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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-04-03, Page 59soderich r■ SIGNAL -STAR 137 YEAR -15 GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10,1985 50 mins PER COPY Blake Evans a Ministry of Natural Resources officer talks to a are already taking to the water to try and get the quirks out before fisherman who is trying "is luck at the Maitland Valley Marino the fishing season opens. (Photo by Todd Mowatt) Thursday. Despite the cool temperatures the die hard fisherman Inland season opens April 28 Fishermen are waiting with bated breath the season to open The arrival of spring brings on an urge in most outdoorsmen to venture downstairs or out to the garage and check out the fishing equipment. The next step is then to wait for a nice warm dewy evening where one can grab a flash light and stare down at the ground in anticipation of those slimy, squir- my little worms showing their heads. You go in for the kill with your fingers first to try and catch the bait that will catch you that award-winning whopper that you can tell your grandchildren about. Whether you are aware of it or not, everytime you cast your line into your favorite fishing hole you are angling. By definition, angling is catching a fish by means of a hook and line and if you are a resident of Ontario you are not required to purchase a fishing licence for angling. Even if friends or relatives come from outside Canada and want to go fishing it is only $30 for a seasonal fishing license. If you are catching live bait to use on one of your outings, you must, purchase a live bait licence for $1.25. Then, you can catch aII of the bait you want. According to Blake Evans, a conservation officer with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the most popular varieties of game fish in this part of Ontario are Rain- bow trout and Brook trout. Mr. Evans said this year's opening dates for the popular game fish is Apr. 27. He also said this year there is an extended fall season for Rainbow trout.in Huron Coun- ty. It runs from"Sept. 30 to Dee. 31 in the Bayfield River -from Highway 4 to Lake Huron, in the Lucknow or Nine Mile river, and.from Highway 86 to Lake Huron.. There are certain areas open to fishing all year round for Rainbows including in the Bayfield River from Highway 21 to Lake Huron and in the Maitland river from the CPR bridge in Goderich to Lake Huron. Mr.Evans has some helpful hints for first time fisherman or those who just go out to their favorite spot and plop their line in but know little or nothing about catching fish. "If you are a first time fisherman, your best bet is to go to one of the stocked ponds early in the morning or in the late afternoon, early evening," he said. Most people have the easiest time fishing with a spinning rod, although a fly rod has the greatest success. "A person has to be a real expert to fish with a fly rod and most people use them with good results in stocked ponds," he said. The most successful bait used to catch trout is whole kernel corn or worms. "People use synthetic fish eggs, but they are not that successful L. stock pond fishing and they are primarily used for stream fishing," he said. -- As As far as lines and bobbers are concerned, you don't need a heavy test line in pond fishing and if you want a good cast you are best to use a bobber. Bobbers also help regulate the depth of your lines so that your bait is not floating on the bottom the fish cbn't get at it. When you finally master your technique and get the equipment the way you want it you can commence fishing. If you are fishing for Rainbow trout you can catch five at any one time. If you are fishing for Brook or Speckled trout you are allowed to keep seven. Bass sox and Perch have no limit. Now that you have the basics on this year's catch, good luck. But be careful! If you snag or catch over your limit you can be given up to a $5,000 firie. As soon as the ice Was gone the area fisherman took to the water to try their luck. Now only a few weeks away the fishing season opens on the inland waters. Registration dates are set for upcoming minor ball season ' The change "of the sporting season is upon us. Last week the ice went out of the Goderich arena, signaling the end of the hockey and Winter sports season, and the advent of such summer pastimes as sod- cer; baseball and ball hockey. Two dates have been set for registration for manor softball, T -ball and soccer, on Tuesday April 16 and Wednesday April 17. Registration will be Held at the Grands- tand Community room, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. T -ball age range is four to seven -years - old, while six softball categories cover ages 6-17. The Squirt soccer team accepts players 5-8, with three more categories eovprina nlavers 9 and over. Volunteer coaches are needed for all three sports. Persons interested in - coaching minor softball and T -ball, should contact Dave Hill, 524-7185. Anyone wishing to coach soccer should pall Peter Shephard, 524-4527. 1f the old catching mitt is getting -a bit battered from years of scooping grounders off the turf, you might want to visit the Recreation Department's Used Glove Ex- change. Bringin your used glove to the Recreation Ofice before the registration dates. Name your price and if it is sold, the • owner takes 80 per cent of the sale price and the Minor Softball Association - takes the remaining 20 per cent. Gloves will be on sale on registration nights. . New features for roller skating Roller skating returns to Goderich beginn- ing April 17. This year roller skating will be run on Wednesday and Friday nights. The Recreation Department has added some new features this year, in hope of drawing out larger crowds of skaters. Wednesday will be beginners night, 'from 6 to 8 p.rn. A beginners' season pass is being offered for only $10 (skate rental extra). A regular season's pass is available for $20. Special draws will be held every Friday night. First prize will be one nineinch deluxe pizza, second prize is one 45,,rpm record, third one free roller skating pass. (skates included). Fourth prize will be a mystery prize (different each night) and fifth prize will be one free can of pop. In addition to the latest musical hits played by the roller skating staff; skaters can bring their own tapes or records to skate to and the disc jockys will be taking requests for specific songs. . Slowpitch League expands for 1985 BY BREWSTER Well guys, after a one year stint of semi- retirement which proved to be more hassle than it was worth, I'm back with your exciting weekly summaries and standings, league news and colourful predictions! In just four weeks we begin our season play so ask your wife where she hid your ball glove, dig last fall's mud out of your cleats and start working off those nasty winter pounds. On Sunday, May 12 (sorry mothers), 12 teams will begin their season -long battle for "Truth", "Justice" and their divisional championship. Although it's getting harder each year