LHFC March Newsletter

Lake Huron Fishing Club Newsletter
March 2012
Incorporated 1983
P.O. Box 355, Southampton, Ontario, N0H 2L0
Club Website: www.lakehuronfishingclub.com
Derby Website: www.chantrychinook.com

President's Message

A common theme that you have probably noticed in many of my messages is our
constant search for funds to operate the fishery enhancement and
conservation programs of this Club. Every year our operating costs to carry
out the same amount of work goes up. Electrical costs are scheduled to rise
46% over the next 5 years - that will add an extra $1000/year to our
hatchery budgets. Feed costs increase every year. Our club insurance bill
has taken huge jumps over the past couple of years. Costs for printing,
postage and hall rentals continue to rise. Our equipment is aging and
repairs are becoming more frequent. The only constant expense is the
labour that we put into our projects - that still totals $0.00!!

The Lake Huron Fishing Club puts just as many hours of labour into raising
money as we do spending it. Installing, renting out, repairing and removing
the boat docks in Rotary Park in Kincardine. The thousands of hours spent
planning and operating the Chantry Chinook Classic. Organizing, setting up
and serving several hundred people at our annual summer fish fry.
Distributing and selling raffle tickets at numerous events. Cooking hotdogs
in front of Walmart. These are all ways that our members contribute to
putting fish in the lake or improving fish habitat.

We get a small funding grant from the Ministry of Natural Resources. This
amount hasn't changed since we started our first hatchery in 1985. It now
covers about 6% of our total budget. We get a small grant from the County
of Bruce each year and a little bit of money from the Town of Kincardine
most years. Local service clubs and unions funnel some money our way from
time to time. We are thankful for every dollar that is donated to us. We
have formed a partnership with 2 of our neighbouring clubs, the Ontario
Steelheaders and the Bruce Peninsula Sportsmen's Association to keep our
hatcheries operating at peak capacity.

A little while ago I received a phone call from one of our out-of-town
members. He wanted to talk about the financial struggles of the Lake Huron
Fishing Club.
This person asked that I simply make an appeal to our membership for
donations. His reasoning was that a good proportion of the members of the
Lake Huron Fishing Club are just not in a position geographically or do not
have the opportunity time wise to contribute to a fundraising project.
These members may appreciate the chance to make a financial contribution and
thus be an integral part of our success.

I discussed this idea with the Executive Committee of this Club. It was
decided that I should present the idea to you, the members.

The Lake Huron Fishing Club is not a registered charity. We cannot issue
tax receipts for donations. We do have 2 separate bank accounts.

Any donations or fundraising profits are deposited directly into our
Conservation Account. This money can only be used for fishery enhancement
or conservation projects.

If any member would like to make a financial donation to the Lake Huron
Fishing Club we will guarantee that 100% of the money will be used to put
fish into the lake and local rivers. If you wish the donation to remain
anonymous please indicate that.

Thank you for at least listening to my appeal.

Yours in Conservation,

Al Wilkins President <mailto:fisheye@bmts.com> fisheye@bmts.com
519-396-9764

Trout Hatchery Report

Our rainbows and browns are all in excellent condition. We will be
finishing up our fin clipping in the next week or so.

With the mild winter we have had I suspect that we may be a position to
release our rainbow trout early this year.

Anyone who wishes to get involved with our stocking should let me know and
we will try to let you know when it is going to happen.

Al Wilkins 519-396-9764.

Salmon Hatchery Report

The salmon are gaining weight very quickly. They have just been moved to the
large rearing tanks. They are ahead of last year because we've been able to
run the water temperature higher, one of the benefits of this warmer winter.

We have lots of fish and will let Mother Nature take its course over the
next couple of months. Garry

General Membership Meeting

The next meeting of the Lake Huron Fishing Club will be 7:30 pm Thursday,
March 8th at the Underwood Community Center.

We will have a guest speaker from the OPP Marine Unit who will give us
information regarding boater safety, boating legal requirements and the
functioning of the OPP's Marine Units.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the OPP's presence on Lake
Huron please bring them up at this meeting.

We will also discuss the condition of our fishery and upcoming events.
Please plan on attending this meeting and bring a friend.

Membership

New Members:

Dennis & Dana Speer from Kincardine

Correction:

In the last newsletter the Ontario Steelheader's was mentioned as a new
corporate member and their home location as Brantford.

It has been brought to my attention that they represent all of Ontario,
Brantford is their mailing address.

Sorry for any misunderstanding this might have caused.

