. Biddanda said they will try to gauge the age of the water by studying its radionuclides. Although the findings are unprecedented, researchers say the discovery in Lake Huron might not be unique. "We've heard from people that there are sinkholes in Lake Erie," Ruberg said. The same kind of aquifer that abuts Lake Huron also surrounds Lake Erie and much of Lake Michigan. And there are sinkholes on land associated with the aquifers. For example, the Blue Hole of Castalia is a spring that pumps more than 7,500 gallons per minute of fresh, oxygen-poor water into Cold Creek and nearby Sandusky Bay. Similar holes are reported in Sandusky Bay as well, making it a likely spot to look, said John Hageman, lab manager of Ohio State University's Stone Laboratory on Put-in-Bay. Mark Jones, a scientist with the Ohio Geological Survey, said he'd be surprised if no sinkholes are found in Lake Erie. However, he said he doesn't expect to learn of isolated microclimates. "Consider the western basin averages 10 or so meters in depth, maybe less," Jones said. He said the shallow lake is influenced more by sunlight and the warmth of the air than the rest of the Great Lakes, and that might make the lake inhospitable to the fauna seen in Huron. Nold said that makes further research all the more interesting. "A change in pH or temperature or any number of factors would make a difference," he said. "What's there may be the same as what's been found in other habitats or something completely different." Image 1 Image 2

Champion of Environmental Stewardship Sunday March 15, 2009 Matt Schudel / Washington Post Jack Lorenz, who became a nationally prominent advocate for nature preservation during 18 years as executive director of the Izaak Walton League, and who developed a code of ethics governing outdoor activities, died of a stroke March 2 at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, where he was visiting. He was 69 and lived in Woodstock, Va. In 1974, Mr. Lorenz became leader of the Izaak Walton League, a conservation group long associated with fishermen, and made it a leading voice in the nation's environmental debates. He was best known for establishing the league's outdoor ethics program, which is based on a simple but far-reaching credo: "We must leave our woods, waters and wildlife better than we found them, and we must dedicate ourselves to inspiring others to do the same." He helped launch stream cleanup programs across the country, often with the participation of schoolchildren and senior citizens, and formed partnerships with businesses to preserve company-owned land in its natural state. He was a founder of an influential coalition of environmental organizations now known as the Green Group. As off-road vehicles became increasingly popular in the 1980s, Mr. Lorenz put pressure on manufacturers to change their advertising, which often depicted people barreling heedlessly through forests and streams. "He was the nation's spokesman for many years on the ethical management of hunting, angling and off-road vehicle use," said Paul W. Hansen, who was executive director of the Izaak Walton League from 1995 to 2007. "He was one of the nation's most well known and popular environmentalists." Affable and easygoing, Mr. Lorenz had the rare ability to find common ground among such disparate groups as the Sierra Club, National Rifle Association, businesses and recreational sportsmen. He denounced the thoughtless despoliation of the outdoors without condemning hunters or fishermen. "When we silently countenance slob hunting in a friend," he said, "we become slobs ourselves." A dedicated fisherman, Mr. Lorenz accomplished a lifelong goal of fishing in all 50 states and each of Canada's 10 provinces. But in the 1970s he challenged fellow members of the angling fraternity when he spoke out against killing fish caught during tournaments. He was considered a kook at first, but he was quietly persuasive and helped popularize the slogan "Don't Kill Your Catch." Today, "catch and release" is an established practice in sport fishing, and virtually all tournaments require hooked fish to be returned to the water unharmed. Mr. Lorenz's work was guided by the principle that every step into the wild should be taken with understanding and respect. "Hunting, fishing, camping, birding, hiking or simply witnessing a spectacular sunset while strolling along a beach -- it's all worth preserving for ourselves and those who will follow us," he said in 1987. "We dare not take it for granted." John Robbins Lorenz was born March 14, 1939, in St. Louis and grew up fishing on the rivers and lakes of Missouri and Arkansas. He graduated from the University of Tulsa in 1961 and worked early in his career for the Falstaff Brewing Corp. in St. Louis. One of his jobs was to accompany Dizzy Dean, the Hall of Fame baseball pitcher and broadcaster, on public appearances for Falstaff. "We talked a lot of baseball, but mostly we talked about fishing," Mr. Lorenz told the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail in 1997. "Diz lived in Mississippi, and when I'd brag about the size of some fish I'd caught, Diz would say, 'Pardner, down in Mississippi we've got fish that are that big between the eyes.' " In 1973, when Mr. Lorenz was named editor of Outdoor America, the publication of the Izaak Walton League, he loaded his family into a Volkswagen Beetle and drove to Washington. A year later, he became executive director of the league, which is named for the 17th-century author of "The Compleat Angler." Mr. Lorenz rarely stepped into the world of politics, but he made an exception when President Ronald Reagan nominated James Watt as interior secretary in 1981. "We've never done anything like this before," he said. "But our members simply can't see this man as a responsible steward of the environment. People say, 'He hasn't done anything yet.' But I don't have to see the body in the water if I can smell it." After a severe heart attack, Mr. Lorenz resigned as executive director of the league in 1992 but continued to write for its publications and to refine its outdoor ethics programs. In 2004, he moved from Alexandria to a home on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, which he considered one of the finest bass-fishing spots in the country. With a trip to Hawaii in 2007, he completed his personal quest of fishing in all 50 states. Survivors include his wife of 45 years, Margaret Caldwell Lorenz of Woodstock; two sons, John C. Lorenz of Vallejo, Calif., and Stephen F. Lorenz of Accokeek; two brothers; three sisters; and a grandson. Mr. Lorenz was a member of the Izaak Walton League's hall of fame and received the top conservation awards of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and Natural Resources Council of America. He was a co-founder of the Wildlife Habitat Council and was chairman of the Washington Conservation Roundtable. When asked to describe the significance of Mr. Lorenz's contributions to the natural world, Hansen, his former Izaak Walton League colleague, said: "Jack's response was that gratitude of our children will be thanks enough for our work."

