I miss winter! Seriously though, things were relatively quiet over the winter months until it became obvious that we were looking at an early spring warm-up and the spring runs were bound to arrive way ahead of schedule. After a frantic race to get the final repairs and upgrades done on the #1 tanker completed early; the guys raced to Denny’s Dam to intercept one of the biggest runs of steelhead to ever run the Saugeen, and we’ve all been very busy since. Aww… who’s kidding who; building a fishery like this no matter how frantic and pressured, is the best job in the world!

My coolest of cool jobs with the Ontario Steelheaders pulls me in a variety of directions, and I seem to get involved in one way or another with many different cool people and projects. Here are a few.

One of the big highlights for me last month, was no sooner were the reports coming in about the huge success of the early Adult Transfer when I got a call from the folks at WFN (World Fishing Network). Mark Melnyk, host of Reel Fishy Jobs wanted to film an episode, and document the work that’s done by all the volunteers at Denny’s Dam during Adult Transfer, Egg Collection, the hatchery work and the partnership between the two clubs. This took a LOT of coordinating with all those involved, but the team pulled it together in time, and Mark and his crew spent an entire day and a half with us at Denny’s Dam, we captured fish in the trap, went on a transfer run, collected the days eggs and milt, and took them to the Kincardine Hatchery where we spent a few hours with Al Wilkins.

Grant McAlpine Reads Mark the Riot Act on Safety HD cameras roll as the Steelheaders prepare to lift “The trap“
before entering “The Hole.”

By all accounts it was a huge success and I have to thank all the guys and gals at the fishway; you were great! Thanks go to Al Wilkins for hosting us at the kincardine hatchery, and a big thank you to the good folks at OMNR who got us the permission and papers we needed to film on their property in the nick of time. Way to go team! Mark was really impressed with what we do, and excited about getting back to the editing suite with his footage. Watch for us on Reel Fishy Jobs on WFN this spring!
We’ve also been invited to appear on Grey County Life with hosts Dianne Foulds and Dave Carr on Cable 53 on Friday April 20th to discuss the Ontario Steelheaders activities in the community. I immediately extended an invitation to MNR Owen Sound district office and they will be sending a representative to stand with us during the interview. Watch for us on Friday the 20th of April, at 11:00 am on Grey County Cable 53!

Hello Steelheaders! These are exciting days for the Ontario Steelheaders indeed. Our advertising support is unbelievable this year. There are so many businesses that want to support us through the Decal Program and through other channels that it‟s been difficult to keep up with them. “Nice problem to have” as the saying goes. Seriously though, the support is sometimes overwhelming but also encouraging! One thing is obvious… the community, industry and affiliate organizations are behind us…Big Time!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the newsletter and website contributors. Without you, there wouldn‟t be anything to publish. Directors, project managers, sportsmen and researchers alike, thank you so very much for your hard work. It means a lot to us, and I look forward to seeing even more in the future.

For my next project, I‟ve initiated a complete website overhaul which we hope to launch this winter if all goes well. There‟s a fair bit of work involved, and tons of details, but hopefully, the end result will be a new, easy to navigate, modernized website complete with all the bells and whistles. Many of our members have made suggestions and ideas for updating and expanding our website; and I can assure you we are carefully evaluating each one of them. I know you‟ll be impressed when we go live!

Al Frenette
News and Media Director Ontario Steelheaders