Genesee Beer Fishing Contest

[airedale]

Remember When? As a youngster I thought it would be great to catch something that would make it in the Genny record book.

From The Utica OD's John Pitarresi

Louis A. Wehle was, among other things, a brewer.

He brewed Genesee Beer.

He also was a very dedicated outdoorsman. One day, he put those things together, and the Genesee New York State Fishing Contest was born.

I admit that Genesee wasn’t my favorite beer, but I still have a vivid and startlingly wonderful memory of the two ice cold bottles of Jenny that I received in partial payment for several hours of cleaning the gigantic Hobart dishwasher at the Hamilton College commons on a hot spring day more than 40 years ago.

No champagne ever tasted better than that, but the good feelings I have about Genesee beer have more to do with the fishing contest the brewery ran from 1946 into the 1990s.

Each spring, in grocery stores, bait shops, and taverns across the state, you could findthe pamphlets for the contest. There would be a list of the previous season’s winning fish and anglers in 13 categories. The lures and baits they were caught on were included, along with some fishing tips, a list of state records, a fish identification chart, an entry blank and rules, and, best of all, a map detailing where all the top catches were made.

I’d grab that thing, hope that some of the big fish had caught somewhere near my home, and then dream of fishing that spot. Which is something I rarely got a chance to do unless one of those red fish-shaped indicators nosed up to the midpoint of the Niagara River, which was about a half-mile from my house.

There were these fish all over the place. The Finger Lakes. Lake Ontario. Oneida Lake. Wiscoy Creek. Chautauqua Lake. Lake Champlain. The Hudson River. I had only a dim awareness of most of those places, and had little hope of ever seeing them. Which maybe made it all the more exciting.

The contest was the brainchild of Wehle, who had reorganized the brewery after prohibition. It was a big deal for many years, certainly were I grew up.

I recently found one of the old contest brochures, from 1987. The grand prize cash awards were $75, $50 and $25 for the top three fish of each species.

Strangely, in the listings for the 1986 winners, there were very few fish from Central New York. There was a northern pike of 15 pounds from the Mohawk River, taken by William Schultz, and a rock bass, also from the river, taken by Joseph Kiuber. Mike Stolarczyk caught a 5-pound, 9-ounce pickerel from the Black River that missed being the grand prize winner by five ounces, and Tami Stolarczyk placed third in rock bass with a 1-pound, 12½-ounce fish, also from the Black River.

There might be other local anglers in there – hometowns aren’t listed – and there might have been other fish caught locally, because the indicators don’t always match up with the lists.

I must have wished, as a little kid, that I might someday find my way into that list of winners. I know for sure, each year when I first saw that brochure, I got really fired up to fish.

That was the real power of the Genesee New York State Fishing Contest, I guess. Getting people excited about getting out and fishing. The contest has been gone a long time, and Louis A. Wehle even longer, but they both did a great job for a long time.

Edited April 7, 2019 by airedale

[Bigfoot 327]

I remember reading the contest results as a teenager with the same interest and excitement that you describe. Many years later my BIL gave me one of the booklets from (as I recall) 1964. I still have it (somewhere).

[Nytracker]

Use to grab them at the tackle shop.... grams hated the beer advertisement.... it was almost as good as getting the Sears Christmas book.

[Pygmy]

I entered a lake trout in 1975  taken from Keuka Lake  that weighed 16 pounds 12 ounces...I got a certificate for my entry, but there were two other lakers taken from Keuka that year that were bigger, both weighing around 18 pounds...That was before the Lake Ontario Trout/salmon fishery developed..

That lake trout is still the biggest laker I have ever caught ( or seen) from the Finger lakes, although I know many bigger ones have been taken..

I caught it  on a traditional style 5 leader Seth Green rig, fished by hand ( no rod)...It took a Sutton 31 and it took me a half hour to land it...I was 25 years old, and as I can recall I got pretty drunk that day...

[Nytracker]

That's a big laker ..... I use to pull copper on Seneca  lake  while rowing a 12 foot row boat . We use to take turns  rowing . Pulled seth green rigs into my 30s. When I got my boat I went to down riggers and plane boards.  I only miss my boat from September  until May. 

[wolc123]

Genny is my favorite beer.   Nothing washes down a raw walleye cheek, eaten right off the fillet knife, better than a Genny cream ale.   I usually have a Genny light with my dinner every day.  They came out with something in a yellow can last year, that tasted good out in the sun, and seemed to bring us luck with the walleyes. I think I even posted a picture with a big one and a can in the the "live from the water" thread.  I do remember that contest while growing up, and I think I have one of them booklets around somewhere.     

