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Monday, April 10, 2006
Clayton: Take A Kid Fishing Contest
The 28th annual "Take-A-Kid Fishing Contest" and the "New Clayton Kids' Fishing Weekend" will be held June 3-4. The weekend-long event is sponsored by the Clayton Chamber of Commerce. The Take-A-Kid Fishing Contest is co-sponsored by the chamber, 1000 Islands Fishing Charters and members of the Clayton Guides Association.
Events over the weekend include professionally guided fishing trips for 56 young anglers on Saturday and Sunday and a BASSmaster Casting Kids Contest on Sunday morning and afternoon.
Highlighting the weekend is the annual Take-A-Kid Fishing Contest, open to all youngsters ages 9 through 15 who reside in New York state. In total, 56 kids names will be drawn on April 22. Twenty names will be drawn for the opportunity to fish for the IGFA NYS Junior Angler Championship on June 3 and 36 names will be drawn to fish with three Clayton fishing guides on June 4. Youngsters whose names are drawn will be contacted by April 26.
On June 3, 10 of the young anglers competing for the IGFA NYS championship will fish on board 1000 Fishing Charters' 15 passenger, U.S. Coast Guard-certified sport fishing boat "A.B.'s OFFICE," with Capt. Allen Benas and his first mate from 7:45-11:45 a.m. The remaining 10 kids will fish from noon to 4 p.m.
For the fourth year, the grand prize for catching the largest northern pike of the day is an expenses-paid trip for the winner and his or her adult traveling companion to fish in the 11th annual IGFA National Junior Angler Championship Tournament in Key West, Fla., in June 2007.
This "dream" fishing adventure includes two days of both near and offshore tournament fishing with a professional Key West guide, two breakfasts, lunches and three dinners, as guests of IGFA. Return air and ground transportation from an airport convenient to the winner to Key West and three nights accommodations at the plush Grand Key Resort are being provided by the Clayton Chamber of Commerce, Thousand Islands Inn, 1000 Islands Fishing Charters and other Clayton civic organizations.
The remaining 36 young anglers will fish with one of three Clayton fishing guides, 18 in the morning and 18 in the afternoon, on June 4 with the young anglers catching the largest fish on each of the six trips winning fishing rod & reel outfits. Other prizes will be awarded throughout the weekend event for the Bass Casting Kids contests. The winners of the BASSmaster Casting Kids Contest could eventually work their way up to fish the state and national championship held annually at the BASSmasters Classic. There are two age levels for contestants: 7-10 and 11-14.
Submit email entries at www.1000islands-clayton.com/fishing. Entries by email must be received by midnight April 22. Postal entries should be submitted on a post card and include the youngster's name, complete address, telephone number, date of birth, age, the name of the publication they saw the contest announcement in and the name of the outdoor writer who wrote the story. Address postal entries to Kids' Fishing Weekend, P.O. Box 69, Clayton-1000 Islands, N.Y., 13624. They must be postmarked no later than April 19.
Only one entry per person will be allowed. Duplicate entries will be discarded.
Outdoor briefs
Reward in dead eagle case
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a reward for information about the shooting of a bald eagle — probably early last winter — in St. Lawrence County near Rossie.
An individual found the dead eagle in late March in a field at the intersection of County Route 10 (Genesee Trail) and County Route 3 (Rossie-Oxbow Road) near the St. Lawrence-Jefferson county line, according to Service Special Agent Bob Garabedian of Albany. The eagle was seen alive in the same area several times in November.
"The eagle may have been shot sometime in December and then covered by snowfall until recently," Garabedian said. Although the eagle's body was decomposed, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Wildlife Pathology Laboratory determined that the eagle was shot.
The Service and New York DEC are investigating the shooting. "We need assistance from anyone who may have seen or heard about what happened," Garabedian said. "We are offering up to $2,500 for information leading to the conviction of the individual or individuals involved." Anyone with information should contact the Service's Office of Law Enforcement at 518-431-4341 or the New York DEC Division of Law Enforcement in Watertown at 315-785-2231.
The Endangered Species Act prohibits killing, harming or harassing bald eagles and other threatened and endangered wildlife. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and the New York State Environmental Conservation Law also protect bald eagles.
