Syracuse.com - LOTAC tournament encourages stewardship of the Salmon River

HuntingNY-News · October 25, 2011

The tournament format is catch and release, but to qualify your fish for the prizes, you must pick up and submit at least one bag of garbage collected on the tributary the entrant or team has fished.

The following is a press release from the Lake Ontario Tributary Anglers Council:

Anglers can take an active role in cleaning up the banks of the Salmon River in the second annual “Catch and Clean” tournament sponsored by the Lake Ontario Tributary Anglers Council (LOTAC) Saturday, Nov. 5.

The tournament will be headquartered at Fox Hollow Lodge at 2740 NYS Route 13, Altmar, again this year. Registration is from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 4 and at 4 a.m. Nov. 5 at Fox Hollow. The entry fee is $15 for LOTAC members and $25 for non-members.

“The tournament format is catch and release, but to qualify your fish for the prizes, you must pick up and submit at least one bag of garbage collected on the tributary the entrant or team has fished,” said Jim Kirtland, LOTAC president. “The majority of entrants will fish the Salmon River but they are allowed to fish other nearby tributaries.”

Anglers must have a photo taken of their fish with the tournament flyer to verify that the fish was caught the day of the tournament.

Prizes include a 50/50 cash payback to winners, with prizes awarded for the largest trout, most trout over legal limit, and LOTAC Pride award to the entrant that collects the most trash. Garbage will collected at the fishing access parking lot on county Route 2A near the Oswego County solid waste transfer station.

“Pictures taken by the entrants will determine the awards for the fish,” explained Kirtland. “The LOTAC pride award will be determined by the amount of garbage delivered to the drop-off site. The site will be manned by a director who will check off the participants.”

Fishing ends at 4 p.m. with awards, raffles and dinner to follow. More than $3,000 worth of merchandise and services will be raffled, including center-pin, spey, fly and spinning tackle and other gear, guided drift boat trips, and overnight lodging. Dinner will be available at Fox Hollow Lodge for $6 per person.

LOTAC was formed four years ago by a group of anglers intent on encouraging conservation and ethical fishing on the Lake Ontario tributaries. Members have been very involved in conservation and environmental projects since the group’s founding. Over the past year LOTAC obtained their non-profit status from the IRS, held a river cleanup last spring, and planted more than 6,000 trees along the Salmon River to help prevent erosion. In September the group held a fly-tying and casting clinic at the Salmon River Fish Hatchery open house and helped to stock 77,000 Atlantic salmon fingerlings.

For more information visit the anglers council Web site e-mail [email protected], or call 607-239-7861.

Current Oswego County fishing conditions and visitor information can be found at the Oswego Tourism Web site or by calling 800-248-4FUN.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog