Fish Creek Atlantic Salmon Club

Annual Report - 2005

The club continues having success with bringing back Atlantic salmon to their native waters. The club has recovered from the death of Allen Fannin and members have continued to be active in the club. He was a great inspiration to all of us. May his memory live in us as we go forward in our journey.

The Guide Boat

The first part of the year dawned with club members working busily on the Adirondack guideboat. Jim Morris offered the use of a heated garage to use as a shop in which to build the boat. Some work needed to be done on the shop and Jim and Dick finished it. The fiberglass hull was made by Mike Winkleman of CNY Fiberglass and the club moved it into the shop in December. Beginning on January 2, members traveled on weekends to Hamilton to work on the boat. Paul Miller, John McKay, Gene Carey, Jim Morris, Dick Kirby, Jim Lawler and Tom Schnieder Jim Morris Testing the Adirondack Guide Boat worked on outfitting the boat with gunnels and seat supports. In addition Gene made the oars and seats while Jim Morris made the decks and floorboards. We had the oar locks made and the club purchased four oar lock plates. Mellenie provided coffee and donuts for all of the work sessions in Hamilton. On June 19 the guide boat was finished enough for Jim to take it out on the water for the first time. The last seat was caned at the Fourth of July celebrations in Hamilton. The club attended a number of shows through the summer and fall to sell raffle tickets for the guide boat. The club intended to sell 500 raffle tickets before picking the winner but it was decided that enough time had elapsed since the start of the project so the club decided to pull the winner during the December meeting.

Our Raffle

The club again ran its annual raffle successfully. Tom Schnieder again ran the raffle and collected 23 prizes. The club set its booth up at numerous shows throughout the winter and members were able to sell most of the raffle tickets. The winning raffle tickets were drawn on March 28.

Atlantic Salmon Stocking

For 2005 the club ordered 50,000 fertilized eggs from the state hatchery in Maine. About 5000 were delivered to Paul Miller and placed in our tank at Tom Tkachuk's. The rest was sent to Lisa Shaver to be hatched in the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery. Unfortunately, the shipment was delayed and some of the eggs hatched in transit. We lost a significant number of eggs so we ordered an additional 5000 more for Tkachuk and 10,000 for the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery. After all of the eggs hatched Paul and John went to the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery a number of times to help clean the tanks. After the initial loss of fish due to shipping, the fish did well at the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery and our own tank.

The stocking of June 4 of the Beaverkill salmon was well attended. Jim Lawler and Gene Carey traveled to the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery to package the fish and transport them to Taberg. Kevin Kelsey at Grand Isle Fish Hatchery again had excess fish for us. Tom Schnieder and Steve Ware went to Vermont and picked up 9000 Atlantic salmon on June 10 for transport to Taberg for stocking. On June 29 club members stocked about 7500 Atlantic salmon hatched in our tank located at Tkachuks.

The Club's Hatchery

Club members began on October 16 to begin building a shed to house our tank at Tkachuk's. Large timbers to serve as a foundation were moved into place on the bed rock across the stream from the spring that feeds the

Tom Tkachuk Nailing the Top Plate

tank. Five long timbers served as joists and three quarter inch pressure treated plywood was used for the floor. Most of the wood used including the 2 X 6 studs and the siding were cut from trees on the property. The Hatch House will be only 8 by 16 feet when completed but it will be enough to hatch 40,000 Atlantic salmon eggs. The water supply will be from a spring some 200 feet distance. The spring seeps up into a tile with a cover. A pipe will bring the water to the hatching tank where it will be oxygenated before flowing into the tank. This will ensure that contamination of the water is kept to a minimum. Gravity feed eliminates water stoppages because of power losses. The water is nearly constant temperature coming out of the ground all year. Residual heat of

the water also keeps it from freezing either in the pipes or the tank.

All in all it was a good year. Atlantic salmon continue to inhabit Fish Creek and fishermen try their luck at catching the greatest sport fish. Is it any better in Paradise? Next year the club will do more monitoring of the water quality to ensure that Fish Creek continues to be a viable place for fish to live in.