THE SHAD ARE BACK BY Ron Marks

I am very thankful to be able to go over to the river and try to catch a few Shad. It has been a long winter, for me. It seems the older I get the longer the winters are.

We started our fund raising efforts at the Reading Show, we did fairly well considering the hard economic times. We did well at Calvary Church in Buck’s county, I even got a chance to meet Jimmy Huston. He is a very outgoing person. The rest of our sites included Leesport (twice), Klecknersville, Country Junction, Bally, the WNEP Outdoor Expo at Columbia Mall and our own Flea Market. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the Bally organization for not having their Flea Market date in our Newsletter. I assure them it won’t happen again.

The Flea Market went fairly well this year. Fortunately, there were not too many surprises. The attendance was down, but not too much. I think that most of the vendors did well.

We added five more schools to our Shad in Schools project. Shad in Schools coordinator, David Bittner, and his committee did a great job last year and are continuing the good work this year. We applied to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for fertilized Shad eggs to use in our program but were denied, which was no great surprise. We will be harvesting eggs ourselves with the help of our friends to the south, fortunately we can get all the help and encouragement we need from out of State. As a Club we are a very resourceful and at times vociferous bunch. We will continue to help and inform the young school children as to the importance of Shad in our ecosystem.

The Youth Fishing and Education Day project held at Point Philips Rod and Gun Club is also on track thanks to David Carl and his committee. This is a very good opportunity to educate the youngsters. They will get a chance to learn many new skills, knot tying, casting, outdoor ethics, first aide, reptile identification, boating safety, and they will also get a chance to catch fish. This program is by registration only. David and his committee, with the help of our friends from Point Philips Rod &Gun Club have done a great job the past two years and I am certain they will do a good job this year. Youth Fishing and Education Day will be held June 20, 2009.

The programs above are all under manned and under funded so if any one wishes to help out just contact any of the committee chairmen or any Board member. The Club is in need of new members and young blood with young ideas and energy. We also need some advice and help from those who are familiar with the grant writing process. The obtaining of grants will take some of the financial strain off these projects and help us initiate more programs.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the Delaware River Shad Fishermen’s Association will help anyone or any agency in its attempts to promote the welfare of Shad in any watershed.