HOOSIER COHO CLUB. In This Issue

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1 HOOSIER COHO CLUB March & April With the coming of spring it is time to get things ready for the new season. Some or our members have been enjoying the early spring Coho off of the piers and even some Steelhead have been making their way into the same waters. Make sure that you get that license renewed along with picking up the new equipment you have been wanting. Reports have come back that the outdoor shows this years have been well attended and a wealth of information was exchanged. The club has 22 sponsors for this season s tournament events. Please see a list of these businesses on page two of the newsletter. The Club leadership would like to thank each and every one of our sponsors and urges club members to seek out their services and products. In This Issue Spring in Here Website Member Contributions Quick Updates 2016 Tournament Sponsors Past Champions Mike McKee Commentary Tournament Updates Stocking Updates THANK YOU SPONSORS Website Contributions If any of you have articles, news, photos, etc. that would benefit the rest of us please submit them to Mike Taylor. The newsletter is a great way for us to share information and news. We would really like to have a page each month that displays members catches or favorite memories! Don t hesitate to contact or anything that you would like to share to Mike Taylor. mrt52@yahoo.com

2 HOOSIER COHO CLUB MISSION STATEMENT It is the mission of the Hoosier Coho Club to promote, preserve, and encourage wise management of anadromous fish (fish ascending streams and rivers to spawn) wherever they may be. Further goals of the Club are to encourage strict observance of sport fishing laws and practices while denouncing all persons known to be in violation of these laws and practices. The membership encourages research and development programs related to our sport. The Club also serves as a source of collecting and dispersing information regarding tackle, fishing techniques, laws, legislations, pollution problems, disease, meetings research, and all other pertinent information relating to anadromous fish. Quick Updates Just a reminder that this Wednesday the HCC will be having a regular club meeting at 7:00 PM. Speakers at this meeting are past champions of the Hoosier Coho Classic. We are hoping for three or four of these champions to share with us their secrets in winning the tournament. This is also a great time to ask and get answered questions that you might have concerning the topic of tournament fishing. A big thank goes out to retired club members Jim and Karen Butts. They recently sent us eight DVDs with video and pictures of past Classic Tournaments. We are working on compiling and editing a presentation for the June club meeting. PLEASE if any of you have stories or photos of these past events send them to me or contact me so we can put them all together. It has been a great time looking through things the past couple of weeks! There have been a lot of changes over the past 40 years. Plan on being at the June meeting to share these memories MEETINGS April Champs May 11 DNR June 8 Smoked Salmon Contest & Awards September 14 TBA October 12 Chili Cookoff November 9 Club Elections Meeting time 7:00 PM 2016 Tournament Sponsors Major Sponsors: ALCO Transportation Bass Pro LPVCB MC Port Authority Simrad Triple XXX Root Beer Regular Sponsors: WIMS Radio WHMB Radio Cabelas Church Tackle Dreamweaver Lures ITO Flies Flatout Flatbread MC Sports Meijer Michiana Insurance Morgan s Tackle Pro King Lures Sea Quest Lures Silver Streak Spoons Traxtech Warrior Lures 2016 TOURNAMENTS BUFFALO BILL APRIL 16 PRO-AM APRIL 23 HARTMAN APRIL 29 CLASSIC APRIL 30 & MAY 1 POWDER PUFF JULY 23 SALMON SLAM SEPT 10 (tentative) CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP - TBA

