Fall Gathering Report

A chilly afternoon, good grub, OK company and an excellent presentation. It took place Sunday, Oct. 15 at Belwood Lake Conservation Area.

OK, the grub was much better than “good.” Thanks to Sean H it was a meal to remember. My wife points out that Larry, and probably Catherine, deserve our thanks for the veggie and dessert side as well.

We had a good turnout, probably in the neighbourhood of 45 people. One of our objectives was to offer some “value-added” for your membership dollars, and this was a member appreciation initiative.

We don’t have many meetings. A large proportion of our membership comes from farther afield and they find it tough to get out. A food incentive seems to work, so we’ll probably try it again.

A six-month report

President Larry spent a good while talking about the projects we’ve been involved with over the last few months. Let’s look at some quickly.

Rod draw: We will get a ZX-series Sage rod for 2007. So far these annual draws have brought in $25,000.

Road cleanup: Roger says two pick-up-truckloads of garbage go to the bin. Ian points out that high-school students can get community-assistance hours for this work.

Trees: Swan Creek is looking great. A lot of butternut came back even though they looked dead. That project is done so we’re looking for new sites for 2006.

Grand Opportunities: The new format worked well. We are looking for feedback, but we think it will stay this way – a family event using our own talent.

Access & Trails: Pilkington 7/8 bridge (Twin Bridges) is slated for realignment. FOGR suggested a parking lot and that has been included in plans. Blondies & 2nd Line stairs are getting good feedback. The trail to Snakey’s will get work next year.

Fish stocking: 25K went into the Grand over 3 days for a total of 449,000 since we started this; also lots went into the Conestoga.

River Watch: We keep trying to revive it. OJ McDonald will take it over and we’ll try again.

Kiosk: Great fundraiser! Still going well thanks to Terry and others.

Redd count: We may get to one this year, the MNR bio would like it done. We’ll see. We’ll get in touch by e-mail asking for assistance.

Research: Water quality on Swan Creek benthics is being done now. Monitoring on restoration of Beatty Dam, a comparison study, is also underway, funded by DFO

Shows: We will be at the Izaak again. The new venue is working well.

Web site: Bruce always welcomes content, and we will look at the web cam issue again.

Newsletter: Apologies for not getting them out. We deserve some fishing time

Angler diaries. Steve has data from 2005 available and looks forward to getting more 2006 diaries than ever. This info is valuable.

Fish tag Program: Steve explained a new type of tool to track fish whereabouts.

Large & small structure: The large rocks are still being worked on – the paperwork is extreme. Smaller structure additions are being consider for upper and middle reaches.

Canadian Fly Fishing Championship: It went off OK. For the first time it made money. About $3,500 goes into the FOGR bank account. The Muscular Dystrophy event raised $14,000.

Conestoga River (CREW): 7 or 8 folks do cleanups, etc., and have been stocking the river since 2003 as part of FOGR. In the championships, the Conestoga’s two section produced more fish that the Grand’s three sections. We got ½ -price tree from Sheridan Nurseries and have now planted 1,500 trees since we started there. Working on 3rd access site. Next cleanup is Apr. 10. Archie M complimented Larry, Steve and Ian for pulling the FFC irons out of the fire. It couldn’t have happened without their considerable efforts.

Treasurer’s Report: We’re well solvent. Contact us if you would like more details. We don’t put details out on the internet.

Who sent this and why

Does it work? Is it getting information to you? Let us know.

You received this report because you are on the Friends of the Grand River’s e-mailing list. If you would like to be taken off it, contact us Larry McGratton:   mcgratton.mcgratton@sympatico.ca

Ian Martin:             idmartin@golden.net

John Dadds:         jdadds@golden.net