Sunday, February 12, 2006

Dave Richey named Legendary Communicator by Fishing Hall of Fame My good friend, Dave Richey, of rural Traverse City, Michigan, was inducted into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame last week as a Legendary Communicator on January 30. An outdoor writer for the past 40 years, Dave published his first story in 1967 in Sports Afield magazine. Since then, he has published 7,200 articles in more than 300 different magazines. I know of no one more prolific in this business! "It is an overwhelming honor to be chosen as a Legendary Communicator by the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame[base ']s 2006 Awards Committee members," Richey said. "This is an award that I never dreamed possible, and such awards from national organizations are something to be cherished." Recently retired from The Detroit News, where he was Outdoor Editor for 23 years and wrote more than 14,000 articles, Dave has turned to Internet publishing. On his Web site, www.daverichey.com, he has posted more than 1,500 articles in the past 2 1/2 years. Dave has one of the largest collections of hunting and fishing books in the world. He actively buys and sells these books on his Web site. Dave has also authored 22 fishing and hunting books. He is past editor of Outdoor Life's Guide to Fishing the Midwest and Guide to Hunting the Midwest, Michigan Sportsman and Michigan Big Game Hunters Association Magazine. For the past 30 years, he has spoken on hunting and fishing topics at venues throughout the country. His photos have graced the covers and pages of countless outdoor magazines. A longtime conservation writer who digs into hard stories that deal with conservation and protection of natural resources, Dave has received numerous honors for his writing over the years, including the J. Hammond Brown Memorial Award (1994) and Excellence in Craft Award (2003) from the Outdoor Writers Association of America; the Ben East Award for Excellence in Conservation Journalism (1983) from the Michigan United Conservation Clubs; the Poppa Bear Award from the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association and many other writing and photography awards. Along with Dave, Erwin A. "Joe" Bauer, Corey Ford, Bill Scifres and O.W. Smith were inducted into the Hall of Fame as Legendary Communicators. "All of my heroes are members of the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame," Richey said. "I find it amazing that only in America, through sheer effort and persistence, can someone like me attain such an honor. It certainly didn't come easily, and I owe a great deal of gratitude to several people who helped along the way. They know, or knew, who they were and did not care to claim any credit for helping me along. To each of them, and to my wife Kay, a hearty Thank You!" A complete list of this year's honorees can be found on the Hall's Web site. Others were inducted as Legendary Anglers or Legendary Guides. If anyone in the outdoor field is a "Triple Threat," it is certainly Dave Richey. In my estimation, he could easily have been honored in one of those catergories as well. He pioneered fly fishing for salmon and steelhead on Great Lakes tributaries, developed several effective fly patterns and guided full-time on Michigan streams from 1967-76. Dave is truly a legend in his own time, and this honor was richly (and Richey-ly) deserved! Later... 12:01:36 PM    comment []

Correction on last week's news... I sure blew it last week Friday when I posted a notice about THURSDAY'S broadcast of a show on hunting on NPR. Guess I should have read the release more carefully! Anyway, you can still access that broadcast online at this link. Later... 11:17:41 AM    comment []

Winnebago Report Wisconsin's winter sturgeon spearing season is off and crawling, as spearers had a slow opening day yesterday, registering only 39 sturgeon. Some ventured out to find cloudy water, due to an algae bloom triggered by thin ice and sunlight over the past few weeks. Others sat on barstools in taverns around the lake, telling tales of spearing seasons past and waiting for reports of fish activity before deciding where or if to try their luck. My candidate for best fishing photo of the year is the shot on Page C-18 of today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, taken by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photog Mark Hoffman. (I checked the paper's Web site, but unfortunately the photo is not on it.) It features a hopeful John McArdle, sleeves rolled up, sitting on an office chair in his ice shanty, staring down through a refrigerator-size hole into the empty green water of Lake Winnebago, his cell phone on his hip, ready to report the news of a fish. Meanwhile, his 9-year-old son, Casey, is yawning and playing one of those hand-held video games as popular with today's kids as yo-yos were in my day. It captures the essence of sturgeon spearing better than most photos I've seen! In other Winnebago news, Joel Taylor, inventor of the Fish Elevator, called me this morning at 9:30 from the ice to report that he's been doing well on walleyes. He had four already when he called and another on the line, so he had to ring off. Taylor reports 11 inches of ice (by his tape measure) where he is fishing south of Oshkosh, but only 6 or so closer to shore. That's enough ice if you know what you're doing, but most anglers and spearers are wise to exercise caution in this winter of uncertain and variable ice conditions. I'm off to hunt rabbits this afternoon with friend, Clyde Winter. We bagged three last time out together. I'm hopeful we'll see some bunnies, thanks to a fresh skiff of snow overnight. The East Coast may have got hammered, but we have just enough around here to make it look like winter again. Later... 11:15:08 AM    comment []