Cross boarder event-st lawerence ny/can

[solgrande]

This is part of an email written by mr peter levick pres of Muskies canada regarding an event that is being planned between Muskies canada,Muskies inc ny chapt 69 and others in and around the Clayton area..

Just wanted to pass it along to you..

I want to take the opportunity to provide a bit more of the vision for the event and we can shape it as we work on it. It begins with the desire on the part of both the Gananoque chapter and Muskies Inc Chapter 69 to strengthen their relationships with on and off the water. We have has several new members from ch 69 join Gan and participate in the annual outing. Bob Solley of ch 69 has become liaison for Gan chapter and Jim Herod of Gan is liaison with ch 69. Several of us from Muskies Canada are also ch 69 members. Relations

As someone that regularly fishes the St. Lawrence I hear from many of the regulars that they are uneasy about border crossing (lack of knowledge) and therefore don’t take advantage of the opportunity to fish on the NY side, visit Clayton, and socialize with our US colleagues. The session this week was about changing this with better knowledge. The next step is to actually put together a small scale event that gets us together to apply our new-found knowledge and build familiarity.

We chose Sept 17 for several reasons. It is one week after the Gananoque Outing. We thought it would be too complicated to do this during a big outing with 50-60 participants. September is prime time and many of the regulars will be out on the water the following week anyway so we thought this would be a good time to focus on something cross-border. Both chapters are interested and willing, and word of the event (let’s call it a Fishing Day) is beginning to get out. I attended the Muskies Inc. national Board of Directors meeting in Minnesota last month and several of the Board members were interested. You saw the participation on Tuesday of Muskies Canada members from other chapters (Ottawa), many of whom will likely also participate. It is our hope that we will ave 20-30 participants altogether, perhaps 12 - 15 boats.

We would organize the event in a similar way to our Chapter Fishing Days, where participants can launch anytime and fish as late in the evening as they like (often the best time of the day), but everyone would come in to a common location for lunch and a social break. This model is very popular for our informal events and allows a lot of flexibility while allowing some time for sustenance and stories.

There is another element in the mix which is important. That is Dr John Farrell and the Thousand Islands Biological Station (TIBS) of SUNY. Its location just off Clayton is ideal for there o be a role for TIBS in the event. Dr. Farrell made an excellent presentation to ch 69 last September and the relationship between the chapter and TIBS is growing in importance. He has collaborated very closely with the Gan chapter and is involved in several levels of fisheries management and planning involving both NY and Ontario. We think that TIBs may be able to host a tour at some point during the day, perhaps during the lunch period. We have even suggested that the participants may be asked to submit log data, and where appropriate, scale sales to TIBS to make it a Science Day in addition to being a Fishing Day.

The lunch component, of course, means that Canadian anglers will be stopping in NY and so the appropriate clearances will need to be established. This is exactly the type of practical application and learning-by-doing experience that would be beneficial. Lunch arrangements are yet to be made. Lunch could be held at TIBS or in Clayton with a TIBS tour as part of the day’s events. Your suggestion of the Antique Boat Museum facilities is very interesting and could be an excellent solution. Boat dockage will be one of the issues we need to accommodate, especially if we have over 10 boats.

To help advance the planning and broaden the participation of key agencies that might help us pull this together, we might want to organize a planing meeting in Clayton sometime soon.

Thank you.

Peter Levick

Edited April 13, 2016 by solgrande