President’s Corner

Just before Christmas I had the honor of representing OCBS at a reception at the Governor’s Mansion in Columbus. Just me, and about 150 other Ohio Sportsmen representing their clubs. This was the first time anyone had ever heard of a Governor holding a reception for Ohio’s Sportsmen. While I did not actually get to meet the Governor on this occasion, I did take away the positive impression that he regards all of us, the hunters, fishers and trappers, as the keepers of the sporting flame in Ohio. Ohio would not be a good place to live without our influence.

 Governor Strickland kept his comments short saying he wanted to thank everyone for attending. He welcomed us to “your” house and saying he is privileged to be living there. The Governor spoke about our love of the Ohio out of doors and passion about all the great resources of Ohio. He thanked everyone for the efforts regarding conservation and the things we do for Ohio. He asked us to continue to share our vision of the bounty of Ohio. He asked that each of us continue those efforts for the future of Ohio. He also asked that we continue to partner with him and the ODNR leadership for the betterment of Ohio. He, somewhat jokingly said to gently let them know when they are wrong, to be persistent to make sure they get the message and to share with them in our successes. He also joked and asked us if we “enjoyed the brisk outdoor hike in Bexley since the parking situation is so limited”.

We will continue to do as the Governor asked and as soon as we see something done right we will let the O.D.N.R. know.

Joe Moravec

President

Welcome New Members

I would like to introduce and welcome the following new member to our club.

 William Brantsch of Maple Hts, OH

 Bill Graw of N Ridgeville, OH

 Darin Hintz & Family of Lakewood, OH

 Jon Jackson & Family of Parma, OH

 Glenn & Mary Quick of Cayuga, NY

 Mike Sprau of Rocky River, OH

 Neal Sturgill of Willoughby Hills, OH

 Timothy Yarmock of Jefferson, OH

Current OCBS membership totals 310 steelheaders. Thanks to all of you for joining our club and supporting the Ohio steelhead fishery.

 Jim Palec

 Membership Chairman

2008 Membership Dues

2008 membership fees were due January 1, 2008. A membership renewal notice was mailed to each member in December.

Please complete the membership form and return it along with your check to the OCBS PO Box in the pre-addressed envelope provided.

Not sure if you have paid your dues this year? Look at the address printed on the cover of your newsletter. If it lists a renewal date of 1/1/08, we have not yet received your 2008 dues. If is lists a renewal date of 1/1/09, you are paid up for 2008. Also, if it lists STS 08, you have also paid for an STS subscription for 2008.

Jim Palec

Membership Chairman

Get Involved in 2008

Steelhead fishing is dependent on clean water, a healthy ecosystem, and just as important, people who care about conservation and resource preservation.

It is the responsibility of everyone who enjoys our great steelhead fishing to help protect and enhance our fishery. It’s not always about how many fish you land each day. At some point, you have to think about giving something back to support the fishery.

Please get involved and do your part to help assure excellent future steelheading seasons.

Promote conservation

Practice Catch and Release

Volunteer for local river clean ups

Pick up trash on the stream

Join Grand River Partners

Join Friends of Conneaut Creek

Help with OCBS river access efforts

Respect the fish and their environment.

Be thankful of the great fishing, but do not take it for granted.

Our goal should be to leave a cleaner environment and great Steelhead fishery for future generations of anglers to enjoy.

OCBS Steelhead Headlines Classified Ads

As a service to our membership, we will offer free classified ads in our newsletter for fishing equipment and boats. To place an ad in the newsletter, please send the information via email to the newsletter editor, Tom Blotzer, at steelie2000@oh.rr.com or call him at 440-327-7001. This is a good opportunity to get rid of some of that extra fishing equipment that you may have in storage and are not using anymore.

For Sale

Cabela’s Three Forks 2 fly fishing vest Size 2XL (color is Sage) with 30 pockets and all zippers work. Has padded elastic yolk in the shoulders and collar for added comfort. Sold new for $50. Used 2 seasons and in great shape. Sell for $35 Call Steve at (440) 669-9928.

