Our President’s Message
I think now that April is here, we will get some well deserved springtime. Regardless of recent ridiculous weather issues our organization will move into annual spring season activities. Many of us are aware that our annual major fundraising Wild Game Dinner (WGD) was cancelled through no fault of our own at virtually the last minute. This was a hard pill to swallow after the time, energy and expense that Dan Johnson and a team of volunteers had dedicated to this event. HOWEVER, we hit the reset button and immediately went into recovery mode and moved forward to ensure we established a rescheduled date of April 11th . All the people who purchased WGD tickets were contacted THE day of the cancellation and advised that their tickets would be honoured at the rescheduled date, once it was confirmed, by Laurie Johnson and myself. The upside of this chain of events is we had about a dozen tickets remaining for the dinner so now we have an opportunity to welcome more folks to the WGD. Also, we were granted an extension on the draw for a brand new” Henry Long Ranger .308 rifle” that was to be drawn on March 29th. We can now extend ticket sales to the rescheduled date of April 11th when the rifle draw will be done.
April 16th will see the HHOA participating in the Haliburton County Home Builders Association Job/Volunteer Fair at the Haliburton High School Gymnasium from 0830 until 1430. We continue to strive to bolster our supporter and volunteer numbers and recent successes at previous job fairs have proven these events worthwhile as they have resulted in new folks getting involved in our organization.
We have made it to another fish stocking season likely before the month is out so stay tuned for notice of when this annual spring activity gets underway. This is the result of another year’s worth of committed work by a large team of dedicated volunteers who have showed up daily under all circumstances to ensure we make it to this shared objective. Please come out to the hatchery and assist in this activity to the best of your availability once the schedule is established.
Finally, we have at least 5,000 rainbow trout that we raised from eggs since last May for our commercial fish project that will be leaving us after the Community Hatchery fish are stocked later in April. We look forward to this project being a great fundraiser for our organization’s operating expenses so let’s all help when and where we can and hopefully grow this project to benefit our organization for years to come.
Talk soon,
Dan
Hatchery Manager Report ~ David Poirier
Community Hatchery
The HHOA has a full compliment of lake trout and rainbow trout for stocking local lakes. Fish survival and growth has continued to be excellent.
- Fish mortalities in all tanks are very low.
- All lake trout eggs have hatched, and early life stage mortalities have declined.
- Feeding has commenced and fish are growing well.
- There were significant Haliburton Gold Lake trout fry die in the first few weeks of transfer to the raceways.
- New rotating feeders have been installed on the fry raceways and are operating well.
- We had another successful day fin clipping. Less than 10 fish died in the days following the clipping.
Commercial Fish Hatchery
At present there are approximately 13,500 rainbow trout in the pond. The fish average approximately 6 – 8” in size and are ready for sale in May @2.50 each. Large fish will be available in the fall.
New Website/New Logo
Director, Roger Prescott has taken on the onerous task of helping create a new website and logo. Roger’s background in his own words – I lived most of my life around the Oshawa – Bowmanville area. I moved up to this area in late 2021 and joined the Hatchery in 2022.
I worked 25 years in a Whitby Steel Mill, performing a variety of jobs during my career. Started as a labourer, then an overhead crane operator, apprentice Industrial Electrician, Shift Maintenance Electrician, Automation Specialist, Automation Programmer, Project leader, In-House Technical Intranet designer and builder, and Shift Automation Technician.
I resigned from the Steel Plant and went to work for Ontario Power Generation. First 11 years were at Pickering Nuclear Plant. I started as a Control Technician, then became a database programmer, moved over to Darlington Nuclear, where I eventually retired as a Control Maintenance Assessor.
Now I help at our HHOA Hatchery and attempt to utilize some of the skills and knowledge I gained during my working career.
Meet Carly: Our New Social Media Guru.
Linda Heeps our long-time webmaster, social media person and keeper of the mailing lists is retiring and is passing the torch to Carly Prescott (yes, Roger’s daughter). Carly is very adept at “Social”, so expect to see lots from her on Instagram and Facebook.
Upcoming Events
As always there’s lots to do.
- April 11th is the Wild Game Dinner
- April 16th is the Job and Volunteer Fair
- As soon as the ice goes out, stocking will begin for all public lakes.
- Following that commercial trout will be sold for pond stocking.
- We’ll have a booth at the Haliburton Home Show from Friday May 30 – June 1
- Canada Day, look for us in Minden along the river.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Volunteers play a vital role in the delivery of our programs and our continuing success. We urgently need help with social media, marketing, fundraising, and hatchery duties.
Take it from Roger…….."I was new to the area and have been a hunter and fisherman all of my life. I found out about the (HHOA) hatchery and knew it would be populated with guys like me. I joined and was not disappointed.”
Roger Prescott, HHOA Member and Volunteer
If you love the outdoors and want to join a community of like-minded people, consider becoming a volunteer for the Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association, Fish Hatchery. There are many ways to get involved. See our Support Us page for details.
PLANNED GIVING
A bequest or gift by will is a simple and thoughtful way to leave a personal legacy, representing your life and values. Whether it is a set dollar amount or a percentage of your estate, a bequest in your will to the HHOA can allow you to make a difference for generations to come.
WE HATCH ‘EM YOU CATCH ‘EM
Our mailing address is:
6712 Gelert Road, Haliburton, ON K0M 1S0
Our Telephone Number:
705 457-9664
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