Article published September 25, 2009
Castalia drawing great for lucky few
Rick Show of Oregon shows the 141-pound halibut he caught off the coast of Valdez, Alaska, on a trip this summer. He said he collected plenty of stories while catching over 1,400 pounds of fish.
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Here's something to put on your to-do list for next spring's fishing: Apply for the drawing to fish for trout at the Castalia State Fish Hatchery and encourage all your fishing friends to do the same.
Sure, it may be a long shot at getting drawn, but if you are picked you can take two other adults and three young anglers with you to experience a morning's fishing on the famed Cold Creek, a half mile of which the state owns as part of the hatchery. Traditionally you have had to belong to an exclusive club, or be a guest at one of them, to experience this unique stream and its stocked trout.
Like most of you, I've put in for the draw annually and never have been selected. But Julie Shieldcastle, conservation director of Oak Harbor's Black Swamp Bird Observatory, did get picked for a recent day on the stream. She asked me along because I have a bunch of fly rods and associated tackle and supposedly know something about catching trout with them.
Shieldcastle also invited 12-year-old Mike VanDerLaar of Helena, and Bill Rinehart of Bloomdale, who helps Shieldcastle at the BSBO bird banding station.
Mike, by the way, was only sort of playing hooky - he is home-schooled and his mom, Jeanine, made sure he took along a backpack full of books. For a couple of hours, however, the books stayed in the pack. Mike was too busy landing rainbow trout after rainbow trout, all chunky breeders deemed excess at the hatchery, their reproductive work done.
OK, it's catching, if not shooting, fish in a barrel. But Mike summed the morning up well in the typical spare style you would expect from a young man: "It was really fun." This was his first time fly fishing, and the trout were the biggest fish he has caught.So, consider applying for the Castalia draw next year. And be nice to your buddies; they might even ask you along.
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Two sunfish have been certified as new Ohio records by the Outdoor Writers of Ohio's record fish committee.
A warmouth sunfish weighing 1.32 pounds was landed by Douglas Koenig of Salem, Ohio, from a Mahoning County farm pound on July 19. The fish was 10 3/4 inches long with a girth of 11 1/4 inches.
That catch replaces the previous state record warmouth caught from LaDue Reservoir by William Reed in May, 2006, OWO said. That fish weighed 1.19 pounds and was 10 1/2 inches long.
Ohio Division of Wildlife fisheries biologist Phil Hillman at Wildlife District 3 in Akron identified Koenig's catch.
Also, a pumpkinseed sunfish weighing 1.10 pounds was caught by Scott Boykin of Uniontown, Ohio, from a farm pond in Portage County on June 12. The fish was 10 1/2 inches long and was taken on a waxworm.
Boykin's record replaces the previous record, a 3/4-pound, 9 1/2-inch pumpkinseed caught in 2001 by Terry Rush while ice fishing. Ohio Division of Wildlife fisheries biologist Matt Wolfe at Wildlife District 3 identified Boykin's catch.
Ohio record fish are certified by the Outdoor Writers of Ohio in cooperation with fisheries biologists with the state wildlife division.
For more information on Ohio's state record fish program contact Tom Cross, chairman, OWO record fish committee, 1497 Cross Rd., Winchester, OH 45697, or call 937 386-2752, or visit online at outdoorwritersofohio.org.
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Elsewhere among the fish tales are these:
Rick Show of Oregon sent along a photograph of a dandy 141-pound halibut he hauled from the deeps off Valdez, Alaska, this summer. Nice.
"Best fishing trip of my life!" Show said. "We ended up with 1,400 pounds, some of which I brought home." Show also promises he has plenty of Alaska fish stories to tell, and the best fish dinners you could hope for.
Joe Lechlak recently was bass fishing at the Lost Peninsula Marina near the Ottawa River.
"I was casting soft baits but that was not real productive. My friend and I then switched to trolling with crank baits and very soon after I caught a pike!"
As Lake Erie waters clear, thanks to the filtering action of those pesty zebra and quagga mussels, shallow bottom areas receive more sunlight and in turn, produce rooted vegetation that northern pike, muskellunge, and largemouth bass all prefer. Don't be surprised with catches of any of those species, though the largemouth may be far more prevalent than pike or muskies.
Then there is Keith Carr, who offers up Ontario's Lake Simcoe, north of Toronto:
"We got tired of sorting through small perch on the western basin [of Lake Erie], so we decided to head to Lake Simcoe for some perchin'. This was our first time fishing Simcoe from a boat, as we have only ever ice fished it before.
"This was also my five-year old son Paul's first trip to Canada. Well, the perch fishing was fantastic with many jumbos caught - probably the best average size I've ever experienced. My son had an absolute blast catching doubles of 10-inch perch. And, probably one of the best things was that we had the lake to ourselves. The locals are accustomed to targeting perch in October."
On the weekend - Second annual "Cars for Critters" benefit car show, Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge; proceeds to benefit wildlife, habitat restoration, and wildlife rehabilitation; Mona Rutger and volunteers from Back to the Wild with live eagles, hawks, owls, and other native wildlife; trophy classes available for all types of cars, registration $12, T-shirts and goodie bags will be given to the first 100 participants; family-friendly activities and refreshments available, door prizes, gas-card drawings; call Eddy Pausch, assistant refuge manager, 419-898-0014 extension 31.
Contact Steve Pollick at:
spollick@theblade.com
or 419-724-6068.
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