Free fishing day is about hooking the adults.Byline: Mike Stahlberg / The Register-Guard Oregon will observe its 14th annual free fishing weekend Saturday and Sunday and, after all these years, people still act like it's for little kids. Statewide, some 52 free fishing "events" are being sponsored by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for programs protecting Oregon fish and wildlife resources and their habitats. (ODFW ODFW Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife ). The one Saturday at Leaburg Hatchery hatchery a commercial establishment dedicated to the hatching of bird eggs to provide day old chicks and poults to the poultry industry. hatchery liquid the contents of unfertilized eggs. Used in petfood manufacture. on the McKenzie River is usually among the most popular. Like every other one of the events held to celebrate the fact that no licenses or tags are required to fish on the first Saturday and Sunday in June, it is geared primarily for youngsters. At first blush Adv. 1. at first blush - as a first impression; "at first blush the offer seemed attractive" when first seen , the emphasis on youth seems odd, given that in Oregon anyone under the age of 14 can fish without a license. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , every day is free fishing day for the young. But free fishing events around the country are intended to sell more fishing licenses and harvest tags to adults, pure and simple. We know this because the "father" of the free fishing day phenomenon is a Medford native and Oregon State University Oregon State University, at Corvallis; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1858 as Corvallis College, opened 1865. In 1868 it was designated Oregon's land-grant agricultural college and was taken over completely by the state in 1885. graduate named Mike Bickler. He told me the story behind the creation of the fee holiday during an interview conducted in 1993, on the eve On the Eve (Накануне in Russian) is the third novel by famous Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, best known for his short stories and the novel Fathers and Sons. of the 10th anniversary of the first "Free Fishing Day." In 1983, Bickler was the public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most chief for the Pennsylvania Fish Commission. And he had a major PR problem on his hands. On top of adopting the largest license fee increase in Pennsylvania history, the Fish Commission that year revamped hatchery trout allocations to streams. "A lot of people were mad at us," Bickler said. Many people were angry enough to forgo the purchase of a fishing license. Sales plummeted by nearly 17,000. "I was looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a way to get people back out there again," Bickler recalled. "I figured if I could get people out there again, they would continue to fish." The free-sample strategy worked. Pennsylvania sold an additional 14,000 licenses within two weeks of the first Free Fishing day. The concept then spread quickly to other states. By the time Oregon jumped on board in 1989, more than 30 states had annual free fishing periods. Bickler focused Pennsylvania's first free fishing day event on youngsters, offering "how-to" clinics and loaner tackle. His marketing strategy was not unlike the one General Mills employs in advertising cereal on Saturday morning cartoon Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming which was typically scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the 1990s. shows: Hook the kids, and the adults will come along. Free fishing days around the country have played an important role in introducing thousands of kids to the sport, Bickler said. "We found that kids often didn't get to go fishing because Mom or Dad didn't have a license and didn't want to have to buy one," he said. "It's a great way to get the adults out so they'll take the kids along." According to an ODFW news release, Free Fishing Weekend "is all about building memories, bringing families together and offering someone the opportunity to try a new sport for free." That's true as far as it goes. But in the long run Free Fishing Weekend is also about selling licenses. Local men win tags Three southern Willamette Valley men were winners of special hunting privileges in the ODFW's recent "raffle tag" drawing. Michael Caven of Cottage Grove won the statewide deer hunt tag, William Sylvester of Brownsville won a Western Oregon elk hunt and Alfredo Ayala of Albany won a statewide combination deer and elk tag. The raffle tags provide an extended season in an expanded hunting area. The program is designed to help raise money to improve hunter access and wildlife habitat. Nine deer and elk raffle tags raised over $75,000 this year. In addition, a separate bighorn sheep Bighorn sheep a tall (up to 3 ft), heavy (up to 300 lb body weight) wild sheep that lives in inaccessible mountain country where it exercises its principal achievement of prodigious leaping and climbing. Called also Ovis canadensis. Several regional varieties, e.g. O. c. raffle hunt raised $40,300 for bighorn sheep management. Butch Kuflack of Hermosa Beach, Calif., was drawn from among 5,795 ticket holders in that raffle. Mike Stahlberg can be reached at mstahlberg@ guardnet.com. |
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