The fall fishing season is swinging into action, especially at the Cleveland Metroparks’ Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation in Cuyahoga Heights, where rainbow trout and catfish are being released this week. The Outdoor Odyssey at the Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation is Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., giving kids the chance to catch fish and win prizes. Youngsters...
The Outdoor Odyssey at the Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation is Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., giving kids the chance to catch fish and win prizes.The fall fishing season is swinging into action, especially at the Cleveland Metroparks’ Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation in Cuyahoga Heights, where rainbow trout and catfish are being released this week.
The Outdoor Odyssey at the Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation is Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., giving kids the chance to catch fish and win prizes. Youngsters get an Outdoor Odyssey passport to be stamped at a variety of stations, where they can experience such outdoor sports as fishing, golf and nature skills. When a passport has been stamped at five stations, it earns a prize.
State wildlife officials are releasing foot-long rainbow trout for the special weekend, and the Metroparks have added channel catfish. Trout also are being released today at Petros Lake in Canton; and Friday, Oct. 15, at Granger Pond in Mentor and at Painesville Recreational Park.
The Cleveland Metroparks Institute of the Great Outdoors hosts Accessible Adventures on Saturday, a fishing outing at Wallace Lake in Berea from 1 to 3 p.m. for people with disabilities and their families. Call 216-341-1704 for reservations. Park officials host Family Fishing Day on Sunday at Shadow Lake in Solon’s South Chagrin Reservation, with basic fishing classes and hands-on fishing.
The Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s Fall Fishing Day is Friday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Horseshoe Pond, with catch- and-release fishing. Horseshoe Pond is on Major Road, south of Peninsula, off Riverview Road.
Still on sidelines: Chief David Graham and four of his Division of Wildlife staff have been on paid leave since April, when they were charged with covering up an illegal resident hunting license sale to a South Carolina wildlife officer in 2006.
Brown County Prosecutor Jessica Little isn’t ready to let the five Ohio officials off the hook, despite a ruling this week by Judge Scott Gusweiler that their incriminating interviews with the Ohio inspector general’s office should be suppressed. He cited the Garrity Rule that protects employees questioned during an internal investigation.
Little plans to appeal Gusweiler’s ruling, which could take a couple of more months.
Out and about: The retrieving dogs are showing off on Saturday and Sunday at a Buckeye Retriever Club Hunt Test at Hambden Nursery, 14849 Rock Creek Road, Chardon, with spectators welcome. . . . LaDue and Nimisila reservoirs each received about 5,000 7-inch channel catfish this week, with Forest Hill Pond in East Cleveland getting about 150 cats. . . . Teachers wanting to become instructors for the popular National Archery in the Schools program can attend a free workshop at Ruffing Montessori in Cleveland on Oct. 29 by calling Ken Fry (330-245-3030).
Call a duck: Flambeau Outdoors and North Bend, Ohio, bass fishing pro Bill Lowen are teaming up to benefit Delta Waterfowl, a North Dakota-based conservation group. Lowen is very good at catching bass, and he’s also an avid waterfowler who makes his own Bill Lowen Duck Call. Lowen will make 500 limitededition duck calls for Flambeau, of Middlefield, with the $40 quacker available at billlowen. com and zonkshop.com.
Pheasant forecast: Ohio’s already meager wild pheasant population has slumped by about 40 percent this year, according to upland biologist Nathan Stricker. The decline reported by Pheasants Forever is because of heavy snows around the state in January through March.
Powerhouse pontoon: Ken Gouty of Antioch, Ill., outfitted his 27-foot pontoon with a supercharged 1,200-horsepower engine to shatter the pontoon speed mark with a 100-mph time trial at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. Gouty said it took him about a half-mile of calm water to hit the 100-mph mark.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: degan@plaind.com, 216-999-5158