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-INCORPORATED-- P.O. Box 264, Owen Sound, Ontario N4K 5P3 Affiliated with the OFAH-The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Incorporated "CONSERVATION IS OUR AIM" VOL. 20 NO. 2 February 2000
THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING, REMEMBER THE
DATE: THURSDAY FEBRUARY 3RD, 7:30 PM,
AT THE CLUB HOUSE, LINCOLN PARK ROAD, IN DERBY TOWNSHIP.
At our February General Meeting, Lorne
Smith and Gerry Powers, will be discussing the successful Bluebird program.
They will be telling us about the various changes that have resulted in
the success of this program to reintroduce the Bluebird to our area. Plan
to attend this informative discussion.
NEW MEMBERS We welcome the following new members to S.S.A.: Terry Carmichael Adult Marty VanKessel Family Tony Pennacchietti Senior Christina Haskins Adult
2000 EXECUTIVE Nominations were reopened at the January
General Meeting, with additional nominations received from the floor. There
were sufficient nominations to fill the Board of Directors for 2000. An
election was held to elect five directors to a two year term.
Those elected to a two year term were Fred
Geberdt, Fred Hunt, John Ford, Blake Smith and Chris Geberdt in no specific
order.
The other directors for 2000 are Richard
Manley Sr., Rob Wilson, Murray Smart, Bill Beamish, and Bill Thompson serving
the last of a two year term. Also elected to a one year term were Doug
Murdoch, Stewart Wallace, Grant Ferris, Mark Porter, Jim Cuming, Brian
Kinchen and John Galbraith.
Elections for Officers and Committee Chairs
will take place at the first Executive Meeting set for January 20th at
the clubhouse.
Executive positions and committee chairpersons
as decided at the January Executive meeting: President Richard Manley;
1st Vice President John Ford; 2nd Vice President Fred Hunt; Past President
Rob Wilson; Recording Secretary Rob Wilson; Treasurer Murray Smart; Correspondence
Secretary Mark Porter; Fish Advisory Committee Chairperson Fred Geberdt;
Wildlife Advisory Committee Chairperson Blake Smith; Membership Chairperson
John Ford; Newsletter Editor/Chairperson Bill Thompson; Meetings Program
Chairperson Grant Ferris; Fund Raising Chairperson Chris Geberdt; Club
Supplies Chairperson Cliff Springer; Youth Activities Program, Brian Kinchen
Interim Liaison, Tim and Cheryl Henrich Co-ordinators; Property Chairperson
,open; Phone Committee Chairperson, open; Fish and Game Contest Chairperson
Fred Hunt; Social Activities Chairperson Stewart Wallace; Salmon Spectacular
Derby Co-chairpersons Fred Geberdt and John Ford; O.F.A.H. Delegates: Gord
Maher, Blake Smith, Fred Hunt, Murray Smart; Alternate Delegates: Doug
Murdoch, Fred Geberdt; Shooting Sports Ranges Committee Chairperson Richard
Manley; Archery Shooting C0-ordinator Bill Thompson; Shotgun Shooting Sports
Co-ordinator Bill Beamish; Handgun Shooting sports Co-orinator John Galbraith;
High Power Range Co-ordinator Fred Hunt; .22 Rifle Range Co-ordinator Gord
Fraser; Club House Rentals Agent Audrey Smart and Mary Jane Elder.
EARLY BIRD MEMBERSHIP WINNER Ian Reichman
DATES TO REMEMBER!! March 4th SSA/OFAH Conservation Dinner at the Bayshore Community Centre March 25th Awards Banquet
Bluebird Update Between 1985 and 1991 the Bluebirds made
a spectacular recovery in numbers due mainly to the efforts of the Sydenham
Sportsmens Association. Financial support from the M.N.R. and the S.S.A.,
along with members making their expertise and workshops available, meant
that Bluebird nest boxes were produced by the hundreds.
Unfortunately some people, who wanted nest
boxes, were more interested in seeing the birds, than helping them , so
the nest boxes were placed near the buildings where they could watch them.
As a result, many were used by English Sparrows and if Bluebirds did attempt
to nest, the Sparrows often broke the eggs, killed the young and even killed
the adults when they could be cornered inside the box.
A few years ago all that was needed to
avoid English Sparrows was to keep boxes 20 - 40 rods from the barns. Misplaced
and neglected nest boxes have been used by Sparrows and now and these box
raised Sparrows no longer want to nest in barns, but roam the countryside,
searching for nest boxes.
Because so many wren boxes have been put
out their numbers are increasing rapidly. The Wrens habit of nesting in
one box, but filling the surrounding boxes with twigs so Bluebirds and
Swallows can't nest in them, creates a real problem.
Raccoons and cats can reach right into
the nest boxes and steal the nestlings. The use of the long tree branch
box prevents this, while the use of drywall screws, projecting from the
edge of the roof and along the bottom of the older nest boxes, appears
to act like barbed wire and seems quite effective.
Blow Flies lay eggs in the nest, the larvae
then suck blood from the nestlings, resulting in death during periods of
adverse weather, when they are weakened from lack of food. Regular monitoring
and cleaning out the grubs is usually sufficient, but this year we are
going to experiment with false bottoms of one quarter inch hardware cloth
for the grubs to fall through.
