The regular monthly meeting was held on April 16, 2011, at Clarion Hotel in Batavia, NY.

APRIL MEETING A SUCCESS!!!

The Saturday meeting the Clarion Hotel in Batavia attracted 21 members, the most to attend a meeting since March 2004. Sponsor Ken Golub, hosted the event, taking care of the room rental as well as pizza and refreshments after the meeting. As a fisherman and insurance agent, Ken spoke briefly about the importance of boat insurance. After we ate there was a small swap meet in which members brought items to sell or trade.

The meeting was met with overwhelming success and we’ll do it again next March in the same general area. We’re looking for a larger venue which would give us more room for our swap meet. Members are encouraged to bring a friend who may want to buy an item during the sale or even join the club. Janene Estes volunteered the juniors to sell refreshments, splitting the profits with our Six-Man Team Fund.

Anyone with knowledge of a good venue for next year’s meeting is asked to contact Dominic DiGirolamo at digiroplad@gmail.com so we can get started on the planning.

Junior Club News

Junior Director, Janine Estes reported that the juniors have 19 paid members.

The junior Lake Erie Fund Day is set for June 12 with a $15 per boat entry fee and a 100% prize payout.

The Pond Trail age groups were set as: 10 and under, 11-14 and 15-18. Prizes will be given to the first two places in each age group. The Boating Trail will soon determine its age groups but will give awards to the first three places in each group.

The juniors will hold their annual breakfast from 8-10 AM on June 4 at Applebee’s in Olean. Tickets are $5 and are available from any junior or at the door. Volunteers are needed.

The juniors can use some prize items for their tournaments. Anyone wishing to donate boats or tackle can contact Janene Estes or bring the item to any meeting or tournament.

20” Too Much For Lake Erie?

Charlie Macintosh made a presentation on changing the Lake Erie special bass season 20” size limit to 18” as the DEC had once proposed. Charlie showed evidence of declining catches and participation in bass tournaments over the past several years in support of his premise.

Charlie will contact Buffalo’s Chamber of Commerce, John Siejak will write a Fishlines article for the NYBCF and President Bob Green will post a message on the Federation board soliciting support from other clubs interested in the proposed change. Members in favor of the change can email the DEC’s rep, Don Einhouse, at dweinhou@gw.dec.state.ny.us .

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 11 at 7 PM at Perkins Restaurant.