BOATING

BOATING
Classes scheduled
If you need a boating class, the local United States Coast Guard Auxiliary will host six and 12 week boating skills and seamanship classes starting Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the Hubbard High School Cafeteria. There is a cost of $25 for course material, the class is free. For more information, Call Your Local Flotilla: (330) 799-8744, (330) 727-3005, (330) 337-7742, (330) 534-1123.
OHIO
Upland game seasons open
For thousands of Ohio hunters, fall doesn't really begin until the season opens on ring-necked pheasant, cottontail rabbit and bobwhite quail. The season opened yesterday.
Rabbits, pheasants and quail may be hunted from sunrise to sunset. The daily bag limits for all three species remain unchanged from the 2003 season at four rabbits, two pheasants (roosters only), and four quail per hunter.
Cottontail rabbit hunting continues through Feb. 28, 2005. Ring-necked pheasant hunting is open through Jan. 2, 2005. Both seasons are closed only during the statewide 2004 deer-gun hunting season, Nov. 29 through Dec. 5.
Hunters are reminded that snowshoe hares are not legal game in Ohio and may not be taken. Recently reintroduced to northeastern Ohio after nearly a century of absence, snowshoe hares are brown early in the season, resembling cottontail rabbits. To avoid confusion between cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares, portions of Geauga and Ashtabula counties will be closed to all rabbit hunting through Dec. 6. The coats of most hares will have turned white by early December, allowing for proper distinction. The designated area is bordered by U.S. Route 6 to the north, U.S. Route 322 to the south, Kile Road to the west and State Route 534 to the east.
The ODNR Division of Wildlife releases pheasants on selected public hunting areas throughout the state on opening day of the pheasant season, the second and third Saturdays of the season and Thanksgiving Day. Hunters may call (800) WILDLIFE for locations of specific release sites.
Bobwhite quail hunting is limited to 16 counties in southern Ohio: Adams, Athens, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Highland, Jackson, Meigs, Montgomery, Pike, Preble, Ross, Scioto, Vinton and Warren. The season continues through Nov. 28.
PENNSYLVANIA
Eagle access area closed
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will temporarily close its Bald Eagle Access Area in Clinton County to replace the launch ramp with a new cast-in-place concrete ramp.
Additionally, crews will be re-grading and placing stone in the parking lot. This work started Thursday and shall be complete early in December.
The Bald Eagle Access provides public fishing and boating access to the Bald Eagle Creek. It is on Route 150, a mile west of Mill Hall. Boaters and anglers looking for alternative launch sites can visit the "County Guides" section of the PFBC's Web site at www.fish.state.pa.us.
Firewood transportcould bring in pests
With the approach of Pennsylvania's main deer hunting season and its influx of thousands of out-of-state hunters, the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Bureau of Forestry is combating the spread of forest insect pests by asking hunters to refrain from transporting firewood into the Commonwealth. "We especially are targeting out-of-state deer hunters who may be coming from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Maryland and Virginia, and the Canadian Province of Ontario because that's where the emerald ash borer -- a forest pest that could prove deadly to our ash trees -- has been discovered," said Dr. Donald A. Eggen, chief of DCNR's Forest Pest Management Division.
The spread of emerald ash borer and other threatening insects has been linked to the transportation of infested firewood and nursery stock, Eggen said. Usually visible from May to August, the adult emerald ash borer beetles are slightly less than an inch long, thin and bright metallic green in color. The beetle, which feeds in the tissues under the bark of ash trees, has claimed about 7 million trees in Michigan alone.
FISHING
Buckeye Angler today
The Buckeye Angler will start a new season of shows about fishing in Ohio today on Channels 45/49. The show airs at 4:30 p.m. Saturdays
Angler Jack Kiser will host the show. Today's episode will be on northern pike. Week Two: Put-In-Bay perch; Week Three: Top water buzzbait for bass.
For more on the show, log on to www.buckeyeangler.com.