10" Strikemaster 2hp. ice auger. New $380.00 asking $225.00 and a

Cannon portable downrigger $33.00

For more info call Larry Singleton 330-753-4453.

Scott SVS 9 foot, 3 piece, 8 weight Fly Rod. Brand new, never used.  This rod retails at $312, I am asking $225. If interested, call John Rhoades at 440-759-3831

Join Grand River Partners

Grand River Partners, Inc. has permanently protected over 3000 acres of the Grand River Watershed as an individual organization and has helped to protect over 30,000 acres through what is known as the Grand River Partnership.

This partnership has been able to match state and federal funding with local dollars generated from both individual and corporate memberships as well as large individual gifts from private donors.  In 2007,    Grand River Partners, Inc. was able to match 11 dollars to every 1 dollar raised through membership directly protecting nearly 1000 acres of property within the watershed.  All of these dollars were spent protecting the habitat, water quality, and scenic views we all enjoy during a day on the Grand River.

In 2007, Grand River Partners hosted 8 membership events that included river cleanups, a fish electro shocking field day on Phelps Creek, and a winery bus tour to name a few.

OCBS is a member of Grand River Partners and fully supports their conservation efforts. They have been doing an excellent job protecting and preserving these prime steelhead waters.

Please consider joining this fine organization and helping them preserve this valuable natural resource for future generations of steelheaders and others who love the spending time along the Grand River. If you would like to become a member of Grand River Partners, Inc. you can visit our website at www.grandriverpartners.org to register and support our efforts.

This Year’s Christmas Party Was Excellent

May have Been the Best Yet!

On Thursday Night, December 20^th, about 130 OCBS members, family and friends got together at the Ampol Club to celebrate the Christmas holidays. Hopefully you were able to attend and enjoy the Christmas season with your fellow steelheaders.

The party was excellent and I believe everyone in attendance enjoyed themselves. For starters, there was plenty of cold beer and snacks, followed by a succulent strip steak dinner including baked potato, corn, salad and a variety of deserts brought by members.

After dinner there was a Chinese raffle which included lots of nice prizes, card raffles for a premium Scott rod and Nautilus reel, 50/50 raffle and a silent auction for additional prizes. There were lots of “toys” for everyone.

Bruce Dickerson of Grand River Tackle and Frank Simoncic of Rodmakers Shop were recognized for their support of OCBS activities, the steelhead fishery and their local communities. Each was awarded a plaque.

Don Mayer celebrated his 90^th birthday at the party. He was presented with a birthday cake and everyone sang happy birthday to him. Happy Birthday Don!

We would like to thank the following people for making this years party a success.

Thanks to Jeff Liskay for planning the party and contracting the catering company. 

Thanks to Joe Moravec and Dan Kammer for doing the shopping.

Thanks to Dave Duchnowski, Pete Ellis and John Rhoades for tending bar.

Thanks to Frank Simoncic, Larry Singleton, Tom Bilowski, Walt Morris, Jeff Zofchak, Joe Moravec, Dan Kammer, Jeff Zvara and everyone else who came early and helped set up the party room.

Thanks to everyone who brought a desert to share.

Thanks to Jeff and Melanie Zvara for organizing the Chineese raffle.

Thanks to Kelly Riesen, Mario Renzi and Larry Singleton for selling cards in the card raffle.

Thanks to Jerry Darkes for acquiring the Nautilus reel and Scott rod for the card raffle.

