articles from December, 1998 newsletter:

** President's Message
** Help Our Wildlife at Tax Time
** 30th Anniversary Cups Still Available
** Help us Improve the Sportsmen's Club Newsletter!
** A Recap of our 30th Annual Meeting
** We remember Elio...
** Minnesota Ice Fishing Season Extended
** Experimental Fishing Regulations For Lake Vermilion?
** OK, Guys...How Cold Is It????
** MEMBERSHIP NOTES...PLEASE READ...




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President's Message
During the September Board of Directors meeting I was elected as your new President. I appreciate the support of the Board members. I assure you that we will continue to work hard toward fulfilling our obligations to the membership of The Sportsmen's Club. The officers and Board members are:
Tower
Cook
Committee Assignments: Chairperson
The chairpersons will look to the membership to be a part of their committees. Please call one of them if you wish to support the activities of your club. We will need many volunteers! If you have a question or a comment, please call the committee chairperson directly.
Everyone is welcome to attend Board meetings. Please call Paula for time and place. Please call me if you have a request for the agenda. We want you to be a participant throughout the year. Our November meeting was dedicated to long-range planning. This year we will emphasize promotion of the Club and its activities.
Please visit ourWeb site: www.lakevemmilion.com/SCLV/index.html. You can contact us via e-mail from there. Tell your friends and neighbors. We want and need more members and especially we need,your,suggestions. Working together, we will maintain the momentum established during the past 30 years. Thank you for your support.
On behalf of the officers and directors, 1 extend our very best wishes for a joyous holiday season.

Willis Irons



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Help Our Wildlife at Tax Time
Every year at tax time, Minnesota taxpayers have an opportunity to make an income tax donation that will benefit the state's nongame wildlife - the thousands of species of animals, such as loons, that are not pursued by hunters or anglers.
Hunters and anglers support hunting and fishing through the federal tax they pay on the purchase of firearms, ammunition, fishing tackle and other equipment. That federal tax generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually for fishing and hunting projects throughout the country, and Minnesota shares in the proceeds from this tax-generated fund.
Nongame wildlife species in Minnesota do not fare so well financially and depend to a large extent on the generosity of taxpayers. The DNR's Nongame Wildlife Program protects habitat for 800 species of nongame animals. Donations by Minnesota taxpayers have historically provided 90 percent of the program funding, with the remaining 10 percent coming from the lottery's Environmental Trust Fund.
In Minnesota, a handful of nongame specialists, spread throughout the state, conduct research and census work, initiate reintroduction and habitat-protection projects, and look after the interests of nongame species and their critical habitats. Nongame specialists also work with private landowners to protect nesting areas for owls, eagles, loons, and ospreys. They give educational presentations to school children and civic organizations. They work with other resource managers in the DNR to integrate nongame needs into management plans for state forests, public waters, wildlife management areas and state parks. The Nongame Program has been responsible for the reintroduction of trumpeter swans and management efforts for species with particular needs like piping plovers, goshawks, wood turtles and sandhill cranes.
In 1997 only about one out of 25 taxpayers earmarked contributions on their tax forms to support habitat conservation for loons and other nongame species. Generally, people who fill out their own tax forms are most likely to give. Those who hire a tax preparer tend to forget about reminding him or her to write in a donation for Nongame Wildlife.
Here's how to make a donation. Look for the line on your Minnesota Individual Income Tax Return that shows the silhouette of a loon. The line will say: "If you wish to donate to the Nongame Wildlife Fund, fill in the amount here." Fill in an amount, and the Department of Revenue will do the rest.
Remember...Look for the line with the loon.

Paula Bloczynski



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30th Anniversary Cups Still Available
Here's a holiday gift idea! A limited supply of our 30th anniversary cups is still available. The cups commemorate the club's 30 years of service from its founding in 1968 to the present time. The 10-ounce ceramic mugs are a metallic teal color with platinum (dishwasher safe) design and rim. These cups are truly beautiful and would make a handsome gift for a current or prospective club member, or could be a memento for yourself of the club's 30-year history.
Total cost for each cup is $10 and includes box and shipping. Make your check payable to the Sportsmen's Club and send to: Rick Pearson, 9129 Hibbing Point Road, Cook, MN 55723; phone: 218-666-2353.



