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Rod, Gun & Game: Greater Niagara Fishing and Outdoor Expo set for this weekend By Forrest Fisher OUTDOOR COLUMNIST
The Greater Niagara Fishing and Outdoor Expo is set for this weekend, Jan. 23-25, at the Niagara Falls Conference and Event Center, in downtown Niagara Falls. At this “cabin-fever” time of year, winter-bound sportsmen are looking to learn more about the outdoors and improve their outdoor skills. The Niagara Outdoor Expo this year will help with those needs, providing more than the usual outdoor show, since the show will focus on outdoor education. More than 60 expert speakers will present over 100 seminars during the three day event. With the laudable goal to educate locals and visitors about the Greater Niagara Western New York outdoor paradise we live in, helping folks just into the outdoors to learn more the abundant our outdoor adventures just waiting to be discovered. Most of us already know that the Greater Niagara Western New York area is an outdoorsman’s paradise, featuring some of the best freshwater sport fishing in the world. We have hiking, kayaking, snowmobiling, cycling, camping, shooting, photography and so many more world class outdoor activities! The Expo will offer more 150 manufacturer and vendor booths across 116,000 square feet of space at the Conference
Center, while continuous free seminars will be offered in the 10 private, sound and picture screen conference rooms at the site. Numerous nationally and internationally renowned keynote speakers will be on hand each day. On Friday night, Jan. 23, one of America’s greatest outdoor personalities, Charlie Alsheimer, will offer two free seminars: one on Creative Nature Photography and the second on Ultimate Deer Hunting. Alsheimer is a legend in the outdoor world and his insight into the world of whitetail deer is extremely knowledgeable and thought provoking. If you are a deer hunter and you’ve never heard Charlie speak, you owe it to yourself to sit in on his seminars. If you own a camera and want to take better pictures outside, there isn’t anyone better in the outdoors with a lens. In addition, expert angler, Matt Straw, will be around all three days giving seminars on fishing expertise. Straw is an expert angler himself and his articles are found in nearly every angling periodical around the country, including In-Fisherman, Great Lakes Angler, Salmon/Trout/Steelheader and others. If you are ready for ice fishing, this show will offer an opportunity to get in tune with hard water tackle with advice and new tips too. Whether you are a beginner learning more on how to get started, or an expert learning to expand
Western New York Trap League scores Results of the Western New York Trap League for Jan. 4 at Lime Lake are as follows: Bye, 139 Java, 140; Evans, 138 Glen Coe 3, 138; Holland, 142 Boston, 142; Ellicottville, 126 Sardinia, 140; Lime Lake, 143 Springville 2, 129; Glen Coe 2, 142 Springville 1, 144; Glen Coe 1, 134 Springville 4, 145. Perfect scores of 25 were shot by Jim Struck Sr., Jim Struck Jr., Brian Wulff, Joe Thomas and Justin Tillow. Perfect scores of 50 were shot by Heather McEwan and Brian Euscher. Scores for Jan. 11 at Lime Lake are as follows: Springville 1, 147 Springville 4, 140; Sardinia, 147 Java, 136; Glen Coe 2, 140 Evans, 138; Bye, 140 Glen Coe 1, 145; Holland, 139 Glen Coe 3, 140; Lime Lake, 137 Ellicottville, 131; Boston,
132 Springville 2, 142. Perfect scores of 25 were shot by Bob Rockwood, Craig Tucker, Kevin Krone, Chuck Kromer, Larry Quirk, Mike Mincel, Barry Turner, Scott Klahn and Clarence Diebold. Heather McEwan has shot 75 straight. Scores for Jan. 18 at Holland are as follows: Holland, 146 Springville 2, 146; Lime Lake, 144 Glen Coe 2, 143; Ellicottville, 137 Springville 1, 145; Boston, 140 Evans, 148; Sardinia, 147 Bye, 144; Java, 144 Springville 4, 143; Glen Coe 3, 136 Glen Coe 1, 144. Perfect scores of 25 were shot by Joe Wesley, Joe Thomas, Don Scharf, John Kinn, John Carlson, Tim Rockwood and Brian Euscher. Barry Turner, CJ Diebold, Bob Rockwood and Randy Kensy have shot 50 straight.