Thanks to the following people who donated items to the Chinese raffle:

Chris & Pam McKim - Brew Kettle (4 Bottles winter warmer, 2 Hats, 24

Warstiner glasses and two $20.00 gift certificates)

Dan Kammer - Teddy Bear

Tom Bilowsky - 3 Flyboxes & Cabelas Vest

Larry Singleton - 2 Smoked filets & Lantern

Rodmakers Shop - Steelhead Alley Print

Jeff Zofchak - Over 150 Flies

Gray & Company Publisher - 2 Fishing Guide Books

Tim Flave - Fly Box

Tom Blotzer - Ice Cleats

Jeff & Melanie Zvara - Bath & Body Works Basket

Jerry Darkas - 2 Led Lamps, 2 Button down RIO Shirts, & 3 Tee Shirts

Wael Dardir - 12 spey flies

Montey Casey - 6 Spoons/spinners

Scott Grossnickle - Flybox

Steve Smik - Steelhead Flies

Don Mayer - Stream Cleats

Tom Krause - Steelhead Mouse Pad & 3 Spinners

Mario Renzi - $25.00 Pine Lake Gift Certificate

Grand River Tackle Shop - $35.00 Gift Certificate

Joe Sloboda - 38 Flies Czeh nymphs, Sculpins, etc.

Steve Vorkapich - 10 packs of floats

John Beedlow - 12 Pin jig flies

Dave and Pink Jocke – 1 year free marine towing package

If there is someone we forgot to mention, we appologize for the omission.

This year’s party will be hard to beat, but we will give it our best effort again next year.

We hope that you and your family have a healthy and happy New Year in 2008.

Thanks!

OCBS Board of Directors

The Economic Impact of Ohio Sportsmen

1.5 million Hunters & Anglers Spending $5.3 million a Day

Total spending = $1.9 billion

• Sportsmen support as many jobs in Ohio as the combined employment of the

Ohio State University and Proctor and Gamble, two of the largest employers in the state (33,000 jobs).

• Annual spending by Ohio sportsmen is more than the revenues of Columbus based Bob Evans restaurants ($1.9 billion vs. $1.6 billion).

• Spending by Ohio sportsmen is more than the cash receipts for soybeans, the state’s most valuable agricultural commodity ($1.9 billion vs. $1.2 billion).

• Annually, Ohio sportsmen spend $108 million on outboard boats and engines to get out on the water and around the marshes for fishing and hunting.

• More people hunt and fish in Ohio than attend Cleveland Cavaliers and Cincinnati Bengals games (1.5 million vs. 1.4 million).

Ohio Sportsmen have following economic impact:

·     33,000 Jobs

·     $934 million Salaries and Wages Paid

·     $202 million Federal Taxes Paid

·     $195 million State and local taxes Paid

·     $3.1 billion dollar ripple effect on the economy

·     In Ohio, 1.5 million hunters & anglers spend $5.3 million a day.

Every single state makes a contribution through revenue, taxes, and jobs. Here are the facts on Ohio’s anglers and hunters.

I. Participation

Resident Sportsmen: 1.5 million which ranks 4th nationally

Resident Anglers: 1.14 million which ranks 4th nationally

Resident Hunters: 467,000 which ranks 8th nationally

Out of State Hunters: ?

Out of State Anglers: 112,000 which ranks 28th nationally

Days Afield: 10.4 million which ranks 4th nationally

Days on the Water: 15.1 million which ranks 11th nationally

II. Spending

Total Sportsmen spend: $1.9 billion which ranks 9th nationally

Ohio Anglers spend: $1.08 billion which ranks 13th nationally

Ohio Hunters spend: $859 million which ranks 8th nationally

III. Jobs

Sportsmen create 33,000 Ohio jobs which ranks 9th nationally

Anglers create 19,000 Ohio jobs which ranks 11th nationally

Hunters create13,750 Ohio jobs which ranks 10th nationally

The majority of all sportsmen consider themselves “likely voters” and 8 in 10 say that a candidate’s position on sportsmen’s issues is important in determining for whom they will vote.

If all hunters and anglers living in Ohio voted in the 2004 presidential election, they would have equaled 35% of the entire vote. 1 out of 6 residents hunt or fish.