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Help us Improve the Sportsmen's Club Newsletter!
Over the past 30 years, the club's newsletter, "The Vermilion Sportsman," has been the primary method of communicating with you, the club's members. It has kept you informed of the club's goals and projects, of the quality of the water, of the status of the fishery, of the health of the loon population, and of threats to our quality of life on the lake. Over these many years, various board members have assembled the newsletter along with considerable professional assistance from the staff of the Cook News Herald. "The Vermilion Sportsman" has been a quality publication and has served the club well.
We are about to enter a new century which will bring many changes that will challenge the lake and the club. The quality and content of the newsletter must keep pace with those changes. As the new Newsletter Committee chairman, I will be commited to producing an improved and expanded publication which will better inform our members of those challenges and also provide entertaining reading. To help achieve that goal, it is my intention to seek out correspondents from our membership. I am sure there are many talented writers out there who can contribute valuable and interesting articles. If you are one of these people, I encourage you to contact me so we can discuss your ideas. l can be reached at:
218-666-5352 Office - Weekdays or 218-666-2316 Home - Evenings or lundblad@rangenet.com
Some general areas of interest for articles are as follows: fishing stories, history of the lake, humor, water quality issues, wildlife issues, boating/navigation issues, local planning and zoning issues, local sewage treatment issues, increasing membership.
Please give your support to this important effort!

Dale Lundblad - Board Member



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A Recap of our 30th Annual Meeting
Our 30th Annual Meeting, held Saturday, August 15 at Fortune Bay Resort, drew more than 200 of our members - the highest attendance we've ever had. Members seem to appreciate the roomy, comfortable accommodations at Fortune Bay, and having this fine facility available has enabled us to expand the number of reservations we can accept, thereby giving more of our members an opportunity to attend.
During the day of the annual meeting, our fourth annual Hydro-Bike Ride took place. The ride benefits our club's scholarship fund. About two dozen riders pedaled the length of the lake, leaving The Landing Restaurant on Head-O-Lakes Bay early in the morning and finishing at Fortune Bay in the afternoon. We are fortunate that the Hydro-Bike Company in Wyoming, Minn., through its local dealer, Steve Anderson, is willing to loan us the bikes for this event. Officers of the company - Ray and Gwen Buresch and Dean and Cora Dverstahl - were with us for the day, boating along the route of the ride and attending the dinner in the evening. This year's ride and raffle raised $2,500 for the scholarship fund.
Following the evening buffet dinner, a brief business session was held, during which Bill Boril, Harold Korpela, Leon Long and Paula Bloczynski were re-elected to the board for three-year terms. Treasurer Barb Shook's annual report showed us with cash assets of $23,033, including $3,802 in our scholarship fund, a money market fund of $2,311, a CD of $9,224 and the remainder in checking. The board was pleased to report the sound financial condition of the club, particularly as we contemplate increased costs for an expanded water quality program and look ahead to plans for an additional day-use picnic site and to the possibility of offering bigger scholarships.
During the part of the meeting, devoted to reports, brief presentations were made by board members and other club volunteers on these topics: the loon count; day use picnic sites; navigation lights; the water quality program; the club's web site, and fishing concerns. The topic of personal watercraft regulation was addressed by two members of the St. Louis County Sheriff's Department Scott Lundgren of the Rescue Squad and Joe Zebro from the Water Patrol.
Several members of the audience were introduced and thanked for their past contributions to the club. Ruth Murphy and Jerry Kolstad were recognized as former board members, and Joe Cantrell received a plaque of appreciation for his board service prior to moving to Princeton, MN., last year. John Aronson was honored as one of our club's founding board members from 1968, the year the club was organized, and he was presented with one of our 30th anniversary cups.
Marcia Baer Shepard, associate editor of "Focus 10,000," Minnesota's lakeside magazine, came from Aitkin to spend the day, first riding in the Hydro-Bike Ride and then attending the annual dinner where she distributed complimentary copies of the magazine and took the opportunity to greet subscribers.
After the annual meeting was adjourned, a program was offered and many in the audience stayed to hear a presentation by Dick Wray, president of the Minnesota Seasonal Recreational Property Owners Coalition.
The prize drawing is always a popular feature of the annual meeting, and we thank the 16 local businesses that generously donated door prizes. In the Hydro-Bike raffle to benefit the club's scholarship fund, the HydroBike was won by Fay Reay, the cedar swing was won by Danielle Young and the trolling motor was won by James Mohs. (Both Fay Reay and Danielle Young are Lake Vermilion residents, and James Mohs, from Sioux Falls, S.D., was here to participate as a rider in the Hydro-Bike Ride.) A big "thank you" goes to Jim Kivela at Pike Bay Repair for donating the trolling motor to our drawing. And we would also like to thank Kathy and Jerry Yernatich at the Black Bear for displaying the hydro-bike for us and for promoting the drawing.
Because Fortune Bay Resort is such a busy place during the summer, we have gone ahead and reserved their ballroom for our 31st Annual Meeting. The date will be Saturday, August 14, 1999. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend. We'll have more information in upcoming issues of the newsletter.

