As promised, here are the results of the Fish House Fish & Game Club’s first Summer Fishing Contest held on Saturday, Aug. 20 at Captain Carl’s.

First place in the bass division went to Keith Simonds; second place to Alan Cornelius; and third place resulted in a tie between Alan Cornelius and Joyce Callahan. First place in the walleye segment of the event was a tie between Robert Brink and Art Georgelas; and third place went to John Wegrowski. In the trout division, Mike Carman took first place, followed by Bill Dingman in second and Bryan DeLuke in third place.

In the Kids portion of the event, Landon Dingman took first place and Adden Massen took second place.

The club extended special thanks to Captain Carls for the use of his dock and facilities; to Dave’s Bait & Tackle for the donation of tackle and gift certificates; and to Fuller’s Store, Old Trail Inn, J.S. Country Store, South Shore Marina, Edinburg Marina and Four Corners Diner for their donations of gift certificates.

GSLFF CONTEST

The next, and last, Great Sacandaga Lake fishing contest of the soft-water season is the 10th Annual Fall contest sponsored by the Great Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation which will be held on Saturday, Sept. 10, just ten days from today.  

The entry fee is $25, which includes participation in the contest and a yearly membership in the GSLFF. Sport Island Pub, Sacandaga Park, will again serve as the official measuring station and contest headquarters and fish to be entered in the running for prizes may bring their entries to the weigh station anytime between 1 and 4 p.m., when the contest officially closes.

Judging will be by the length of the entry and three prizes each of $275, $125 and $50 will be awarded in the bass, walleye, northern pike and trout divisions. There will also be $50 bonus prizes donated by Sport Island Pub, Kenney’s Marine, Frank & Sons Body Works, Lanzi’s on the Lake, St. Charles & St. Francis Motels and Fuller’s Country Store.

During the event you can call 518-227-8298 for up-to-the-moment information on the standings on the prize lists.

Entry forms are available - and will be accepted -at Ross’ Bait Shop in Hagaman; Dave’s Bait & Tackle in Mayfield; LaPort’s Bait Shop in Edinburg; Jim’s Bait Shop in Mayfield; Franks’s Gun Shop in Vail Mills; Sport Island Pub in Sacandaga Park; and the Fuel & Food Store in Mayfield.

For additional information you can call: Jack Smith, 863-4271; Randy Gardinier, 848-7248; or you can go to www.gslff.org on the web.

For comparative purposes, the winning fish in last year’s edition of this popular annual contest were as follows: walleye - 20 1/4 inches; northern pike - 40 1/4 inches; bass - 19 3/8 inches; and trout - 17 1/4 inches.

HUNTING SEASONS OPEN

If your primary interest is hunting, today is a banner day because it marks the opening of this year’s statewide squirrel. crow and early goose seasons. However, if you plan to do any type of hunting prior to Oct. 1, when the new 2011-2012 licenses go into effect, you’ll have to do it on your  2010-2011 license, though for the early goose season you’ll also need a new HIP (Harvest Information Program) number and a new federal waterfowl stamp.

Other hunting seasons scheduled to open this month include the: ruffed grouse season in the northern zone on Tuesday, Sept. 20; the bowhunting big game season (bear and deer) in the northern zone on Tuesday, Sept. 27; and the northern zone early bear season on Saturday, Sept. 17.

October will feature a number of season openers but we’ll cover those in a future column.

HAPPY LABOR DAY

In a few days we’ll be celebrating Labor Day and I extend my sincerest best wishes to all of you for a very happy, safe  and thoroughly enjoyable long holiday weekend. Please drive and boat safely and responsibly and keep an eye on the weather. You’ve made it through the entire summer so get through this weekend safely as well.

The Labor Day weekend is one of the “big three” boating and relaxation weekends, along with Memorial Day and the July 4th holiday, and it’s one of the prime times for boating mishaps as boaters and revelers seek to get in at least one more good weekend of boating, sun and fun before putting their vessels in mothballs for the winter - though many got a head start on that by pulling their boats out early in preparation for last weekend’s visit from Hurricane Irene.

Obey the rules of the road and operate your vessel defensively, just as you would do behind the wheel of your car.