The Erie County Federation of Sportsmen’s (ECFS) fishing clinic program is now over for this year and as usual it was a success due in large part to the dynamic duo of Bob Avery and Tom Fischer. The ECFS and the New York State DEC hosted two clinics at Tifft Nature Preserve and Chestnut Ridge Park and the ECFS assisted on 3 clinics hosted by East Aurora Sportsmen, Bison City rod and Gun and Southtowns Walleye. All these clinics were very successful, and everyone is looking forward to 2024 and doing it all over again. If you have never been to one of these clinics and have children, put it on your bucket list, you won’t be disappointed as many New York State Outdoorsman Hall of Fame members man the learning stations at these clinics.

The Annual Erie County Fair starts on the 9^th of August and the ECFS and its member clubs will once again have booths in the Conservation building, which is one of the oldest buildings at the Fairgrounds. Stop in and say hello and if you are and Erie County resident, be sure to sign your children up for a chance to win one of the 2 fish pole/reel combinations given away daily.  This is entirely free and as you know almost nothing is free at the fair! You can also get information on our lifetime license program for Erie County Children and how to register for it. The ECFS annually gives away a number of these licenses at its annual December meeting at the Bison City rod and Gun Club.

If you have any questions regarding hunting, fishing, trapping you can get the answer at our booth or in the Conservation Building. If you’re lucky you will see Stella the 100lb Sturgeon (she’s only there for a couple of days)        See you there!

Joseph Fischer

The Erie County Federation of Sportsmen (ECFS) fishing clinic season came to an end recently with our Chestnut Ridge Park clinic on the 24th of June. The ECFS will however be assisting at a fishing clinic July 22nd held by the Southtowns Walleye Association in the town of Boston.

The Chestnut Ridge Park event is special to me primarily because I believe it is the perfect location for a clinic with great fishing, a beautiful little remote lake and of course the Commissioners Cabin.

On the day of the clinic the early weather forecast with periods of rain was ominous and we were very concerned how this would affect our attendance with approximately 53 children registered but the weather forecast was wrong and approximately 9:30 the sky lightened up and it turned out to be a beautiful day!!

The experienced staffs of the Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the Erie County Federation of Sportsmen (ECFS) quickly set up the various learning stations such as Casting, Where to Fish, Fish Identification, Knot Tying, Rubber baits etc.  We were ready for the children by 9:30. The efficiency of these crews headed by Bob Avery and Tom Fischer of the ECFS and Mike Todd of the NYSCC needs to once again be commended as the two groups worked as smooth as a well oiled and lubricated Shimano Reel!!! The local Boy Scouts from troop 1910 and various volunteers also played major roles throughout the day.

The learning stations were excellent as they were manned by experienced fishermen many of which are in the New York State Outdoorsman Hall of Fame.

A lot of fish were caught such as bluegills, perch, bass etc. The biggest fish was a 13.5 inch Largemouth Bass. All the fish except the bass were kept in a large portable plastic swimming pool and at the end of the event were released back into the lake.

Almost all of the children walked away from this clinic with new fishing equipment including new pole/reel combos. Many people didn’t even know this lake existed were amazed by its beauty and seclusion

To see these mostly senior sportspeople instruct the very diverse group of young people from all over the county on the sport of fishing is actually an amazing and inspiring site. Only in America !!!!

If you have never been to one of these events you need to put it on your bucket list. You didn’t even have to have a fishing license at this event as this was one of New York States free fishing weekends. To get more information on this and other ECFS events like National Hunting and Fishing day on the last Saturday in September check our website.  Stop in and visit our booth in the Conservation Building at the annual Erie County Fair in August…  If you are an Erie County resident be sure to enter your child in our annual lifetime license program drawing which takes place in December. We anticipate giving away at least 8 licenses this year. The entry blank is on the ECFS website. We also give away several fish pole reel combinations every day. There is not many free things at the Erie County Fair, this is!!!