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WNY whitetail bucks are even more handsome in January, but it will not be long until the male deer drop their massive antlers and start to grow new antlers for 2015. your ice fishing knowledge, you will be able to talk with Scott Brauer on ice fishing gear and Mike Smith from the Clam Corporation, the ice fishing shelter guy. Both will be on hand to answer ice fishing questions. Tim Thomas from the New York State Pro-Am Ice Tournament’s and Winter Classic will be offering information on those new fishing competitions. Will Elliott will offer seminars on ice fishing WNY and Lake Erie perch fishing.
This is the largest educational three-day show of its kind on the Great Lakes. Entry fee for the show is $8, kids 10 and under are free. For more on this show, see www.niagarafishingexpo.com to check the complete list of speakers and seminar times. Look for my better half and I to be on hand to meet with you and talk about the many facets of our great WNY outdoors, we’ll be in the booth with the Erie County Federation of Sportsmen. See you there!
WNY ice coverings on our inland lakes have grown considerably in the last few days, but anglers should still keep in mind that ice thicknesses can vary greatly on the same body of water due to underwater spring locations and other conditions. So be safe before you are sorry. Drilling holes or tapping with a spud bar to check ice thickness is recommended on your way out, or when moving around. Safety ice picks, boot cleats, throw rope and a floatation device are always recommended safety supplies. Use good judgment and fish with a friend when possible. Those new to ice fishing can check the NYSDEC ice fishing basics web at: http://www.dec. ny.gov/outdoor/7733.html. The Buffalo Small Boat Harbor has good ice of about 8 to 10 inches, with anglers catching yellow perch, sunfish, smelt and a few crappie, mostly using small jigs with grubs. Anglers using tip-ups with shiners have hooked an occasional northern pike and rainbow trout. At Chautauqua Lake, there is about 8 inches of ice in the south end and 4-6 inches of ice in the north end, with perch, crappie and walleye catches reported by anglers this past weekend. Ice fishing is popular on Cattaraugus County lakes too, with ice fishing activity on Harwood and Allen Lakes offering fair ice fishing success for smaller
yellow perch and a variety of sunfish. However, there is also the opportunity to catch large breeder trout that were stocked in the fall by the Randolph Fish Hatchery. Since the controversial Safe Act law was passed in January 2013, and was in effect by March, 2013, there have been approximately 4,000 arrests through mid-December under various SAFE Act provisions, these data from state records obtained by the Gannett News Albany Bureau, according to a report circulated by the New York State Conservation Council. The largest number of arrests have been in New York City (3,230), there have been 53 arrests in Erie County. Most of the arrests are reportedly for criminal possession of a firearm, which is a felony under the new Safe Act Law. The inside word is that SafeAct II is not too far behind. Jan . 23-25: Niagara Falls Outdoor Sportsman’s Show and Educational Academy, info: www.niagarafishingexpo.com Jan. 25: 3D Winter Archery, 2015 league, walk-on’s welcome, Evans Rod & Gun, Cain Rd., 8 a.m.-2 p.m., info: 866-5072 Send outdoors info to Forrest Fisher Column 10 days in advance, email: nugdor@ yahoo.com.