Now that's truly insane!

I launch at the Queenston ramp I just head downstream from there. I don't drift the back eddy as it can get a little hairy at the top end.

The lower Niagara River has bass, walleye and more. I have fished it from a small tinny and it's all good if you stay down stream of the Queenston boat ramp.

Mapquest Dumfries Rd. Queenston. The ramp is straight on through at the end of the road.

You know I'm one of these union gents with a mere 2 years of high school and I would just love to tell you just how many ways your post is wrong. Very wrong!

Your Birthday, wow this thread could go on forever. HAPPY BIRTHDAY !

Well I just gots to ask GCD, when is the smilin man from Baton Rouge going to make his first post?

Oh your lifes gonna change now Simon. All for the good mind ya,. Congrats to all three of you.

International coastal cleanup nets three million kilograms of trash Most common item found? Cigarette butts March 11, 2009 Brian Skoloff / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press/Ariana Cubillos WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - About three million kilograms of debris was collected from waterways and shorelines around the world during a single day last year, illustrating that careless people are discarding trash just about everywhere, with much of it eventually finding an aquatic home, according to a report released Tuesday. Nearly 400,000 volunteers scoured about 27,000 kilometres of coastline, river bottoms and ocean floors during the Ocean Conservancy's 23rd International Coastal Cleanup in September. The group's report said more than 3.2 million cigarette butts were picked up during last year's efforts, making the items the most common found. That's followed by about 1.4 million plastic bags, 942,000 food wrappers and containers, and 937,000 caps and lids. Volunteers also collected 26,585 tires, enough for 6,646 cars - and a spare. Of the 104 participating countries, the U.S. supplied about half the volunteers. Volunteers collected about 11.4 million items overall, which weighed a total of about three million kilograms. They snagged more than 1.3 million cigarette butts in the U.S. alone, about 19,500 fishing nets in the United Kingdom and more than 11,000 diapers in the Philippines. "Our ocean is sick, and our actions have made it so," said Vikki Spruill, the Ocean Conservancy's president and CEO. "The evidence turns up every day in dead and injured marine life, littered beaches that discourage tourists, and choked ocean ecosystems." The group said thousands of marine mammals, sea turtles and birds are injured or killed by ocean trash every year. During the event, participants found 268 marine animals that survived being entangled in debris. But 175 weren't so lucky and died - a seal wrapped in fishing line near Santa Cruz, Calif.; a juvenile hammerhead shark entangled in fishing line near St. Augustine, Fla.; a sea turtle tangled in rope in the west African nation of Ghana; and a penguin entangled in wire in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The majority of trash, the report said, comes from land-based activities, such as discarding of fast food wrappers during beach picnics. "Your trash may make it to the beach before you do this year," the report said, adding that a wrapper or cigarette butt discarded on an inland city street can quickly wash down storm drains into rivers and eventually flow out to the ocean. The next cleanup is set for Sept. 19. Read more at www.oceanconservancy.org

