Catchy tunes: Homepage of the Swim Drink Fish Music Club, this month featuring new music from Dave Bidini of the Rheostatics

Like music as much as fishing? Then you’re sure to be interested in The Swim Drink Fish Music Club, a music Web site developed by environmental group Lake Ontario Waterkeeper to raise money to “fight for swimable, drinkable, fishable water in the community.”

Exclusive new songs are created by musicians who care about clean water, and are uploaded to the site once a month. Artists including Broken Social Scene, Sarah Harmer, Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip, Chris Brown and Bruce Cockburn have all contributed exclusive songs.

September’s featured artist is Dave Bidini, one of the founding members of the band Rheostatics. Bidini, an avid angler and accomplished author as well (Outdoor Canada published a piece of his in May 2007), has uploaded a suite of 30 short songs about Lake Ontario. Says Bidini of the project:

“A lot of the songs are about living close to water – youthful summers on Toronto Island; a misspent teenagehood hanging out at the Leslie Street spit; as an adult sailing with my dad out of the Etobicoke yacht club– as well as the polluted soup that is our city’s lake. Almost all of the pieces here were created through the ‘instant song’ technique– basically writing and singing whatever came into my head– although a few were more obviously crafted. Whatever the case, enjoy, and please help support the Waterkeepers. I do and will and will continue to, evermore.”

Bidini’s songs will be available to both members and non-member of the site, though only members will be able to download all 30 tunes. Of course, an annual membership costs just $10, and promises to include more than 50 songs, uploaded monthly, which can be downloaded and played on any portable music device. (You can expect music from the likes of Apostle of Hustle, Attack in Black, Emma Lee, Ghost Bees, Gord Downie with The Sadies, Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers, Holy Fuck, Land of Talk, Matt & Jill Barber, Neko Case, Ohbijou and Wintersleep in the future.) Plus, you’ll be helping a great angling-related cause.

Going ballistic: A sample screen shot of Winchester's new online calculator

ballistics calculator. Winchester Ammunition launched its new, free Ammunition Ballistics Calculator about a month ago. It allows users to choose their type of ammo and compare up to five different Winchester products with easy-to-read, high-tech ballistics charts and graphs. User can also customize shooting conditions by entering wind speed and temperature, adjust zero marks for sighting in, and then print the ballistics for later reference at the range or in the field.

Fans of Winchester products are sure to also enjoy the other new free downloads available from the company’s Web site, including desktop wallpaper, scorecards and targets. To access them, all you have to do is sign up to Winchester’s free “Red W Club.” Both the ballistics calculator and the downloads are just the kind of stuff to tide you over until your season opens.

Scene stealer: A ground squirrel pops into a self-portrait by Mellisa and Jackson Brandts in Banff National Park

Okay, so there’s no hunting season in Alberta’s Banff National Park, but I thought you might still be interested in this curious photo, currently doing a viral world wide web tour. The ground squirrel popped into the frame while investigating the noise the camera’s auto focus was making as Minnesota natives Melissa and Jackson Brandts took a remote portrait with Banff’s Lake Minnewanka in the background last May. Melissa uploaded the image to nationalgeographic.com’s “Your Shot” feature on August 7, launching the squirrel to world-wide stardom. In typical internet fashion, the rude rodent has since been Photoshopped into all nature of images. Check out this one for a top-10 list of “crasher squirrel’s” images, or see hundreds of them here. Could this be what threw Tiger off his game at the PGA Championship?

Tiger's Kryptonite: Is "crasher squirrel" responsible for Wood's collapse at the PGA Championship?

Facing the music: Duck poacher David Fraser responds to media questions after pleading guilty to a variety of hunting violations on August 10

YouTube titled “Duck Hunt” that featured three men blasting away at sitting ducks from a car (mentioned in this space yesterday and last week), the trio responsible pleaded guilty to 15 charges yesterday afternoon, August 10.

David Fraser, 30, his brother James Fraser, 23 and Jeremy Rowlands all of Cudworth, Saskatchewan, were fined a total of $16,000 and banned from hunting for three years. Two rifles were also seized and forfeited to the Crown. All three men had been charged with hunting migratory birds out of season, using and rifle to hunting migratory birds, careless discharge of a firearm and allowing edible game to be wasted. Rowlands was also charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle.

Judging by the comments on the related story on cbc.ca (there are 10 pages of them!), many folks aren’t happy with the punishment. I’d be interested from hearing from you. Did these guys get what they deserve? Or did they get off lucky?

Caught on tape: Image from a Facebook page dedicated to catching the poachers

didn’t hear about the trio of Canadian yahoos who went on a duckling shooting rampage (from a car no less), and uploaded the video evidence to YouTube. I blogged about it on August 4 (see “Hunting poachers“) after the clip became the talk on a slew of internet hunting forums, and the story subsequently became big news for media outlets throughout Canada and the U.S.

As I predicted, the poachers were quickly apprehended, as three Saskatchewan men were arrested this past Saturday, August 8. Check out canoe.ca for this story (“YouTube duck poacher offers apology”), that gives some insight into the motivation behind the callous act. A tidbit:

“Not that it’s any excuse, but we honestly didn’t know it was crime–if we did we wouldn’t have uploaded it to the internet and we never would have done it in the first place.”

