I got lax on updating this page with all else that was going on. I'll get it caught up soon! Promise!
I added the Feb through June newsletters today 2/21/06
Marc

News Archive 2004
News Archive 2005

 

 

Next meeting

 

Our next meeting will be at Margaritaville on May 1, 2007 at 7 PM. The speaker will be Tim White from the Erie County Soil & Water conservation district and he will discuss the Lake Erie Conservation Enhancement Program along with other related issues. Last month's speaker gave us a great presentaion of things going badly on the lakes watershed and this month's speaker will give notes on what governemental agencies are doing to combat those detriments. 

 

Our June meeting will be at Cranberry Creek Marina and will be a fish fry and social gathering on June 9 at 6 PM. You can start showing at 5 PM. Fishing ought to be great in that area about then.

 

We won't have a meeting in July and then we will continue back at Margaritaville in August with a planned workshop type meeting with harness and knot tying as a highlight. Any other seminar type subjects you would like to hear can be presented as well. just let us know what you'd like to hear about.

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Tournament Director

 

We still are in need of a LEWT tournament director for 2008. If anyone is interested please step forward now and you can get some good on-job training before taking over the helm next year. This may be a paid position since we can't seem to come up with any volunteers.

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Commercial fishing license update

 

A bill has been presented by Sen. Timothy J. Grendell  that will triple the licensing cost, require GPS tracking devices to be installed and place penalty's including license revocation for repeat felony infractions. Senate Bill 77 can be seen here. A summary is available here

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Live fish transport ban

 

No changes in the rules have been made so far and it is unlikely that there will be any changes that will affect or help us as sport fishermen soon. Perch fishing could be tough this summer and fall unless the bait dealers can get inventive or find an alternative bait other than shiners. Don't expect a quick solution to this one although some Federal legislators are making some noise about shipping regulation changes, no action has been taken yet. Too much lobby money maybe?

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Lake Erie TAC's

Lake Erei perch and walleye TAC's were significantly reduced last month and the ODNR fast tracked a bill to the governor reducing Rod and Reel fishermens daily perch quota to 30 fish per day. There has been a lot of discussion about this and quite a few fishermen are upset that there limits have been reduced. Just as many or more think it was a wise thing to do and I'm one of them.

Ohio is very lenient on possession of fish over the daily limit. That means that you can fish everyday and keep your limits of perch and walleye. That can turn into a lot of filets in your freezer and many states don't allow over a day or 2 limits to be in possession. We are still in good shape in that respect.

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Lake Erie Walleye Trail News

 

Rob Cline and Dick Chicoine  were the winners of the sold out Fenwick tournament. 2nd place went to new club members Frank Zubel and Kevin Michnicki and 3rd went to Chris Clemons and Dick Biro. Congratulations guys. If I remember correctly Cline and Chicoine put out 4 Blue/Silver Husky jerks in the morning and fished them all day. Michnicki and Zubel got theirs on Deep HJ's and Renoskys and Clemons and Biro started the day jigging got their smaller fish pretty quick and trolled with Reefrunners to add to their weight.Turned out to be a great plan for all of them!

 

The Lakevue tournament has also sold out almost a month early and the Sandusky entries are coming in and may also be a sell out. If you want to fish any of our tournaments, getting your entries in early would be a good idea. They are getting very popular.

 

We've been asked many times why we hold the field to 40 boats and won't take more. We have a small staff of Me, Matt and Chris that do the bulk of the work getting ready for these. We also have a small group of volunters that show up and help out each morning and afternoon. It works out well for the numbers we have and I think it's one of the best run tourneament series I've ever seen. Allowing more boats with the small staff we have would create confusion and inefficiency. Without more volunteers and someone stepping up to take the directors position for 08 I don't see us increasing the field and for sure Chris and I will be overburdened next year without someone stepping into the Directors position.

 

Joe Rini did an outstanding job as the MC at the Fenwick tourney. Thanks Joe and I'm looking forward to working with you at as many as you can get to.