- Paula Bloczynski



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We remember Elio...
Long-time Sportsmen's Club volunteer Elio Pietrini of Lake Vermilion-Cook passed away in August of this year. Elio will be remembered for his many years of volunteer service to the club - as an annual loon counter since the beginning of the program and his four-day-a-week help at the Sunset Creek Northern Pike Spawning area in the spring. His wife, Jean, recently wrote a generous donation to the club in his memory. We thank her for that and Elio's many years of service.



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Minnesota Ice Fishing Season Extended
Ice fishing in Minnesota will be extended through February 21, 1999, to provide three full weekends of fishing in February. The season change applies to walleye, northern pike, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and muskie.
Since changes were made in 1992, the intent of the inland fishing season regulations has been to provide three February fishing weekends before the close of the season. However, the 1998 Fishing Regulations Booklet was wrongly printed with a season end-date of February 14, 1999, and since then the DNR has changed the rule language to make sure the additional week of winter fishing is included.



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Experimental Fishing Regulations For Lake Vermilion?
A number of Club members and the Lake Vermilion Resort Association have asked the Sportsmen's Club Board to support the implementation of a "slot limit" for anglers taking Lake Vermilion walleye. Many believe that such experimental regulations would increase the average size of walleyes caught by anglers and would also help to maintain the harvest at sustainable levels. As is the case with most things involving nature, this issue is a whole lot more complicated than it seems. The Board, therefore, invited Duane Williams, DNR Fisheries to attend its November meeting to advise the Club on the process for implementation of such experimental regulations and whether they might yield the desired results. After considerable discussion, it was decided that the proposal had merit and deserved further study. Duane Williams provided the following outline for how this process will proceed:

A) The Fisheries Research Section in St. Paul will develop a computer model of the Lake Vermilion walleye population. This is important so that the effects of any proposed regulation can be predicted and understood. Use of the computer model will help everyone to better understand the potential success of a regulation and what changes may occur in the population.

B) Later this winter the results of the computer modeling will be presented to representatives from the Sportsmen's Club of Lake Vermilion and the Lake Vermilion Resort Association. A host of possible regulations will be presented along with the effects and changes each regulation would cause. It can then be decided if there is a regulation acceptable to all parties and whether or not a formal proposal should be developed for an experimental regulation.

C) An experimental regulation proposal will not go forward unless:
  • 1.) It is a biologically sound proposal
  • 2.) It is supported by the Sportsmen's Club
  • 3.) It is supported by the Lake Vermilion Resort Association

    The following information has been provided by DNR Fisheries as an overview of the process for the implementation of Experimental Regulations in Minnesota:

    Experimental Regulations in Minnesota
    Regulations developed for specific water bodies are termed "Experimental."
    Experimental regulations are usually designed to reduce the harvest of an over-exploited fish population or improve the size structure of a population.
    Experimental regulations must have a specific management goal and an evaluation plan to determine if the regulation meets that goal.
    An important aspect of developing experimental regulations for walleye is the use of a computer model of the population. This allows managers to predict the effects of a regulation change and determine which type of regulation change would meet the management goal.
    Experimental regulations have a specific end date. If the regulation has met the management goal, it is adopted permanently as a "Special Regulation." If the regulation does not meet the management goal, it is usually dropped.
    By law, there is a cap of 100 lakes that may have experimental regulations. There are currently 76 lakes and 12 streams with experimental regulations. Many of these lakes are part of a statewide research project.
    Developing experimental regulations is a lengthy deliberate process involving review by the regional fisheries office, the regulations committee, and the central office managers.

    Potential for Experimental Regulations on Lake Vermilion Walleye
    Positive aspects of walleye population:
  • 1.) Population at a high level, no decline noted.
  • 2.) Good recruitment, lots of small fish entering the population.
  • 3.) Angler harvest is relatively stable near the safe harvest target.

    Areas of concern with walleye population:
  • 1.) High mortality rate, population skewed to younger smaller fish.
  • 2.) Slight decline in angler harvest rates noted.
  • 3.) Moderately high variability of year class strength

    The walleye population could probably sustain itself at current level. Population fluctuations would occur in response to strong and weak year classes.
    Experimental regulations might be able to improve the age and size structure of the population. However, in order to make a measurable change in size and age, a regulation might have to be so restrictive as to be unacceptable.
    Experimental regulations would not increase the numbers of walleye in the population.
    Experimental regulations would require sacrifice from anglers, "no painno gain."