to leap tall buildings or even slide into .second, I'm sure that the competition will be as keen as ever. Our Goderich Men's Slowpitch League has expanded to 19 teams this year. The Gators, under the capable leadership of Jim Carrick, John Miller and Alvin Daer, are a welcome addition to the ,league. The league now serves as a competitive outlet a recreational level for close to 350 men in this community. Two other teams in the league have undergone a name change. Goderich Gas Rite will now be known as Sunnys and Goderich Auto Sales are now under the name of Goderich Nissan. For those of you who never knew who Auto Sales were, they are the old Firemen squad. The executive for 1985 has also changed in a significant manner. Following a historically, close vote last fall, Brian Hamilton is president, with Ed Brunk as past president. John Hrudpn is the new social director, Al Smith is treasurer and yours truly, Bruce Baker is scheduling chairman. The executive has already met on several occasions over the winter months and I can say from past experience, that they have a very ambitious agenda planned for the coming season. They are hoping to introduce a new GMSL Constitution for your vote at the fall meeting. Although it is not finalized, it could contain a clause which guarantees an executive through team rotation and it may contain a voluntary draft system. In the absence of a tournament chairman, the executive has taken or this major fund- raising task themselves. We are hoping to finalize plans soon but you might expect a smaller, more local tournament. We will again have a fall banquet but this year will see something new and untried: On Saturday, May 11 (the night preceding the schedule kick-off) a spring dance will be held. Tickets are now available from your team rep but are in limited supply. Contact John Hruden if you need more. I'm sure you'll agree, that the above, truly is an ambitious agenda for an executive of five! Add- to that the normal jobs of rep meetings, schedules, umpires, standings, paper write-ups, bank balance, baseball, scoresheets,e tc. on top of a nil bank balance after last year's improvements, and I'm sure you will see our problem. With your support at fund raising events and the continued hard work of the 19 team reps, we an achieve all goals collectively! So much for the pep talk! The schedule this year will again try to maximize usage of facilities by running double headers at GDCI and Signal -Star. diamonds. Start times will be 6:30 and 7:45 p.m. We do have one tremendous plus this year that has not yet been built' into the schedule. We have permission to use the ball diamonds behind the beer store. A snow fence and level land will deem it suitable for rescheduled games during the week. Fcr this we are extremely grateful to the Rec Board, John Doherty in particular, and to Gardiner Real Estate for the generous use of their land! We also want to thank the Signal -Star Publishing Company for the continued use of their land on which We play in excess of 60 percent of our schedule. 'Last but certainly not least, we want to thank the long list of sponsorsfor their continued support of the league. Before I sign off, I would like to remind you that there will be weekly write-ups for this year, along with photos, standings, etc: Until next week, think about and support your league – your summer fun! What eventually happens is really up to you! New season in local sports Greetings sports fans! (So sue me. I've been itching to use a phrase like that ever since I got this job. ) Ignoring the recent bizzare- weather, spring officially arrived some time ago, bringing with.it the return of not only the robins, but the Blue Jays as well, heralding the begi,uiing of- a --whole- new - local sports season. I stress "local" because of course this is the time of year when the big leagues meld together, forc- ing the die=hard sports -buff to absorb- -a barrage of spring baseball as well as hockey playoffs. My own choice of television sports view- ing will probably depend lai gety- on --how well (or how poorly) my choices in the of- fice hockey pool perform in the playoffs ( but that's a whole new column). This week I want to_ commend the countless correspondents who made it possible to put together the Signal -Star sports pages each week, all winter. Whether bringing in game sheets or pre - written reports, most were'as regular as clock work, comparable perhaps to the legendary postman, who makes his rounds through rain, snow, sleet and all sorts of nasty stuff, except of course for postal strikes. Striking is something I have no fear of our correspondents doing, because they receive neither pay nor benefits in the first place. For that reason, I feel the least I can do is offer them my own humble thanks. Since many of the same people who are involved in winter sports are usually ac- tide in the summer as well, I expect at least some of the same people will be in- volved in getting information in to the paper. Those people will know the ropes already, but there will no doubt be some novices out there, wondering how to en- sure their activity gets the coverage it deserves. N Most ,the the usual sports, baseball, hockey; soccer and so on, have established a routine of appointing someone to be responsible for getting either a game sheet or write-upInto- the paper. If your team, be it minor ports, adult recreational school athletics or whatever, has not been in the BY P4TRICK RAFTIS habit of doing this I urge you to appoint so- meone. We are interested in publisheing regular information on all sorts of sporting aetiy_it-ies, both usual and unusual. If you're not sure what the best format for getting coverage for your activity would be, contact me and we'll come up with something. Also, be sure to let us know, as far as possible in advance,' about any special activities,- such as tour- naments or playoffs.' Be sure to include a schedule with your first reports, we can't cover you if we don't know when you play. While a photographer won't be able to attend all your g;,.nes, we do our best to get pictures of every aLti'•r, •r sometime through the season. Another thing to remember when, L ing ing in game sheets is to make sure are all there. If a game sheet only li its last names or initials, please include a list I full names. If you can'add a few details the sort not found on game sheets, it makes for a better write-up. Remember I wasn't at the soccer game, so I don't know that lit- tle Johnny's defensive play was outstanding and just as important as Billy's goal. Consistency is important, your readers are interested in following the ups and downs of your team, not just the ups, so br- ing in information win or lose. Never think your actitity is too offbeat or different for the paper. If you're into something that might make an interesting story, or know someone who is, let us know. I'm looking forward to covering summer spoils in this town, and hoping your help will make the summer season as suc- cessful as the winter one.