 

Edited April 8, 2019 by wolc123

[Pygmy]

There is nothing like experiencing a Genny Cream Ale fart in a snowmobile suit...

[turkeyfeathers]

7 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

There is nothing like experiencing a Genny Cream Ale fart in a snowmobile suit...

The true experience is when you take off the snowmobile suit and the stench from so called fart emits hours after it happened.   Or is it when it happens and you mutter are farts supposed to have lumps ? 

[wolc123]

25 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

There is nothing like experiencing a Genny Cream Ale fart in a snowmobile suit...

My favorite line in any movie was "I will take a Genny cream".  Vitto Mortgenson said that to the bar tender in Philadelphia PA, in the movie "A History of Violence".  There was a big Yuengling poster on the wall above the bar.   Ed Harris played a bad guy in that movie.  It is definitely one of my "top five" movies, mostly because of the line mentioned.  Apparently, that actor was a big fan of that particular brew.   Personally, I cant wait for the current hoppy/craft fad to end and for beer to get back to what it used to be.   Genny cream ale is a fine example of what that should be, an ale that is smooth like a lager.    

Edited April 8, 2019 by wolc123

[Pygmy]

5 minutes ago, turkeyfeathers said:

The true experience is when you take off the snowmobile suit and the stench from so called fart emits hours after it happened.   Or is it when it happens and you mutter are farts supposed to have lumps ? 

A wise man once said " Never trust a fart"...….

[Robhuntandfish]

8 hours ago, Pygmy said:

There is nothing like experiencing a Genny Cream Ale fart in a snowmobile suit...

A buddy of mine when we were at some guys house helping him out with a project..... "You guys want a Genny?'"  - my buddy - "no thanks I already have the shits"  .   

I always did like the cream ale on occasion though.  And i always looked forward to these pamphlets as well.   It seemed the fish we also almost always caught on a Mepps too! 

[wolc123]

[Daveboone]

Viggo is from Watertown...it must have been his subtle way of saying "Hey there, folks!"

For years back in the eighties, we fished Seneca Lake fanatically for perch in the spring, they had a Seneca Lake Perch Derby back then which we loved to enter, lots of door prizes. I believe the perch derby got taken over by the Genesee fishing derby. Wehle  was heavily into breeding dogs...the Elhew German Setters were his, and he had quite an estate up on Lake Ontario just outside of Henderson Harbor. dedicated to birds and dogs, now a state park...Elhew State Park, I believe the newest of state parks. It is a very dog friendly park, with lots of foot paths along the lake, dog monuments, his old club houses, etc. We love stopping there in the summer. 

[Nomad]

On 4/7/2019 at 9:59 PM, wolc123 said:

My favorite line in any movie was "I will take a Genny cream".  Vitto Mortgenson said that to the bar tender in Philadelphia PA, in the movie "A History of Violence".  There was a big Yuengling poster on the wall above the bar.   Ed Harris played a bad guy in that movie.  It is definitely one of my "top five" movies, mostly because of the line mentioned.  Apparently, that actor was a big fan of that particular brew.   Personally, I cant wait for the current hoppy/craft fad to end and for beer to get back to what it used to be.   Genny cream ale is a fine example of what that should be, an ale that is smooth like a lager.    

Genny Cream Ale has a large following in Philly . I enjoy that movie as well .

[The_Real_TCIII]

My favorite line in any movie was "I will take a Genny cream".  Vitto Mortgenson said that to the bar tender in Philadelphia PA, in the movie "A History of Violence".  There was a big Yuengling poster on the wall above the bar.   Ed Harris played a bad guy in that movie.  It is definitely one of my "top five" movies, mostly because of the line mentioned.  Apparently, that actor was a big fan of that particular brew.   Personally, I cant wait for the current hoppy/craft fad to end and for beer to get back to what it used to be.   Genny cream ale is a fine example of what that should be, an ale that is smooth like a lager.    

You know you can still buy regular beer right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[crappyice]

Let me get a chest girth weight on that bad boy?!?! I figure at least 6 pounds of scrumptious product


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wolc123]

27 minutes ago, crappyice said:

Let me get a chest girth weight on that bad boy?!?! I figure at least 6 pounds of scrumptious product


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The scrumptious Genesee  "Ruby Red Kolsch" was 12 oz.   That Lake Erie Walleye probably was about 6 pounds, but we did not weigh or measure it.  I rarely target Walleye out there, because they start tasting like zoo plankton smells around mid-summer every year, especially the big ones.   That was in mid May though, prior to them suspending under that crap, and it was still pretty tasty.   We catch some of them by accident, while trying for smallmouth bass.       

 

[Brooke]

On 4/7/2019 at 1:23 PM, airedale said:

Remember When? As a youngster I thought it would be great to catch something that would make it in the Genny record book.

