All-terrain chairs

Page 29 Minnesota parks add all-terrain chairs

Here’s something different. Visitors with mobility disabilities can now use all-terrain track chairs or an adaptive beach chair at six Minnesota state parks.

The track chairs enable visitors to explore non-accessible trails and other areas within the parks. They are off-road, electric powered chairs that can be used on designated trails within the parks that are not suitable for wheelchairs.

Users should call ahead to reserve a chair, and they will need to sign waivers. There is no charge, but all vehicles entering a park must have a state park vehicle permit, which is discounted for cars with disability hanging tags.

The chairs are located at:

• Camden State Park

(507) 872-7031

• Crow Wing State Park

(218) 825-3075

• Lake Bemidji State Park

(218) 308-2300

• McCarthy Beach

State Park

(218) 274-7299

• Maplewood State Park

starting this fall (218) 863-8383

• Myre-Big Island

State Park

(507) 668-7060

The adaptive beach chair is also located at McCarthy Beach State Park.

The all-terrain track chair will go places no ordinary wheelchair can go. – Minnesota State Parks photo

COME PREPARED

Riders who will need help getting into and out of the chairs will need to bring someone to do that; park staff will not be available. Transfer boards will be available. Riders should also remember a water bottle, bug spray, sunscreen, snacks, a sun hat, rain gear or extra layers depending on the weather.

“Minnesota state parks are for everyone to enjoy, regardless of age or ability,” Department of Natural Resources Assistant Commissioner Shannon Lotthammer said. “Adaptive equipment like these all-terrain track chairs allows visitors to explore the great outdoors. Along with other parks and trails providers across the state – like our partners in Olmsted County and the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center – we hope to provide a system of adaptive-supported recreation opportunities from backyard to backcountry.”

John Olin enters Waterfowler Hall of Fame

Engineer and industrialist John Olin has been recognized for a lifetime of accomplishments with his induction into the Arkansas Waterfowler Hall of Fame.

In a May 19 ceremony in Little Rock, members of the Winchester company accepted the posthumous award on his behalf. John Merrill Olin, born in 1892, was active throughout the early and mid-1900s. He held more than 20 patents and built an ammunition and manufacturing empire including Winchester-Western Ammunition, Olin Brass, Olin Corp. and more.

Olin personally improved many early ammunition manufacturing processes and developed progressive burning powders and harder shot for increased velocity, pattern density and improved lethality on game animals, dramatically outperforming the available ammunition at the time.

“We are very honored to accept this award that recognizes John Olin for his forward-thinking and significant contributions to the hunting and shooting sports industry,” said Matt Campbell, vice president of sales and marketing for Winchester Ammunition. “John Olin created a culture of innovation that still lives today through the Winchester brand.”

WORK WITH LEOPOLD

Olin not only produced guns and ammunition, but he also loved to use them in the field, hunting ducks in Stuttgart, Ark. and St. Louis and quail at his plantation in Georgia. A visionary, Olin recognized in the 1930s that for future generations to enjoy hunting as he did, something had to be done.

With the help of his vast influence and personal wealth, he focused his attention on the problem of dwindling wildlife populations and degraded habitats and became one of America’s greatest unsung conservation heroes. As chairman of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI) Committee on Restoration and Protection of Game, Olin hired an aspiring young ecologist named Aldo Leopold to complete a game survey of the north central states.

This monumental study was the first of its kind and led to a book entitled “Game Management” and propelled Leopold, now recognized as the Father of Wildlife Ecology, into active work in the field of game management.

CONSERVATION GROUPS

Olin also formed the Winchester Conservation department, which was tasked with researching early conservation concepts and promoting them to newly formed state game agencies and conservation groups through published manuals and videos.

Thanks in part to John Olin’s endorsement and financial support, a young conservation group named the Game Conservation Society grew in influence and eventually became Ducks Unlimited. Despite his many contributions, John Olin never sought recognition or credit for his efforts. Skies full of mallard ducks and hedgerows full of quail for hunters and dogs to pursue were the only motivation he needed.

If John Olin were here today, conservation leaders believe, he would be honored by this award and happy to see the positive result of that early conservation work that he and others spearheaded almost 100 years ago.

