BY GIANNI UBRIACO
for northern life
Members of the Copper Cliff Rod and Gun Club were busy this past weekend as they volunteered their time to help stock local area lakes with approximately 150,000 young pickerel.
"We've never gotten involved in anything like this before," said Merlyn Steinke, who's been a member of the club for the last 30 years.
"It's not for me; it's for the young people
coming into life so the young people have something to hunt or
fish," he said.
It all started when Rolly Frappier, the second vice-president
of the Sudbury Trailsmen Rod and Gun Club, approached Steinke
with the idea. He explained to them that he had a hatchery but
could use help harvesting the fish and dispersing them to local
lakes.
"They actually get to catch the fish in the pond, put them
in a truck with transportation tanks, provide oxygen to the
fish and then transport them to area lakes," explained
Frappier.
"What we're trying to do is increase the fishing
opportunities for the people of Greater Sudbury and also the
people within Ontario, because we do get a lot of tourist
dollars that come up because the work that we do. The
businesses benefit from this and so does the whole
community."
Steinke and his fellow club members were responsible for
dumping the fish into Ramsey Lake, but they were not the only
club involved in the fish restoration project. Other local
clubs, all of which belonged to the United Walleye Club,
included the Sudbury Game and Fish Club and The Ironside
Campers Club. Each club was responsible for stocking various
lakes, including Whitson Lake, Vermilion River and Ironside
Lake.
"This gives them a fisheries project," concluded
Frappier. "It makes them work them together with the other
clubs."