S-GI grapplers eyeing league title By Dave DeLuca SPORTS REPORTER
Another dual match win and a little help from another team has Springville wrestling in division title contention. Springville defeated Lackawanna, 54-36, on Jan. 21 to improve its record to 5-1, while Tonawanda forced a three-way tie for first place in Division III by taking down previously undefeated Eden. Springville won against Tonawanda, but lost to Eden earlier in the season. “That win by Tonawanda really helped us,” Springville coach Gary Feltz said. “Right now we’re tied with Tonawanda and Eden with only one loss. We’re 5-1, Eden’s 4-1 and Tonawanda is 3-1. We’re the frontrunner right now because we have more wins, we’ll have
to see how the rest of the season shakes out.” Springville only has one more league match left when they travel to Depew on Jan. 30. A win at Depew will clinch at least a share of the division title. Springville was able to take care of business against Lackawanna using four pins. Despite both teams having large rosters, the meet saw 10 forfeits and just five matches. “We didn’t match up well against each other,” Feltz said. “They have a lot of little guys and we have a lot of big guys. Our four pins were huge.” Senior Noah Snyder kicked off the meet with a pin in the 195-pound class, pinning Lackwanna’s Mohsen Saleh in 45 seconds. Junior Josh Ball pinned his opponent at 285 even quicker, winning by pinfall in just 14 seconds. Senior Jobe Murphy (126) and junior Jake Smith (138) also picked up wins via pin. Picking up wins via forfeits included: Bryce Szudzik (145), Jerry Weeks (182), Ian Baker (170), Bryant Boundy (160) and
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Noah Snyder and the Griffins are 5-1 in league action. Greg Benstead (152). Springville also held its “Alumni Night” at the Lackawanna match. A dozen former Springville wrestlers were honored before the match and Springville’s former coach. “I thought it was really nice,” Feltz said of the Alumni Night. “We had guys all the way back from 1963, including my brother. Paul Conklin was here, who was the previous coach and started the program back up in 1983. He had a lot of success without a modified team or a kids club.”
••• Springville had four wrestlers finish on the podium at the ECIC championships held Jan. 16-17 at Clarence High School. Leading Springville was Murphy, who took fourth place at 128. Murphy went 3-2 at the tournament. Szudzik went 4-2 on way to a fifth place finish. Ball (285) and Smith (138) finished in sixth place. Springville hosted Gow for a nonleague match on Jan. 23 before traveling to Depew on Jan. 30.
Dygert has helped Krasnek, Louth round out diving skills Swim from page B1
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Garrett Olrogg placed second in the 100 free during the Griffs’ meet against Amherst.
Bunic (23.58) and Aebly (24.82) finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 free. West (53.03) and Olrogg (58.23) went one-two in the 100 free and Brad Zifra took second in the 200 individual medley (2:23.56). “We got pushed by Amherst, which is good going into the postseason,” Boberg said. “It was a good, hardfought meet. Everyone had to press, everyone had to do their best.” Amherst didn’t have any divers compete at the meet, Christian Krasnek (202.125) and Hunter Louth (196.20) finished first and second,
respectively. Both divers have scores that nearly qualify them for states, and Krasnek is ranked No. 4 in ECIC as of right now. Louth is ranked No. 6. This is the first year that diving coach Ryan Dygert has helped out with the program and Boberg has seen an improvement from his divers due to Dygert’s guidance. “Ryan’s done an outstanding job with our divers,” Boberg said. “He pushes them in practice every day to make them better and gets them to do tougher and tougher dives as they move along. He’s done a heckuva
job.” Dygert started diving at Nazareth College and brings his experience to the team. “It’s nice because they had such a skill set before I came in,” Dygert said of Krasnek and Louth. “But I’ve been able to clean it up a little and bring my experience and that’s been awesome because they both have done really well. “I have high hopes for them, they really are that close to states. They can definitely get it at one of these 11-dive meets.” Not only did Dygert compete at the college level, he’s also a 2010 graduate
of Springville. Dygert was the captain his senior year when this year ’s senior class of Bunic, Aebly, Piatek and company were seventh graders. “It’s full circle, really,” Dygert said of returning to his high school to coach. “These seniors were seventh graders on the team when I was a senior. It’s awesome to see how much they’ve grown and matured. They’re just wonderful young men, they’re going to great things in life.” Springville hosted Jamestown for one final nonleague meet on Jan. 23 before ECICs on Jan. 30.