Joseph Fischer

With June just around the corner The Erie County Federation of Sportsmens Clubs (ECFSC) is preparing for our annual fishing clinics at Tifft Nature preserve and Chestnut Ridge park. The State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) are also co-sponsors of these clinics. The Tifft Nature Preserve clinic is on June 10 th and the Chestnut Ridge clinic is on June 24 th. They start at 9:30 AM and run to 12:30 PM. The format is the same as in the past with children and their parent/guardian first checking in at the registration desk. They then go through a series of “learning stations” such as Knot tying, Fish Identification, etc. They have a punch card which is punched at every working station for verification. They must go through all working learning stations. When completed they drop the fully punched cards into a container at the registration desk.

If they have their own fishing equipment they can go fishing after obtaining the bait at the fish equipment station. The people without fishing equipment obtain fishing equipment and bait. Federation and DEC volunteers and will police our fishing area and assist the novice fishermen were needed. If a fish is caught they should bring it back to the equipment station where it is measured and released temporarily into the lunker pool. After several hours of fishing names will drawn from the punched cards and prizes will be awarded based on the child’s age.

This is the 25 th year that the ECFS has been running this popular program. The ECFS will also be assisting at several other fishing clinics. They will be at Bison City Rod and Gun June 4th, East Aurora Rod and Gun June 3rd and Southtowns Walleye Associations July 22nd fishing clinics. Watch for the time of these events on the internet or local news paper and be sure to check the ECFSC calendar page for more information.

If you’re an Erie County resident with children under 16 years of age before March 2024 be sure to register your children on our website for the ECFS annual lifetime license
program. We give away approx 6 each year and this drawing is held at our annual December meeting at the Bison City rod and Gun club.

Erie County residents are encouraged to stop at the Federation booth in the Conservation building at the upcoming Erie County Fair and sign the children up for a chance to win a fish pole and reel. The ECFS will be giving away 2 pole/reel combinations every day.

The ECFSC sincerely thanks the fraternal order of the Eagles for their donations totaling 2000 dollars to the lifetime license for children of Erie County residents. The ECFSC also thanks Bison City Rod and Gun for their donation of 400 dollars to the aforementioned fund.

Joseph Fischer

I recently attended a State of Lake Erie meeting at Woodlawn State Park. This meeting was hosted by the NYSDEC Lake Erie fisheries unit located in Dunkirk New York. There were approximately 100 people in attendance including DEC officials from the Buffalo and Olean offices. This was a great turnout even though I don’t believe that the meeting was well advertised. The meeting results by species are as follows:

WALLEYE
The eastern end of Lake Erie has experienced 8 consecutive years of superb walleye recruitment and we now have an estimated 150 million walleyes in the lake! Their diet has changed from primarily rainbow smelt to gobies due to a diminished smelt supply. The growth rate has slowed a little due to reduce forage but still is good by all standards. The average walleye caught was 20” and the catch rate per boat was 6 which exceeded the norm of 3. The bottom line is. We should have excellent walleye fishing in Eastern
Lake Erie for the foreseeable future…The good old days is actually right now!!

PERCH
The eastern basin had excellent hatches in 2016 and 2019 so we should have continued good fishing with the average perch being in excess of 11 inches” Once again permitting the catching of perch full of spawn was questioned but the DEC felt that the prolific
nature of the spawning perch with thousands of eggs negated the effect of catching a few ‘spawners”. In fact one DEC official felt that there are so many perch in the eastern basin that many of them die of old age. Bottom line again, we should have excellent perch fishing for the immediate future.

SMALLMOUTH BASS
This fishery is very stable and again ranks as one of the top 5 smallmouth fisheries in United States. 95% of the bass caught are released back into the fishery which is typical for bass fishing. Spring and fall seem to be the best times to fish and the catch rate per
hour is above normal. The shore fishermen especially in the Buffalo and Niagara River area also catch a lot of bass so having a boat is not required to enjoy this fishery. The DEC noted a slight downturn in size caught but felt it was not significant. I will have more information on this State of the Lake seminar in the next column along with upcoming events.

Joseph Fischer