Well it’s that time of the year again to let you all know what has and will take place within the OSS. Firstly, hopefully you all survived another long and cold Canadian winter our second in two years. Although these are hard on us Humans it is good for the water table and therefore for all the creatures that inhabit them. The Great lakes freeze almost solid across their surface area and this stops evaporation and keeps the levels of the systems up, which is good for everything that depends on them.
As of February 2015 the OSS is now Incorporated only took 30 plus years but we got there, so now the club has a constitution and Inc status.
Big thanks you again goes out the guys of the OSS and LHFC for another successful spring transfer of the adults to the upper Beatty and we hit the magic 1000 again so wish them a well and thank them for a hard week of work.
The smolts from Kincardine have all been released as of May 30 and the few remaining smolts at Port Elgin will be released June 4 so again a big thank you to the very dedicated guys of both clubs for getting this done also.
After 2016, the OSS will need to come up with other projects for our club to focus so lets hear from you our membership on ideas that you feel may be good for the Saugeen and it’s area.
The club still plans on expanding our Rod Jones pavilion and hope to have it done this year this will make for better Derbies and use as we all know the Derbies have been getting bigger and if the weather is bad there’s always some people getting wet so by expanding we’ll all benefit from it. Keep an eye on the website as we may need some bodies to help with the expansion.
Speaking of Rod Jones it gives me great pleasure to advise you all the Rod will be receiving the National Recreational Fisheries Award from Ocean and Fisheries for all his dedication and commitment for many years to the Saugeen River and it’s surrounding area.
Rod received the award Friday May 8 so please, along with the Directors of the OSS and myself, wish him a great WAY TO GO Rod thank you. For those of you who may not know Rod here’s a little history Rod is one of the founding members of OSS and was instrumental in the building and taking care of the up welling boxes where our first Steelhead eggs were incubated to fry and then released into the Beatty back in 1977. After the boxes were discovered to not be the most successful Rod was the driving for to get things moving at the Mildmay Hatchery. When Mildmay was shut down Rod and some other key members of the OSS brokered a deal with the MNR and LHFC to start raising yearlings at the Kincardine hatchery were our yearlings are still raised. Rod also was the founder of the current Park on the bank of the Saugeen, as when he heard that the SVCA was going to close the site therefore lessening the access to the river he approached the SVCA and leased the property to keep this open for members and the public.
So closing on that note please feel free to contact myself or any Director of the OSS with any comments or questions.
Tight lines and Good Fishing
Karl H. RedinPresident
Ontario Steelheaders Inc