Lake Scugog levels dropping ahead of spring melt March 11, 2009 Chris Hall / newsdurhamregion.com SCUGOG -- Beneath the frozen surface that covers Lake Scugog, water levels are slowly receding in preparation for the upcoming spring melt. While the winter of 2008-2009 will go down as average in the books of the Kawartha Conservation Authority (KCA) when it comes to the amount of precipitation fallen, the months of December, January and February cannot be described as normal in the eyes of those charged with keeping track of local lakes and rivers. "It's been very busy, we've been through event and event and event," said Iryna Shulyarenko, a hydrologist with KCA. What's made this winter so interesting, she explained, has been the unpredictable pattern of snow-thaw-rain, which from time to time has left area rivers and creeks filled to the brim. The combination of melting snow and torrential rainfall in late December and again in mid- and late-February have meant Blackstock Creek, East Cross Creek and the Nonquon River have been hovering at their highest levels ever on record, said Ms. Shulyarenko. "The water levels at this moment are already elevated," she said, noting public advisories have been sent out to warn residents of the dangers of high waters. And, added the hydrologist, more rain forecast for earlier this week was "something we don't need, absolutely. "The snow hasn't stayed on the ground, it's come and melt, come and melt and then with the rain in December and February that has made these events very significant, very intensive," said Ms. Shulyarenko. However, the overall level of precipitation over the past three months -- from December to the end of February -- has been "quite average," she added. According to statistics provided by an Environment Canada climate station based in the Blackstock area, over that three-month period 198 cm of snow fell, combined with 102 mm of rain. One centimetre of snow is about equal to one millimetre of water, advises the hydrologist. That's comparable to the stretch of time between December 2007 and Feb. 29, 2008 when 280 mm of precipitation was recorded. "It was almost the same," said Ms. Shulyarenko. However, "what made last winter special was the month of March, when we got much more precipitation than normal," she said. During that single month, 103 mm of precipitation was noted, with 61 cm of that recorded as snow. On average, about 54 mm of precipitation is recorded in March. That late snowfall, in turn, rapidly melted as the temperatures rose, resulting in a bloated Lake Scugog last spring. And, while it's still too early to guess what type of water levels Lake Scugog will post this summer, Ms. Shulyarenko noted the dam at Lindsay has been open all winter long in an effort to keep the water levels below the shoreline banks. She explained Lake Scugog's water levels have been somewhat like yo-yo throughout this winter season. In January, the levels fell, only to rise again in mid-February and then quickly lower again. By the end of February the levels were once again up, but have since fallen. "The general trend for now is that (lake levels are) coming down to accommodate the water from the spring melt," said Ms. Shulyarenko, stressing that at this time the lake is within its "normal levels." As for the next six weeks or so, the hydrologist shrugs her shoulders when asked what to expect in terms of precipitation and its effect on the lake. But she does offer that Environment Canada is predicting normal temperatures and amounts of precipitation for south and central Ontario.