Source: “Hunting and Fishing: Bright Stars of the American Economy — A force as big as all outdoors,” report which was produced by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation with support from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, National Marine Manu.

Agency Moves Closer to Purchase of Chagrin River Property

Lake Metroparks takes next Step in Purchase of Nursery

By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

News-Herald

December 6, 2007

Lake Metroparks took a giant step forward Wednesday in the hoped-for acquisition of the former Warner Nursery property in Willoughby Hills. The agency’s three park board commissioners authorized Executive Director David A. Noble to enter into an agreement with First Merit Bank to purchase the site for $645,000. the commissioners also approved an additional $22,000 for environmental testing of the site.About $190,000 of that will come from the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, and another $150,000 from Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The property is 72 acres, which includes 3,800 feet of Chagrin River frontage. Nursery stock at the site already has been liquidated.

 
Citing the ongoing negotiations, park system officials declined to comment. However, officials have indicated the park system intends to develop the park utilizing the agency’s Chagrin River Park in Eastlake and Willoughby as a template. There, the park has playground equipment,
trails, two picnic shelters, observation platforms and other amenities, park officials previously have said.

Also, the purchase will provide an opportunity for flood-plain restoration, provide stream access for steelhead anglers and possibly even be linked with other publicly owned land, such as Cleveland Metroparks’ North Chagrin Reservation. It will be the first property owned by Lake Metroparks in Willoughby Hills. “We look forward to working with Lake Metroparks. It’s a valuable green space preservation opportunity for the community. We’re just so excited,” Willoughby Hills Mayor-elect Robert M. Weger said. The property was once owned by Zophar Warner, a former Lake Metroparks commissioner. This point had no bearing on its potential purchase, park officials have said.

Editors Note: Please note that the ODNR is contributing $150,000 to help fund this project and provide river access for steelheaders. We appreciate the donation and hope they will take a leadership role in providing additional river access in the future.

Lake Erie Access Rule May Rock the Boat

By Tom Henry

Toledo Blade

December 16, 2007

A ruling that could hamper the public’s access to Lake Erie beaches came out last week while ironically, we all were slogging through our cold, wintry mix of freezing rain and snow.

No doubt it would have received more attention if it had been issued in July.

Critics fear the Lake County Common Pleas Court decision will further erode the Great Lakes region’s shoreline access. It defines the public-private boundary line as the ever-shifting “water’s edge,” not the high water mark.

One of America’s top shoreline experts, Duke University’s Orrin Pilkey, told me last year he’s stunned by the Great Lakes region’s lack of beach access.

Same goes for the nation’s oldest think tank, the Washington-based Brookings Institution. A $200,000 study Brookings released in 2006, funded by major businesses, universities, and philanthropic groups, said the region will re-emerge as an economic powerhouse only if it rallies around the Great Lakes. It suggested becoming more appealing to “outdoor enthusiasts, history buffs, and those seeking health lifestyles.”

I believe in private property rights. I respect some zoning laws, disdain others, and believe in the freedom to do as I please with the turf I own, within reason and without excessive government intrusion. But the formula’s simple: If you can see the water and touch the water, you’re more likely to protect the water.
Expect an appeal.

A two-fer: Toledo is not all that progressive on the environment, regardless what Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said in London to help the city finish third in the recent International Awards for Liveable Communities competition. Let’s just say that mayors, um, tend to embellish things.

Toledo is what it is — a struggling Rust Belt city with charm and ambiance. It has beautiful parks. But it also has a blighted downtown, a largely untapped waterfront, a horrible rate of recycling, polluted waterways, air quality straddling the line between good and bad, and no green roofs that I know about other than those with green shingles or green paint.

So give it credit for the $26 million commitment it announced last week to link its Hoffman Road landfill and its Bay View wastewater treatment plant together via a cogeneration power facility.

Just a few years ago, the City of Toledo ended a 12-year feud in federal court over its decades-old sewage bypasses that allow raw waste into area streams after heavy rain.