 

 

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Fishing reports

 

Fishing has been great near the reefs for the spawning period. The weather however hasn't been so great, so not many people are getting out. Presently the whole west basin and south shore of the lake is chocolate colored and until the water clears and warms a little more the fishing will be spotty but worth it if the timing is right. With the cost of gas and present conditions I'm going to wait a few more days.

 

 

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2007 memberships 

 

We still have numerous Associates that haven't renewed and a couple general (Full) members. If you haven't renewed this will be your last newsletter until you do. We have already denied access to the message board for those that are late. You can renew by PayPal on the current members page of our website or just send a check for $20 to:

WBSA

1400 Edwards Drive

Fremont, Ohio 43420

 

New Equity members for 2007 are Tom Benedict, Steve Carlson, Jim Stedke, Marc Bodi, Tim Harmsen, Kim Endsley, Bob Yount, Frank Kettrick, Guy Ledman, and Scott Bower. 3 full members declined to renew this year due to job transfers and other interests. That puts our equity and general membership at 85 members and associate members are at 229. Some associates will be dropped this month due to non renewals.

 

A reminder to all members. We have a webpage with all members listed on it. Emails are embedded so that Bots can't collect them and add you to spam mailings. If you, for some reason, don't want your information listed please let me know and I'll change it. Also if you have a business of any kind that you want it listed on the page let me know so that I can get it on there. I know we have a few charter captains that I don't have information on. Send it to me and I'll get it on there.

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Officer Elections

We will be holding officer elections in November. Nominations are open to all Equity and general members. That list is on our website members page. New blood would be welcome in the club positions including mine. Think about who you would like to nominate and let us know if you would be interested yourself.

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Cleveland Sport Show

 

We talked to a lot of people at the Cleveland Sport Show and several members stopped by to see us. However due to the cost of the show I doubt we will do that again. We will concentrate next year on the smaller less expensive local shows instead.

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Skeet Shoot and Wild Game Feed

 

Time has run out for this fun time. We just couldn't work it into everyones schedules.

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Call me, anytime, if you have any questions about the club, LEWT or any social gathering requests or information.

 

Marc

419-332-4254

WBSA Newsletter March 11, 2007

 

 

Next meeting

 

Our next meeting will be at Margaritaville on April 3, 2007 at 7 PM. The speaker will be from the western Lake Erie Association and will discuss watershed importance, invasive species and other important Lake Erie issues.

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Tournament Director

 

We will be in need of a LEWT tournament director for 2008. If anyone is interested please step forward now and you can get some good On job training before taking over the helm next year.

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Commercial fishing buyout up date

 

A bill has been presented by Sen. Timothy J. Grendell  that will triple the licensing cxost, require GPS tracking devises to be installed and place penalty's including license revocation for repeat felony infractions.

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Live fish transport ban

 

No changes in the rules have been made so far and it is unlikelynthat there will be any changes that will affect or help us as sport fishermen. Perch fishing could be tough this summer and fall unless the bait dealers can get inventive or an alternative bait other than shiners.

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Lake Erie TAC's

The below was in the last newsletter but it is still a valid concern for all Freat Lake anglers. Please attend if possible.

This time of the year is when a lot of Lake Erie fisheries management takes place.  The state wildlife agencies are finishing up there data analysis, lakewide task groups will meet to compile data and run models, and in March the Lake Erie Committee will meet to set lakewide Total Allowable Catches (TAC) after considering the population models presented by the task groups.  The TAC is then further split up into state and province jurisdictions and eventually is broken down into quotas by each agency.

The Lake Erie Committee meetings are open to the public, and even further there is a stakeholder input session.  On Thursday March 22 any angler, commercial fisherman, or other lake user will be able to submit comments.  All it involves is standing at a podium and stating your feelings on where this year's TAC should be set.  While it would be easy to write off the process and assume that the public opinions aren't taken into consideration, you would be wrong.  Last year a small contingency of Ontario anglers made it very clear that high TAC's are not acceptable.  If the committee only hears commercial interests they have know way of formally knowing what sport anglers are thinking.  I highly suggest that any of you that have strong feelings about where the TAC's should be set make the trip to Ypsilanti near Ann Arbor and state your opinions in front of the Lake Committee.  At the very least it's worth the trip it see how the process works.  After hearing all of the input and considering the data the TAC's are announced on Friday morning March 23rd.  The Great Lake Fishery Commission meeting schedule (including the Lake Erie Committee) can be viewed at the following link.  I would argue that if you don't get involved you don't have any right to complain later on.  A strong contingency of dedicated Erie anglers could have an impact on committee decisions.