The nest boxes you have probably seen with
the piece of pipe in the roof, was to let in light to discourage the Sparrows.
In the early spring the cold rain is rather hard on the nestlings, while
in a hot July sun it certainly helps the heat problem. The solution seems
to be to cover the pipe with clear plastic to keep out the rain but let
in the light and in July, take it off to let out the heat.
In 1992 we had frost on June 28th, followed
by several days of cold, resulting in severe losses of both Bluebirds and
Tree Swallows. recovery was slow until 1998, when the hot dry weather meant
that successful Bluebird nestings increased, but the Tree Swallows in many
areas have suffered losses , as dry weather means fewer mosquitoes. Then
in 1999, with favourable weather, the Bluebirds have had their most successful
year since 1992.
We intend to continue with the Bluebird
program as usual, but Gerry Powers, who has been a dedicated Bluebirder
for several years, is now going to do the recording and reporting.
This program has been successful because
of the co-operation of many people and hopefully this will carry on for
many years more.
Lorne Smith
SSA FISH ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT
Often as anglers, we know how successful
ourselves and our friends are doing, but often we wonder how everyone else
is doing with the catching of fish.
Recently, in preparation for a Zone H OFAH
fisheries report, I had the opportunity to read in detail, one of the latest
MNR fisheries reports for Owen Sound and Colpoys Bay.
Here's a brief summary of some interesting fisheries findings that I'd like to share with you. BOAT CREEL A total of 351 sampling counts were made
during the period of this study, 212 in Owen Sound and 139 in Colpoys Bay.
An estimated 4,915 individual boat fishing events took place throughout
the summer. The largest number of these (4,779) took place in Owen Sound
during the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular in late August. Total combined
fishing effort for the boat fishery in Owen Sound and Colpoys Bay was estimated
to be 49,759 rod-hours. This equates to approximately 4.9 hours per fishing
trip.
Chinook salmon were the most sought after
species in the summer boat fishery in both Owen Sound and Colpoys Bay.
In Owen Sound, 84% of boat fishing effort targeted this species. The next
most commonly sought species were rainbow trout. Brown trout followed with
less than 1% of the targeted effort. In Colpoys Bay, chinook salmon were
targeted 75% of the time, followed by rainbow trout
An estimated 2,080 fish were caught by
the boat fishery during this study. The largest portion of this catch (97.8%)
occurred in Owen Sound. Ninety-five percent of all of the fish caught in
this study were actually harvested. This was particularly applicable to
chinook salmon which were harvested at a rate of 99% as compared to rainbow
trout which were kept only 69% of the time.
The catch per unit effort (CPUE) by boat anglers is interesting. The report stated that the best CPUE for chinook salmon was 0.042 fish/per/rod/hour. That's only four hundredth of a chinook per hour spent fishing, or in other words, 24 hours to catch a chinook. Rainbow trout CPUE was slightly higher than that of chinook. If you are a boat angler it looks like
August is the month to fish, as this report states that the most successful
boat anglers were those that targeted rainbow trout in Colpoys Bay in August,
or those that targeted chinook salmon in Owen Sound in August.
Some of the biological information in this report is interesting. Based upon the data collected during this creel, it appears that larger, older fish are being captured in Owen Sound and smaller, younger fish are caught in Colpoys Bay. For instance, the mean age of chinook salmon caught in Colpoys Bay was only 1.3 years, while it was 2.8 years in Owen Sound. Two-thirds
of the chinook salmon sampled in Colpoys Bay were age 1 fish, while 74%
of the chinook caught in Owen Sound were age 3 fish. The mean age of rainbow
trout caught in Colpoys Bay was 3.0 years while it was 4.0 years in Owen
Sound. I wonder if this apparent lack of older fish in Colpoys Bay has
any correlation with the presence of a more aggressive gill net fishery
operation which has existed there over the past several years.
In addition, another 817 fish were sampled
by MNR LHMU staff stationed at the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular weigh-in
station. Of the fish sampled, 731 were chinook salmon, 85 were rainbow
trout, 1 was a brown trout. Chinook salmon sampled at the Derby were generally
the same length as those caught earlier in the year, but weighed significantly
more. In contrast, rainbow trout sampled at the Derby were smaller than
those sampled earlier in the summer in Owen Sound.
If you are a shore angler, this study states
that the most successful shore fishing occurred in Colpoys Bay in July,
when targeted CPUE for rainbow trout anglers was estimated to be 0.109
fish/per/rod/hour. this means that you would probably catch one rainbow
trout every 10 hours.
In closing this report I'd like to remind
all SSA members of the upcoming OFAH fish and wildlife conservation dinner
being held March 4th.. If you wish to attend and by doing so support the
SSA's fish and wildlife programs, please give Randy or Ruth Moore a call
at 371-0378, as Randy and Ruth are the hard working SSA volunteers taking
care of the dinner ticket sales this year.
Fred Geberdt, Chairperson Fish Advisory Committee |
©
2001, Sydenham Sportsmen's Association
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