Spotlight to shine again on Lake Scugog Give The Lake A Break open house set for March 27, 28 Mar 03, 2009 / newsdurhamregion.com PORT PERRY -- The spotlight will fall on Lake Scugog later this month when a two-day education session, with the aim of increasing public awareness around the local lake, is held. Dubbed Give The Lake A Break, the open house is a partnership between Scugog and the Kawartha Conservation Authority. It will be held at the Scugog Community Centre on March 27 and 28. The first day of the event will focus on youth education, with hopes that schools will take in the open house. There will also be a marketplace held throughout the day. On the evening of March 27, there will be a 7 p.m. presentation by the Muskoka Wildlife Centre, which will feature a variety of live animals for youth to check out. "It's a great way to teach kids... about all the wildlife that exists in our community," said Scugog Mayor Marilyn Pearce. It's expected that animals such as skunks and porcupines will be on hand. The second day of the open house will see a marketplace set up once again, along with a variety of presentations related to Lake Scugog and its health. Gene Chartier, Scugog's commissioner of planning and public works, is slated to speak on March 28 around noon where he will give an update on the Township's plans to rejuvenate Port Perry's waterfront. The open house follows the Lake Scugog Summit hosted last spring by the Township, but is less formal and with fewer speakers, said the mayor. "It's a great chance to hear some good speakers and visit the marketplace," she said. The Scugog Community Centre is located at 1655 Reach St.

Scarborough man pleads guilty to fishing infraction in Georgina March 11, 2009 / yorkregion.com A Scarborough man has been fined $1,000 for an illegal catch of perch in Lake Simcoe and had his fishing licence suspended for one year. Wai-Chee Lam, 50, pleaded guilty to catching and keeping more than the legal quota of fish. During a routine check of anglers on Lake Simcoe shores in Georgina Jan. 9, an Aurora district conservation officer found Mr. Lam with 17 yellow perch over the daily limit. Justice of the Peace Rhonda Shousterman heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice, Newmarket, Feb. 20. To report a natural resources violation, call 1-877-TIPS-MNR (847-7667) toll-free any time or contact your local ministry office during regular business hours. You can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Lake Manitou appears exempt from new lake trout restrictions March 11, 2009 Jim Moodie / manitoulin.ca NORTHEAST ONTARIO-Regulatory changes are in the offing to reduce pressures on lake trout in the sprawling fishery zone that includes Manitoulin, but Lake Manitou anglers appear to be off the hook. "I've made the case that Lake Manitou deserves special consideration," said Wayne Selinger, biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) in Espanola. "I've done an evaluation of Manitou and it's presently in fairly good shape for lake trout." The same can't be said for other parts of Zone 10, the vast fisheries management area that extends from the French River in the southeast to as far north and west as Elk Lake and Wawa. Manitoulin was lumped into this zone last year and represents its southernmost precinct. Between 2000 and 2005, the MNR conducted an assessment of lake trout across Northeastern Ontario, choosing 130 randomly selected lakes in the region that host the cold-water species, the bulk of which fell within Zone 10. And the results weren't promising. "The bottom line is that only 32 percent of the trout lakes assessed were found to have a high abundance of the fish, and of these, nearly half were fished beyond an acceptable level," noted Mr. Selinger. "The report card for Zone 10 doesn't look encouraging, and something needs to be done to address that." Lake Manitou, the Island's only lake to accommodate the species, makes for a dramatic exception to this general trend, however. "It's 10,000 hectares and far more productive," said Mr. Selinger. "It's kind of like a lake trout factory, would be one way to put it." The big spring-fed lake benefits from warmer temperatures than the rest of the region, which translate into "higher growing degree days" for trout, said the biologist, as well as boasts a limestone base that "builds that further and drives lake trout growth and maturity." All of the other lakes in the zone that support a lake trout fishery are in Canadian Shield country, and their concentrations of this popular sport fish aren't doing nearly so well. Sudbury lakes, in particular, are taking a big hit. "The Sudbury area has the lowest quality lake trout lakes in Fisheries Management Zone 10," reads a fact sheet produced last month by the MNR. "Only 20 percent have good or healthy lake trout abundance and 53 percent are classified as degraded." There are several reasons for this decline. "Acid damage is one factor, although many of these lakes are recovering," noted Mr. Selinger. "Obviously fishing pressure and harvest are part of it, as well as the spread of species like bass and rock bass that aren't typically a component of a lake-trout lake." The introduction of bass generally occurs through "careless use of bait and unauthorized stocking," said Mr. Selinger. And about a quarter of the trout lakes in Zone 10 have now become