3 HOOSIER COHO CLUB CLASSIC CHAMPIONS From 1975 through 2004, the Classic was an open division tournament. In 2005 the tournament was changed to allow for both a Pro and an Amateur Division. A 24U division was added to attract small boat participants in LaPoloma (H. Neitzel) 1990 Rainmaker (R. Pegau) 1976 Slickcraft I (V. Sherrod) 1991 Dreamweaver (P. Ruboyiannes) 1977 Slickcraft II (A. Pelt) 1992 Running Bare (C. Lewen) 1978 Sueya (D. Goodwille) 1993 Pro King (D. Neidlinger) 1979 Riptide (P. Hubinger) 1994 Big Mac (B. MacPherson) 1980 Bon Ali (G. Duesing) 1995 Buffalo Bill (J. Bauer) 1981 Dreamweaver (P. Ruboyiannes) 1996 Y Knot (B. Kelsey) 1982 DeJudge (C. Hartmann) 1997 Finweaver (R. Laaksonen) 1983 Sting (T. Snyder) 1998 Bar Four ( M. Jones) 1984 Finlander (A. Laaksonen) 1999 Finweaver (R. Laaksonen) 1985 Seldom Idle (P. Miller) 2000 Sara Kate (R. Ingram) 1986 Dreamweaver (P. Ruboyiannes) 2001 Blue Fairways (G. Magee) 1987 Sting (T. Snyder) 2002 Sea Flea (B. Butts) 1988 DeJudge ( C. Hartmann) 2003 Fish Burner (C. Rose) 1989 Pro King ( D. Neidlinger) 2004 Finweaver (R. Laaksonen) Pro & Amatuer Divisions 2005 Pro: Hunter (Boonstra) AM: Manistee Mama ( E. Walden) 2006 Pro: Blue Runner (G. Schaefer) AM: Nail Bender Too (J. Messina) 2007 Pro: Finweaver (R. Laaksonen) AM: Salmon Hawk (C. Elenz) 2008 Pro: Fuzzy Bear (C. Stopczynski) AM: Gin-N-In (T. Early) 2009 Pro: Fuzzy Bear (C. Stopczynski) AM: Salmon Hawk (C. Elenz) 2010 Pro: Blue Fairways (W. Laaksonen) AM: Utopia (T. Peterson) Pro Amateur 24U Divisions 2011 Pro: Just 1 More (L. Rishmond, Jr.) Am: Happy Hour (E. DeCraene) 24U Uncle Bud (B. Roche 2012 Pro: Break Time (J. Bellman) AM: King s Ransom (J. McGovern) 24U Peel NGood (E. Peele) 2013 Pro: Fin Scout (J. DeVries) AM: Salmon Hawk (C. Elenz) 24U King Machine (C. Schultz) 2014 Pro: Break Time (T. Wiatrowski) AM: Salmon Hawk (C. Elenz) 24U Luck Lady ( N. Gill) 2015 Pro: Flat Out (D. Baker) AM: Nail Bender (J. Messina) 24U Plane To Sea (S. Qualizza)