The city agreed to finally eliminate such releases by completing $450 million of improvements by 2015. Imagine if Toledo, likewise, refused to capture the methane gas generated by its landfill. The city could have continued to flare it off or — worse — challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take it to court if it had ignored the problem years ago and had just kept venting all the methane into the atmosphere.

Now, it is fewer than 18 months from generating electricity, removing the landfill as a major contributor of gases that contribute to the gradual warming of the Earth’s climate. And it will avoid more litigious head-butting with the federal EPA.This wasn’t done strictly for altruistic reasons, of course. Toledo expects to save $2 million a year on electricity bills for its sewage plant while also helping the environment.

3 Rivers Could Join List of Ohio’s Most Scenic

By Spencer Hunt

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

December 26, 2007

It took the Vermilion River millions of years to carve its steep cliffs of shale, sandstone and turtle rock. But it will take about two years and thousands of dollars to see whether this northern Ohio river officially can be called “scenic.”

In an effort to promote and protect Ohio streams, government officials and conservationists are breathing new life into the state’s scenic river program, which highlights streams that haven’t lost their natural beauty and wildlife to pollution and development.

The state list, created in 1968, has 13 streams, including the Big Darby Creek. In 2005, a 21-mile section of Conneaut Creek in Ashtabula County was added. Last year, the Mohican River in Ashland, Coshocton, Holmes and Knox counties made the list. Now, the Vermilion, Ashtabula and Mad rivers are being studied for inclusion. “It is incredibly pristine,” Dan Martin, director of the Lorain County Metro Parks, said of the Vermilion. The park owns 1,200 acres of forest land along 17 miles of the stream.

Bob Gable, the state’s scenic-river program manager, said the “scenic” designation gives officials the power to deny state highway and construction projects that could damage the waterways and the habitats they support. Gable and his staff — four full-time and six-part time employees — can only offer advice on city, county and private developments. Ohio’s program is on par with most of those in the 33 states that name and protect scenic rivers, said Andrew Fahlund, vice president for conservation for American Rivers, based in Washington, D.C.

Fahlund said staff and funding restrictions make the job more difficult. “That’s the real challenge we’re facing now,” he said. Gable agreed and said that his department must “prioritize and address the most serious threats first.” However, that shouldn’t stop the state from adding new streams, he added. “We would like to designate deserving rivers whenever we can.

Using federal grants, Natural Resources hired two people at an annual cost of $125,491 to study the Ashtabula and Vermilion rivers, both in northeastern Ohio. A part-time employee is studying the Mad River, which runs through Logan, Champaign, Clark, Greene and Montgomery counties. These studies can take two to three years, and there are restrictions. For example, a scenic stream can have no dams or other alterations along 75 percent of its length and must have forested areas along at least 25 percent of its banks. Streams also must meet Ohio Environmental Protection Agency standards for warm- and cold-water habitats.

The 27 1/2 -mile Ashtabula River, a 45-mile stretch of the Vermillion and a 20-mile section of the Mad River are considered high quality waters, said Jeff DeShon, an Ohio EPA ecological assessment manager. Bob Jurick, director of the B-W Greenway Community Land Trust, said a designation for the Mad River will help his group win additional state and federal grants to help protect the stream. The conservation group, based in Fairborn, has spent about $300,000 over the past six years to preserve more than 100 acres of wetlands and stream banks along the Mad River. “It gives you more momentum to get more land protected,” Jurick said.

Mike Wayman, chairman of the Ashtabula Township Park Commission, said scenic status for the Ashtabula River will complement recent work done to improve parklands along the stream.

Martin said designating the Vermilion River as a scenic waterway would attract more visitors and trout fishermen. “I don’t think people here recognize how significant the Vermilion is environmentally,” he said. “It’s a fabulous natural resource in your backyard.” And if the state has trouble overseeing streams? “We’re the stewards of our property,” Martin said. “We won’t need them on a day-to-day basis.”