Do you know trout? Prove it.
Trout Unlimited is running an online quiz that puts your trout wisdom to the test. And there’s a Christmas-worthy grand-prize drawing that includes a fishing trip on the Bighorn River.
Anyone who has given fly fishing more than a cursory try knows it’s not just a sport or activity, but a restorative. The quiet, the rhythm, the science, the outdoors, the fish — one or all somehow manage to press the “calm” button. You’ll leave the stream or lake clearer-minded and lighter of heart than you arrived.
That said, it’s no easy jump to suggest fly fishing is an all-purpose curative, and especially for Americans who have been in combat. But easy is not what support groups that use the sport for just such a purpose are about.
Sun Valley Adaptive Sports, based in Ketchum, Idaho, put on a clinic for combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and combat injuries. It’s not necessary to be there to implicitly understand, through this 19-minute film from explore, that a matter of five days and some caring people can make a difference in others’ lives. It’s also revealing to come to know to some degree soldiers who have served overseas in our country’s name, their personalities and the effect both combat and this effort have on them.
Two things: Don’t cheat yourself of a small part of the experience — turn up the volume and close your eyes for 30 seconds when you’re cued; and get a load of the lunker at the 15-minute mark.
Bob Ainsley and Dan Baughman were among the biggest winners at the 12th annual One Fly fishing event Oct. 9.
A total of 119 anglers took part in the event that was centered at Follys End Campground in Girard, and 154 people attended the post-event picnic.
Ainsley caught the most fish on a single fly — seven — to win the championship of the free-entry event, which allows anglers one fly and four hours to catch and record as many fish as possible. It’s ostensibly a steelhead tournament, but brown trout were worth double points — two points per every quarter inch instead of one point — and all other species counted one-quarter point per inch.
Ainsley also teamed with Gene Greco to claim the team title. They won fly boxes and flies donated by Greg Senyo of Steelhead Alley Outfitters.
Ainsley’s overall prize was a 1935 bamboo fly rod, restored by event founder and organizer Jack Gripp.
Baughman was runner-up in the overall division, winning a new bamboo rod, and teamed with Shawn Bernecky to finish second among teams. He also caught the day’s biggest fish, a 29 1/2-inch steelhead.
Rocco Frisco, the top youth angler, won a complete fishing ensemble. Jolene Booth won the female division and a pewter plate from Wendell August Forge.
Gripp, 59, a U.S. Army disabled veteran who has fished the Lake Erie tributaries for decades, started the event as a small competition between friends. It’s grown every year since, thanks largely to social media and a growing corps of volunteers.
“A special thanks has to go out to Skip and Debi Hughes, who handled the preparing and serving of the food at the picnic,” Gripp said. “And thanks to all who attended and donated to this event.”
The organizers made a special presentation of a restored 1954 bamboo fly rod to Jerry White, the individual who in the opinion of the members was the most deserving for his actions on the board.
Anglers also heard from Senyo, who offered his support for the goals of the event: catch and release fishing and public access of Erie waters. Senyo donated a certificate for a day’s guided spring fishing trip for a man and a child.
Attendees donated $305 for the Fruitbaskets for Land Owners program that the Gem City Fly Tiers oversee.
A drawing let attendees in on donated items, too, including a custom fishing rod donated by Laurel Ridge Rods; a custom rod from Mile Creek Custom Rods; and a fishing charter donated by A Day Away Fishing Adventures. More than 50 door prizes, most donated, were given away.
Watch for details on the 2011 event on the Lake Erie watershed discussion board at www.fisherie.com.
Partial list of winners
Overall
1. Bob Ainsley
2. Dan Baughman
Youth
1. Rocco Frisco
Female
1. Jolene Booth
Team
1. Bob Ainsley and Gene Greco
2. Shawn Bernecky and Dan Baughman
- Biggest fish: Dan Baughman, 291/2 inches
Events and activities that might interest outdoorspeople this week:
1. S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie monthly meeting. Executive director Jon Arway and District 1 commissioner Edward Mascharka III of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will speak and take questions Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Polish Falcons Club, 431 E. Third St. New members and the general public are invited to the free event.
2. Cathedral by Candlelight. See the Forest Cathedral in Cook Forest State Park in a whole new light during this guided evening walk. Candy and hot chocolate will be served at the Log Cabin Inn. Bring a flashlight. Meet at the inn Friday by 7 p.m. for the 2-hour program. For information, call (814) 744-8407.
3. Break out the neoprene waders. The best of the year’s weather has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean fishing season is over. Aside from the ample opportunities to chase steelhead in the tributaries, fall stockings this month delivered highly catchable trout throughout northwestern Pennsylvania. Justus Lake and Chapman Dam Reservoir will get the first of their winter stockings Nov. 3.
This week’s Erie-area fishing report from Randy Leighton, deputy waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission:
This week’s Erie-area fishing report from Randy Leighton, deputy waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission:
The National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame this week recognized Roger Hellen’s massive Lake Michigan brown trout as the world record.
The International Game Fish Association is considering the fish for its record books. What the IGFA has to say:
“Less than a year ago Michigan’s Tom Healy made headlines in the fishing world by catching a new IGFA world record brown trout weighing 41 pounds 7 ounces. And this past July 16, Roger Hellen of Franksville, Wis., stirred a great deal of talk after landing an equally big brown trout weighing 41 pounds 8 ounces. Hellen was fishing Lake Michigan, off the Wisconsin coastline, trolling a Fishlander spoon when the monster hit it, taking him 30 minutes to land. Though Hellen’s fish is one ounce heavier than the current all-tackle record set by Healy on Sept. 8, 2009, according to IGFA World Record requirements, to replace a record fish weighing (25 lbs) or more, the replacement must weigh at least one half of 1 percent more than the existing record. Bottom line, Healy and Hellen might be sharing an IGFA World Record tie for their two fish.”
One other angler also is waiting for an IGFA ruling.
IGFA: “A huge blue catfish was Greg Bernal’s goal on June 20 while fishing the Missouri River, out of North County, Mo., and he indeed landed one, with an impressive 130-pound specimen. The monster catfish that Bernal, of Florissant, Mo., caught qualifies for a new IGFA all-tackle record. It took him 20 minutes to land using an Asian carp to entice the catfish. The current record is 124 pounds, caught five years ago by Timothy Pruitt from the Mississippi River near Alton, Ill.”
10-year-old Alexander Barwin of Erie caught the brown trout of a lifetime July 2. He got into the 9-pound 11-ounce, 24 1/2-inch fish off of Walnut Creek.
The trout is more than double the weight necessary to qualify for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s junior Angler Award Program. It also would have qualified as the fifth largest brown trout caught in 2009 and submitted to the commission. Even had Barwin released the fish, it would have had quite a ways to go to catch up to the state record established by Erie’s Fazle Buljubasic in 2000.
This week’s western Erie County fishing report from Randy Leighton, deputy waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission:
