Spey Nation V

[Shaq]

The King has returned

[longrodangler]

great work guys! it does not get any better, you enjoy a great day on the water casting, chatting ,watching presentation ,and you support a organisation like Fish creek Atlantic Salmon Club.no doubt they achieve a milestone . many of us dream of seen one day Great lakes Atlantic salmon runs back to G.L tributaries I often think of the days when atlantics up to 45 lb swam the currents of the salmon river by the thousands .what this guys are doing is great news. I will donate this year a fly box like this one to be raffle at clave

[hooked]

Great post Shaq.I had last week off and it was my intent to get there to help but Plans didn't come through.Looks like a great job being done.A hell of a lot of work for a bunch of volunteers.Look forward to seeing everybody again.

Great fly case LRA.That will move a few tickets for sure!


See Ya all Soon
Scott

[Salar-1]

Please see my post in the Spey Classified for items I'll would bring to the clave if anyone shows interest .I'd discussed this subject with Geoff last year and he mentioned go ahead as long as it's private and not connected with the clave .
$15 on each item sold will go to the Fish Creek Atlantic Salmon Club

[peter-s-c]

Originally Posted by Shaq

I just wanted to share some quick photos with more to follow later. I spent the day with the beneficiary of Spey Nation, The Fish Creek Atlantic Salmon Club and I am proud to announce that the proceeds have not been squandered. The great work of these volunteers continues. We put 4-6000 Atlantic Salmon Smolts into a historic watershed. Until the beginnings of the club in 1997, and the first stockings, Atlantic Salmon had not been seen in Fish Creek since the late 1800's. They swim in the creek now with anglers reporting 17-20 inch fish every year. One of the crews found a dead Salmon at 17 inches and will be sent to biologists for analysis. They will be able to determine if that fish made the lake and returned or stayed in the river it's entire life.

Really nice work Geoff. I landed one of those 16'-18" Atlantics so they are definitely coming back.

[willi]

Such a great and worthy cause.

Many do not realize that Atlantic Salmon were native to Lake Ontario, New York State and Ontario Province tributaries through the St.Lawrence river. Both in large numbers and size. The Salmon River was not named after Kings


http://fishcreeksalmon.org/index.htm

I will not be attending as it is my daughters grad party that day. I will be donating to this club future and their wonderful goal. Also on my next business trip near Syracuse I plan on having a look at the non electric , gravity powered Atlantic hatchery.

It's nice to see the New York State DEC paying more attention to also. Ditto with the Lake Trout.

Great read, thanks.

[Shaq]

Apparently Mr. Eosa took his question down...


Why Fish Creek Atlantic Salmon Club That was our intention 5 years ago when we started. It's a long boring Bureaucratic story as to why it didn’t happen. Seek me out at the event and I'll tell it to you.

What happened after several attempts was a small search for an organization who's values were in line with ours. We found the Fish Creek Atlantic Salmon Club.

(History Lesson time being written off the cuff and from memory of conversations with the club so don’t hold me to the actual facts.)

Fish Creek, before being cut off by the 7 dams on the Oswego River was a spawning tributary for the Atlantic Salmon of Lake Ontario. As far as the club's historical records can tell them, Salmon entered the Oswego river in the spring of the year, spent some time in Oneida Lake and then headed up Fish Creek. They have a monument 35 miles upstream in Fish Creek to showcase a hole on Fish Creek where Native Americans exercised their fishing rights and speared Atl's as late as the 1890's. As the Erie Canal was finished, Native Americans lobbied Albany to stop the construction complaining that the fishing had declined greatly. On my stocking trip, I talked to a gentleman who relayed a story that his great grandfather would tell him stories of Atlantics in Fish Creek.

The club is completely organized by volunteers dedicated to bringing this native fish back to their natal stream. They are not disillusioned by expectations of 40lb fish swimming in the waters but take great pride in catching 8 inch salmon since they stock them at under 3 inches. They beam when someone catches a 20 incher which has happened with some regularity I'm told. As a small non-profit, their operating costs are not much but they are there, raising, feeding and testing fish as required by NYS.

In short, while not entirely perfect in mission (ie: salmon river restoration, there is the newly organized LOSA for that who are doing a good job in their own right), We have in my opinion formed a perfect grass roots union in restoring a former native fish to a Former Great Lakes Tributary now choked off by man.

[hooked]

T - 5 days.

Looks like it is going to be another great year.

Scott

[drumik]

Can't wait to get there.

Super 8 motel is booked. Will be staying at the travelodge - yikes

[BLACK FRANCIS]

another great Spey Nation event. fantastic job to the staff for a well run event. you guys are really getting it down and this years event was smooth as silk. thank you to all who had a hand in organizing this great event. here's a few shots of the day.

getting rolling


always a good grill fire


showing a T&T a good time


big names draw a crowd




Charlie casting vintage glass


paired nicely with some reel he had laying around


Eric from Beulah


Topher


Simon

[BLACK FRANCIS]

Tim




this is how good a time it was


again, fantastic job and event. thank you to all who could attend.

[FKrow]

I have just returned from Spey Nation V,,,,,, fantastic gathering with great demos and manuf. reps who had their rods/reels for test casting.

Many thanks to everyone who orgamized and worked at the event.

Regards,
FK

[drumik]

Great event
Thank you all who put it it all together

[riverWrangler]

Great group of people. great atmosphere.

I was like a kid in a candy shop with the number of rods that were available for test casting. Simon was very informative, funny and helpful.

Out of all the rods that I tried, a few were truly outstanding. The Burkheimer 13'4" 8wt with a scandi head was amazing. So, was the Burkheimer 5wt trout spey rod. I already own the 8wt burkheimer, but I got a chance to cast the rod with all different line set up. That was fun. Thanks for making these rods available for us in this year's spey nation. One thought went through my mind over and over again regarding Burkheimer rods....these are not just great rods, they are simply the best.

TNT 13' 7wt rod with a 450 grain scandi compact. this set up put a smile on my face. A sweet sweet scandi rod. most likely my next rod purchase.

Scott L2H rods were also delightful.

Overall a great event with some top of the line vendors and great personalities from the world of two handed rod fishing/casting. The attendance was not as great as I expected it to be. But, that does not take anything away from how well the event was organized and executed.

Thank you Spey Nation. will be back next year.

RW

[yuhina]

Great reports!

Much appreciated! I wonder if any of you guy shoot demo videos?

Mark