Also of interest, conservation officials say poaching tip lines in both Alberta and Saskatchewan received an unprecedented number of calls relating to the incident. The poachers were to make their first court appearance in a Saskatoon court this morning, August 10.

Nice bass: Yours truly with a sweet Simcoe smallie

interesting info about all things large- and smallmouth on the Web these days. Here are a few of the most compelling items to cross my desktop recently…

Last Monday, July 31, Wil Wegman, the Ontario BASS Federation Nation Conservation and Media Director and a good friend of Outdoor Canada magazine, posted an update on the Lake Simcoe Bass Tagging Research Project on a couple of Ontario-based Internet forums, including the Ontario Fishing Network and the Lake Simcoe Message Board. The project is part of a multi-year Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Community Fisheries and Wildlife Involvement Program with the Aurora Bassmasters and the Ontario BASS Federation Nation, which aims to track the movements of bass in Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching. Of particular interest in Wegman’s update, were details on two tagged smallies caught on Simcoe during the BASS Federation Nation Eastern Divisional tournament July 22, 23 and 24. Wegman wrote of the fish:

“1) Caught by renowned Federation Nation angler and former FNC Champion and Bassmaster Classic qualifier … Ed Cowan of New York on July 23. When Ed caught it, the fish measured 49.5 cm yet when it was originally caught and sampled during the Barrie Bassmaster Open Tournament in Kempenfelt Bay in 2007 it measured 49.4 cm. Not much growth – but still a healthy fish that was released in good shape. We aged the bass in 2007 at 10 years old – so it’s 12 now. Ed weighed it in @ 2.0 kg or 4.42 lbs and originally – in late Oct 07 (when these bass are at their fattest) – it weighed an even 5 lbs. Ed’s fish was not previously fizzed.

2) Caught by renowned Canadian Angler Rob Hyatt of North Bay on July 24. When Rob caught it, it weighed 6.61 lbs on our hand scales and when it was originally caught and sampled (2008 BPS Open out of Sibbald’s) it weighed 5.51lbs. It measured 49.8 cm last year in Oct and 8 months later it measured 50.5cm. It was one big fat smallie and grew quickly. It was aged at 11 years old last fall. Rob’s fish was previously fizzed. Unfortunately Rob’s fish was also one of the few that did not make it and I received the tags back from the Live Release boat.”

You can check out his report at either of the links above. And, if you happen to be fishing Simcoe and catch a tagged bass, please help the research project by calling in the tag number, the fish’s measurement and details on where it was caught and released.

Speaking of catch-and-release, BASS has recently published a revised version of its “Keeping Bass Alive” booklet on it’s Web site. First published in 1972 to help tourney anglers ensure the survival of fish, the updated version can be downloaded as a pocket guide or by section (fizzing, water quality, weigh-in, hooking, landing and handling, livewell management). Whether you’ve an old pro or a fishing fry, it’s an insightful read.

Finally, while you’re at the BASS Web site, check out the story on the how the pending world-record largemouth bass—a 22-pound 5-ounce monster caught July 2 by Manabu Kurita in Japan’s Lake Biwa—got to the land of the rising sun. It’s an interesting tale, especially given that most bucketmouth experts predicted the next WR largemouth would almost certainly come from California. And with record-size bass on my mind, associate editor Bob Sexton and I are off to Lake Simcoe tomorrow or Friday to search out some of those six-pound smallies. And just maybe we can find their grandma.

Sitting ducks: A still from a YouTube video originally posted by poachers, who are now being hunted themselves

YouTube recently (then subsequently removed and reposted by a concerned citizen), which depicts a couple of yahoos shooting what appear to be pellet guns or rifles at sitting ducks. From their car no less. (You can see the video here.)

Wildlife authorities from both Alberta and Saskatchewan, where it’s believe the video was shot, have been notified and are investigating the incident. Of course, if you recognize any of the individuals in the clip, you’re encouraged to contact Alberta’s Report a Poacher hotline at 1-800-642-3800 or Saskatchewan’s Turn In Poachers at 1-800-667-7561.

A couple of concerned hunters have even set up a Facebook page dedicated to bringing these poachers to justice. And after checking out the site, as well as threads on the subject on the Alberta Outdoorsmen Forum, the noose is surely tightening around the necks of these poachers.

Moose magic: Video evidence of the Ballans' rescue

Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, the duo came away from the tourney with by far the biggest catch—a moose calf.

The brothers, along with Kent’s wife Michelle and Len Bedard, spied the distressed animal while pre-fishing for the event, according to a story on the Fort Frances Times Online. Said Steve Ballan or the unusual sighting:

“We were just fishing a series of rock piles and we looked over and about 500-600 yards away we saw this thing swimming around.”

After watching the animal swim in circles for 40 minutes, the group decided to get a closer look. After a couple of tries, they managed to free the young moose from the rope or net or heavy fishing line it was caught up in, and towed the animal to a nearby island. Kent Ballan managed to tape much of the encounter, which is available here. Said Steve Ballan of the outcome:

“We just backed away and let her be. We watched her for well over an hour and she stayed right there in the water near shore.”

Unfortunately for the Ballan brothers, the encounter didn’t help the pair in the tournament, where they finished 95 out of 124 teams. But they’ve certainly got a good excuse.