Sportsman’s calendar filling up

A year ago on March 1, I joined my brother in Missouri for opening day of trout season. We went to bed that night only to wake the next morning with seven inches of snow on our truck. This year, we waited a day to go and missed eight inches of snow two nights before. It took our friends over two hours to drive from Rolla to Montauk Park, a route usually covered in 45 minutes.
I hope things level out a little and the water goes down so the competitors in the Spring Valley Walleye Tournament can have decent conditions to fish the tournament. There are so many people who donate their time to make this one of the finest tournaments on the walleye tour, and I would like to see their job made a little easier.
The sportsman’s calendar still shows plenty of events to participate in before Easter. A lot of people are ready to fish, some have already started. During the last weekend of March (28-29) you can travel over to Spring Valley and watch the fishermen bring in their walleyes and saugers to be weighed. I certainly wish all of our local entries “Lots of Luck.”
The Ducks Unlimited Hunter’s Night will be held March 28 at Wise Guys in Princeton. This is an all-you-can-eat fish fry with liquid refreshments. This has been a fun event for the last two years, so get out and enjoy. For more info, call Erik Ellberg at (815) 876-6659.
• I talked with Steve Moser and he informed me that the 2009 Inland Trout event at the Hennepin Canal Parkway is scheduled for the first weekend of April. I’ll go into more detail in my next article. It certainly has become a popular event in the last several years. Plan ahead to get yourself some nice rainbows.
• Coming up in two weeks is our PHS Annual Fish and Game Banquet. I always enjoy this because the participants are a mixture of the present members of our Sportsman’s Club along with former members who still enjoy all the wild entrees provided that night. So, this is an open invitation for all you alumni to join us for the terrestrial, avian and piscatorial delights. Chefs Jerry Pattelli and Tony Dye will be on hand for the cooking chores. Great raffle items plus a video from the club during the ‘70s will be shown. The highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the Mike Smallwood Outdoorsman Award.
Finally, we still have six to eight openings for any fisherman who would like to travel with us to Canada the second week of June. It is a great opportunity for one who loves the great outdoors. Call (815) 872-5431 for more information.