Onondaga Nation’s Annual Fishing Derby

May 13, 2011

On Friday the 13th, Onondaga had its annual fishing derby.  What a good way to enjoy the environment by walking in the water with fishing pole in hand knowing the fish are there willing to take your offering.  Onondaga Creek at Gibson Bridge was too high and swift and also wider than it was the year before.  We, Sonny Shenandoah and I, decided to change the derby site to Hemlock Creek.  If we put the trout in at the ball field and used chicken wire to stop the trout from going down stream, we knew we had a good fishing section because the fish couldn’t get past the falls if they swam up stream.  Sonny asked the Nation’s Bulldozer if they could build a small berm just big enough to make a 2 foot deep pool stretching across Hemlock Creek.

Approximately 200 rainbow trout were released after checking the creek’s water temperature just to be sure it was cold enough for the trout’s survival. We then released half the trout at the berm and the other half we released at the upper ball field creek access site. What a warming site it was to see 12”- 15” rainbow trout swimming in our Hemlock Creek.

Neil Patterson Jr., Patti Fischer, and Waylon Wilson of Tuscarora HETF helped out.  Neil tied hook after hook baiting any hook in need of bait. Patti helped Jeannie Shenandoah with the grill and refreshments. That was after Patti and her daughter tried out their angling skills. Waylon was using his photography skills to capture the natural beauty of Hemlock Creek and the fun that was had by all.  First place was: smallest fish, second place was: most fish, third place was: biggest fish. Along with the certificates were tackle boxes, fish scalers, bobbers, and tackle prizes for fourth and fifth places. There were hot dogs, juice boxes and fruit for everyone.

 One would think that the horde of anglers armed with fish catching equipment as high tech as an Orvis fly rod, to the old traditional wispy willow branch with twine wrapped around the end, that the Wiley rainbow trout wouldn’t have a chance. Well this statement came to fruition only after Audrey Shenandoah caught 5 horned dace before anyone else caught a fish. I just kept putting fish measurements next to her name with no other names on the list. Once she cleared out the horned dace then the trout started biting. It was amazing to me with all the little feet splashing and bodies swimming that the trout even decided to stay there much less open their mouths.

Aside from Audrey’s flurry the fishing was slow with one 12” trout here and another 12” trout there. At one point there was a 4 way tie for biggest fish-12”.

Then like times I’ve seen on other fishing trips, the fish turned on. The stars aligned, the barometric pressure is right, or Sonny says “NOW”, who knows what happened but the fish started biting. It seemed like everyone was catching fish. I was measuring trout after trout and horned dace after horned dace. Then King Lyons comes out of the creek, he too had caught a nice trout on his wispy branch with twine tied on the end. Just like the old days, a proud angler was beaming.

Neil Patterson Jr. brought his cooking equipment with the intent on sharing his cooking skills and invited anyone to taste his fried trout creation. It was tasty indeed. He didn’t however have any takers on trying the crispy trout tails, a Tuscarora delicacy.  He even had the young lads taking the fish heads home to put in the garden.

The day ended with many new fish stories to tell. The Creek had been awakened by laughing and smiling children. The Creek also has about 175 new resident rainbow trout. I’m sure they are wiser now that they had time to adapt to their new environment thus earning their nickname of “Wiley trout”.  About 20 minutes after the derby was done there was some shouting at the creek. You could hear,”holy cow, look at the size of that thing”. Dominic Redeye had just caught a 15” rainbow trout. It would have been the biggest fish of the derby but the time had expired. Seemingly the meaning of his name had prevailed, “lord” of the trout. Though he didn’t win a prize I think all the admiration he received would, from this day on, make for a great fish story.

Nyawenha

Curtis Waterman