May 2nd - Chidren's Fishing Derby

Sunday, May 2 : Children's Fishing Derby ~ 8:00 A.M. UNTIL NOON.
Open for all children ages 12 and under ~ accompanied by an adult.

The Club is located on the ridge above the south part of the Moodus Reservoir, and you can enjoy one of the finest scenic vistas in town.

This is a free event. Bring your kids, your grandchildren or your nephews and nieces. A great opportunity to find out how to do things hands-on, away from video games, TV and the stuffy indoors. A good time to get out and enjoy the outdoors.

Come fish in our trout-stocked pond. Tired of fishing? You can hike on the trail up from the pond and roam the woods; or bring your sketch pad or camera and save nature on paper, film or digital upload.

The event is fun for the grown-ups as well.

Afterward, hot dogs and soda for the children.

The Moodus Sportsmens' Club is located on 299 East Haddam-Colchester Turnpike, just uphill from the East Haddam Town Beach and the Moodus Reservoir causeway.

April 3rd: Town Wide Clean-up - Picnic to Follow

Saturday, April 3 : Town Wide Clean-up ~ Tired of seeing that rotting mattress on the back road from Norwich? ...or the smashed up computer monitor in front of the old town landfill on Route 151?
     The Moodus Sportsmen’s Club, and the East Haddam Scout Troops are sponsoring the Annual East Haddam Town Wide Clean Up Day to be held on Saturday, April 3, 2010. The goal of these organizations is to coordinate an annual effort to pick up the streets, lakes, streams, and other public access areas in the Town of East Haddam. Would your organization or individuals in your organization be willing to participate? We are still in search of families and groups to pick up sections of the streets in which they live on. Is there a section of town that you or your group would like to take over the stewardship? Could you and your neighbors adopt a street?
     The Sportsmen’s Club members will concentrate on State and Town boat launches and Babcock Wildlife Management Area. The Scouts will be working on Rte 82 from the East Haddam swing bridge to River Road. East Haddam Scout Troops have also been contacted to assist in picking up these other designated areas.
     Pickup starts at 8:00 a.m. If you wish to join our groups, meets us at the East Haddam Town Hall on Town Street at 8:00 a.m. or start from your own street.
     Lunch starts at noon at the Moodus Sportsmen's Club. Traditional picnic items such as hot-dogs, baked beans, coffee and iced tea and lemonade will be served along with the seasonal bounty only a sportsmen’s club could serve.
     We can inventory the items collected and talk about ways to reduce these problems. We'll also have educational information about the Town’s natural resources and outdoor recreational opportunities.

PHOTOS: Recycling containers in Eagle Lake, Maine; Litter piles in another town.

game dinner repast

Another sold out event, even with pouring rains coming down. The beaver stew was excellent, as was the oriental venison kabobs; for that matter, everything was fine - our chefs have out done themselves again!

saltwater fishing rules - news item of interest

Public input period for federal fishery strategy has ended. Robert Montgomery writes at ESPN Outdoors that:

"The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing some of the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters."

"Some of the potential policy implications of this interim framework have the potential to be a real threat to recreational anglers who not only contribute billions of dollars to the economy and millions of dollars in tax revenues to support fisheries conservation, but who are also the backbone of the American fish and wildlife conservation ethic," said CSF President Jeff Crane.

Morlock, a member of the CSF board, added, "There are over one million jobs in America supported coast to coast by recreational fishing. The task force has not included any accountability requirements in their reports for evaluating or mitigating how the new policies they are drafting will impact the fishing industry or related economies.

"Given that the scope of this process appears to include a new set of policies for all coastal and inland waters of the United States, the omission of economic considerations is inexcusable."

For a complete list of articles about this topic: see the ESPN outdoors archives

IMAGE CREDIT: ESPN Outdoors, in an article by Robert Montgomery.