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A Little Bit About Our Club . . Then & Now We would like to think that our club is well known but there are a lot of non-sportsmen and women who may not know of us or the things that we do. We believe our activities reach out to everyone in our community not just sport-fishermen. We
are not the typical fishing club. We are very community orientated. As a club, we try to do a lot for our community through fishing.
- The seventeen individuals who founded our club wanted to save the walleye from over-harvest by commercial fishermen in the New York State waters of Lake Erie. At the very first public meeting of the club, over six hundred new members joined. As a result of their efforts gillnetting was banned in the New York waters of Lake Erie. Our club was also instrumental in getting the walleye designated as a game fish in New York, protecting it from further commercial exploitation. The new club expanded its mission to include conservation of all species in the lake and ecosystem, education of our youth, boating safety, access to Lake Erie and promotion of our region as a tourist destination.
- We started an annual amateur walleye tournament in 1985, and today it has grown to be one of the largest tournaments of its kind in North America. Last year we gave away cash prizes totaling over $34,000 and much more in merchandise. Our club has also grown to be one of the largest in the country with over 2000 members. We publish a monthly magazine the FISHLINE, which details club activities, conservation information and how to articles.
- We expanded our mission to provide some recreational opportunities for Special People, those who would not ordinarily be able to fish due to physical or mental handicaps. We constructed an indoor pond for our special guests and help them to fish for trout. The program has expanded to become a nine day event ! Last year we had over six hundred guests come to fish with us (it is all free and any handicapped individual can participate).
- We work closely with Erie Promotion and Expos to help put on the W.N.Y. Outdoor and Travel Expo at the Hamburg Fair Grounds. This event has grown over the years to fill four large buildings. The Expo features
hundreds of exhibits, interesting speakers and plenty of free parking. Children under 12 years of age are admitted free and Sunday's schedule features many activities for the kids. We hope you don't miss the show, there is something for everyone!
- We have an annual Kids Fishing Derby at the Tifft Nature Preserve in Buffalo. On average, about 300 kids come to fish and are accompanied by their parents. Everyone receives a prize, snacks are provided, and we cook about a thousand hot-dogs for lunch in about forty minutes! Again this kids event is free, even for the parents!
- Education is important to us. Annually we give $2000 for college scholarships, and we send four kids to N.Y.S. DEC Conservation Camp for a week each summer. We hope our youth, once introduced to fishing, make it a life long avocation. To this end, we yearly award several NYS issued lifetime fishing licenses to local kids (they can fish for free for life). We believe everyone should have access to the water for an opportunity to fish so we built a handicap accessible fishing platform at the Tifft Nature Preserve.
- Every year we help in sponsoring the Lake Erie Eastern Basin Fishing Championship a charity-fishing tournament to benefit Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Not only will the tournament raise money for a worthy charity but also it will decide who is the best fisherman or woman on our end of the lake. The tournament is held each year in August.
- As fishermen, we are consumers of the resource and one of our founding principals is conservation. As a club we have done a lot, however we will continue to look for new ways to improve our resource. We are on the verge of a bold project with other organizations to restore a spawning population of walleye to the Buffalo River. If successful this will enhance our already great fishery and protect the walleye from population swings due to poor seasons of lake spawning.
- Finally, if you want to know more about the Southtowns Walleye Association attend one of our meetings. They are held on the third Thursday of every month. They are always open to the public and held at the Armor Volunteer Fire Company Hall, 4932 Clark Street, Hamburg, NY or you can call the club office at 716-649-8202 for more information.
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