    Experimental Regulations Process
    1.) Develop proposal.
    Proposals can be initiated by the Section of Fisheries or other groups and individuals.
    It may take up to a year to develop a good proposal.
    Proposals should include the following information:
  • a.) Specific problem or need for regulation.
  • b.) Specific goal or objective of regulation.
  • c.) Justification, including biological or socioeconomic data to support the proposed regulation.
  • d.) Other past or ongoing management activities.
  • e.) Use of simulation model to predict potential for regulation success.
  • f.) Anticipated effect on fish community.
  • g.) Anticipated public response or acceptance.
  • h.) Anticipated impact on other Divisions or Agencies.
  • i.) Alternatives to experimental regulations, if any.
  • j.) Detailed evaluation plan including start and end dates.
  • k.) Completed "Experimental Regulations Evaluation Tracking Form."
    2.) Submit proposal.
    Proposals developed by an area fisheries office should be submitted to the regional fisheries office for review.
    Proposals developed by the public should be routed through the area fisheries office.
    Proposal should be submitted by Jan. 1. Proposals submitted by Jan. 1 and approved could be ready for implementation on the fishing opener the following year (16 months).
    3.) After review by the regional office, the proposal is submitted to the chairman of the regulations committee.
    4.) The committee chair provides copies to committee members for review. Review will include biological merit, evaluation methods, meeting the objective, social considerations, and impact on other areas. Comments are due back to committee chair within one month of receiving proposal.
    5.) The committee will meet at least once a year to discuss proposal. Following the meeting, one of three options will be chosen:
  • 1) recommend dropping the proposal,
  • 2) request a revision of the proposal,
  • 3) recommend implementation of the proposal.
    If the proposal is recommended for implementation, it will be distributed to all area offices for review. Regional office comments will be due to committee chair one month after proposal is received.
    6.) Following regional office review and comment, the committee will recommend to the central office managers whether or not the regulation should be implemented.
    7.) If approved by the central office managers, public meetings will be set up to receive public input. If the affected lake is greater than 1,500 acres, one public meeting will be held in the seven-county metro area.
    8.) Public input will be reviewed by the regional office, the regulations committee, and the central office managers. A final decision will then be made by the central office managers.
    9.) If approved by the central office managers, the regulation will be implemented.
    10.) After implementation, the required progress reports will be completed. After the evaluation end date, a final completion report will be submitted through the regional manager to the regulations committee chair. After review, the regulations committee will make one of the following recommendations to the central office managers:
  • 1) retain the regulation permanently as a special regulation,
  • 2) drop the regulation,
  • 3) extend the evaluation period.

    A final decision will be then made by the central office managers.



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    OK, Guys...How Cold Is It????
    Take a cup of warm water outdoors and fling the contents into the air. If it freezes in mid-air and hits the ground with a sound like glass breaking, the temperature is somewhere between -60 and -70 degrees... What in Sam Hill are you doing outside anyway??
    Packed snow begins to squeak underfoot with a distinct hollow sound at about 5-10 degrees.
    Walking a mile through six inches of snow takes as much effort as walking two miles on bare ground.
    If it's snowing hard enough that you can't use your high beams while driving because the flakes in the air reflect the light back into your eyes, you can figure the snow is accumulating at a rate of about 1" per hour.
    Speaking of snow...the first clear cold nights the snow guns appear...making snow on ski areas and ski trails that climb a hill...The snow guns are, I guess, essentially powerful sprayers, lawn sprinklers on steroids. It's weird too when you think of it...snow would seem to be a brute fact, the simple condition of winter in the North. You love it or you hate it. It's not the snow that matters, it's where the snow is. If nature doesn't furnish snow where we want it, we'll figure out a way to put it there even if we have to spend mega bucks to make our own. At the same time, 100 feet away we're spending more bucks to REMOVE snow from other places like roads and parking lots. What better image for the mind of man: so smart, so dumb??



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    MEMBERSHIP NOTES...PLEASE READ...
    We will be sending out the 1999 billing statements the first of January. Please renew...we need your support. We will be doing additional comprehensive water quality tests this year and they will not come for free. The board feels the testing is the best way to continually track the quality ot the water in Vermilion...of vital interest to us all.
    As a member...can you check with a neighbor, a friend, someone down the road...encourage them to become members? Currently we have over 200 past members who have not paid in over two years and we can't afford to keep large numbers of inactive names on the rolls...lf you have any question as to your current status...don't hesitate to get in touch with me...call or drop a note.

    Barb Shook, Treasurer/Membership



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