Winchester is the largest small-caliber ammunition enterprise in the world and the leader in delivering innovative ammunition products to hunters, sport shooters, law enforcement and the military. To learn more, go online to Winchester. com. For more about the Arkansas Waterfowler Hall of Fame, go to waterfowlerhof.com.

There was nothing Olin loved more than a good hunting dog. – Olin Corp. photo

Page 31 Find bronzebacks by heading upstream

Text By TERRY WILSON Photo By ROXANNE WILSON

Unlike its big-mouthed cousins that grow potbellied, a stream smallmouth has an athletic body capable of stamina and power.

Characteristically, “smallies” fight an aggressive battle known for multiple leaps, strong runs and inventive use of submerged structure. Red eyes reveal a feisty temperament unequaled in the view of its legions of admirers.

In spring and fall, anglers can often locate good smallmouth action in streams because the fish are aggressive, and there is little competition with other river users. The summer season, on the other hand, is radically different. The fish have an abundant menu from which to choose, can be much more selective, and move less to feed.

Summer also brings other recreationists to the river. Swimmers, boaters, float tubers and the “aluminum hatch” (canoe) all conspire to crowd the river and send most smallmouth enthusiasts searching for another species or to still waters.

Bronzebacks can still be enjoyed by those willing to move upstream. Follow the course of your favorite river to the point of its origination, then travel downstream to the point where enough water becomes available for use by swimmers and boaters. There is always a new section of the river to explore.

ADAPTING TO

THE ENVIRONMENT

Some major adaptations must be made to be successful in this new environment. The first change should be in approaching the stream.

Often these headwater streams are no more than 5 to 20 feet wide. A loud, splashy entrance will scare the scales off your prey and leave you believing this section of water is without fish. The approach should be more hunting or stalking than fishing. Care should be taken when walking near stream banks as well as when wading.

When an area is located that looks promising, it’s wise to make the presentation from a kneeling position. This reduces the risk of being seen or casting shadows over the fish. In miniature fisheries, what seems like a minor disturbance is magnified, and since there are fewer deep water retreats, the bass’s only defense is hiding and acquiring lockjaw.

WET WADING

In summer’s heat, the best option may be wet wading. A pair of shorts and wading boots will keep you comfortable, and a shirt with pockets deep enough for a fly box will lighten the load. For fly fishers, another adaptation is that casting conventionally can be difficult because of the lack of back-casting room.

Roll-casting is one option, but don’t overlook simply feeding line through the guides and allowing the fly to drift into the desired position. The fly can then be manipulated by moving the rod tip or stripping line before letting it drift back to its original position.

One fly dominates our summer selection for stream smallmouth. It is a small 1½- to 2-inch light-colored crayfish pattern. Most crayfish imitations are too large and have stiff pinchers, which causes the fly to twist both on the cast and while it’s stripped.

Underwater observations of smallies feeding on crayfish show that the larger, more menacing actors are left alone by the bass, and the young craws that will molt six times during their first years are most desirable. Even the largest bass target these smaller crayfish while rejecting the larger ones.

When these young, vulnerable crayfish are available beginning in mid-summer, they become the favorite item on the smallmouth’s menu.

KEEP CONTACT

WITH THE BOTTOM

The crayfish fly must remain in contact with the bottom. Our patterns are weighted with 15 wraps of .020 lead wire under the body, and often a sinking line is employed to keep the fly down. We also utilize a double weed guard to keep the fly from hanging up too frequently.

Down and across casts should be retrieved very slowly. To understand why this is necessary, place your fly on the bottom in clear water and move the fly as naturally as possible. This will demonstrate just how slowly the fly must crawl along the bottom.

Under most conditions, our

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most lethal retrieve requires an upstream cast into a relatively slow current. First, allow the fly to settle to the bottom, then lift your rod tip 4-6 inches before immediately lowering it to its original position. Finally, strip in the slack line.

This lift, drop, strip retrieve creates the “crayfish hop,” which replicates the escaping technique of the natural.

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information is complete without our earnest appeal to release your catch. Due to habitat loss and climate change, smallmouth numbers have declined in many areas.

While sport anglers aren’t the problem, they must be part of the solution. Support for better stream and watershed protection is vital, but so is releasing your catch. The “gamest fish that swims” deserves to fight again.