Bob Moss Membership Rep

Lake Trout Stocking in Lake Huron (by Al Wikins)

I have mentioned in previous articles that the Ministry of Natural Resources
is currently putting the final touches on a proposed "Revised Lake Trout
Rehabilitation Plan for the Ontario Waters of Lake Huron". If approved,
this document will guide the MNR's lake trout management efforts on Lake
Huron for the next 20 years. As a major stakeholder in the Lake Huron
Fisheries, the Lake Huron Fishing Club will be providing input to the MNR on
the proposed rehabilitation plan. We will be doing this through our
membership in the Fisheries Management Zone 13 Advisory Council and through
the EBR process when the "Plan" is posted for public review. We have had
several discussions about the lake trout issue at our club meetings, our
Executive meetings, FMZ13 Council meetings and many of you have approached
me personally to express your opinions. At the last LHFC Executive meeting
a motion was put on the table and voted to state the opinion of the Lake
Huron Fishing Club on the Lake Trout Rehabilitation Plan.

"The Lake Huron Fishing Club recommends that the Ministry of Natural
Resources terminate the stocking of Lake Trout into Lake Huron."

There are many considerations that contributed to this recommendation.
Here are a few:

* The MNR has been attempting to rehabilitate lake trout in Lake Huron
since the 1940's. There has been very little success until just the past
few years. The natural reproduction that is now being seen across the lake
is likely not a result of stocking improvements but the ecological changes
resulting from the collapse of alewives.
* Lake trout is not a species of fish that is sought after by anglers.
Just about any other species of fish are rated higher than lake trout when
it comes to what big lake anglers wish to catch.
* Lake trout is not a species of fish that are wanted by the
commercial fishing industry. There is next to no market for the fish, they
have limited quota for the fish, and lake trout damage the fishing gear they
use for catching whitefish.
* The MNR refuses to exclude commercial fishermen from the lake trout
rehabilitation areas. While they are not being targeted, an incidental
catch is inevitable. This is counterproductive to rehabilitation.
* Lake trout accumulate toxins present in the waters. In central Lake
Huron women and children are advised not to consume a lake trout greater
than 14 inches in length.
* The stocking of lake trout into Lake Huron is an expensive exercise.
The yearly cost has been averaging $930,000 and 30% of the provincial fish
culture capacity is used putting lake trout into the lake. 90% of funds
paying for this program come from the MNR's Special Purpose Account. These
are the license dollars that sports fishermen pay the government to be
allowed to fish.
* The MNR has not been responsible in their stocking of lake trout.
Dumping fish off the end of the pier in Kincardine, through floating ice, in
the middle of the day with hundreds of seagulls present is wasting a
valuable resource. If the Lake Huron Fishing Club were to stock our fish in
that manner our members would ask for the resignations of the hatchery
managers.
* 1 - 2 million lake trout fingerlings/year have to be having a
significant impact on a fragile prey base in the lake. This amount of
biomass in one species must be suppressing other sport fish species.
Reducing the number of lake trout may well result in a rebound of other fish
species that are more desirable from both a sportfishing and commercial
viewpoint.

If any member would like to discuss any of the above, please come to our
next General Membership meeting. Your input is valuable.

Chantry Chinook Classic Salmon Derby Committee Report

This update is very brief although there is a lot of work going on behind
the scene. The next derby committee meeting is scheduled for March 6th at
the Port Elgin Hatchery. At this meeting a number of items will be
finalized.

We are continuing to seek sponsors for cash and prize board prizes.

There are a number of new sponsors for 2012, see updates on our website
banner.

The Chantry Chinook promotional brochure is in the final stages of
development, delayed a few weeks to include as many of our new sponsors as
possible.

It is anticipated that final editing will take place, and going to print in
early March, ready for distribution by the end of the month.

The derby tickets have been printed and are available to purchase. For those
who wish to purchase their tickets early, visit the website for details.

The Walker Downriggers Largest Rainbow Trout Prize presently consists of
product worth approximately $2,500.00. Mike Hahn and Darryl Choronzey
deserve allot of credit for this new exiting prize!

Sponsors for this prize include Walker Downriggers, Dreamweaver Lures and
Cequent Performance Products.

Further details including the major and other sponsors will follow in
upcoming Derby updates and on our website.

With hard work of Nick Toth and the generosity of Grey/Bruce Outdoors Forum,
the Chantry and LHFC are now posted on their website. You can now
communicate with other fisherman regarding the Club and Derby.

Forum: http://www.greybruceoutdoors.com/boa...ex.php?gid=100

For up to date information and derby details, visit our Website:

www.chantrychinook.com

Lake Huron Fishing Club
P.O. Box 355,
Southampton, Ontario, N0H 2L0