From The Utica OD's John Pitarresi

Louis A. Wehle was, among other things, a brewer.

He brewed Genesee Beer.

He also was a very dedicated outdoorsman. One day, he put those things together, and the Genesee New York State Fishing Contest was born.

I admit that Genesee wasn’t my favorite beer, but I still have a vivid and startlingly wonderful memory of the two ice cold bottles of Jenny that I received in partial payment for several hours of cleaning the gigantic Hobart dishwasher at the Hamilton College commons on a hot spring day more than 40 years ago.

No champagne ever tasted better than that, but the good feelings I have about Genesee beer have more to do with the fishing contest the brewery ran from 1946 into the 1990s.

Each spring, in grocery stores, bait shops, and taverns across the state, you could findthe pamphlets for the contest. There would be a list of the previous season’s winning fish and anglers in 13 categories. The lures and baits they were caught on were included, along with some fishing tips, a list of state records, a fish identification chart, an entry blank and rules, and, best of all, a map detailing where all the top catches were made.

I’d grab that thing, hope that some of the big fish had caught somewhere near my home, and then dream of fishing that spot. Which is something I rarely got a chance to do unless one of those red fish-shaped indicators nosed up to the midpoint of the Niagara River, which was about a half-mile from my house.

There were these fish all over the place. The Finger Lakes. Lake Ontario. Oneida Lake. Wiscoy Creek. Chautauqua Lake. Lake Champlain. The Hudson River. I had only a dim awareness of most of those places, and had little hope of ever seeing them. Which maybe made it all the more exciting.

The contest was the brainchild of Wehle, who had reorganized the brewery after prohibition. It was a big deal for many years, certainly were I grew up.

I recently found one of the old contest brochures, from 1987. The grand prize cash awards were $75, $50 and $25 for the top three fish of each species.

Strangely, in the listings for the 1986 winners, there were very few fish from Central New York. There was a northern pike of 15 pounds from the Mohawk River, taken by William Schultz, and a rock bass, also from the river, taken by Joseph Kiuber. Mike Stolarczyk caught a 5-pound, 9-ounce pickerel from the Black River that missed being the grand prize winner by five ounces, and Tami Stolarczyk placed third in rock bass with a 1-pound, 12½-ounce fish, also from the Black River.

There might be other local anglers in there – hometowns aren’t listed – and there might have been other fish caught locally, because the indicators don’t always match up with the lists.

I must have wished, as a little kid, that I might someday find my way into that list of winners. I know for sure, each year when I first saw that brochure, I got really fired up to fish.

That was the real power of the Genesee New York State Fishing Contest, I guess. Getting people excited about getting out and fishing. The contest has been gone a long time, and Louis A. Wehle even longer, but they both did a great job for a long time.

 

[Brooke]

Hi, this is a little off topic. But the ad with the woman in the orange hair band 

“ a little more exciting “

...is my mother. She is 84, she was 25 in the picture.

I was wondering airdale if you actually have these! I would love to buy it for her! 
 

My married name is also Genesse, spelling is different but still, it’s all a little ironic, I must say!!! 
 

Thanks for any info! 
 

 

 

[Robhuntandfish]

3 hours ago, Brooke said:

Hi, this is a little off topic. But the ad with the woman in the orange hair band 

“ a little more exciting “

...is my mother. She is 84, she was 25 in the picture.

I was wondering airdale if you actually have these! I would love to buy it for her! 
 

My married name is also Genesse, spelling is different but still, it’s all a little ironic, I must say!!! 
 

Thanks for any info! 
 

 

 

Wow that is really cool.  

[wolc123]

3 hours ago, Brooke said:

Hi, this is a little off topic. But the ad with the woman in the orange hair band 

“ a little more exciting “

...is my mother. She is 84, she was 25 in the picture.

I was wondering airdale if you actually have these! I would love to buy it for her! 
 

My married name is also Genesse, spelling is different but still, it’s all a little ironic, I must say!!! 
 

Thanks for any info! 
 

 

 

Is this her also ?

[airedale]

 

3 hours ago, Brooke said:

I was wondering airdale if you actually have these! I would love to buy it for her! 
 

My married name is also Genesse, spelling is different but still, it’s all a little ironic, I must say!!! 
 

Thanks for any info! 

Hi Brooke and welcome to the board, your tie in to the thread is interesting to say the least.

I came across this article a couple of years ago, it was written some time before by The Utica OD's outdoor writer John Pitarresi who did outdoor hunting and fishing articles for the newspaper for many years. I do not have any of the above paraphernalia myself. A place you may find such things is on ebay.

Al