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Lake Erie Walleye Trail 

 

27 teams are signed up for the Fenwick tourney. 13 spots are left and many regulars haven't signed up yet. Don't get left out because of procrastination.

 

 

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Fishing reports

 

Right now we are in the stage between ice fishing and ice out fishing, meaniung theres no safe ice and no way to get our boats in the water. Ice boats are made for travel and not for fishing out of. the Sandusky River in Fremont is dropping to normal levels and the flow is slowing down so river fishing ought to start up in the next few days and Lake fishing shortly after that.

Good luck to all that have been waiting for the season to start up again. Remember the limit on walleye is 4 until May 1st and new licenses are required.

 

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2007 memberships 

 

We still have numerous Associates that haven't renewed and a few general(Full) members. You can renew by PayPal on the current members page of our website or just send a check for $20 to:

WBSA

1400 Edwards Drive

Fremont, Ohio 43420

 

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 Strongsville Select fishing and Hunting Expo 

 

The Strongsville show went over very well. The club booth stayed busy and I for one had a good time talking to those I get to see rarely and also with new and prospective members.

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Cleveland Sport Show

 

The club will be at booth 814 at the Cleveland Sport, Travel and Outdoor show in March. The dates will be March 14-18. It looks like we'll have enough help thanks to a few volunteers. We may have room for a couple more.

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 Vermilion Outdoor Sports Flea Market

2 club members, Larry Wood and Al Larson are putting on a Flea Market/Sport Show on March 24th at the AMVETS in Vermilion Ohio. It is right on Rt 60 coming into town. this promises to be a very good show and will be worth your while to attend. For mre information call Larry at 440-320-6908 or Al at 440-667-6200

 

FLYER here

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Skeet Shoot and Wild Game Feed

 

This fun time isn't cancelled but it is still not ironed out. we'll let you know as soon as possible.

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Call me, anytime, if you have any questions about the club, LEWT or any social gathering requests or information.

 

Marc

419-332-4254

WBSA Newsletter- June 26, 2006
 

Our next meeting will be a fish fry at Cranberry Creek Marina on June 17th. This will be a Saturday and maybe some of you that can't make our regular Tuesday meetings can make it and get a taste of Woody's excellent Fish Frying and meet some of the club members. No speaker has been scheduled yet so if there is something anyone wants to hear, speak up and let us know. Side dishes welcome but not required. Park in the stoned area west of the Cranberry sign to help on congestion. 

There will be no meeting in July since the first Tuesday is on the 4th of July. The next regularly scheduled meeting after the fish fry will be August 1st at Margaritaville again (7PM).

WBSA Newsletter- Jan. 11, 2006

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone had a good holiday season and are now ready to get back to the business of catching fish.

Lot's of us have been looking forward to February and the wild game feed, fish fry, Skeet Shoot and tackle raffles at Ray Sterk's place in Wakeman, Ohio. It will be on Feb 4th. Shooting will begin at 2PM. Bring your favorite gun and own shells. The club will supply the clay. We'll take a short break to have a meeting at 4 PM and then we'll eat, shoot and buy raffle tickets for the rest of the night. We will be raffling off the Denied merchandise that we purchased for the Hawg Fest raffle and didn't need, so bring a few bucks and win some nice tackle. There will also be door prizes and 50/50's presented by Mr. 50/50 himself! Bring a side dish please. A good time is guaranteed and guests are welcome.  BYOB

Directions to the party: 4970 Butler Rd., Wakeman, OH 44889.

Wakeman is 6-7 miles east of Norwalk and due south of Vermilion on Rte 60. Butler Road is about 1 mile east of Wakeman and you will need to go north from there. There will be plenty of parking within walking distance to the party and shuttle service will be available if needed due to weather.