colonized by bass species, according to the five-year study. While some trout lakes can withstand the presence of such finny kin, others suffer from the competition, as bass gobble up a lot of the prey fish along the shore. "You can point to some lakes and say it hasn't made much difference, but it's kind of like Russian Roulette," said Mr. Selinger. Other forces influencing the health of lake trout in the zone are water quality and climate change, noted the MNR biologist. "Lake trout like cold water, so if warming occurs they are going to get squeezed," he pointed out. "That's part of the need to act now, because these other things on the horizon will put even more pressure on the situation, so we have to cut back on angler take." In looking at the information gathered by the MNR, members of the Zone 10 advisory council, which includes an Island representative, have recently agreed upon a series of management strategies to curb angler impact and preserve populations of this freshwater char, which is judged to be the second most popular sport fish in the zone. Mr. Selinger wasn't in a position to discuss the specific recommendations, as their unveiling awaits an Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) posting for public comment, although he allowed that strategies to deal with overharvest almost necessarily involve an adjustment to one (or all) of the following: limits, size restrictions and season dates. The Expositor has independently obtained a draft of the changes that are apt to be put on the table, the most striking of which is a proposal to reduce the winter fishing period by over a month, with the opening date for trout fishing delayed until February 15. That would affect every lake in the zone save Lake Manitou, which has been recognized for its higher rate of productivity and would preserve its January 1-September 30 season. The one change that could impact Island anglers is the daily limit, which could be reduced from three fish per day to two. Another strategy being proposed is to maintain similar seasons for put-and-take fisheries to deflect fishing impact from lakes where naturally reproducing trout are more vulnerable. Lake Manitou has a combination of planted and naturally occurring lake trout. "It's not a put-and-take lake," stressed Mr. Selinger. "It's both stocked and has strong natural recruitment, so we're just supplementing what's there." The stocking of lake trout in Manitou is currently following a "two years on, two years off" cycle, said the biologist, "so that we can see what the natural year classes will be." In general, though, Manitoulin's largest and deepest lake has proven itself to be a virtual hot house for the species. "They grow faster and mature younger there," said Mr. Selinger. "Across the zone, they will reach 40 centimetres at age seven. In Manitou, they're only two or three years old when they reach 40 centimetres, and are mature at age four." He attributes this speedy growth largely to the limestone environment, which has "innate productivity." To make the argument for Manitou's exemption from the proposed changes to lake trout regulations, the biologist compared dissolved solids in this lake (a key measure of productivity) to those of other lakes. "Manitou has over double the amount of the next best lake in the zone," he said. In a paper he prepared on the status of Lake Manitou, Mr. Selinger writes, "Based on the analysis of some key parameters known to drive lake trout productivity and population dynamics, Lake Manitou very clearly resides outside the bounds of the (Zone 10) data set." While the recommendations concerning the trout fishery-including Manitou's exemption from significant changes-await public review and ministerial sanction, Mr. Selinger is confident that the unique nature of this inland lake will be reflected in any future decision. Manitoulin as a whole has already, along with the French River, earned a distinction within the broader zone as "specially designated waters," meaning there is an existing recognition that exceptions should be made for this area when it comes to management strategies. If there is a risk to Manitoulin's unusually bounteous resource, it would likely be an increase in visits from off-Island anglers who find the opportunities for lake trout fishing scaled back in other areas of the zone.

Get those ice huts off the lake 2009-03-09 Local anglers are being reminded that they only have a few more days to get their ice huts off Lake Simcoe. The Ministry of Natural Resources issued a press release last week outlining the rules and regulations governing ice huts, most notably the fact that they must be removed by March 15. Anglers are also being asked to ensure that their hut is registered with the Province by calling (905) 713-7400. Once registered, a hut can be used anywhere in Ontario.

These 90-100k wind gusts may be removing huts as I type. I'm with you on the thaw, lets get 'er done.

I spent a few days fishing with one of these stcroixrods.com Seemed like a decent rod for a $100.00. Perhaps some of the avid musky guys would know more.

Great to have both of you on board. Wish I could get my son a little more interested in fishing. Even the promise of missing school doesn't motivate him.

I agree with Sinker, a 40 would likely overwhelm the boat and be potentially dangerous. As for modifying it to a side console, no.