4 Outdoors: A mixed bag of news Michigan City News-Dispatch, April 1, 2016 By MIKE MCKEE - Outdoors columnist No fooling, there was some good news to come out of the scientific community's "State of the Lake" meetings held in Milwaukee last week. Mostly, it was more grim news about chinook salmon and baitfish in Lake Michigan. However, reports of a super crop of young-of-the-year perch continue to be positively stunning. Indiana biologist Ben Dickinson summed up the perch presentation in an "The general trend (in young-of-year perch assessments) was way up. Illinois saw its best ever, Indiana saw second best since 1985, Wisconsin and Michigan saw a big uptick as well, but not as much as Illinois/Indiana. Illinois beach seining averaged around 175 fish per haul, in 2010 (the last big year class) it averaged about 100 fish/haul, and in the 1980s they saw mostly fish per haul. Last year was the best they have ever seen." Of course, its a treacherous, multi-year journey from one and one-half inch babies to keeper-sized eaters, but for the first time in a long time there is some uplifting news about Lake Michigan perch. According to data provided by Tom Lauer, PhD, Ball State University, who has coordinated Indiana's Lake Michigan perch studies since the 1980s, it probably will take four to five years for hatchlings to grow to eight inches or better. Lauer mentioned perch, like most other Lake Michigan fish, are growing slower in recent years, due primarily to quagga mussels filtering nutrients out of the bottom of the food chain. Questioned how the big perch hatch happened after decades in the doldrums, Dickinson wrote: "Environmental conditions just lined up correctly. Quality of eggs tends to be better in cold winters. And food availability lines up better for larval perch in some years over others. That s a big part of why perch recruitment is boom or bust. If the perch hatch coincides with a plankton bloom, they prosper. But if the perch hatch happens before plankton become abundant, the year class is usually a bust, because they don t have anything to eat. "All the upper Great Lakes tend to see their walleye/perch recruitment go in coinciding cycles. Erie saw a great hatch as well in For further reading, there s a great article at The other positive note on Lake Michigan, and this is just an early-season observation, is coho are a bit bigger than average and nearly twice the size they were last April. If you recall, several top boats weighed limits of coho averaging 1.6 pounds during the Buffalo Bill contest in mid-april They're already averaging three this spring with a few plumpers pushing four pounds. Whether its due more to a mild winter or more food around, the plus-size of coho is usually mirrored by the other salmonids. Hopefully, the coho didn't fatten up at the expense of the bumper crop of young perch. Assessments of chinook and their preferred prey fish, the alewife, continued on a downward spiral. Alewife estimate of.5 kiloton was the lowest since surveys started in Total prey fish (chubs, shiners, gobies, smelt, etc., in addition to alewives) count was four kilotons, also the lowest on record. Worse, there was virtually zero alewife recruitment in 2013 and Last year's alewive hatch was better, but only 25 percent of the long-term average. "There are almost no 2010 alewives left, primarily, adult alewives are 2012 fish," biologist Brian Briedert said earlier this winter. Still, there is a possibility alewives could pull off a perch-like miracle hatch. Again, they're severely depressed, but 450 tons (.5 kt) of them are still out there. "Alewives could pull off a big year class if conditions align," Dickinson wrote. The chinook population crashed last year, evidenced by some of the poorest returns to spawning streams. They were also undersized. "Poor survival of hatchery fish, poor recruitment of wild fish in 2013, stocking reductions, reduced forage base, two brutal winters in a row take your pick," Dickinson ed. "Lots of issues coming together for a perfect storm. Baby chinooks don t survive very well unless there is a good supply of small alewives. The 2013 and 2014 year classes of alewives were very very poor, so survival of young chinooks was also poor." The 2016 chinook fishing outlook is also not good. Stocking reductions of 50 percent and poor recruitment of wild fish due to drought conditions will impact the numbers of mature, 3-year old salmon in the lake in To save the alewives and inherently save chinook, additional stocking cuts are likely. Lake trout stockings are already being scaled back. The Lake Committee recently worked with the USFWS to cut lake trout stocking in Lake Michigan by more than a half million fish lakewide, Dickinson wrote. 50th Anniversary Coho salmon were originally stocked in the Platte River in Michigan on April 2, It took brilliant, outside-the-box thinking to bring Pacific salmon to the Great Lakes and ignite a multi-billion dollar fishery. Chinook were brought in later, and lake trout restoration has been relentless. Now, the fishery is spiraling downward, due in part, to over-predation of alewives by chinook and lake trout. Imagine how spectacular the fishery might continue to be today if coho salmon were the apex predator. Did that really happen? Seems Indiana Governor Mike Pence and the Indiana legislature know more about deer and deer hunting, and rifles for deer hunting than the professionals within the Department of Natural Resources. House Bill 1231 was signed by the governor last week and makes legal the use of.243, , and. 308 caliber rifles for the 2016 season. Extensive public information gathering sessions were held by the DNR regarding riflehunting for deer last year, and ultimately rejected by the DNR and a majority of hunters. Legislators establishing their own fish and wildlife rules is a slap-in-the-face to Indiana sportsmen and the DNR.

5 TOURNAMENT UPDATES Buffalo Bill April 16th Info: michianasteelheaders.com HCC Pro/AM April 23rd Info: hoosiercohoclub.org HCC Hartmann April 29th Info: hoosiercohoclub.org HCC Coho Classic April 30 & May 1st Info: hoosiercohoclub.org Lake Michigan Stocking News March 2016 April 1, 2016 April 6, 2016 April 8, 2016 The Indiana DNR began their annual Steelhead stocking program. The US Fish & Wildlife stocked 41,000 Lake Trout in Michigan City Harbor. The Indiana DNR stocked 61,000 Coho in the St Joe River in South Bend The Indiana DNR stocked 30,000 Brown Trout at East Chicago Marina The Indiana DNR will continue with their plans for stocking Chinook in early May, Steelhead in late November, and their second stocking of Coho in late November. DON T FORGET Renew your fishing license & boat registration